The Monticellonian., 1918-08-30
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E A the pastures. was like a peas ant In holiday garb of pale
 green with the rivers Yser and Handzaeme tied to her girdle. She was like girl standing mo- tionless looking upon the smooth countryside, with the sea in the dis tance-the sea toward which ever blew q crisp breeze that made bend the willows of her winding paths, writes Douglas Ainslie in London Graphic.
 To Dixmude, indeed, there is also applicable another figure-the mar- tyr-and her history from the middle ages has had it's full share of blood and iron ever since it was but a sim pie fortress built upon an eminenee above the place where various rivu- lets unite to form the Yser In the thirteenth century Guy de Dampierre surrounded it with powerful ram parts, and through all the centuries that have followed, from the period of the civil wars that rendered deSolate the low countries in the fourteenth cen tury to the days when Rantzau and Turenne entered it as conquerors, the city has been one of the delights of the low countries. Dixmude did not attempt resistance to the troops of the French Revolution. and it is nota- ble that whenever she has been al- lowed some respite she has quickly resumed her peaceful commercial life. People Slow to Take Alarm.
 Her population had the Elem ish phlegm, and even when the mo- bilization began in 1914, 1t was looked upon as simple precautionary meas ure Was not the neutrality of Bel gium guaranteed by treaties signed by the plenipotentiaries of all the great powers? Had not this neutrality been respected since 1870? What cause, therefore, was there for alarm? Such was the confidence In scraps of pa per" that when a certain individual took 1t upon himself to announce Ger many's violation of the neutrality of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, on the second of August. and to prophecy the worst. he was positively hissed and accused of propagating demoralizing news. Dixmude did not wish to be- lieve in the treachery of the Ger mans.
 But events hasten on. News comes of the destruction of Wise, of the resistance of Liege, and that England, respectful of international treaties, has declared herself for the allies. White troupes of trembling fugitives who had escaped from the sack of Louvain and the massacre of Tongres and Aerschot. came pouring into Dixmude, toward safety and the west, in q state of pa i thetic desolatfon.
 Ruined Beauties of the City.
 But the ups and downs of the siege, the false tranquility, and the horrible awakening, must be sought elsewhere in print. It will, perhaps, be inter- esting to glance rather at a few of the outstanding beauties of Dixmude which have disappeared beneath the blows of the Teutonic hammer. The Church of St. Nicholas was, perhaps, the most remarkable of the monu- ments that had survived from ancient l times. It was built upon the site of the primitive chapel of the tenth cen tury, and it's interior belied the com parative modesty of the exterior. It contained the famous rood-screen, one of the marvels of Belgium The screen was remarkable, owing to the enormous number of leaves, flowers, fruits, and even of minute insects with which the ancient sculptor had been at infinite pains to adorn it. This prodigious labor, lasting over many years. was accomplished by a single artist. whose name alone has come down to us from the sixteenth century Jean Bartet
 The old Beguinage, inhabited by women who were not nuns, and form ing a lay order which they might leave at will was touching relic of the past. It used to stand in the middle of the town, surrounded with high walls, crouching there as though i from modesty. A low door afforded an entrance to the grass plot around which were grouped the little houses. At the further end stood a chapel