Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1921-01-27

1 a lore, stand blinded and hest
tate. What shall l choose in
this bouquet, over rich in its mingling
of brilliant cOlors and tender hues?
Shall it be pearls of sacred mistletoe
| fallen beneath the Druid's knife; lilies
grown in the shadow of converts and
monasteries; roses Redeemed with the
blood of Journeys and the carnage of
battle or, perchance, pale daisies of
the fields sprung up unheeded amid
the COW pasture? All equally are
precious, writes Louis Lagasse de
Locht in the London Times. Daugh-
tiers of fertile land scared in the
course of ages by storms let loose
from the four corners of the earth,
are they not the expression, the poet
ry, the sap of love and hate, the very
soul, in word, of a people fashioned
by martial blows and bathed in the
sunshine of idealism?
Every Belgian is thrilled by the
past. 1t is his staff and bread of
life. Hence his love of cavalcades,
joyous entries and professions, the
ever recurring delight of most of our
villages. Great taste is often display
ed in the ordering of these parades, in
the building of the triumph-to which
Rubens and Jordaens did not scorn to
devote their talent. And it is as If
the figures of legend and history which
pass through our streets had stepped
down from the canvas of old master
pieces to be closer to the caresses of
the crowds.
Sometimes the ceremony represents
but an episode, scene of chivalry or
of mystery from the middle ages. In
Bruges, suddenly awakened from its
melancholy miracle of the holy blood,
the triumphal escort of a prince con-
secrated to the conquest of the holy |
land moves in a rolling stream of |
glistening steel amid the glamOr of |
rich silks and precious broideries, the |
clashing of arms and the embrazen
peal of trumpets.
Supreme Drama of All Time.
At Fumes, on the last Sunday in
July, the procession of 'penitents' re-
enacts the supreme drama of all time.
For weeks the city prepares for it.
The actors parts are more coveted
than public honOrs; some are jealous
ly guarded as hereditary rights.
the dense crowd, pressing
ever closer and closer, the revered fig
ures pass in procession. And the
Christ appears, weighted down by his
cross, a living and staggering Christ,
scourged till the blood runs from him.
A SILVER of religious fervor passes
over the faithful. Mercy" penitent
cries aloud in pain. Every window is
a garden of tapers, candles and lights
whose flames flicker in the wind blow
gle with the piping of reeds, the noise
Of rattles and the winding of horns.
The crowd sobs and sways and wrings
It's hands and falls into prayer as,
following the Crucified one, the peni-
tents pass. The menSin sackcloth and
The women closely yelled do penance,
and their naked, torn feet bleed on the
stones of the road. Perchance beneath
heir cloaks of burlap noble ladies,
whose flaxen hair and white bodies
ire the love treasures of this sensu
,us and mystic Flanders, are paying
he ransom of a kiss
Mons, the home of the guardian
;aint of the British army, is the the
tier every year of the famous Lume-
'on display which ends the procession
# Ste. Waudru. At midday to the
olling of the great bell, otherwise 1
leard only as war alarm, St. <sfSge
ives battle to the dragon. After a
Ieadly combat, the dragon, according
o rite, crashes down in the dust, shot {
through the nostrils, and the devils
re chastised by the brave followers
f the victorious knight. Before en- :
ering the lists the tabled beast"
laws the crowd with mighty blows Of ;
lis tail. The people of Mons believe