Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-01-14

they invaded the country. On
August they bon2ba-dct the forts
OF Liege with the biggest guns ever
known up 10 that time. and within
week tire" OF these forts had sur
rendered. In the meanwhile tie Brit
isil had walked up and We're pouring
in soldiers. the French were massed
along their froutIc-, and tie five Ger
man armies Wero so delayed by little
Belgium that Paris was saved and
the war eventually won by US and
the allies.
After entering belgium the Ger
man forces divided. Some came or
ana occupied Brussels and thence
made thcl: way 10 Ma.incs and Lou
vain TO be@ip the short seige of Ant
wcrp. Another force successfully
bombarded Nan1ur liz tho valley OF
the Meu.;o, and on the 2od OF Angus:
cane the great battle of the Mons,
where the British with 5000 in
fantry. 10000 cavalry and S12 guns.
engaged 30O.000 Germans and were
gradually driven back step by step
until they reached the Marine. But
that is a part Of the story OF France.
A FTER the battle Of Mons most of
"A Belgium was evacuated by the
British and French. Brussels had al
ready been taken over by the Ger
mans two days before, Malines had
been destroyed by big guns. the ca
thedral of Louvain battered and its
library OF valuable manuscripts and
100000 volumes Systematically
burned, and the troops were besieg-
ing Antwerp which was held by the
Belgians under King Albert.
During the bonbardmcnt of Ma
lines and Louvain hundreds of bust
ness buildings and private dwellings,
were reduced to dust and the same
was true of few hundred structures
in Antwerp itself. During my travels
/ have visited each of these cities.
Many Of tho buildings have been re-
stored and in some cases much bet
ter ones created. The streets Of Lou
vain are still filled with construc-
ton material. and a network Of scat
folding poles, tied together with
ropes, runs around the cathedral and
the old library. and as far as the
modern city is concerned the town
will soon be in better shape than ever
before. The new private buildings
are artistic. Many Of them are of
white stone and some have their
walls decorated with carvings. All
are In harmony with the old sur
Poundings.
Louvain's new ruillin- dollar library,
the funds of which are being raised
hSy Il L.,
the United States, Is going up and Is
TO be completed in 1925. 1t is not on
the site of the old one, but faces the
Place du Peuple, which is filled with
old forest trees and there are large
flower beds In one Of the squares at
the side. The design is by Whitney
Warren, an American architect and
the building harmonizes with the
typical architecture of Belgium 1t
will have two stories with a high
ridged roof above which huge bell
tower will rise. Across the front are
to be sunk great letters reading,
"IFurore Teutonica Diruta, Dona
Americana Restituta" which means
Destroyed by Teutonic Fury, Re-
stored by Americas Gift" When
visited 1t last week the foundation
of one corner had been laid and the
brick and stone construction had
risen to tho first floor. Great quanti-
ties Of red structural steel imported
from America lay hero and there in
side the high board fence which sur
rounds the site. The stone cutters
were busy and gangs of nasons were
at work. The building covers a full
square OF ground. 1t is on the high
est land in the city and its tower will
be seen for miles over the country.
On my way to Antwerp I saw the
place where the guns which sent
shells as big around as -four bar
rel q distance OF ten miles into that
city were mounted. The site, am
told, had been dxed by the Germans
before the war. They were set up
or the foundation OF q wooden villa
which covered a bed of reinforced
concrete of great thickness. The
villa was taken away and these huge
eswentsen-ineh guns, whose enor-
nous size astounded the world, were
placed there. The bomhardnentl lasted