The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1947-11-28

he is 1880 years old.
This is one reason for the large
signs painted in both French and
Flemish, topped with Belgian
flags, to be seen all over Brus.
sells, reading: Don't Be A Suck
er! Don't Buy At Just ANY Price
from ANYBODY. Buy everything
a. Normal Prices"
The businessman SCOTS at this
as propaganda" Nobody" he
says, pays any attention to it
For if you NEED the goods. and
the supply is short, you pay what
ii takes to get it. If the supply
is large and you think the price
is too high, you can always 90
somewhere else. The answer To
initiation is production and more
production. We've got to keep
working"
That determination to work
and work hard pervades the en-
tire population. 1t is evident in
as small a plac cas- Louvain, Just
a few miles from BRUSSELS. A
part of this town was almost to-
tally destroyed, principally by
the Allies. The Germans had
shelled it first, but the greatest
damage came when the Ameri-
cans struck. in the mistaken be-
lief that the Germans were there.
ii 1914, a part of the town was
a shambles, just one series of
bombed out shells of houses and
ruined factories. Today you must
look hard 70 see the ruins, for the
damaged portion of the city is be-
I'M! rapidly rebuilt, with bricks
and NJ tar. 1t is not unusual to
see a new front, the window
glass still to be installed, the
women and children of the fam
lily chipping the mortar off the
old bricks from the former struc-
ture, while the father and sons
build up the masonry from the
old materials.
They are SO well along in Lou
vain that, while food packages
and other forms of American
relief are welcome and still ne
cessary, when these Belgians
start to talk with you, they
speak of the hard times they have
been through during the war
years. You hear little discussion
of present suffering. They feel
in their hearts that they are COM
ing out of their troubles, and are
deeply proud that they have been
able to build so fast.
There are other sections of
Belgium which are in much
worse condition than Louvain
and Brussels, where much re-
building remains to be done, for
the destruction was much more
complete. In these areas food
and clothing from America is
even more welcome and neces-
sary than in Louvain. But the
after city is indicative of Bel
gian industriousness and Belgian
determination TO rebuild and re-
build fast. I
In company with officials of
CARE, Inc, an American relief
agency, | visited three homes in
Louvain. We were. escorted by a
secretary of a group of bomb
ed out families, who said the food
was no necessary that he would
not dare to distribute all his
packages in one part of the city
only, for fear that he would be
accused of Partially.
In the first of the three homes,
we found a family of seven, two
grandparents, the father, mother
and three children, living in a
part of building which had
been a stable. There were two
sleeping rooms and a kitchen,
the marks of the war still upon
the liVable part of the building,
but every inch of it was as clean
as a newly washed dish. The
walls were whiteWashed, the
floors scrubbed clean. The peo-
pie themselves were neatly
dressed in working clothes, for
they were all busy in making
the repairs. They looked happy
and well fed. The children were
the chubbiest and happlest
have seen so far in Europe.
At the rear of the home was
a small henhouse, and a small
garden-itself indicative OF now
Europeans use every available
inch of arabic land. This one
was bounded by espalier fruit
trees Gotten used in the States for
decorative purposes, but in Eu-
rope to conserve garden space),
which are a two dimenslonal
variety of the fruit trees we
know. BY careful pruning the
branches of these trees are made
10 grow in a series of us, SO
that they can be grown flat
against a wall, no branches In
front or in back. This takes less
space. In the garden also were
potatoes, tomatoes, greens, on
ions and other vegetables-and a
stable patch of flowers
A second home was sun IN
very bad shape, the front pretty
well smashed in, so that the only
occupancy could be in the rear;
rLin u,ac q tmn-stnrY house, and