BELGIUMTown Life
FIVE
It is befitting that a city more than fourteen hundred years of age should present many dignified aspects—that its buildings should be wreathed in the mists of antiquity, and that its traditions should be hallowed. Brussels—“a manor near the marsh”—is shrined in a niche of the ages, its pre-medieval garments clothe it richly. Yet the manners of the Belgian capital are modern, and the life there, while based on Flemish custom, is compared, with reservations, to the life of Paris. The presence of the Court at the Royal Palace near the center of the city, and at Laeken, the favorite residence of the King and Queen, distant a few miles in the country, has its effect upon the conduct of Brussels society. However, the city is largely given over to middle-class habits and its chief pleasures are centered in the home.
It is the custom for nearly everyone in the city to rise soon after daybreak. Housekeepers, even those highly placed in the Brussels world, go early to market. Beneath the florid gables of theGrand’ Place, white-capped farm-women sit behind their stalls of dewy vegetables and cheese and butter and home-grown posies, while the noise of barking dray-dogs, stabled in a neighboring street, obtrudes upon the bargaining. The men are in their places of business by half-past eight. At noon all Brussels dines, heavily and well; food prices, in peace times, are never excessive. After supper those that seek diversion outside their homes visit the Flemish and French theaters, or the Opera, or they go to a café where, over a convivial cup or glass, they listen to a well-chosen program of orchestral and organ music. Sometimes a member of the Opera company appears, or an instrumentalist in popular favor. The checker-board is in evidence; some of the patrons write letters, others read native and foreign journals, supplied by the management.… By half-past ten the room begins to empty. The good burghers of Brussels, their wives and their children take their way homeward, and to bed.
Religious fetes and historical pageants are enjoyed with true Flemish zest. One of the things the plain people of Brussels like best to do is to dress in the costume of various periods the quaint “manneken” that surmounts a fountain behind the City Hall. This little bronze figure has been alternately decked with the colors of conquerors and revolutionists since it was erected just three hundred years ago. In the year of Our Lord 1918 it put off forever, let us hope, the insignia of the Teutons for the Belgian red, yellow and black.
In all but the city’s largest shops, women are in sole charge. Their husbands and fathers are usually occupied in positions deemed more worthy of masculine endeavor. The children are in school; a daughter of talent is studying at the famous Royal Conservatory; the son may be away learning to be a sailor or a doctor or a soldier. Nearly everybody works at one thing or another. People of leisure ride and motor in the fashionable Avenue Louise in the afternoon, and take refreshment at the “Dairy,” amid the green delights of the principal city park—the “Wood of Cambre.” In the restaurants the wife of the proprietor is behind the cashier’s desk, and in brisk and friendly fashion plays the part of hostess to the patrons of the establishment.
The most vital interest in the estimate of Belgians of all classes is their home life. Certainly there are no people more industrious in the preservation of family traditions. Strangers are often surprised to learn that the old-time phrase, “East, West, Home’s Best,” originated, not with the Anglo-Saxons, but with the Flemish.
In Antwerp, quays are brisk with sailors, many of them in picturesquely uncouth costumes. At the Flemish Theater, subsidized by the Government, and at the Opera, the city’s rich betray the fondness of their race for jewels and brocaded dress stuffs. Sometimes, as one gazes at a gorgeously appareled lady of Antwerp, one of Van Dyck’s paintings seems to have come to life. The most favored resort is the Zoological Garden where music and a sprightly restaurant attract the pleasure-loving Antwerpers, and tourists who wish to see the vivid city at its gayest. At the late sunset hour in the summertime, the people of Antwerp are also fond of going to the Kursaal on the bank of “the massive and lethargic Scheldt,” there to enjoy sky pictures of uncommon magnificence.
Nearly all the populous communities of Belgium give enthusiastic attention to the development of water sports, football, hockey and horse-racing. The young Flemings of progressive Ghent, to the consternation of the English, have more than once carried off honors for rowing at the Henley Regatta, the classic event of the Thames.
Liège, mistress of industrial and intellectual Wallonia, has her vivacious side, too. Her children are devoted to music and pageantry, and delight in out-of-door festivals. Well-to-do residents build their mansions in the hills of the suburbs, and thus combine city and rural pleasures. Often they travel to Brussels and Ostend, where the ladies of Liège are much admired for their brunette attractions, and the men for their Gallic wit and gallant manners.
WRITTEN FOR THE MENTOR BY RUTH KEDZIE WOODILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 8, No. 3, SERIAL No. 199COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION. INC.
IN THE COURT ROOM OF THE PALACE OF JUSTICE. BRUGES“CHIMNEY PIECE OF THE FRANK” (Executed in 1529-30)
IN THE COURT ROOM OF THE PALACE OF JUSTICE. BRUGES
“CHIMNEY PIECE OF THE FRANK” (Executed in 1529-30)