Copyright, Keystone View Co. Inc.
THE SHORE AT OSTEND
In West Flanders
With the names of many places in the province of West Flanders, the despatches of war have acquainted us. Battered Audenarde; proud Ypres, held first by the Germans and then so long and so stubbornly by Haig’s men; Dixmude; the Yser Canal that flowed crimson to the sea; Nieuport, Westende, Middelkerke, leveled like wheat before the mower; Ostend, whose leisurely crowds were scattered before the gray tidal wave that swept across these lowlands, leaving a swath 70,000 acres broad of ruined farms and villages. It is proposed not to attempt the resurrection of the city of Ypres, but to leave as they are the shell-torn walls, the cluttered streets, and the wreck of the superb Cloth Hall, with its massive reach of wall and roof and belfry, as a place of pilgrimage in years to come. In the thirteenth century Ypres flourished as a cloth-weaving center, with a population of over 200,000. At the beginning of the World War it had about 18,000 inhabitants, most of whom were engaged in the making and marketing of Valenciennes lace.
No one that roams today the quaintly narrowed streets of Bruges, or stands upon its many bridges gazing upon the green of quiet waters, where swans drift and storied towers cast their shadows, would guess that traders from far Novgorod and the cities of Persia, from Spain and all the countries of Europe once animated its highways. Every ruler, every industry, every craft and art that contributed to the dowering of Bruges left upon it some well-graved mark, which Time has not erased. In the old quarters—and there are few new ones—there is scarcely a street that does not offer some reward to the sight-seeker—some fretted casement or sculptured entrance-way, some gracefully designed structure that has a special story of its own, and gives shelter to works of art beyond price. Rising benevolently above the great square is the quadrangular belfry tower, as lofty as it is historic, that Longfellow has made familiar to us all.
Copyright Underwood & Underwood
KING ALBERT AND QUEEN ELIZABETH OF BELGIUM
SUPPLEMENTARY READING
| THE SPELL OF BELGIUM | By Isabel Anderson |
| THE SPELL OF FLANDERS | By Edward N. Vose |
| BELGIUM OF THE BELGIANS | By D. C. Boulger |
| THE BELGIANS AT HOME | By Clive Holland |
| VANISHED TOWERS AND CHIMES OF FLANDERS | Written and illustrated by George Wharton Edwards |
| THE HEART OF EUROPE | By Ralph Cram |
| BELGIUM | Text by Hugh Stokes; illustrations by Frank Brangwyn |
| BELGIUM | By Brand Whitlock |
| BELGIUM, LAND OF ART | By W. E. Griffis |
| CONTEMPORARY BELGIAN LITERATURE | By Jethro Bithell |