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SILENT WATERWAYS OF ANCIENT BRUGES
BUSY GHENT, WHICH ONCE OUTRANKED LONDON
blue flower of the flax. Flat on the soil are the bleaching grounds, and rising on the horizon
are stacks of the stalks, rich in silky threads. From the fibre is woven Belgium's far-
famed lace, tapestry, linen and cloth. It was the Walloons and other Netherlanders in
the army and civil service of William of Orange who introduced linen manufacture and the
art of making lace into Treland.
Courtrai was formerly a great lace town. Ask for “‘dentelles,’’ and in the larger shops
or the beguinages (old ladies’ nunneries), a notable feature of Belgium, you will find the
choicest specimens; and in the side streets, courts and alleys may still be seen young and old
women at work with their lace pillows and bobbins before the doors of their homes. Courtrai
also has a considerable business in pottery.
Courtrai has an interesting church, an ancient town hall in which are two fine specimens
of old, carved stone mantels, and in the square a brick belfry, a remaining fragment of an
ancient cloth ball. Courtrai is proud of her battle ground of the Golden Spurs, where weavers
on foot defeated knights charging on horseback.
DINANT
Dinant, on the right bank of the River Meuse, among the hills of Namur province, is a
favorite town with tourists, by reason of its romantic situation, with the walls of its historic
citadel rising high on a cliff directly above its roofs. In the citadel may be seen memorials to
the French and English who perished here in August, 1914, as well as a cometery, with head-
stones neatly preserved, to German soldiers who died here during the Great War.
Dinant is famous throughout Belgium for its hammered copper and brass ware, known
as ‘‘dinanderie,”’ the art of making which originated here centuries ago. Examples of this
work, bought in the shops where they are made, are excellent souvenirs of travel. On the
outskirts of Dinant, beside the river, is a natural curiosity in the form of a needle of rock 180
feet high, known as the Rock of Bayard, with which is connected the classic legend of the
magic steed of the four sons of Aymon.
No visit to Dinant would be quite complete that omitted a view of the famous Chateau
de Walzin, and a luncheon or a night at the beautiful Chateau des Ardennes, among the hills,
the latter about 15 kilometers from Dinant at an altitude of 1,000 feet. Formerly a residence
of Leopold II, it is situated in a magnificent royal park and for a night or longer the tourist
may feel the thrill of the environment, amid the most beautiful surroundings, and if so
minded can play golf on an eighteen-hole course that is sporty and well kept.
From Dinant the journey to Namur may be pleasantly made in fine weather by steamer
in about three hours, there being four locks on the way.
GHENT
The ancient capital of East Flanders, Ghent, is a thriving industrial city of 166,000 inhab-
itants, with many splendid monuments to an opulent past. We are told that Ghent had
250,000 inhabitants when London had but 50,000 and that once it was the chief trade centre
as well as the largest town in Europe—for strange as it may seem today, it was not termed a
city. In those days, a “city’’ was where a bishop lived, and Ghent had none.
Ghent’s outstanding feature has ever been that of industry, especially in weaving. It is
now the chief cotton and flax spinning center in Belgium, its mills employing some 20,000
hands. It is also noted as ‘“‘the floral capital of Europe,’ its gardeners, who raise seeds and
bulbs for the markets of the world, exceeding in skill those of Holland. To see the flower
fields of Ghent is to gaze upon one of the richest and most seductive creations of nature.
Having many ancient buildings, with a venerable abbey, a fine old city hall, a cathedral,
a university and a museum of paintings, Ghent is a place to enrich the mind of the student,
and to afford a pleasing stay to the traveler. An information bureau for tourists, maintained
at public expense, and well managed, will be found in a central location.
Ghent has a striking belfry, standing alone, with a magnificent old cloth hall beside it.
The tower is of light stone, of commanding height, and contains a set of chimes embracing 52
bells, the largest of which, the Roland, weighs six tons. To many eyes this belfry is more
peautiful than that at Bruges. ‘But we have no Longfellow,’’ says the keeper of the gate.
™wo other great things of many to be seen at Ghent are the famous painting by the Van
others in the cathedral of St. Bavon, entitled ‘‘The Adoration of the Lamb,” and
the ruined castle of the Counts of Flanders, dating from the 9th century. Grim and
imposing are the battlemented towers of this old stronghold, hoary with age and eloquent
with legend. The most sluggish fancy could people it again with the knights and ladies,
the courtiers and lackeys of a bygone age; with prisoners who languished in its dungeons and
with fair maids who waved adieu from its walls to their crusading lovers.
Ghent has one building of particularly interesting associations for Americans, It is the
house in which the treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain was signed
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