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 the _Grand’ 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 WOOD
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 8, No. 3, SERIAL No. 199
COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION. INC.
[Illustration: IN THE COURT ROOM OF THE PALACE OF JUSTICE. BRUGES
“CHIMNEY PIECE OF THE FRANK” (EXECUTED IN 1529-30)]
_BELGIUM_
_Early Flemish Art_