SIGHT-SEEING.
The boys found Antwerp a straggly town full of fine buildings and
galleries, but almost like a maze without a plan. Jutting right off even
the finest thoroughfares were slums, and they were advised to follow the
tram lines and keep off the more squalid of the streets.
Jack, who was quite a student, struck up a friendship with a bookish old
man whom the boys met while exploring the great Cathedral. From this
mentor, who, fortunately, could speak English,—French being the tongue
most heard in the capital of Belgium,—the boys learned much of the
history of the town.
Of course, as they already knew, he told them that Antwerp was the
sea-port of the Schelde estuary, and one of the youngest of the Belgian
great cities.
The name originally meant “At the Wharf,” their old friend told them,
and even in antiquity there was a small sea-port here, of which no
traces, however, remain. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, as
Europe quieted down, the city began to rise in importance. The large,
deep, open port floated the keels of vessels from all over Europe. Under
Charles the Fifth, Antwerp was probably even more prosperous and wealthy
than Venice, Queen of medieval sea-ports. The center of traffic was
shifting from the Mediterranean to the North Sea. In 1568 more than a
hundred craft arrived at, and sailed from, Antwerp daily.
It is to this period, so the old gentleman told the boys, that Antwerp
owes the cathedrals and other fine buildings, containing pictures and
objects of art, which still adorn it.
But the Cathedral itself is a mixture of different periods. Begun in the
middle of the fourteenth century, various parts were added till the
seventeenth.
The finest examples of the art of the two great painters, Quentin Matsys
and Rubens, are to be found in Antwerp. The works of many other painters
of minor importance, too, adorn the galleries and churches of the city
in great numbers.
The decline of Antwerp, if it can be so called, began in 1576, during
the attempt of the southern provinces of Flanders to throw off the yoke
of Spain. In that year a thousand fine buildings were burned, the town
hall razed and eight thousand persons massacred by fire and sword. In
1585 the famous Duke of Parma completed the destruction, and Antwerp
seemed to be completely crushed.
Then came the unhappy separation between Holland and Belgium. The Dutch
erected forts on their own territory at the mouth of the Schelde and
refused to allow ships to proceed up the estuary. Finally, in 1648, it
was agreed by a treaty that all ships should unload their goods for
Antwerp at a Dutch port, the freight being then transshipped to the
Belgian city by small river craft.
Naturally, this action proved a severe blow to Antwerp. Rotterdam and
Amsterdam took her place as commercial cities. In 1794, however, the
French, then in occupation, reopened navigation on the Schelde and
destroyed the commerce-killing forts at the mouth of the river.
The great Napoleon caused new quays and a harbor to be constructed, and
it began to look as though Antwerp were once more to enjoy some of her
pristine importance. But after Napoleon’s overthrow, the city underwent
another change in her fortunes. She was made over to Holland and thus
became, by a twist of fate, a Dutch sea-port.
Even when Antwerp became independent again in 1830, the Dutch still
maintained their heavy tolls on shipping. This was a constant drain on
the city which had already suffered much during the War of Independence
when it was subjected to a heavy siege.
In 1863, however, a large money payment bought off the Dutch
extortioners and Antwerp’s prosperity began to rise. As the boys’ friend
pointed out, the city was the natural outlet of the Schelde, and to some
extent of all the German Empire.
Since that time, so far as history is concerned, the rise of Antwerp to
her old place as one of the world’s great commercial centers has been
rapid. It was on this account, as the old man explained, that Antwerp
was such a strange jumble of the ancient and modern, for, until the
shipping embargo was lifted, she practically stood still in her
development.
The old man appeared to be very proud that Antwerp, unlike Brussels, had
retained her old Flemish ideas in spite of the march of her trade. He
told the boys that it would require at least four days to get a clear
idea of Antwerp, and after another day of exploration they began to
believe him.
But they made up their minds that they were going to be able to give the
folks at home a good account of the city, so they stuck to the task even
though Raynor did yawn over pictures of the Old Masters in dull colors
and frames. The young engineer was extremely practical, and loudly
declared in one of the galleries:—
“Well, that picture may be all right, but give me something with a
little ginger and color in it.”
“My, but you’re a vandal!” laughed Jack, consulting a catalogue. “That’s
one of the most famous pictures in Europe. It is by Rubens.”
“Guess I’m too much of a Rube-n to appreciate it, then,” was Raynor’s
comment.
But he was a methodical lad, as are most persons who have a mechanical
bent. He purchased and loyally used a small red note book, in which he
jotted down everything they saw, good, bad or indifferent. He soon had
one book full, when he promptly began on another, noting down whatever
was supposed to be of interest, whether he understood it or not.
The boys enjoyed sitting under the shady trees in the Place Verte,
surveying the scene. It is one of the few places in Antwerp from which a
clear view of the Cathedral can be obtained, mean-looking houses
shouldering up to the great structure and spoiling it from other points
of vision.
“Say, Jack,” exclaimed Raynor one evening as they walked rapidly
shipward, “I’m getting tired of moldy old cathedrals and rusty old
galleries full of Rubes,—beg pardon, I mean Rubens; can’t we do
something more lively?”
“What would you suggest?” asked Jack.
“Oh, let’s take a few trips around. Another canal boat ride, for
instance, or something like that.”
“That would be fine but for one consideration,” said Jack.
“And what is that?”
“Funds, old boy, dollars and cents. I don’t know about you, but I’m
pretty well down to my limit.”
“Same here. Say, you’ve got to be rich to enjoy these places, Jack.”
“I begin to think so, too,” declared his chum.
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