Peeps at Many Lands: Belgium | Page 9

A flower-market is held in the Grande Place, and in summer, when the

sun is shining brightly, it is a very pretty sight. But the best time to see
the Grande Place of Brussels is at night, when all is silent, and the tall
houses look solemnly down on the scene of many great events which
took place there long ago.
I cannot tell you one-half of all there is to see in Brussels--the beautiful
churches, the picture-galleries and museums, the splendid old library,
and the gardens. The largest building is a modern one, the Palais de
Justice, where the law courts sit. It cost nearly £2,000,000 to build, and
is much bigger than anything in London. It stands on an eminence
overlooking the lower part of the town, and is so huge that it may
almost be said to make the capital of this tiny kingdom look top-heavy.
There are many other towns in Belgium besides those we have been
looking at: Louvain, with its ancient University; Liége and Charleroi,
with their steel and iron works; Courtrai, celebrated for the manufacture
of linen; Tournai, where carpets are made; Mons, with its coal-mines;
and more besides, which all lie within the narrow limits of this small
country. Most of them have played a great part in history. Belgium is,
above all things, a country of famous towns.
When you wander about among the towns of Flanders and Brabant you
might think that the whole of Belgium was one level plain. But if you
leave Brussels and journey to the south, the aspect of the country
changes. Beyond the Forest of Soignies the tame, flat fields, the formal
rows of trees, and the long, straight roads begin to disappear, the
landscape becomes more picturesque, and soon you reach a river called
the Meuse, which flows along through a romantic valley, full of quiet
villages, gardens, woods, and hayfields, and enclosed by steep slopes
clothed with trees and thickets, and broken here and there by dells,
ravines, and bold, outstanding pinnacles of rock, beyond which, for
mile after mile, an undulating tableland is covered by thick forests,
where deer, wild boars, and other game abound. This district is called
the Ardennes.
In the Valley of the Meuse there are three old and famous towns--Liége,
Namur, and Dinant--each nestling at the side of the river, at the foot of
a hill with a castle perched upon it.

Other rivers flow into the Meuse. There is the Sambre, which runs from
the west, and joins the Meuse at Namur; the Lesse, which rushes in
from the south through a narrow gorge; and the Semois, a stream the
sides of which are so steep that there is not even a pathway along them
in some places, and travellers must pass from side to side in boats when
following its course.
This is the prettiest part of Belgium, and in summer many people, who
do not care for going to the seaside, spend the holidays at the towns and
villages which are dotted about in the valleys and among the hills and
woods.
CHAPTER V
BELGIAN CHILDREN: THE "PREMIÈRE COMMUNION"
The Belgians may be divided, roughly speaking, into five classes of
people. There are those of the highest rank, who are called the grande,
or vraie, noblesse. Of these there are not many, but they belong to old
families, some of which have been famous in the history of their
country. They have often fine country-houses, and the towns in which
you will find them most often are Brussels and Ghent. Then come those
of a much lower class, the petite noblesse, of whom there are very
many. They seldom mix in society with the grande noblesse, and their
friends are generally members of the haute, or bonne, bourgeoisie. The
bonne bourgeoisie are like our middle class, and there is no difference
between them and the petite noblesse as to the way in which they live.
Below these are the petite bourgeoisie, who are mostly shopkeepers,
clerks, and people in various employments. Last of all are the artisans
and working-class people.
It is about the children of the bonne bourgeoisie that I am going to
speak, for they are a very numerous class, and their customs are in
many respects the same as those of most Belgians.
When a child is born, the parents should send to all their friends a box
of dragees--that is, sugared almonds or sugar-plums. If the child is a
boy, the box is tied with pink ribbons; and if it is a girl, with blue.

Cards announcing the birth of a child are often sent nowadays, but the
real old Belgian fashion is to send the dragees, and it is a great pity that
people are giving it up so much.
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