Peeps at Many Lands: Belgium
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Peeps at Many Lands - George W. T. Omond
George W. T. Omond
Peeps at Many Lands: Belgium
Published by Good Press, 2022
goodpress@okpublishing.info
EAN 4064066178529
Table of Contents
BELGIUM
CHAPTER I
THE SANDS OPPOSITE ENGLAND
CHAPTER II
INLAND: THE FLEMISH PLAIN
CHAPTER III
TRAVELLING IN BELGIUM
CHAPTER IV
SOME OF THE TOWNS: THE ARDENNES
CHAPTER V
BELGIAN CHILDREN: THE PREMIÈRE COMMUNION
CHAPTER VI
CHRISTMAS IN BELGIUM
CHAPTER VII
NEW YEAR'S DAY
CHAPTER VIII
PAGEANTS AND PROCESSIONS
CHAPTER IX
THE STORY OF ST. EVERMAIRE: A COUNTRY PAGEANT
CHAPTER X
THE CARNIVAL
CHAPTER XI
CHILDREN'S WINTER FESTIVALS
CHAPTER XII
THE ARCHERS: GAMES PLAYED IN BELGIUM
CHAPTER XIII
WHAT THE BELGIANS SPEAK
CHAPTER XIV
A SHORT HISTORY
CHAPTER XV
THE BELGIAN ARMY: THE CONGO
LIST OF VOLUMES IN THE PEEPS AT MANY LANDS SERIES
EACH CONTAINING 12 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
THE WORLD
PUBLISHED BY ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK
SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.
OTHER BOOKS
FOR
BOYS & GIRLS
ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR LIKE THE
PEEPS AT MANY LANDS
PRICE 3/ 6 EACH
PUBLISHED BY A. AND C. BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.
BELGIUM
Table of Contents
CHAPTER I
Table of Contents
THE SANDS OPPOSITE ENGLAND
Table of Contents
If you leave the mouth of the Thames, or the white chalk cliffs at Dover, and sail over the water just where the English Channel meets the North Sea, you will in about three or four hours see before you a long expanse of yellow sand, and rising behind it a low ridge of sandhills, which look in the distance like a range of baby mountains. These sandhills are called dunes.
Here and there at intervals you will see a number of little towns, each town standing by itself on the shore, and separated from its neighbour by a row of dunes and a stretch of sand.
This is your first view of the little country called Belgium, which is bounded on the east by Holland, and on the west by France. It is, from end to end, about half the size of Ireland.
There are no cliffs or rocks, no shingle or stones covered with seaweed. There are no trees. It is all bare sand, with moss and rushes on the higher ground above the beach. In winter the wind rages with terrific violence along the coast. The sand is blown in all directions, and the waves dash fiercely on the shore. It is cold and stormy, with mist and dark clouds, and sometimes violent showers of hail. But in summer all is changed. Often, week after week, the waves roll gently in, and break in ripples on the beach. The sky is blue, and the sands are warm. It is the best place in the world for digging and building castles. There are very few shells to gather; but there are no dangerous rocks or slippery places, and children can wade about and play in perfect safety. So many families—Belgians, English, Germans, and a few French—spend the summer holidays there.
Hundreds of years ago the storms of winter used to drive the waves ashore with such violence that the land was flooded, and whole villages were sometimes swept away. So the people made ramparts of earth to keep back the water, till by degrees many parts of the Belgian shore were thus protected. They still continue to build defences against the sea; but instead of earth they now use brick and stone. It looks as if in a few years the whole coast will be lined by these sea-fronts, which are called digues de mer.
A digue, no matter how thick, which rests on the sand alone will not last. A thick bed of green branches is first laid down as a foundation. This is strengthened by posts driven through it into the sand. Heavy timbers, resting on bundles of branches lashed together, are wedged into the foundations, and slope inwards and upwards to within a few feet of the height to which it is intended to carry the digue. On the top another solid bed of branches is laid down, and the whole is first covered with concrete, and then with bricks or tiles, while the top of the digue, at the edge of the seaward slope, is composed of heavy blocks of stone cemented together and bound by iron rivets.
The finest and longest digue is that which extends from Ostend for about nine miles. It is a good place for bicycle rides. No motor-cars are allowed on it.
Each of the little towns which you see dotted along the coast has a digue of its own, on which there is a row of villas and hotels facing the sea. Among the dunes behind the digue there are more villas. These are generally very picturesque, with verandas, red-tiled roofs, and brightly painted woodwork.
All day long in summer the digue of each town is crowded by people walking about in the sunshine, or sitting watching the bathers and the children playing on the sands. It is a very gay sight. There are prizes for those who build the best castles, and it is curious to see hundreds of little Belgian, English, French, and German flags flying on these small forts, and to hear the children shouting to each other in so many different languages. It makes one think of the Tower of Babel.
From six in the morning till six in the evening bathing-machines go to and from the water, and often there seem to be as many people in the sea as on the shore. There is a boat anchored a little way out, in which two men in red shirts, with ropes and lifebelts, sit watching to see that no one goes too far out, for the tide is often very strong. Sometimes these men, who are called sauveteurs, stand on the sand, and if they think anyone is swimming too far they blow a trumpet to call the swimmer back.
In the evening, when it is dark and the lamps are lighted, there is dancing on the digue to the music of a barrel-organ. The Belgians are very fond of this dancing, and often the English and other visitors join in it too.
All summer this holiday life goes on, with bathing, lawn-tennis, and in some places golf, till at last the time comes for going home. The hotels and villas close their doors. The windows are boarded up. The bathing-machines are pulled away from the beach, and put