bells
ring, and wreaths of incense fill the air, bands of music, squadrons
of cavalry, crucifixes, shrines, images, the banners of the parishes,
heralds in their varied dresses, bareheaded pilgrims from England,
France, and other countries, maidens in white, bearing palms or crowns
of thorn or garlands--priests and chanting choristers, move slowly
along, and, when the relic of the Holy Blood passes, all the people
sink to the ground. Bruges, usually so empty, is always crowded on
that day.

Seven or eight years ago at Lierre, a town near Antwerp, I saw three
processions in one month, each of which showed the Belgian fondness
for such things. One was the procession of St. Gommarius, the patron
saint of the town, when a golden shrine, said to contain his bones,
was carried through the streets, just as the relic of the Holy Blood
is carried through Bruges. There were a great many little children in
that procession, dressed as angels and saints--in white, pale green,
blue, crimson, and other colours. Some had wreaths of flowers on
their heads, and some carried lighted tapers. They all seemed proud of
taking part in the procession. The smallest, who were tiny mites, with
their mothers walking with them to take care of them, were very tired
at the end, for they had to walk slowly for hours on the hard stones,
stopping often before sacred images, when the priests burned incense,
and all the people went down on their knees. This, like that at
Bruges, is a religious procession, and there are many others of the
same kind all over Belgium.

Another procession was in honour of an old couple, who had been
married for fifty years. They were poor people, and the parish was
celebrating their "golden wedding." There was a service in the
Cathedral of St. Gommarius, and when that was finished the old man and
his wife were put in a carriage and four. They were neatly dressed,
and each had a large bouquet of yellow flowers. At the head of each
horse walked a young man, leading it by a long yellow ribbon. In front
of the carriage a band of musicians played, and behind it came a
number of peasants, all in their best clothes. They wore white cotton
gloves and yellow wedding-favours. The man and his wife, who were
evidently feeble as well as very old, seemed rather bored, but all the
people in the procession were in high spirits, for they were on their
way to a good dinner paid for by the parish.

A few nights after that there was a tremend