The Project Gutenberg EBook of Vanished towers and chimes of Flanders, by
George Wharton Edwards

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Title: Vanished towers and chimes of Flanders

Author: George Wharton Edwards

Release Date: March 9, 2009 [EBook #28288]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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Transcriber's Note

The punctuation and spelling from the original text have been faithfully
preserved. Only obvious typographical errors have been corrected.

[Illustration: The Great Cloth Hall: Ypres]

[Illustration:

VANISHED TOWERS and CHIMES of FLANDERS

_Written and Pictured by_ George Wharton Edwards

The Penn Publishing Company 1916

_PHILADELPHIA_]

COPYRIGHT

1916 BY

GEORGE

WHARTON

EDWARDS

Vanished Towers and Chimes of Flanders

FOREWORD

The unhappy Flemish people, who are at present much in the lime-light,
because of the invasion and destruction of their once smiling and happy
little country, were of a character but little known or understood by
the great outside world. The very names of their cities and towns
sounded strangely in foreign ears.

Towns named Ypres, Courtrai, Alost, Furnes, Tournai, were in the
beginning of the invasion unpronounceable by most people, but little by
little they have become familiar through newspaper reports of the
barbarities said to have been practised upon the people by the invaders.
Books giving the characteristics of these heroic people are eagerly
sought. Unhappily these are few, and it would seem that these very
inadequate and random notes of mine upon some phases of the lives of
these people, particularly those related to architecture, and the music
of their renowned chimes of bells, might be useful.

That the Fleming was not of an artistic nature I found during my
residence in these towns of Flanders. The great towers and wondrous
architectural marvels throughout this smiling green flat landscape
appealed to him not at all. He was not interested in either art, music,
or literature. He was of an