On Friday, the 22nd of November, Brussels fulfilled the German prophecy in a manner little expected by those who made it, for the city really appeared the “bouquet of the war,” a radiant, triumphant, glorious bouquet! Victories have been, and victories may be again, but never in all history has a capital rebounded from long suppression under such brilliant, unexampled, and ravishing conditions. As though the Power ruling heaven were in sympathy with her deliverance, a sky of Italian-like beauty canopied the day—the first really blue and cloudless sky we had seen for months—the air was crisp and transparent, the sun glorious. From every window, every balcony, floated the colours of the Allies: Belgian, English, French, Italian, Russian, Japanese, and the “stars and stripes.” Many of these flags were home-made; sheets dyed and put together with feverish haste, for materials of all sorts were long since exhausted in Belgium, and the flags available were sold at a price beyond the means of most people. A German merchant of Bonn, with the opportunist cleverness of his race, had prepared a vast number of Allied flags, in time to meet, more or less, the eager demand all through Belgium. But (a fact which suggests the enterprising Teuton must have formed his scheme before America came in) there was a great dearth of American flags. These, consequently, being mostly home-made, were sometimes rather woeful imitations of the great banner, for their colours ran together lamentably during later days of rain. Mention of the flag-making German recalls a significant incident which occurred in the first year of war, when quantities of toys, all made to appeal strongly to Belgian sentiments, and said to have come from Nuremberg, appeared for sale in Brussels at Christmas-time. Among these expensive playthings were regiments of lead German soldiers in the act of surrender to their enemies, with hands uplifted as depicted in the Allied reports after the Marne! These drew many buyers, but the crowds that gathered about them finally attracted official attention, whereupon the toys were confiscated, while the shop which sold them was forced to close and subjected to a heavy fine.