celebrations of every sort. WRITTEN FOR THE MENTOR BY RUTH KEDZIE WOOD ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 8, No. 3, SERIAL No. 199 COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION. INC. [Illustration: GUILD HOUSES OF THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURIES SURROUND THIS ANCIENT SQUARE FLOWER MARKET ON THE GRAND PLACE, BRUSSELS] _BELGIUM_ _Town Life_ FIVE It is befitting that a city more than fourteen hundred years of age should present many dignified aspects--that its buildings should be wreathed in the mists of antiquity, and that its traditions should be hallowed. Brussels--“a manor near the marsh”--is shrined in a niche of the ages, its pre-medieval garments clothe it richly. Yet the manners of the Belgian capital are modern, and the life there, while based on Flemish custom, is compared, with reservations, to the life of Paris. The presence of the Court at the Royal Palace near the center of the city, and at Laeken, the favorite residence of the King and Queen, distant a few miles in the country, has its effect upon the conduct of Brussels society. However, the city is largely given over to middle-class habits and its chief pleasures are centered in the home. It is the custom for nearly everyone in the city to rise soon after daybreak. Housekeepers, even those highly placed in the Brussels world, go early to market. Beneath the florid gables of the _Grand’ Place_, white-capped farm-women sit behind their stalls of dewy vegetables and cheese and butter and home-grown posies, while the noise of barking dray-dogs, stabled in a neighboring street, obtrudes upon the bargaining. The men are in their places of business by half-past eight. At noon all Brussels dines, heavily and well; food prices, in peace times, are never excessive. After supper those that seek diversion outside their homes visit the Flemish and French theaters, or the Opera, or they go to a café where, over a convivial cup or glass, they listen to a well-chosen program of orchestral and organ music. Sometimes a member of the Opera company appears, or an instrumentalist in popular favor. The checker-board is in evidence; some of the patrons write letters, others read native and foreign journals, supplied by the management.… By half-past ten the room begins to empty. The good burghers of Brussels, their wives and their children take their way homeward, and to bed. Religious fetes and historical pageants are enjoyed with true Flemish zest. One of the things the plain people of Brussels like best to do is to dress in the costume of various periods the quaint “manneken” that surmounts a fountain behind the City Hall. This little bronze figure has been alternately decked with the colors of conquerors and revolutionists since it was erected just three hundred years ago. In the year of Our Lord 1918 it put off forever, let us hope, the insignia of the Teutons for the Belgian red, yellow and black.