That to-day Flanders has once more, as so often in the past, become the battleground of warring Europe gives an element of inexpressible sadness to these feeble attempts to sketch its glories as they were only a few short months ago. Already some of the splendid monuments described in these pages have been shattered by engines of war more destructive than all those of all former wars taken together. The noble Hotel de Ville at Ypres, the fine old church of St. Nicholas at Dixmude, the incomparable cathedral of Malines--we know that these at least have suffered fearfully, that they may have been injured beyond any hope of restoration. In this last sad chapter of Flemish history, it is a pleasure to be able to record the fact that the people of the United States have for the first time entered its pages--and in a work of mercy. To the American people have been given the opportunity, the means and the disposition to play a noble part in this later history of much troubled Flanders--to feed the starving, care for the widowed and orphaned non-combatants of the great war, to help bind up the nation's wounds and restore hope and courage to its fearfully afflicted people. This is our part in the history of Flanders--our duty to the people of the brave nation of which Flanders forms so important and so famous a part. May all of those on whom the spell of Flanders falls do their share, however small, to help in this great work so long as the need lasts! And when the great war is over let no American tourist omit Flanders from his or her European itinerary. Its churches and town halls, its quaint crooked streets and sixteenth-century houses, have received a new and greater baptism of fire that has made them, one and all, shrines to which every lover of liberty should make a pilgrimage. Even the pleasant Belgian fields, with their bright poppies and corn flowers, have a more profound interest now that so many of them have been stained with a deeper red than the poppies ever gave. THE END BIBLIOGRAPHY ALLEN, GRANT: Belgium: Its Cities. ALTMEYER: Des Causes de la Décadence du Comptoir hanséatique de Bruges. ARMSTRONG, EDWARD: Emperor Charles V. BALAU, S.: Soixante-dix Ans d'Histoire contemporaine de Belgique. BOULGER, DEMETRIUS C.: Belgian Life in Town and Country. -- Belgium of the Belgians. -- The History of Belgium. BUMPUS, T. F.: Cathedrals and Churches of Belgium. CHARRIANT, H.: La Belgique Moderne. CHRISTYN, J. B.: Les Délices des Pays-Bas. CONSCIENCE, HENRI (or HENDRYK): De Kerels van Vlaanderen (The Lion of Flanders). -- Many of the other works of this great Flemish author have been translated into English, French or German. CONWAY: Early Flemish Artists. CROWE, SIR J. A. and CAVALCASELLE, C. B.: The Early Flemish Painters, Notices of their lives and work. DE FLOU, CHARLES: Promenades dans Bruges.