When we first announced our intention to spend a Summer in Flanders many friends protested, "But you do not speak Flemish--how do you expect to get along?" Right here it may be stated that this bugbear proved without foundation. Even in Ypres, where our Belgian acquaintances said we surely would have trouble, we found only two or three of those with whom we had occasion to converse who did not understand French at least well enough to give us the information we required. On a few occasions, when touring the poorer quarters of some old Flemish town, we were non-plussed for a moment, but the children helped us out in these emergencies by running off eagerly to find some one who spoke French. Everywhere we found the people accommodating and courteous, never surly as one author says those he met in these very same towns were when he visited them half a dozen years ago. To be sure, our visits seldom took us into the very little towns, where, no doubt, Flemish is often spoken exclusively--as our experience in Nieuport showed. The most curious fact about the little Kingdom of Belgium is that it is sharply bi-lingual, the line of demarcation between the French and the Flemish speaking provinces running across the country from southwest to northeast a little to the south of Brussels; that city, however, being far more French than Flemish. Most of the towns have two names, which usually mean the same but are often so different in form that it is a wonder the people themselves do not get mixed up now and then. For example, the French name for the capital of the province of Hainaut is Mons, meaning mountain, while the Flemish name is Bergen, which means the same thing but looks very different. The important railroad junction of Braine-le-Comte between Mons and Brussels bears the queer Flemish name of 's Graven-Brakel. Even the postage stamps and the paper money are printed in the two languages, while the silver money is apparently minted in equal quantities of each. All public employés are required by law to know both languages, so that the public has no trouble either at the railway stations or post-offices. According to official statistics published while we were there, 38.17 per cent. of the population of the country speak only French; 43.38 per cent. speak only Flemish; while 18.13 per cent. speak more than one language and a few speak German only. Of the bi-linguals over 60 per cent. declared that they ordinarily spoke Flemish.