Produced by Greg Bergquist and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net 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.