Women of Belgium: Turning Tragedy to TriumphKellogg, Charlotte
History
Women of Belgium: Turning Tragedy to Triumph
Kellogg, Charlotte
Commission for Relief in Belgium; World War, 1914-1918 -- Hospitals
We all knew that this meant trouble for Brussels, and the fact that
the shops (which had all been ordered to keep open this holiday) were
carrying on a continuous comedy at the expense of the Germans, did
not help matters. Their doors were open, to be sure, but in many, the
passage was blocked by the five or six employees who sat in stiff rows
with bows of green ribbon in their buttonholes, and indescribable
expressions on their faces. In the biggest chocolate shop, the window
display was an old pail of dirty water with a slimsy rag thrown near
it. There was no person inside but the owner, who stood beside the
cash register in dramatic and defiant attitude, smoking a pipe. There
were crowds in front of the window which displayed large photographs
of the King and Queen, draped with the American flag. Another shop had
only an enormous green bow in the window. Almost every one took some
part in the play. Not a Belgian entered a shop, and if a German was
brave enough to, he was usually made the victim of his courage. One was
delighted to serve him, but, unfortunately, peaches had advanced to ten
francs each, or something of the sort!
Finally, after an hour and a half, a priest made an announcement, which
from our distance we misunderstood. We thought he said that the mass
would be celebrated, but unfortunately not by Monseigneur, who had been
detained. A few of us worked our way, inch by inch, to the transept
door, and out into the street. There I found an excited group running
around the rear of the cathedral to the sacristy-door, and, when I
reached it, I learned the Cardinal had just passed through.
For no particular reason I waited there, and before long the door was
partly opened by an acolyte, who was apparently expecting some one.
He saw me and agreed that I might enter if I wished, for was I not an
American to whom all Belgium is open? So I slipt in and found room to
stand just behind the altar screen where all through the celebration I
could watch the face of the Cardinal—a face at once keen and tender,
strong, fearless, devout: one could read it all there. He was tall,
thin, dominating, a heroic figure, in his gorgeous scarlet vestments,
officiating at the altar of this beautiful Gothic cathedral.
The congregation remained silent, three or four fainting women were
carried out, that was all. Then the Cardinal mounted the pulpit at the
further end of the nave to deliver his message, the same message he had
been preaching for two years—they must hold themselves courageous,
unconquered, with stedfast faith in God and in their final liberation.
Tears were in the eyes of many, but there was no crying out.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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