1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



509 



formed a scene such as could only be described by 

 the author of the Arabian Nights. The trees were 

 lighted by some forty thousand lamps, innumerable 

 Chinese lanterns covered the fairy boats, bands of 

 musicians sitting under canopies amid life size fig- 

 ures of classic model in barges, filled the air with 

 music, and at midnight the whole heavens were 

 lighted with the blaze of fireworks, brilliant beyond 

 all conception. 



"There was a sound of revelry by night, 

 And Belgium's capital had gathered then 

 Her Beauty and her Chivalry." 



As I have not Byron's description of the battle 

 of Waterloo at hand, I can only refer you to the 

 book for the rest of it. Brussels is "Belgium's 

 capital," and the field of Waterloo is about twelve 

 miles distant. I think the noble poet more than 

 intimates that Wellington, instead of attending to 

 Napoleon, was attending a party given by the 

 Duchess of Richmond in Brussels, on the night 

 before the battle, and that was the "sound of revel- 

 ry by night." 



Of course, we went to Waterloo. The road is 

 paved with block stone all the way, and the coun- 

 try is finely cultivated in oats, some wheat, beans 

 for horses, and a great deal of beet root for sugar. 

 The field of battle, a tract a little rolling, but not 

 hilly, is now a cultivated field, with the crops which 

 I have mentioned growing well above the bones of 

 the slain. A large mound has been raised in the 

 midst of the plain, where the British troops with- 

 stood the repeated charge of the French cavalry, 

 and a large lion surmounts the heap of earth, which 

 was scraped from a laFge area of surface, so as not 

 to change the form of the ground. About twenty 

 of us went out on a coach, and it proved that five 

 of seven who sat together were Americans. "We 

 bought a few relics, which it is said are manufac- 

 tured in the neighborhood, such as eagles from the 

 caps of the soldiers, and in my zeal to learn all 

 about the battle, I left my umbrella, for which I 

 had paid five dollars, on the top of the mound. 

 I illustrated my good sense, by sending one of the 

 guides back for it, and of course, he could not find 

 it, so I paid him a franc for his trouble, and con- 

 soled myself with the idea, that he probably will 

 dig it up next year, and sell it as Napoleon's, my 

 name being on the handle to indicate that it be- 

 longed to that party. Our guide was exceedingly 

 interesting, for, besides giving a good account of 

 the battle, he amused us with his pronunciation. 

 "Here is de place, where de Duke say, 'Hup, boys, 

 and eat 'em." "Up, boys, and at them," history has it. 

 — "Here in dis place, you cannot see de French." 

 "No," said a Yankee of the party, jumping down 

 at his side, and gazing earnestly to the point indi- 

 cated by the guide, "that's a fact, you can't see one 

 of them " I took great pleasure in talking aside 

 to him, and telling him that if Granchy had not 



been a traitor. Napoleon would have gained the 

 victory, and so set him agoing "in praise of Bona- 

 parte, whom he evidently worshipped, much to the 

 annoyance of two or three Englishmen present, ■ 

 who could not bear to hear even the poor guide 

 speak in praise of the Emperor. 



All the region is well tilled, in small patches 

 generally, except the forest of Soignies, much of 

 which is still standing, being a heavy growth of 

 hard wood, mostly beech. The work is done partly 

 by oxen, which all through this part of the coun- 

 try, draw by the head, the yoke being lashed by 

 leather thongs across the forehead to the horns. 

 A single ox often is seen drawing a plow in this 

 way, and I am not sure that the animal does not 

 take as large a load with this harness as he does 

 in drawing by the shoulders. I saw a single ox 

 thus pushing a load of coal on a cart, that seemed 

 to me a fair burden for a yoke of oxen. The wom- 

 en carry burdens on their heads, and trudge along 

 with a bushel and a half of potatoes, without ap- 

 parent exertion ; it seems, more easily than they 

 could carry the same weight on the shoulder ; all 

 which tends to show that cattle and women are 

 stiff-necked enough for most practical purposes. 

 I saw on the road to Waterloo, cows harnessed to 

 wagons, marching along very quietly ; but I must 

 confess, this imposition of hard work on females 

 is not to my taste. 



The harvest of the wheat is going on, just now, 

 in this part of the country. Most of it is cut with 

 a hook, neither sickle nor scythe, but a sort of 

 compromise between the two, held in the right 

 hand, while with the left, the reaper, with another 

 hook, holds the grain while he cuts it. I saw a 

 grain cradle of rather primitive form used in one 

 field. The wheat is cut by men, and usually gath- 

 ered and bound by the women, who seem to do 

 rather the larger half of the field labor. 



From beautiful Brussels, we came on by the 

 Luxemburg railway to Liege, through the valley of 

 the Meuse, a picturesque and attractive country. 

 The rocks, in places, stand up by the river banks, 

 like walls, occasionally taking the form of pinna- 

 cles and towers, round as if wrought by the hand 

 of man, and against their sides, here and there a 

 small !;ottage is clinging, perched up like an eagle's 

 nest, on a crag, and around it spreads a small gar- 

 den with vines. At intervals we saw an open plain, 

 with a large farm-house, barns and fields of wheat 

 or beets. There are few division fences in the 

 country through which I have passed on the conti- 

 nent, and the highways are frequently marked on- 

 ly by fruit or shade trees, regularly planted at in- 

 tervals 'of a few feet. 



The general appearance of the fields would indi- 

 cate that the tracts of land cultivated by one indi- 

 vidual, are very small, as it is common to see a 

 field of hundreds of acres cut up into lots of an 



