Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. I.djvu/215

Rh excellent institution for the blind, deaf and dumb, and this man's amiable individuality, were, together with some portraits of Charles the Bold, and his gentle daughter—in whose countenance one can yet recognize that of the father—were all that appeared to me most worthy of attention in Bruges.

We sped across the fields of Flanders towards our private home, and towards two large colonies of children, Ruysselede and Bernhem. These were the especial objects of this portion of our journey. The wind blew soft, yet fresh, from the sea-side, across the wide fields, now covered with succulent and verdant vegetation, (colza, turnips, and such-like,) and rustled in the bending tops of the poplar trees in the long avenues which extended themselves endlessly through the country. Small, prosperous farms rose here and there, with thatched roofs, upon the fertile land, like its most well-favored productions; and here and there, also, stood forth an old mansion, with moats and towers, and a look of the middle ages. A fresh minor key prevailed in the air and the landscape, which had for me a peculiar, foreign charm. I seemed to myself never to have been more agreeably affected by outward objects. The novelty of the scene, the open views, the softly-waving fields, were refreshing, after the lofty hills and deep valleys of the Alpine land. Earth and man seemed here to grow fat together in a great quietness. So, also, it seemed to me, in the beautiful mansion of Oestkamp, where I and my friends spent some days in the family of Baron de Peers, the brother-in-law of M. Duepetiaux.

I had here the pleasure of witnessing the higher