they leave their work or the school as soon as possible in the
afternoon, put on their best clothes, and enjoy themselves.

The village street is full of stalls covered with cheap toys,
sweetmeats, and all sorts of tempting little articles, and you may be
sure the pennies melt away very quickly. Flags of black, red, and yellow
stripes--the Belgian national colours--fly on the houses. A band of
music plays. Travelling showmen are there with merry-go-rounds, and the
children are never tired of riding round and round on the gaily painted
wooden horses. Then there is dancing in the public-houses, in which all
the villagers, except the very old people, take part. Boys and girls hop
round, and if there are not enough boys the girls take each other for
partners, while the grown-up lads and young women dance together.

[Illustration: A SHRIMPER ON HORSEBACK, COXYDE.]

The rooms in these public-houses are pretty large, but they get
dreadfully hot and stuffy. The constant laughing and talking, the
music, and the scraping of feet on the sanded floor make an awful
din. Then there are sometimes disputes, and the Flemings have a nasty
habit of using knives when they are angry, so the dancing, which often
goes on till two or three in the morning, is the least pleasant thing
about these gatherings.

This is a very old Belgian custom, but of late years the _Kermesses_
in the big towns have changed in character, and are just ordinary
fairs, with menageries and things of that sort, which you can find in
England or anywhere else. If you want to see a real Kermesse you must
go to some village in Flanders, and there you will find it very
amusing.

CHAPTER III

TRAVELLING IN BELGIUM

Travelling in Belgium is cheap and easy. The best way to see the
out-of-the-way parts of the country would be to journey about in a
barge on the canals. There are a great many canals. You could go all
the way from France to the other side of Belgium in a barge, threading
your way through fields, and meadow-lands, and villages, and stopping
every now and then at some of the big towns. If you read that charming
book "Vanity Fair," you will see that Mr. Thackeray, who wrote it,
says that once an Englishman, who went to Belgium for a week, found
the eating and drinking on these boats so good that he went backwards
and forwards on the canal between Bruges and Ghent perpetually till
the railways were invented, when he drowned himself on the last trip
o