How could we really live away from
here, our home, our trees? I went to consult the cardinal. He stays,
and he advises us to do so. He says that will be the best way to
show our devotion. As Christians we must endure the evil that we
cannot prevent; but as Belgians our hearts will never consent to
it."
That was their attitude as the tide of blood and tears drew nearer
to them, surrounded them, swept beyond them, engulfed the whole
land. The brutal massacres at Andenne and Dinant were so near that
the news arrived before the spilt blood was dry. The exceeding great
and bitter cry of anguish came to them from a score of neighboring
villages, from a hundred lonely farmhouses. The old botanist
withered and faded daily; his wife grew pale and gray. Yet they
walked their _via crucis_ together, and kept their chosen
course.
They fed the hungry and clothed the naked, helped the fugitives and
consoled the broken-hearted. They counselled their poor neighbors
to good order, and dissuaded the ignorant from the folly and peril
of violence.
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