SLEEPY SLUIS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 16, 26 February 1915, Page 3 (Supplement)

SLEEPY SLUIS.

WHERE THE DUTCH WAR NEWS COMES FROM.

Sluis suggests sleep to those who know it. Thoso who do not know it know about it, for Sluis has had fame thrust upon it. The thunder of guns has waion.tl up the Dutch village, and thousands of Belgian refugees have disturbed its quiet streets, but it is 011 the safe s'de There 'e no natural frontier, ■everything looks the same 011 both sides of tho boundary. A small section of the canal, with a row of houses 011 each bank anel a bridge at each end, forms an oblong which is the centre of interest 011 summer days. By canal steamer from Bru-j £ s. or \v steam tram from the Belg'an coast, visitor-) come to spe'id an hour or two. They go. first, by a deserted cobbled street, to the old Town Hall, whicli lies in a denserteel square behind the canal. They climb to tho top of the fourteenth-century belfry, which commands an extensive view of the Belgian plain ; they inspect the little museum on the ground floor,which recalls the days when the sea camo up to the village, and it was the port of Bruges anel Bruges was a great world-emporium. Then tho ladies are conducted to an upper room to see some laeemakers who have an eye to business. Meantime the people by the canal ar 0 getting ready. A few sedate smok- ! crs. with expressionless fades, Jean ngaiiist the parapet looking at nothing, but taking everything in. "All aro silent; their hands turning, A brown juice from their hps thoy wipe; Never a sound save in th:ir pipe, The dry tobacco burning." R val bakers, whose premiss, in addition to French anel Dutch signs, display •' Five o'clock Tea" in large letters have set tabl s covered with red and white checked cloths at door and window. They pounce upon the returning vis'tors and -xtol tho quality of their, " ten-erainique " -—tea with curranu bread. When refreshed, the strangers sit. dreamily watching the cool green ot the ires that shade the warm, stagnant canal, tlie trig, green-shuttered, houses, and the smokers m the disguise of reverie. Tho 11 xt move is to one °i * wo ° oni * peling picture ihops for postcards which, posted before leaving, inform friends that the sender is now 111 Holland. Between the picture shops are two where cigars and cigarettes arc displayed. Tho tobacconists arc at tiio doors, and drive a brisk trade for a l short time with the men-folk, and w ltn lad'es who purchase pacKets for abseil friend*, influenced more by the deeoifitiou of the box than by anvtlinig tncy know about the quality oi tlie contents, lit. i s now time to go back to lleigium. I \ dav's harvest lias been gathered; tho I Dutcii shopkeeperi relapse into somnolence until the morrow.

The stol'd smok rs with uneasy eyes w'll now be watching the bombardment of /ecbni'gge from the belfry, and tlie village postmaster will feel very important wh 11 the correspondent of tho Amsterdam "Telegraaf" comes 111 to wire to tho w ide world news of the wai fiom Sluis.