THE BOY ON THE BELL

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 73, 30 March 1929, Page 15

THE BOY ON THE BELL

A new statue has just been erected in Paris; it is in memory of Verhaeren, the great Belgian poet who loved France and whom France loved. Smile Verhaeren was born in a small village by the River Escaut, and here he grew up. Ho was on friendly terms with all the villagers,. and spent his time watching them at their'work and playing with his favourite companion, the sexton's son. He would get astride the old church bell and swing to and fro as it rang! There was not much room for study in this life, and Verhaeren was not a very brilliant scholar. His parents wished him to enter his uncle's ( factory, but he could not get used to the work, and he finally confided to them that he wished to be a poet. From that;time his life seemed to bo a constant struggle with weak health, with religious scruples, with social opposition, till finally he emerged from the conflict, victorious, feeling that he was master of his fate. With this victory a great joy came to him, and it echoes through all his poems. He was one of those people whose mere presence made everyone happier. And when you grow up and read his verse-making for yourself, you will find it full to the brim with tnuth and beauty unusual even, in poets.