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250 WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
work of art. The pulpit steps, with their carved crowns of
trees and birds, leave us unmoved, but the four female figures
which support the pulpit itself are noteworthy. They represent
the four continents—Australia being then almost unknown.
Three of the figures are light enough, but the one with the thick
lips and the fiat nose—Dark Africa, the negro continent—is
wrapped in deep shadows. Four continents uphold the plat-
form from which the gospel of God’s eternal love to mankind is
preached throughout the earth—a pretty conception of van
der Voort !
" Go ye therefore and teach all nations." The
artist, no doubt, believed that the world would make progress
during the centuries to come after his days. But now there
are five continents—supporting the gospel of war and hatred.
The two Western powers of the entente bear the responsibility
for having caused the Dance of Death to involve the whole
globe, for they are bringing into the fight masses of men raked
together from all parts of the world : Canadians come in their
ships from America, Turcos and Senegalese negroes from
Africa, and poor Hindus and Ghurkas, bronzed by the sun of
India, lie freezing in the trenches—these are the representa-
tives of Asia—and lastly, Australia and New Zealand are
sending their contingents, over land and sea, from the Anti-
podes. And what is the purpose of which the attainment is
thought worth such a world-wide levy of warriors ? Why,
Germanic culture is to be uprooted from the earth. And it is
the bearers of this culture, the people of Luther, Goethe,
Beethoven, Helmholtz and Röntgen, that are called bar-
barians and Huns—a danger to the future and civilisation of
the white race ! It is therefore fit that Ghurkas and Sene-
galese should come and save us from relapse into the dark
ages. The artist who hereafter may be bold enough to im-
mortalise the " levy of all races " of 1914, should not forget
that he will find a promising idea for his leading motive in
van der Voort’s woman—with the thick lips and the flat nose.
On Place Vertc outside stands a bronze statue of Rubens,
bareheaded, with a cloak over his shoulders. Its background
is formed by the cathedral which he himself has adorned with
some of his choicest masterpieces. There he stands, with ex-
tended hands, freely oft’ering to the world the gifts his genius
has created ! The night before the town fell he stood there
illumined by the glare of burning buildings—the Hotel d’ Europe
and Taverne Royale. The picturesque groups of warriors which
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