When the hour came, her mother found her
crying, and asked her what was the matter. "I'm afraid," she sobbed,
"to go and play with these little heretics!"
[Illustration: WATERLOO: THE FARM OF LA BELLE ALLIANCE AND THE MOUND
SURMOUNTED BY THE BELGIAN LION.]
The great quarrel is about education. The Liberals want to make a law
that all children must go to school, but the Catholics will not agree
to this. The priests have so much influence, and work so hard at
the elections, that, except in Brussels, Liege, and a few more places,
the people are frightened to vote against them. So there has always
been a Catholic Government in power for the last twenty-five years.
The Great Powers, when they allowed the Belgians to have their own way
and choose a King for themselves, took Belgium under their protection,
and made it a "neutral state"--that is to say, a country which may not
be attacked or entered by the armies of other nations which are
fighting each other, and which is not permitted to make war on other
countries. This was a great blessing for the Belgians, because their
country is so small and weak, and so many battles used to be fought in
it that it was called "the cock-pit of Europe.
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