Page 72 - March On! God will Provide by Brother Aubert

52 A START IS MADE
the inner canal. When eventually houses were built
in this open space, the resulting new street was dubbed
"Ezelstraat." Here at No. 20 on June 5, 1839, Theodore
Ryken all by himselt began to live according ro rhe day-
order drawn up for him by Father Geller.
This "First Foundation" still stands, for houses in
Bruges have a way of staying on indefinitely. It is three-
storied, ily-covered, conspicuous in a negative way in
that it lacks even a trace of Brugean architecture. Today
a florist's shop and living quarters occupy the ground
floor. On the tiled roof pigeons preen themselves as
they come and go from their loft in the third floor.
On June 10, 1839, five days after Mr. Ryken made his
start, two Belgians arrived to join him: Williarn Ducha-
teau, thirty-four, a tailor, and Lambert Smisdon, thirty,
a weaver. These may have been the two companions
who were with him at the Brothers of Charity. Father
Geller had told Bishop Boussen: "He [Ryken] has two
young men who seern suitable to help him make a be-
ginning." Neither of them persevered, and it is no
wonder.
Life for the Ryken-pioneers was less than primitive.
The floor was their bed; old clothes their covering; an
old box their table; old sheets their curtains; an empty
stove their warmth; old cabbage leaves with potato peel-
ings mixed with fat their dinner; dry bread with black
coffee their breakfast; boiled peas or beans with dry
bread their supper; cold water their beverage; rheir
clothes were scanty and poor.
In June, 1840, came the first candidate who perse-
vered. This was Anthony Melis, whom the Founder
always referred to as "my eldest son." As Brother Ig-
natius he chronicled stories of the early days. The fol-
lowing excerpt is personal: "The Founder along with
Anthony Melis and John Adams left Gemert, Holland,