The Alaska daily empire., 1914-10-28
Ostend
By Gertrude E. Mallette

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 A few miles north of Calais on the Channel coast, threaded with maze of canals. is the city of Ostend. A few short months ago the city of beautiful and luxurious hotels, yeri- table mecca of tourists, with it's long, sandy stretches of bathing beaches and it's massive esplanade of terra cotta forming three miles of one of the worlds most popular promenades' little thought to find itself in the threat ening path of an hostile army. But today the hundreds of women who form the enormous servant lists, as maids, waitresses, and the like, in her hotels, are out of work because her 5O.OOO tourist visitors will not answer the vacation roll this year, and her men are all off to the war; leaving her commerce and its impedimenta to tho mercy of the balancing scale of economies.
 Ostend was founded in the ninth century and in 1445 was walled, as a protection from hostile tribes. About a century later there arose within the Spanish Netherlands a strong opposi- tion to the Spanish rule of Philip H., and Margant, of Parma. This opposi- tion was led by one of the greatest Statesmen produced by the age, Will liam of Orange-Nassau, often mention ed as William tho Silent. This Will liam resolved with his whole soul to do his best to drive the Spanish yer mine from the land," and with him were associated Egmont, Horn and sev- eral other notables-the whole group being saddled with the appelation: "The Beggars" a brand placed upon them by one of Philips sneering min isters.
 The struggle was long and horrible, and. as in the struggle today, many treasures of art and architecture were laid in ruin by the hands of the ene- my. At last in 1867 Philip sent the Duke of Ava to the Netherlands as Governor and the tyranny of this mar row-minded bigot brought the trouble to climax which resulted in a general revolt
 The deadliest part of the conflict occurred in winter and history re- cords the novelty of soldiers on skates putting through their necessary man. euvers.
 Poor pay and insufficient rations led the Spanish troops to mutiny at Antwerp in 1876 and they then gave to history that horrible record known as the Spanish fury.
 This atrocity led to the "Pacifica tion of Ghent" whereby the Calvinists of the north and the Catholics of the south were united in an effort tc expell the Spanish and William O Orange was accepted as stadtholder a lieutenant governor.
 With the religious difficulty for tn time quieted and the Spanish force overcome, the country made an effor to regain the old foothold. 0sten stood quivering amid the wreckag Il or ueT COuLuGTCe "lllS rLdhSS eaiA England took up arms against Philil | War ragged between the three wit
 unabated fury and led Spain's force
 backward into the Netherlands. Peac
 was made with France in 159S an
 Spain then settled down to conque J the rebellion which few years b.
 fore she had only Quieted On Jul | 1, 1901, she laid seize to stricke | Ostend, and not until September, 160
 did this Troy of modern history fiji
 ally surrender. During the seize O
 tend had lost 5O,0OO men, and the b
 seigers SO,0OO. In the same year peac
 was concluded between Spain an ] England.
 With the cessation of hostilities th | process of recuperation moved rapi ly and ostend has won for herse
 an enviable commercial reputation
 which she stands fair to see shattere again by the blind fury of war. A ..-----,.