The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-10-15
DESIGNATED SPA.
Belgium's Famous Pleasure Resort Has
Become a Hun Headquarters.

The little hill town in the Liege dis
triet Of Belgium which gave its name.
Spa, TO the typical pleasure resort boast
ing springs. is enjoying a very ques-
tionable notoriety. For some time it
has been one of the headquarters OF the
German war lord. In sense, of course,
Spa has always been royal town. 1t
began its long and eventful career with
royalty, and the Queen of King Leopold
and his daughters made its small palace
a place for frequent 'villeggiature."
Curiously enough, the first of the mon
archs who gave it enduring fame was
that Germanized Russian Emperor, Peter
the Great In I'LL he was at Spa, and
in his memory the little Pouhon spring
was inclosed and perpetuated for the
benefit of posterity. Monarchs Of his
and other reigning European families
followed There was Gustavus III of
Sweden, the Emperor Joseph II, a for
mer Prince Henry of Prussia, and the
Emperor Paul. to mention some of them
at random. Their presence in the town,
the seasons which they spent there, and
even the spots where they resided, were
placed on faithful record.
1t is the peculiar characteristic of Spa
that ii has always cherished the memory
of its distinguished visitors. The visit,
say. of Talleyrand, a Byron. or a
Beaconsfeld would be sure to be per-
petuated by means of dedieatory tab
let on the walls of the house or hotel in
which he dwelt Today the historical
commemorative tablets are sprinkled
over the dwellings, within a stones
throw of the Place Royale. But this
perpetuation is only ephemeral and
makeshift when compared with the dis
tinction and immortality" conferred by
Spas famous Golden Book" Locally
this is known also as the Cascade mon
umental. and comprises a fountain with
symbolic genii, the book" being formed
| by a huge scroll upon which the names
of the distinguished visitors have been
inscribed
| Consciously or unconsciously, the Ger
man has temporarily established Deut-
sehtum not only where the ch-hated
English have established their villas.
practiced their insular customs. and set
their "perfidious" fashions, but where
international society used to hold kind
of truce. Gahgnani. in the twenties of
last century. put it thus: amidst the
| bloodiest wars this place has been or
spccted and the subjects of every belig-
erent state live here in perfect union. y
Long before the great gambler for world
power arrived in Spa, the once fatal
ATTRACTION of the gambling tables had
vanished from the pretty place at the
foot of the wooded hills.
! In its stead. the German will have
found exasperating traces of an Eng
I lish Occupation" that are well-nigh in
eradicable All through the eighteenth
century, when the Prince Bishops of
Liege had a financial interest in the
town, Spa was frequented by the Eng
fish, who preferred it to Baden or Pyr-
mont The English nobility were, per-
haps. the most numerous of the
guests" Of the town. and the popularity
of the place among English people did
not decline until after the French revo-
luton. For scme years before the out
break of the present war Spa revived in
| favor
The life of Sna has doubtless con-
siderably changed since the days when
crowds of French. Belgians, and Eng
lish passed along its narrow main street
en- route to the Casino or the band stand
on the Place Royale, or sought the shade
of the ancient elms of the charming little
Pare de Sept Heures. In those days one
made the promenade of the outlying