High among the forested ways of the Ardennes is Spa, the delightfully pretty and--in normal times--very gay watering-place, which during the War was frequented by visitors most unwelcome in Belgium. One of these visitors, whose military headquarters were at Spa, has since been almost equally unwelcome as a resident of Holland. _Obstinate Liège_ The Meuse, flowing through verdant Wallonia, embraces, with its tributary, the Ourthe (oort), the spacious and advantageously situated city of Liège, whose inhabitants, since its foundation, have been known for the sturdiness of their resistance under attack, and for their “partiality for labor” when at liberty to pursue the walks of peace. When Germany forced the armored door defending the kingdom of the Belgians, and gained entrance to the roads to France and the North Sea, another chapter--this time a chapter that required four long years for the writing--was added to the story of war-scarred Liège. [Illustration: A WALLOON FARMER AND HIS DAUGHTER] One of the traditions of the city is the excellence of its weapon manufacture. A great proportion of the two hundred thousand inhabitants gain their livelihood by making arms and cannon. Nearby are the colossal ironworks of Seraing, with upwards of 10,000 employees, who turn out guns, bridges, boilers, armor-plate, ships. “We were pounding at the anvils when they pounded at our gate; ‘Open,’ cried the German squadrons; ‘let us pass or meet your fate. We are millions; dare deny us and Liège is but a name.’ But we chose to die in honor than to buy our lives in shame. So we banked our eager fires, and we laid aside the sledge, Recking only that our sires had endowed us with the pledge To maintain an ally’s honor, to uphold the Belgian code, And we answered with our cannon, THAT LIÈGE WOULD HOLD THE ROAD.” _Brussels, the Capital_ [Illustration: A MILK WAGON On a road in Flanders]