and what to say if questioned, and the like--a
document conceived and executed with true Prussian exactitude and
clearness, a masterpiece in the literature of espionage.

For him there was no hope; even The Hague Convention, which permits
mine-laying, does not protect spies, however earnestly and dangerously
they serve their country. He passed, always at the same forced shuffle
of reluctant feet, toward his judges and his doom.

*Belgian Cities Germanized*

*By Cyril Brown,*

Staff Correspondent of THE NEW YORK TIMES.

BRUSSELS, Nov. 4.--Of all the war capitals of Europe, Brussels under the
German occupation is probably the gayest and the most deceptive. It
certainly outrivals Berlin in life and brilliancy, as Berlin outshines
London. The Germans are free spenders afield; their influx here by
thousands has put large sums of money into circulation, resulting in a
spell of artificial, perhaps superficial, prosperity.

The crowds surging all day up and down the principal shopping street,
the Rue Neuve, overflow the sidewalks and fill the street. Well-dressed
crowds promenade along the circular boulevard all afternoon and into the
night. Places of amusement and the cafes are crowded. The hundreds of
automobiles loaded with officers speeding about the streets, with
musical military horns blowing, add to the gay illusion.

Nowhere save at the Great Headquarters in France, where the Kaiser stays
when not haranguing his troops at the front, will you see such a
brilliant galaxy of high officers--and every day seems a holiday in
Brussels.

You catch the sinister undercurrent in the more obscure little cafes.
Here you will find some Belgian patriot who is glad of the chance to
unbosom himself to a safe American. Perhaps he will speak with
unprintable bitterness of the shame of the Brussels women who, he says,
wave handkerchiefs and smile friendly greetings at the singing troop
trains passing through the suburbs on their way to the front, or give
flowers and cigars to the returning streams of wounded. They ought to be
shot as traitresses, he says. For the honor of the Belgian women, he
adds, these form only a small percentage.

You are not surprised when well-informed neutral residents tell you that
these people "have murder in their hearts, and that if the Germans ever
retreat in a rout through Belgium, Heaven help the straggler and the
rear guard." Nor that copies of English papers, whose reading is
forbidden,