River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1883-08-02
HOW TO GET ON AT COURT.
The oddities OF Etiquette at Madrid
Berlin and St. Petersburg.


An old custom ofthe Spanish court re-
quires that when baby is born in the
royal family it shall be officially an
| nounced that q vigorous" infant has
come into the world. The queen ofSpain
| having become the mother of sicklv
child, which lived only two hours, the
| court journal cbronicled the birth and
death III the usual way: "Her majesty
was delivered at O'clock of a vigorous
infant, who died at s." The Epoca of
Madrid lately reported that the town
council of Seville, having had an inter
view with Alfonso XII, "kissed the
feet.of his Majesty and withdrew" 1t is
| not to be supposed that the councillors
actually went down on all tours and
| kissed the kings boots as il he we're the
pope but etiquette demanded that they
| should be said to have done so, because
town council does not stand on the
same level of dignity as the Cortes,
| whose members are supposed to kiss
hands when they take leave. The three
| letters 3. S. p. (beso sus pies). which
mean, 81 kiss your feet" are still used
| by gentlemen in Spain when signing let
tiers addressed to ladies, and by subjects
| to their king. The letters B. 5. M. toeso
| sue manos), which are used by mel,
| writing to men, and by ladies to ladies',
would seem too cavalier from a gentle
| man to lady and downright i'm
pertinence from subject 10 his SOW
| ereign.
| One of the chief reasons Of the duke
d'Acosta's unpopularity during the
brief reign which he closed with vol
untary addiction, was that he would
take no pains to study the complicated
| etiquette of the escurial, but sought to
introduce simple manners in a country
where even beggars drape themselves
proudly in their tattered nantes and
| address one another as "Senor Cabal-
! lero." He one day told a muleteer
with whom he stopped to talk on a
country road under a broiling sun, to
put on his hat; forgetting that by the
fact of ordering a subject to cover him
self in a royal presence, he created him
grandee. Marshal Prim, who was
standing by, hastily knocked the mule
teer's headdress out of his hand, and set
his foot upon it, at the same time offer
ing the man some gold; but the mule
teer, who was MORALLY offended,
spurned the money and few days later
when Prim was assassinated, a rumor
was circulated that the mortified indi-
vidual who had nai rowly missed being
a grandee was an accessory to the crime.
On another occasion King Amadeo in
CONSIDERABLY addressed groom of his
in the second person singular as tn.
Happily the man was an Italian; for, as
a court chamb erlain represented to his
majesty, a Spaniard spoken to with this
familiarity might have claimed that the
monarch had dubbed him cousin-that
is. had enobled him. Another thing
that the much worried Italian prince
had to learn Was that Spanish king
must not sign any letter to a subject
with any friendly or complimentary
formula, but simply write Yo ell Rey (''I
the King
Etiquette is the code ofrules by which
great people keep lesser ones In proper
! respest. Prince Bismarck, when boy,
was rebuked by his father for speaking
of the King as Fritz" LEARN to speak
reverentlv of His Majesty" said the old
Squire Of Narzfn, land you viii grow ac-
customed 10 think OF him with venera-
ton" Young Bismarck laid the advice
to heart, and to this day the great Chan
cellor always lowers his tone and as
sumes grave, worshipful look when he
brought to him from the Emperor by
words of mouth or in writing, he stands
up TO receive it. Wbena wedding takes
place at the Prussian court, it is the
practice for the state dignitsries to form
candle professionalism is 10 say, that
Ministers. Chamberlains. High Stewards.