The Iuka vidette. (Iuka, Miss.) 1894-1912, 1894-08-30
ROYAL PAGES.
The Boys In Blue and Silver Who Wait oi
Kings and Queens.

~ CiAN Nv ehO AAh POI A"A INV ny -
courts of Europe that ''the pretty page
with the dimpled chin" so sweetly
sung by the poet, and who constituted
one of the most picturesque ana no.
mantle features of medieval times,
still survives.
Royal and imperial pages range in
age from twelve to sixteen years. They
ore appointed by the sovereign. enjoy
pay, prerogatives and perqnisites,
much as do the grown-up attendants
on royalty and are prescribed certain
definite duties. The duties are, posi-
bly,, no more important than in the
days of yore, when there was no postal
service and the love-lorn princess was
forced to rely upon the secrecy and the
fidelity of her page for the conveyance
of messages to her knight or trouba-
dour. But tact and discretion in per-
forming them are probably more neces-
sary now than ever, owing to the
popular craving for information con-
corning the personal and home life of
emperors and kings, and the attempts
are often made to extract information
of this kind from the pages or persons
who imagine that because they are
young their tongues are likely to be
loose.
To tougher them against such at
tempts and qualify them for this SER
vice the royal pages are subjected to
very careful training. At the court of
st. Petersburg, for instance, there is
| regular college of pages, where they
oil, al 10, AJ Of ha
pense of the crown.
Gentle birth is the first qualification
for the post of royal page. At the
courts of Vienna and Munich an ances-
try of no less than sixteen generations
free from plebleian strain on either
fathers or mothers side is required in
the candidates. In England and Rus
STA so long nobility is not demanded
The pages of honor in the court of
Queen Victoria are generally the sons
of distinguished officers of the army or
of high dignitaries of the royal house
hold. Thus, among the lads who at
present hold the Office of pages OF
honor to the queen, are the fourteen
year-old Sir Albert Seymour.
At the court of Berlin the pages fig
Dire at all state ceremonies clad, like
those of England, in blue and silver,
and at the court banquets they stand
behind the chairs of the royal and i'm
perial personages. These personages,
on rising from the table, sometimes adj
dress a few kindly words to the boys,
and present them with sweetmeats
from the epergnes. Indeed, the late
Ill -,
himself by examining their mouths full
of bonbons until they could not speak,
and then plying them with questions
demanding an immediate answer, or
else cracking jokes that were sure to
make them laugh. These pages are
chosen for the occasion only from
among the best looking boys of the
School of Cadets, nearly all the mem
bers of which are of noble birth. This
School of Cadets is sort of German
West Point, but the pupils enter at the
age of fourteen and receive their COM
missions as officers at much earlier
age than in this country.
At the court of St. Petersburg the
corps of pages is sort of imperial
school where number of lads, sons of
noblemen and state dignitaries, both
| civil and military, are educated at the
czar's expense and under his supervi-
sion. On attaining their eighteenth
year they usually obtain commissions
as officers of the regiment of Chevalier
guards. The czarina maintains sim
liar institution for girls, who, on
graduating, receive the titular APP
pointment of maid of honor to her
majesty.
At the court of France, as long as
there was one, similar provision was
made for education of the pages at the
sovereign's expense. They were care
fully taught how to write, they had a
special riding school at Versailles, and
they were instructed in fencing. Their
uniform was of royal blue with gold
attend unon tho sovereign when he
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