The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1897-06-03
HER ROYAL LOVER.
A PRETTY LOVE TALE ABOUT PRINCE
GEORGE, OF GREECE.

"A LIVE lnLA ADVOA NAA$NA
GEORGE, OF GREECE.
The Prospective Heir to the Grecian
Throne Loses His Heart With q
Beautiful Peasant Girl-Loved for
Himself Alone as the Identity of Her
Royal Lover Was Successfully Kept
Secret from Her.
In little fat-roofed village close
by the city Of Athens, lives a girl
whom fate has lowered most previously
with beauty, though wealth and no.
bility of birth have been denied. She
is only peasant girl, but the roman.
tic story of her life reads like passage
from the Arabian Knights. 1t is a
simple fact, however; it is probable
that the royal family of Greece would
be we'll pleased could they relega,e it
all to the realm of fiction.
Larissa is what the Greeks call a
encyclopaedia" or "soul- pa
child by adoption. She is also, as be-
fits the heroine of such a romance, a
veritable shepherdess. She is of good
peasant stock, but was lett an orphan
very early in life, and upon the death
of her parents was received as a SER
want by the family with which she has
since lived.
1t is a custom among the Greek
peasants when the daughter Of a house
hold is sent out to service, as is fire.
quently the case when there are two OF
more sisters, that if the maiden be in
dustrious and well-conducted, and es-
pecially if she become friendless OF
homeless, the family which she enters
adopt her as "soul-child," send her
to school few years, and finally dover
and marry her at the age of twenty
five or twenty-sx.
The "soul- child" in return takes an
active part in household duties, and
assists to spin, card, wind and weave
the wool or flax for the needs of the
house and its members; and she it is
who oftenest leads the hocks to pasture.
After time, if she is fortunate enough
to become the possessor OF some en-
broidered garments, slab upon which
to say prayers in church, and a good
supply of stockings Of various colors
she is pretty sure to have an offer Of
marriage, and to establish herself in a
tiny house of her own.
But there are soul-children and soul
children. 1t is not every one that has
a face like a flower, a great mass o.
midnight hued hair, lustrious eyes tc
match, and mouth like tiny Grim
son bow. This maiden has them
though, and thereby hangs tale.
ga woman to wear witchcrafts O.
color and still be beautiful thought
a stalwart young man who, with sew
eral attendants, rocked idly one day a
little more than year ago in pleas
ure boat near the fishing grounds neal
to this ancient Greek hamlet, as hi
watched the strong, vigorous move
ments of young girl manoeuvering
boat at no great distance. For above
all else, Larlssa is sailor; the love o
the sea is inbred in her; and as fol
fear, she knew it not.
The man who first saw her thu:
eighteen months ago, managing hel
little craft with the seamanship born
of long rich life given by the SHARP
breath of the sea, was no other thar
that well-beloved darling of the Gree!
people, Prince George, himself an ad
mirable sailor. So capable is he in all
branches of his favorite art that upor
his visit to this country few years
ago with the young Gar of Russia
certain grayhaired admiral at thu
Brooklyn navy yard said of him, "Tha
young fellow knows more about, nava
warfare than | do.'
Prince George is the idol Of the
masses. Like most Europeans he is :
facile linguist, speaking Danish, Rus
sian, French, English, Spanish ane
Italian with equal fluency. But he il
also an adept in the patois of the PEG
pie. In this he loves to address them
and such is his personal magnetism
and popularity that at the first "Com'
on, boys-who's with me?" the Grove
Of enthusiastic by ISLANDERS quickl.
swells into thousands, obedlent to hi
slightest bidding.
The court and the ministry have
for some time, abandoned the quest O
suitable marriage for the youni
prince, as he most resolutely proclaim
ed his intention of devoting himsel
to the people and the navy, leavin
matrimony to the Duke Of Sparta, hi
elder brother Constantine, the heir t
the Grecian throne. So the court an
the ministry we'll pleased, smiled con
tentedly, and Prince George wer
travelling, having been chosen rs com
panion de voyage by his cousin ant
intimate chum, the Czarowitch Of Rus
| STA, now the Car, whose life he save
from the hands Of a Japanese assassl
lin the far East.
When he returned to his family, h
made good his determination of con-
handing the navy, and such was h
single hearted devotion to his dut'e
that again the court and mlnis,r
jsmiled with content, and congra,ul;
ted themselves upon possessing mod
prince and younger son.
Still water, however, runs deep, an
the prince. after all, is only a huma
being. He is, moreover, something
| a romanticist, and somewhere deep
his heart lay hidden the desire to
loved by some woman for his own SAX
big, strong, handsome athlete tina,
is, and for the time being, to forg
that he is the son OF the king Of Gree
and a possible heir to the throne.
Whether it was because the time al
| his mood were propitious, whether