The Florence tribune., 1898-07-16
THE RULER OF SPAIN
As Described by an American Wom-
 an of Note.
The Queen Regent Has Never Ac- quired n Taste for Bull Fighting and Is Grave and Reserved
 for Her Years.

in her extremity, by woman's appeal to the powers of Europe to keep the existing dynasty on the throne, is not the least remarkable of the recent moves in the game of diplomacy fer peace or war between that country and the United States Christina of Aus tria, while respected if not beloved by her Spanish subjects, yields scarcely more political power or influence than did that other Austrian Marie An toinette, over the French. May her personal fate be happier, even though her son, the boy king, Alfonso XIII, never come to his royal heritage of woe. -s..-.s.-e.- ~-r
 What manner of woman is this Chris tina of Austria, widow of Alfonso XII, regent of Spain, mother of bis youthful Catholic majesty and the two infantas?
 It seems but yesterday that saw her, with the royal children, at San Sebas- tian, the famous Spanish watering place of the Basque province, some times grandiloquently called the Gibral- tar of the North. The city was en fete for the occasion. Among the dfstin- guished guests within her gates was Senor Castellar, the great orator and statesman, who once had tfre honor of being chosen as the republican presi- dent of Spain. The first act of the queen regent on arriving in San Sebas- tian was to proceed directly from the railroad station to the Church of santa Maria, sixteenth-century structure of some architectural pretensioEs, and there, with the little king at her side, 10 kneel at the feet of the bishop, who, in full canonicals and with his attend ant staff of clergy, bestowed his pas toral benediction upon mother and child. Where else but in Spain, whefe there is holy shrine in every bull ring, and where the toreador makes deyout confession before entering the bloody arena, could be witnessed such a pie turesque, not to say theatrical, demon stration of childlike faith? Christina, upon whom the pope had bestowed the mystic golden rose is known 10 be a sincere and scrupulous Catholic, a Lit of a bigot, indeed, as suits her position upontbe throne begueathed to Philip Y.
 Here, as upon other public occasions. she were a mask whose absolute inn possibility of expression. whether nat ural or ae9aired. l have never seen eqIaled IL a woman. Scuiptured mar ble could not be more ehangeless than her pale, austere face. She is not hand some nor pretty. she is hardly even pleasing, at first sight Her features are of the pronounced Austrian type, with rather full lips and projecting mouth. Her blond hair has no tinge of warm gold, but is what the French call a blond cender, or ashen blond. Even her steel blue eyes are pale, not helped to prettiness by their spare lashes, nor lighted up with gleams of tenderness or softening emotion. Her hands, wrists and feet, however, are small, well kept and truly patrician. She has graceful, Mthesome and real ly charming little figure.
 The queen regent, at San Sebastian, wore a costume of such simplicity that it seemed almost an affectation; espe- cially when contrasted with the gor- geousness of some of her attendants. The dress was of black cashmere, heav- fly trimmed with crepe, but it molded her trim figure perfectly and was in fact a triumph of the dressmaker's art. She wore tiny crepe bonnet, and her head was so small and well turned that one was reminded of the princess of Wales, who always affects small bonnets and extremely simple toilette, except at evening functions, and who, like the | queen regent, has dresses which fit her delicate, girlish figure to a charm, giv- | ing effect 10 the plainest material.
 The infantas, her two daughters, l recall as pleasing little misses in pink 1 slips, very like their mother, and both i dowered with her profuse blond hair ' The little king is darker, and more like i his father, whom he also resembles in his lively and good-natured disposition. As an infant, he was rather sickly, and even now, at 13 years of age, he cannot | DS CdittU IODuSt. but the CareIul not house nurture he has undergone, and of late years strict military training
 like that imposed upon the German em- peror's children, has made quite man. ly little fellow of Alfonso XIII. He is old enough now to enjoy, or pretend to enjoy, the bull fight, his national pastime. This is the one Spanish taste or habit which Queen Christina has failed to acquire, the cool German blood refusing to rise to the fever heat, al which alone one can feel the excitement
 of the sanquinary sport. wonder ii she assisted in the grand corrida ir Madrid Easter Sunday for the benefit of the national war fund, and at which a matador a la mode butchered Duke
 de Veragua's finest bull to make Span ish holiday.
 | Christina at 40 has to-day a certain
 charm of maturity that was lacking 1T
 her as 8 newly-made queen and widow
 dozen years ago. Always grave ane
 reserved beyond her years, she has un
 doubtedly won the respect of the Span
 ish people by her dignity, courage anS