Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-09-08

Leopold, KING or Belgium, is certainly
coming to this country:
IF rumor can be believed.
IF Mrs. Potter Falmer's invitation will
bring him.. a!
If he is as alarmed as he is said to be
over the recent attempts upon his life!
II he is as run down" as the Belgians
think and as much in need of a rest.
Ii the great Belgian expedition to adj
vertise Belgian products visits this coun-
try!
If he wants to come!
Any and all of these things may con-
tribute to bring about the long-expected
visit of the king of Belgium.
Not a rich king, Leopold has kept in
the public eye for many reasons.
He is over 66 vars old, yet acts like a
young man.
He takes gay views of life, and visits
fun.
He is the owner of the handsomest
hands in Europe.
He has great political ability and was
virtually the creator of the Congo Free
State.
He is peaceful, .broad-minded and con-
tented, a striking contrast to many of
THE other kings of Europe.
HIS PERSONALITY.
The king of the Belgians has passed
his sixty-siNth year, but he is still tall.
Slim and remarkably handsome, with a
LHOdu IOEeLlGdu, d utllcd1e, SlFdlSn nose,
a long, full beard, turning gray, and he
habitually wears a single glass in his
eye.
The slight stiffness in one of his legs,
which causes him to drag the limb a
little does not amount to lameness nor
does it detract from the dignity of his
appearance. His conversation is quiet
and s~elf-contained: on official occasions,
ceremonies, banquets, in~augurations,
etc, when called Upon to make a speech,
he expresses him self with ease, and
often With singular felicity.
During the summer he pays frequent
visits to Ostend. The king has exer-
cised his architectural and engineering
tastes in improving and embellishing
this seaside place. He has lone much
for the town and it's buildings, laid out
a fine park, and fought perseveringly
and successfully against the obstacles
which the climate and the barren,
sandy soil place in the way of foliage
and Vegetation.
Daily he is seen walking on the beach
in the now elegantly long frock coal
and straw hats, occasionally picking up
a shell, and smiling at the children
similarly engaged He frequently mixes
with the people in the harbor, talking
Familiarity with them, and on his return
to the palace quotes some of the senti-
ments he has heard.
One day he addressed a poor woman
whose husband had barely escaped
II SlSil I'll anu q Slloll tlIIlc
before. She garrulously related the
whole scene the danger, the rough sea,
the breakers at last washing the boat
in shore instead of swapping it. "How
alarmed you must have BEEN" said the
king, sympathizingly. "Ah, monsieur"
answered the woman, II felt as if all the
sea was entering into me-"
Leopold II. having at all times been
deeply interested in the social and labor
questions, has taken pains to master, by
personal observation, a knowledge of the
wants and desires of the working classes
In a country of unequal fortunes and
population.
He has strongly advocated the estab-
lishment of an asylum, a retreat for
workers when accident or age incapaci-
tated them for further toll; he repeat
edly visited England with the object Of
investigating similar organizations in
that country, and when it was proposed
to celebrate the twenty-fifth %anniver-
sary of his reign by magnificent festivi-
ties he earnestly begged hat the latter
mould be on a much more moderate
scale, and the surplus of the gladly
subscribed jubilee fund devoted to this
cause.
The kings. task as ruler has always
been a delicate and far from easy one.
The deep-rooted internal Emergencies in
the nation over which he ruled made it
imperative on him to preserve the
strictest neutrality. Even the neutrality
OF language Is difficult to observe in q
UnaM kingdom with many dialects, all
claiming to be national. The south, or
Walloons. speak French: the north, which
3 Flemish. talks the old tongue of Dutch