The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-12-08
THE LITTLE DUTCH QUEEN
o NATRON ABOUT WHOM sENTI
MENT CLINGs WITH DIFFICULTY.
A wiIIfuI Young Person, She Chose
Her own Husband, and, Like Many
Another Woman, Chose UnwiseIy.
Julian Ralph. in New York Mail and Ex-

Julian Ralph. in New York Mail and Ex-
press.
Those who have seen Queen Wilhelmina
Of late years have been long aware that she
is little Wilhelmina' no longer; that she
has ceased to be the %girl-queen except to
the poeticaI and the sentimental. whose
mind pictures and day dreams always die
hard.
Queen Wilhelmina is a wholly grown-up,
stout, determined matron of a rustic Ger
man type. She is a thorough daughter Of
the House Of Orange, about whose members
there was always plenty that was admiP-
able and not so much that was lovable.
A very few years ago, as time speeds, the
Princess Wilhelmina used to drive about
The Hague and Amsterdam, often with
her mother and often alone, visiting the
shops and figuring very picturesquely in
the fond and loyal public eye of Holland.
She was a very pretty girl. with sparkling
eyes, rosy cheeks, and a firm little body,
whose gentle curves were so precocious
as 10 foreshadow very pronounced outlines
should she ever become a matron. But
who thinks Of such things at the sight of
a pretty lass?
At that time she wasted little time upon
the etiquette of royalty toward it's sub
jects. You know that in democratic coun-
tries like England they even provide me-
chanical seats in some of the royal car
riages COR so tbs said to keep the bodies
of the princes and princesses moving to
and fro as IL in constant saIutation or
the people. There was neither natural nor
mechanical attention to the people in the
pony carriage or the person Of the girl
Wilhelmina. She went about her business
I'm a business-like way, and the Dutch peo-
pie instead of missing her bow and smiles
saw only her pretty face and healthy BODY
and were delighted.
COST OF BEING A QUEEN.
Above all things, they wanted her to
marry and continue the royal house to
which she belongs. 1t is not a particu-
larly nice or delicate thing for a nations
whole population to look upon a young
girl in this way. It better becomes the
staff Of a racing stable or the owner of a
choice herd Of cattle, but kings and queens
and princes and princesses have their pc
culiar obligations and pay for their honors
in some disagreeable coin. Wilhelmina
stood, and stands to-day, in the estimation
or her subjects, as a buffet between them
and the devastating ambition OF Germany
She Is the last of the blood Of the House
of Orange. She rules an overtaXed and
disconnected people who heed the fate of
Spain. As Spain had colonies she did
not know how to manage or profit by, so
has Holland, and as SPANS possessions
drained the blood and crippled the mus
Gle of her people, so do the outlying lands
of the Dutch. The result is such a state
of discomfort and such a might of social
ism that it is feared that il Wilhelmina
died without an heir the people would set
up a republic in a month.
The men who lead and live upon the
government do not want this to happen,
therefore they prayed for Wilhelmina to
continue the royal line. The mass of the
people, democratic and socialistic at heart,
believe that Germany wishes to seize Hol-
land in order to give herself a sufficient
seacoast with good harbors, but they also
believe that Germany will keep her hands
off the Netherlands as long as the House
of Orange lasts, because the Kaiser Will
lam believes in 1.-The divine right of kings
and would never dethrone an old royal
house. Therefore, people and leaders alike,
marry and give birth to an heir to her
throne.
SHOWED HER NERVE.
Three years ago the too rapidly ageing
and stoutening Queen came TO her eight
zenith year and the throne. She had heard
so much talk about the desire for her mar
riage that she grew vexed, and before she
went to be crowned she said to her min
listers:
Let me hear no more about my mar
riage for two years. L will not consider it
until then"
The blood that is in her veins is that of
a fearless, domineering, willful, strong and
obstinate race. Anarchy was disturbing
Europe when her browning came about,