The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-11-02
Fads and FanCies OF the Worlds Rulers:

bullhghter before he became corpulent
and just dotted on the bull ring He
dotes on 1T now, but owing to- his obesi-
ty cannot enter the lists as a toreador.
His queen is athletic and a fine swim
mer, having saved a fisherman's life
last summer. She is also an m. D.,
but her real liking is for millinery, and
she excels in the trimming of bon
nets.
While the king of Roumania is not
noted for anything in particular. his
wife, the renowned Carmen Sylvia, is
not only a poeteSS and a patron of hos
pitfalls and soup kitchens, but an adept
in art embroidery, a school for teaching
which she has founded and supports.
The car of Russia is more inclined
to lead a quiet life than to dabble in af-
fairs of state. especially since his mar
riage, and is said to be prouder of his
accomplishments as an amateur car
penter and boatbuilder and of his ma
rine museum of models than of any
thing else. Like his remote predeces-
sor, Peter the Great, he takes to ship
building, and if he had lived 200 years
ago he might have followed Peters ex-
ample and let matters of public inter
est wait on his welding of the adze.
The czarina is an expert needlewoman
and musician, besides being skilled in
amateur photography. Her snapshots
on the recent visit to France are very
fine.
Little Alfonso XIII. of Spain, who, it
is announced, will soon begin tour of
the European courts and who will as
cend the throne next May if nothing
happens to prevent, has had so much
crammed into his short life in order to
fit him for kingship that there has
been no time for fads. AS a small boy
ORC to hn oil n
make mud pies, like the other urchins.
but was compelled instead to play with
toy soldiers, in the evolutiOnS of which
he finally became absorbed to the ex-
clusion of all else The queen regent.
his mother. is expert as an amateur in
fine silks and jewels and has a magnifi-
cent collection of pink and yellow dia-
monds, pearls, rubies and emera1ds.
Sweden and Norway, it is granted,
have the most scholarly sovereign in
King Oscar, a linguist, speaking six
languages. a student of Latin literature
and a poet, having published several
volumes He is also patron of ex-
plorers, artists and authors, benevolent
and hospitable and a great traveller in
his own kingdom, being acquainted
with it from end to end.
The sultan of Turkey has miser's
greed for money, which. however, he
likes to expend in building palaces and
kiosks along the Bosporus- But, while
he has twenty palaces and an income of
more than $4,000, 900 annually, he sticks
close to his home and expends vast
sums on his table
1t is far cry from effeninate Abdul
Hamid to stalwart Theodore Roosevelt,
president of the United States, and
probably no two rulers of great pow
ers could be found more Numerically
opposed than they are If Mr.. Roose-
Welt has a special fad, it has been made
patent to all in his advocacy of athlet-
les, and if he delights in any one thing
more than another it is in outdoor
sports, such as riding and hunting.
His life as a "cowpuncher'' and his
hunting of grizzlies and mountain
lions. together with his advocacy of the
strenuous life,'' show the metal he is
made of as well as what are his de-
lights. CLAIMING A. BARLOW.