The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-04-07
easy Lies tie bead
Chat u)edrsC CHS Crown
BY Stephen Austin.


money. It's great deal better to be q
rich merchant than a bankrupt king
If he himself had not the ability TO
make money, a perpetually bankrupt
king is just what he would have Deen
The hour per day that he devotes to
uansacJing his purely personal bust
ness must be exceptionally interesting
TO man of King Georges tastes; but
ne never allows the price of milk or
the probabilities of the olive harvest
to keep him from receiving. at precisely
half past Il, his ministers and the
chlefs of the army and navy or any
foreign diplomat who may have bust
ness with him. Usually the amba ssa-
doris are received in the study where
the King practically lives all the morn
ing; on special occasions, only are the
receptions held in the superb throne
room.
Half past is the solemn hour of
lunch and the great family reunion.
Woe betide the unfortunate member
OF the royal household. be it queen or
prince or princess who is not waiting
in the ''estiatorion' or salle-a-manger
for the entry of the king That is the
objectionable sim Rather than commit
it and so incur the terrible look of her
father, the somewhat Eighty young
Princess Maria is often seen to come
flying down stairs, three steps at a
time. and putting the final touches to
her toilet as she daShes GREATNESS into
the room.
The lunch is a. heavy meal. rather
after the German fashion. The king
has an extraordinary taste for mutton
broth, which greasy compound, as may
be seen from the royal menu daily
printed in the Acopolis, figures at
nearly every dinner given at the pal
ace. His majesty is a big eater at the
two principal meals, and is not pleased
when any dish does not come up to
par. There are no less than thirty
cooks and under cooks in the royal
kitchen, the majority French, though
there are always some Germans and, of
course, a small staff of Greeks to look
after the curious Oriental sweetmeats
and desserts which only Turks and
Greeks can make, and of which the
king is a deyout worshiper.
After lunch, instead of going to sleep
for awhile in the siesta, which nearly
all his subjects take, ''our Georgy''
spreads himself out in a vast arm chair
with his Turkish pipe bubbling by his
side and a French novel in his hand
The family has permission to nod off
if it likes, for an hour and a half or
so, then the king decides how the af-
ternoon is to be spent. Generally it is
a ride or drive to Phalerion, past the
ancient Acropolis and down TO the
beach, where there is a little garden
reserved for the royal family. Here
they lounge away the hot hours by the
tainly one of the most magically lovely
as it is assuredly the most romantic
ally historical nook of the globe. In
the cool of the evening, when the sun
is getting ready to set over Hymettus
and the marble ruins of the glorious
past, the royal party returns to the
palace, driving rapidly through the
picturesque crowd that daily wait for
their passing to cry 'zeeto!' to the
king.
At half past there is the dinner. a
function exactly similar to the lunch, /
except that the younger princesSes are /
not allowed to dine at the state table /
They eat under the eye of an intend /
ant in another sale, coming in only /
for the dessert When there are no !
guests of distinction the after-dinner /
hours are passed in the most bourgeois /
fashion. The king gives himself up en- /
tirely to his children, talking, chatting |
with the younger ones, and playing bill /
lizards with Prince AndreaS or beZique |
or skampili with his wife. 1t is sad to /
have to relate that his majesty is a /
confirmed pUnster; he mangles the five /
languages he commands in the constant |
effort to beat the record. His personal I
intimates know that nothing more COM \
mends them to his good graces than 1
to bring punning stories galore for his /
amusement. One reason he is so de-
voted to the strictly modern Greek. the /
Greek of the people as distinct from |
the pedantic Greek of newspaper and /
books, is that it is a language lending /
itself to an infinity of puns- 1t is said |
Our Georgy'' would rather make a
good pun than add a vessel to his pri-
vate feet. He boasts that on one su- I
premely happy day he fabricated TWEEN
ty-three distinct and original puns. He
reads Shakespeare with immense de-
light, as much for the sake Of the word |
play that abounds in the great dramas
as for their higher qualities. His fam
lily is privileged to laugh or pretend to
laugh at, the royal puns till half past
10. Then it is 'all hands below deck
The whole tribe trots off dutifully to |
bed, the king retires TO his study to
smoke and read till midnight. Then /
he puts out his lamp and turns in him
self, to sleep the untroubled sleep of