The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-04-07

+.'S Oh the language travellers remain
most entirely ignorant Of the personal
avs Of the Greek in his own land. Nor
5es this apply to the common or street
aflety OF Greek alone. The court OF
linens and its king have been hardly
Jelter known 20 the outside world than
vas the mysterious mikados court
'elore Japan was thrown open to civ
ization, This present attempt to throw
.lgnJ upOn the Greek king and his
, people grows out of an extended ex-
! perlence on the part of the writer. both
/ IN the huts and mountain villages of
/ the Greek peasant and in the salons of
| Athens.
From this experience one fact stands
1 OUT prominently concerning King
| George and the royal family. The
/ oVerfiowing loyalty and affection thar
! existed before the Turkish war were
4 too deeply rooted TO wane more than.
temporarily as the result of that dismal
alair; our Georgy" GO YOryi mas'')
/ IS looked upon as q father and friend
! by all his people. They delight in tell
/ ing stories of his simplicity, kindness
and easy-going paternal ways. In this
| estimate they are at once right and
/ wrong. Our Georgy'' is as simple in
his habits as any dcmesticated pater-
! tamilias in the world. but like a great
| many bourgeois, though very affection
ate, he is the sternest of martinets.
Inc King was 56 years old in Janu-
/
/ OF his life from what we know of him
1 since he landed in Greece to take the
4 throne the powers offered him, then
/ 1t IS certain that for fifty-six years Cor
let us say fifty years, TO make allow
ance for early childhood) he has never
I got up in the morning as much as five
minutes before or five minutes after z
O'Clock. That is not early for Greece,
whose streets, nine months in the year,
! are full of people at ; O'Clock But it
i the kings he fc 90 l.
lngly faithful to it. He takes an ice
cold bath Immediately after rising, and
dresses himself in the frock coat suit
| which he Will wear all day long, with
the star OF the Grand Cross of
Greece" cleaning on the lapel At ~
he passes into his study and reads the
morning papers, which must be laid
out, unfolded, in a certain order, on his
desk. He is familiar with Danish (his
native tOngue), German, French and
English, as well as Greek: and among
the papers on his desk there are always
several foreign sheets chosen by the
syngraphefs, or private secretary, for
some particular article which he thinks
Will interest his majesty. The king
has given orders that every word con-
corning himself be brought to his no
tice. 1t is not improbable that he may
even read this article; for both the
French and the Greek papers print a
great deal of miscellaneous matter
translated from the American news
papers.
After he has spent half an hour or
so over the news of the day. political
and social, not neg1ecting the society
notes of the Athenian AcropoIs,
which give elaborate details of dhe do
ings Of the local notabiIitieg, all of
whom Will be Familiarity known to the
king of a small country his frock-
coated, star-decorated majesty pro-
ceeds TO strangely unroyal perform
apce. He makes his own coffee. A
tiny silver spirit-lamp is on q table
of inlaid wood in the corner of the
graphelon or study; next it is the
briki or little lidlesS Turkish coffee
pot filled with water: and a oliver jar,
decorated in enamel with the royal
arms. holds Just two tablespoonfulS
of finely powdered mocha. The king
does not like to see any one in the
morning till he has smoked a couple of
Egyptian cigarettes over his infinitesi-
NAL cup of very strong Turkish coffee
with the grounds forming an inch
thick deposit at the bottom of the cup)
This desire Of unbroken matutinal sol
itude causes him to make his morning
brew himself
With his coffee ard cigarettes he
pores over the journals till 10. Pre-
e1Sely at that hour he mounts to the
queens private salon on the second
story OF the royal palace. Here the
whole royal family is required to be
present without fail. Every one even
the queen, rises Wnen ne enters. ana
there is a chorus of ''Kalemera, patera'
C'Good morning, father'), from all the
princes and princesses. For. by the
way. Our Georgy' insists on the use
of the Greek tongue in the home life
of the court, though he is a Dane and
the queen a Russian. In the queens
salon the king INDUCES in light family
talk while her majesty and the young
Folk take the proyeoma or first break
fast" The meal, amply sufficient in
that climate, consists of tea served in
the English fashion, with clotted cream.
and tartines, of bread and butter with
some sweet biscuits. The king makes
fun of his family over this harmless
repast, declaring them gluttons; for
he himself never eats anything till the
heavy midday lunch. A stroll in the
palace follows the breakfast; the whole
FAMILY trotting out together to inspect
the carefully kept flower beds, or to
rOmp on the vast lawns moved and
trimmed by English gardeners. Here
the king lays his dignity aside and
rOmps with the little folk, while Queen
Olga looks on at the fun. i
The king never forgets, however, to
keep one eye on the palace clock. At
1:15 he sobers down and becomes the
practical man of affairs. He returns
70 his study and immerSeS himself in
state papers and in documents concern
ing his personal business For he is
very much of a business man. He is
also very rich one. Not because he is
king of poor little Greece, but because
he has a commercial genius equal to
that of a jay Gould or an Andrew Car
negie. His allowance as king is q very
small matter, scarcely enough to enable
him TO build and occupy with becoming
decency a brown stone mansion on
Fifth avenue. if he were a private
American citizen. But by sheer bust
ness ability. by a wonderful grasp OF
affairs, he has made himself a multi
millionaire. Speaking in American
terms, one might say he was many
times a king. Besides being king of
Greece, he is. in his own country, a BE-.
dairy king" "a railway king
''raisin and olive king" and, above all,
a. ''sea king" (the last not in the sense
in which his marauding Danish ances-
tors centuries ago bore th5. romantic
title). The fact is that his capital ju-
dieiously invested in Greek native in
dustries, increased so rapidly that he
has finally been able to corner the
most profitable produce of his kingdom.
He owns vast dairy farms and plapta-
tions of grapes and olives all over the
land. Nearly the entire railway system
of Greece is under his control and pays
a big percentage directly into his money
box; and he personally owns large
fleet of merchant vessels engaged in the
eery lucrative carrying trade of the Lee
want, between Greek. Turkish, Egypt
ian Austrian Arabian and French