Sunday Washington globe., 1902-01-05
DANGERS OF LAUGHING.
The Occasional InOppOrtuneness Of
Mirth Painfully Evidenced aC the
Expense Of Court OficiaI.

1t was awkward for the czar s confidential
adviser, Baron Enidoff, few weeks ago,
that he had not a quicker control over his
features for a laugh at the wrong moment
lost him his high position and ,6I2,ooo a
year.
While the royal suite was at Compiegue,
soon after the arrival, the Gar was tired,
and little irritable by the effects of the
long journey While going through the
big library, which was part of the great
apartments prepared for him, he slipped on
a wolfskin mat that lay on the highly
polished floor, made wild attempt to save
himself and clutched at one Of hia atten-
dants
He nearly brought himself and his stand
by to the ground, but he just managed to
avoid a fall The spectacle was rather ludi-
crous, especially in such a stately person
age and when the rather irritated mon
arch turned round he found his favorite
Enidoff indulging in a grin of amusement,
which he could not suppress.
The Gar, who detests levity on state
occasions, spoke very sharply to the cul-
prit, who next day was dismissed from his
post, and relegated to an assistant secre-
taryship, with plenty of hard work to do,
and wherein he never sees the Gar at all.
Although wealthy and of the oldest no.
bility, the baron dardd not refuse the minor
service Hia former stipend was E12, 900
year.
But the kaiser, on the whole is the most
dangerous person to laugh at or before, and
more than one person has done for' him
self in this way. SO did the unfortunate
Cough Mlbanke find 1.-THE clever but
bluff Scottish colonial administrator. 1t
was he who used to command the Sultan
Abou Din's troops and manage the Arabian
finances.
The kaiser took him up, four years ago,
as a guest, with a view to making use of
him in the new expansion policy of the
| German empire, aud had decided 70 give
him hne position in the east to guard
! German interests in China, at princely re-
muneration, of course. The kaiser sees to
these things himself and anybody who be
comes one of his right hand men is pretty
we'll set up for life.
At one of the audiences given him at
Potsdam, Milbauke was giving the emperor
the benefit of his experience, and receiving
his orders, when the kaiser made a rather
absurd suggestion as to eastern diplomacy,
proposing to win the confidence of the
Japanese and Kurile islanders with pres.
ents.
Milbanke bursting into a guffaw, asked
the kaiser if he thought the Japanese were
Congo uiggers, WHO could be bought over
with few glass beads and a flint lock
gun. The kaiser froze at once wished Mil
banke good night aud never reopened rela
tions with him
The moral is, when you are chatting with
a king, don't forget he is a king, and dig
him in the ribs still more amusing case
Of this kind was the mistake of another
Scottish administrator Duncan McVea
who was, next to McLeavY Brown, OF
Corea the most famous Of wandering
governors. Scotland, by the way, supplies
80 per cent of the worlds pioneer
administrators, as we'll as its engineers
McVea was dealing with that pleasant
but touchy monarch, the King Of Portugal
who had proposed to put the rather shak,
government Of the Cape Verde islands int,
his hands, to set things going and pull th
finances together This would have been
big step, and meant some $4,000 a. year t
the famous adventurer; but he had to-
much of what Scotchmen are supposed T.
lack-sense Of humor. AZ any rate, il wa
the ruin Of the finest prospect he ever had
The king became little excited and irri
tated at the various common sense obiec
tions that McVea knowing what he wa
taking about, opposed to some Of the mon
arch's plans, and though the king speak
admirable English as a rule, when excite'
it becomes a very odd mixture Indeed
This, finally so worked on MeVea's feel
ings that he smiled audibly, with the resul
that he was promptly ordered away, an
the Cape Verdes still lack Scottish gov
ernor 10 look after their affairs