Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-03-21

pean ana native. such enthusiasm 1 nave
never seer eqUaled. The whole mass OF
people, as the old veterans hobbled and
crawled in, all to q man either halt lame
or utterly used up. rose to its feet and
cheered. The cheers and clappiny were as
deafening, IL not more so. for the natives.
one OF whom had to be supported in very
slowly by two servants. 1t was all We could
do to keep back the tears and the eyes OF
the men, too, looked suspiciously bright.
Even after the poor old things had taken
their seats the audience remained standing
and cheered and clapped uproariously.
The next to arrive were the Duke and
Duchess of Connaught with their two
squadrons of British and native cavalry
The day was so brilliant and the atmos-
phere SO clear that the waving pennons.
giittering lances and gay uniforms seemed
| to shine and glitter with joy In their own
| briliance. and even the saddest or most
misanthropic of beings must have felt the
general joyousness of those few brilliant
hours. The salute of thrty-one guns an
| nounced the arrival of their royal high
nesSeS, and as they approa ched the dais
| the very imposing guard of honor present.
| ed arms and the audience rose and the ma
| tional anthem was played by the massed
bands. The duke and duchess were well
coined with a fair amount Of enthusiasm.
but neither they nor the vice regal party
were cheered as were the old veterans or
the. Imperial Cadets. The royal dukes
would make nice country chatelaines. but
lack the commanding and really kingly
presence which the Prince of Wales al
ways had. and which, to a certain extent.
Lord Curzon possesses. AS the kings rep
n sentatives assembled the dais and took
their seats, the second royal salute sound
ed. the bayonets of the mass Of troops
drawn up on the plain outside flashed daz-
zlingly down the line, they presented
arms. and the Viceroy and Lady Curzon
drove into the arena with their body guard
and the much admired cadets with fine old
Pretab Singh at their head. Lady Curzon.
In paleSt blue and a large hat, was In ev-
cry respect what she as vicereine of the
pY11n OH n no IN ai-
Gus, queenly, elegant in every point: well
dressed and beautiful. To all that. II one
adds youth and very sweet charm, she
stands described.
Lady Curzon's Tact.
The comparisons. as she mounted the
dais, courteseyed with infinite grace to the
duke and duchess and then took her seat
slightly back of the royal lady. were
rather "odous'' to the duchess and GER
tainly favorable to the vicereine. and I
overheard one very British Engiishman
of the party excaim: She is perfect in
every way. as wife. mother. woman and
vicerene!' The Imperial Cadets we felt.
were deserving of praise, perfect In every
way" in which an imperial cadet ought to
be perfect, as officers, princes of the en-
pire, guard to the viceroy and above all as
riders. In that respect our enthusiasm for
them knew no bounds, and Ii Is simply i'm
possible to describe the easy grace and
dignity of their princely bearing on horse
Curzon and neglected the Imperial Cadets
for once bu. centered on the beautiful
horse of old Pretab Singh. 1t is the most
beautiful creature imaginable and well
known throughout India, perfection in
shape, color and size, with all the airs and
graces and nonsense possible to spoiled
creature, yet perfectly obedient. we were
told that horse and master were as init
mate as man and animal could be, and that
nothing was too good in the eyes of Pretab
Singh for the enchanting creature.
| their golden chairs or thrones, the Imperial
Cadets, who had ridden off with the rest of
the guard. appeared on foot, two and two
at the extreme end Of one of the wings,
| and marched straight, tall and with abso-
| lutely expressionless faces, up to the dais.
| bowed low and took their places back OF
| the viceregal party.
| trumpeters then slowly approached and
| then formed up with flourish Of trumpets
| in front of the dais while he read the proc
| lamation. Then came the national anthem,
| the one hundred and one guns, and, lastly
the feude joe. which we liked best of all.
The prescribed cold chilli of delight had
its way with us the somber. deep voice
of the guns began in the distance and bayed
its way up the line. dying away again in
| the opposite distance. all In the fash of an
| instant. The address of the viceroy was
| delivered in a loud. clear voice, so that any
| one with average hearing had nothing to
| complain of, but were in such haste to
| see the presentation Of the native princes
| that our interest in the address tagged.
| At last, however, the presentation began.
| The viceroy and duke stood in front of the
| two thrones-but 1 will quote the very val
| liable little red book:
''The foreign secretary Will next ask per-
mission to present the ruling chiefs present
at the durbar. The ruling chiefs will, In
| the order previously arranged, advance to
| the front of the dais in turn and will briefly
| offer their congratulations to his majesty
| the king-emperor, through his excelency
| the viceroy, who. with his royal highness
| the Duke of Connaught. will receive them
| standing. At the conclusion Of the presen-
| tation the foreign secretary will request
permission to close the durbar'
Both Worked and Read Well.
That all sounds so exactly like Lord Cur
| ION that feel quite sure he wrote 1t all
| himself: and really it is not at all improb-
able.
When the poor foreign secretary, whom
we all pitied, for his was q thankleSs task
and his very undecorative figure. tall and
narrow, looked still less decorative as he
repeatedly backed away from the august
presences-when he had secured permission
to present the chiefs the real dubar
began.
Each native prince, as his turn came, left
his red velvet arm chair and, accompanied
by two attendants. walked with great dig
nifty to the corner of the dais where he
left his gentlemen-n- waiting and advanced
alone to the front, shook hands with the
viceroy and duke. and after few words,
moved off to the other side.
1t is quite impossible to describe the gor-
geousness of their costumes. the flashing of
their jewels nor the princely dignity of
their bearing. Their ease and grace and
utter lack of self-consciousness was a de-
light to behold.
The first to be presented was the great
Nizam Of Hyderabad. and the small old
man was an impressive sight. dressed in
quiet colors but with a few very magnif-
cent jewels. The viceroy and duke received
his gracious greeting as IL it were an honor
indeed. and were visibly impressed. We
longed to know what the old prince said to
them and what he felt when saying 1t.
When Pretab Singh In the uniform of colo
rel of the Imperial Cadets was presented.
1t was more like the meeting of friends and
he evidently said something amusing from
the smiles on, the three faces. The versa
tile Maharajah of Kapurthala was the most
gorgeous of all. His turban was decorated
with large crown of diamonds which
they said had cost fabulous sum and was
no small coronet but huge crown, neces-
sarily large to surround the big turban.
which evidently contained yards upon yards
of gold gauze. His neck was loaded with
chains. and his coat was one mass of en-
broidery Of precious stones on cloth of
gold.