Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-09

is to be a celebration of the seventy-ffth
anniversary of Belgian independence. and
Leopold Is urging his parliament to mark
it by voting him 81 600 600 that n ship-of
war may be bought to carry the national
colors into waters where till now only
the commercial flag of the land has been
known.
A Hobby for Pagodas.
Among the kings idiosyncrasies there
is none more peculiar than his hobby for
pagodas. The wonder is that he does not
live in one. Pagodas of all sizes and
every imaginable material figure largely
in the bric-a-brac of the Brussels and
London palaces-porcelain, ivory, ebony
lacquer, gold, silver and bronze. Not so
many years ago Leopold kept several
agents busy for months ransacking the
curio shops of Paris and dozen other
cities for certain ornaments out of the
orient of elephants bearing miniature
pagodas upon their broad backs. and
when once these had been found and
bought-at decidedly fancy prices
they took honored places among the
monarch's most treasured possessions.
And now, at a cost of nearly $500 900.
there has been contracted in the gardens
at Laeken what is after all merely a
glorified pagoda. It's eight stories rise to
height of quite 80 feet above the
pedestal, and when its myriad electric
lights are on at night the effect through
the stained glass windows is fairylike in
the extreme. The interior is decorated on
a scale Oh Oflentdl maSnlHcence. Tor all
the east has been searched for the superb
carvings and panels and furniture which
fill it.
Surf Bathing and Photographs.
Still another of the monarchs fads is
the collecting of artistic photographs
His gallery of likenesses of friends and
notabilities is extensive, but he also
goes in for" the present-day evidences
of Photographic art as displayed in ma
rfnes and landscapes and figure studies.
Yet he hates to be photographed himself.
Il would rather face a cannon full of
grapeshot," he once remarked to a Brus-
sells artist, than that machine of yours"
When he is taken" however, he does
one thing which few other royalties dare;
he is immortaliZed in profile.
Leopold differs, again, from the great
majority of his dear cousins of the
other European thrones in that he has no
fondness for. out-of-door sports. He is
an Indifferent and an unenthusiastic shot.
He rides for convenience or from sense
of duty rather than for pleasure He cares
nothing at all for yachting, but little for
horse racing, and stigmatizes automobile
ing as "eXtravagant folly" The one eX-
ception to all this is the mans love for
sea bathing-and thereby hangs a tale.
Last summer, while he was at Ostend
enjoying the surf he was jostled on the
beach by a stout stranger. AS usual, the
king was taking things in the most free
and-easy way, with never a sign of his
position even from the many who stood
by, all of them approaching too well his
love of democracy to recognize his rank
So, when the two literally ran into
each other no one was much surprised
but the stranger seemed vastly annoyed
by the awkwardness of this gray bearded
old man.
Sir" he snorted, I'D have you to know
l am member of the council of Paris"
Leopold bowed low in apology. Tn that
case" said he, "a thousand pardons. 1 am
only king of the Belgians.