The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-09-21
Difficulties and Annoyances in the Life of the
 Purple.

That the glory and honor of kingship Is not what the man in the street calls "all beer and skittles" Is evidenced by the treatment which King Edward has been receiving during the past week at Martenbad, whither he has gone to take his annual cure. The telegraphic reports from the Austrian resort pie turesquely. describe the king as being literally driven from pillar to post by mobs of well-dressed people who are feverishly anxious to get their faces as near the royal visage as Is possible without actually committing legal as- sault. I have had a letter this morning from gentleman who is sojourning at Marienbad and he tells me that never before has any human being been so harassed Conscious of the ad- vantage accruing to the town of the prenee of so great a man as the Eng fish king. and recollecting the annoy ances to which he was subjected In previous years, the local authorities sought to stem the tide of human curi- osity by issuing public warnings in the form of handblls and posters, appeal ing to the visitors to treat the dlstin- guished guest as if he were not there at all; and instead of acting as de- terrent this warning merely spurred the mob up to greater efforts. The kings promenade from his hotel to the pump has been in the nature of a pro- cession led by stalwart policemen sur rounding a nonchalant and followed by motley crew of Germans, French- men, Turks, Spaniards, Russian Jews in kaftans and oily curls, Hamburg merchants, portly and prosperous, eag- CT Americans, black men from Africa and even Chinamen. Add to this a proper proportion of elbowing and bustling women and children and you have fair picture of the matutinal ordeal through which King Edward is obliged to pass in order to undergo the cure which Is prescribed for him by the famous Dr. Ott. I do not sup pose that the king minds very much how many people surround him or ltON 6lCdL u A4OWh lllclN SdpG QOWH LIS collar He must have become used to this form of human boorishness by this time. have seen him on occasions damned In human wall in which he has been absolutely imperturbable. That is one of the penalties of royalty which can never be obviated and, being above all things a philosopher, he has probable taken proper measure of the situation and treats it as among the ordinary events of the day
 Even in England on certain occa- sions the members of the royal fam fly must perforce submit to what other people would consider a terrible indignity. I recall the garden party at Windsor In June when couple of thousands of the foremost people in the realm were punched together in a solid phalanx and swayed up and down the great lawn keeping step and time to the members of the royal family, forming a great ring round them, and gaping, staring and whisp- ering comments on the personality of this, that or the other member of the
 kings party. I have seen, time and again, at the opera for instance, when the king and queen have entered their box, the entire audience diverting it's attention from the stage and focusing
 4,000 or 5000 eyes on the greater at- traction of royalty; and it has often amused me to note the absolute con- sternation of those who, while staring intently at the royal box, suddenly found themselves under the cool gaze of pair of opera glasses leveled at i them by the king or queen. There is nothing so disconcerting as a stare in
 return. To me it seems almost an act 1 of heroism on the part of the highly. ! placed victims to take this public 1 scrutiny so calmly They do not seen
 to apear to notice that they are at al
 subjected to general attention, On tht . other hand, l suppose if the public