Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1907-06-06
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king desires to take his ease within it,
accompanied by his harem favorites,
he enters the single door, which,
when closed, is air and water-tight.
At signal certain valves are opened
and the house of glass descends to the
bottom of the lake. The arrange
ments for supplying fresh air are per-
feet. In the hot summer weather it
affords a deliciously cool retreat, and
there Chulalongkorn is accustomed to
while many idle hours away, rejoic-
ing doubtless that fate did not sum-
mon him to reign over a progressive
and civilized people. That famous
saying of Shakespeares: Uneasy
lies the head that wears a crown"
does not apply to him.
In accordance with eastern custom
he is q much married man. He has a
| score or two of official wives, and no
body knows just how many hundreds
Of what might be termed courtesy
wives, though in Solomon's time they
were known by another name.
How far contact with western civ
| ilization has modified Chualongkorn's
| religious views nobody knows, but
nominally, at least, he adheres to the
state religion which is a decadent
form of Buddhism on which many SUI
perstitions have been grated. The
huge palace is girdled by holy rope
which has been blessed by the priests
and is, therefore, supposed to form
an effective barrier against the fiend-
ish host whose special prey is roy
| atty and it's multitudinous offspring.
1t is the Siamese custom to scare de-
mons by demons, somewhat on the
principle of setting thief to catch
thief. The demons employed are
. huge and hideous efIigies. The priests
wanted Chulalongkorn, when he
assembled the throne, to permit the
erection of two of these monstrosities
outside the palace gates. But they
compromised on the holy rope. OPP
pooste the palace, on the western
4 bank of the silver, stands a temple
| known as Wat Chang, or the Temple
of Dawn" which the king attends for
public worship. The wardens are two
| gigantic stone figures, male and fe-
male, wearing nightmare masks. And
| the king, skeptical though he may be
as to their efficacy, deems it prudent
to make an obeissanee when he passes
between them.
He has visited England once before
That was in 1897. He wasn't feeling
particularly comfortable at that time,
for France was threatening to gobble
up the biggest portion of his Kingdom,
and he didn't show himself much in
public, 1t was supposed then that the
chief purpose of his visit was to get
England to block the Franch game.
On that occasion he paid a vlHt to
the queen at Windsor Castle. ale was
assigned to a magnificent suite of
rooms on the first floor, which corre-
spends to what Americans would call
the second floor. But despite thef1
sumptuous furnishing, it became ap-
parent that his dusky majesty was far
from comfortable in them. Then the
truth leaked out. 1t is customary in
Siam for the monarch to sleep at the
top of the house, nearest heaven"
and that anybody should occupy apart
ments nearer the realms of the blessed
than himself did not accord with his
notions of what was due his rank and
dignity So he was shifted to an at
tic room, and though of necessity, it
was far meaner apartment, he was
more than pleased with the change.