The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-06-19

THO The young king of Spain a son was born by the niece of his maj
 esty the king of Great Britain Are these present days so resplendent with light and beauty because of the smile or the royal babe? Or did the tickle month of May spread out all its flowers ana perfumes to celebrate the advent of a child so propitious, so welcome to both nations? It Is difficult to say.
 Every one feels that here Is am event both charming and important; something that appeals to the simplest heart of a mere mother in a lonely cottage, and to the overstrung statesman and diplomatlst. It is so beautifully human, and yet so sternly political. Some of us are impor- tant by what we say; others by what they write; others again by what they do or possess The-{nfant of Spain is impor- tant by his very existing.
 He is; that is sufficient to send thrill of joy through the hearts of all Span iards, of all British and of all their friends.
 The purely human side of this event is indeed perfectly beautiful Here is a young and charming maiden, not yet 20 years old married to an able youth. Alas! 1t can no longer be denied that youthful ness is practically thing of the past. If May represents the freshness and joy ousness of youth. then we are bound to say that May has long been cancelled from the calendar of modern life. To make up the modern life-calendar now counts two Novembers.
 The fact that the majority of people in any of the western nations live in large towns accounts for much in that senlity and anaemic complexion of our modern youth. Goethe used to say that youth was drunkenness without wine"
 It was so; now it Is sapent teetotalism of all that spells joy, animation, or strong, nervey enjoyment. Young people do not cry any more, nor do they laugh. How enchanting to read in the papers that the young King of Spain cried with joy when the news was brought him. He still can cry; how enviable a young man! That tear was worth more than his throne.
 There is history of tears. During the French Revolution, and down to Water loo, people cried apropos of anything sad. Napoleon the Great shed tears like child Now we have too little of true manhood to be able to cry. In Spain. where the vast majority of people live in small provincial towns, where sentiments and emotions are still allowed to go about in laced boleros and flirting mantillas, there are still vast and unbroken quar- ries of the genuine marble of manhood.
 The present young King did not so much as attempt to conceal his joy at the idea of being the husband of the charm ing Princess. This is precisely what he ought to have felt.
 To marry young is great blessing. The French have always said, "C'est la pa ternte qui nous sauve." How well that applies to the King of Spain While still a boy. he lost the rest of his empire in America, and his country. always on the verge of Carlist movements fraught with civil war, threatened to sink below the level of Roumania. By the birth of n Royal Prince and heair, the Spanish dy nasty, still the soul of distinctly mon archical nation, has infused new hopes and new life into the Spanish people. There is a new May for Spain. In Eng land 1t is customary to speak with con- descending pity of Spain, and some writ CTS never cease ascribing the "downfall of Spain to her ligotry. The fact is, that each nation is ridden by something or , other. England for instance, is quite in the grips of her solicitors and barristers, who make. administer and transact all the law of the country.
 Nobody takes offence at the fact that here all judges are barristers-a thing absurd in itself. and never admitted by any other nation in Europe. In the same