The Florida star., 1909-04-16
cERVERA AS A DIPLOMAT.
kentucky Woman's RseoIisetions Of
the Spanish Admiral.

the Spanish Admiral.
Mrs. w. J. Abram. formerly Miss Lily
Turner. OF Louisville. Ky. years ago IL
Washington was acquainted with Ad.
miral Pascual de Cervera y Topic. who
recently died at his home in Puerto
Real, In Spain he was the commander
Of the Spanish feet which was de-
stroyed by the United States feet at
Santiago de Cuba.
1t seems the gallant sailor had all
his life been a great admirer Of Amer
lea and Americans and was very anx-
iOus to spend some time In the United
States. He was a great favOrite with
the queen Of Spain, so when she heard
Of his desire she Immediately had a
place made for him among the Spanish
diplomats at Washington.
At the time Hon. Oscar Turner was
a member Of congress from Kentucky
and was in Washington with his wife
and pretty young daughter. Miss Lily.
They lived at the old Hamilton Fish
house, which was then a fashionable
charming people In Washington as its
guests. Among them were Colonel
BrOdhead, ex-minister to Switzerland.
and Mr.. Galvan, who represented SantO
Domingo on some special mission. Mr..
Galvan, who was a delightful and
much Travelled man. was an intimate
friend OF the Marquis de Cervera. and.
being also a friend Of the Turner'S. he
brought the marquis. who was a
widower. to call as soon as he arrived
in the city. and during his stay Miss
Turner saw a great deal Of him.
Mrs. Abram was told that the mar
quis for some time attended one Of
the public schools Of Washington to
learn our language. One day he COM
planned to her Of the difficulty he
found in mastering 1t. saying: "Such
a language as you have! Ii is GER
tainly the most curious and difficult
You use so many of exactly the same
words to convey an entirely different
meaning. For instance. saw means
to cut and to see. When | hear you
say L saw a man. how am | to know
whether you have seen him or cut
hImT"
He was very much provoked one
day when she broke an engagement
with him to go riding with young
Washington beau. In speaking Of the
way In which he had been treated to
Mr.. Turner he intimated that he was
surprised, as the young man was a
plain mister and he the Marquis de
Cervera. Mr.. Turner assured him that
the title Of mister in this country was
quite as good as that OF marquis In
Spain; indeed, he might say. better,
as the president OF the United States
was called by it.
The marquis was very graceful
man and very punctilious about re-
turning promptly all civilities extended
to him. There was in Washington a
rich maiden lady Of 1 was about to
write uncertain age, but 1t is the
wrong word to use, there could be
no doubt as to her age; 1t was very
certain. She owned a handsome house,
TO which the marquis had been several
times invited, so one evening he asked
her to go with him to the theater. To
his amazement, when she accepted she
asked, "And who will you invite as
chaperonT's The marquis made her
low bow as he said, For whom, my
dear madam, you or meT'
Marquis Cervera presented a photo
graph Of himself to Miss Turner, bear
ing the following autographic inscrlp-
ton:
Miss Turner-Of all the pleasant mem
ories OF Washington l shall carry with me
none will be dearer than the recollection
OF you, so kind. so pretty and so good.
THE MARQUIS DE CERVERA.