Evening star., 1914-02-14

Once | lived with a king for a month.
Relatives of mine once Travelled with
4 member Of the reigning house OF
Austro-iiunsury and spent = few days at
his country place. and did not know he
was in the running until after they had
left bur this king of mine was known
to me as king from the moment he
introduced himself
He was a king by birth, and had it all
written out on paper. and 10y trade he
was carpenter. If he could sit upon
a throne with the ease he had acquired
by stradding the roof tree of a slopinS
creamery. he would be a monarch worth
seeing. | can tell you. That was my
first sight of the king. He was riding
the roof Of q West Virginia creamery.
haInmering nails in with n scepter-i
mean hammer. l suppose If the little
king in The Prince and the Paurcr
could crack nuts with the great seal
of England. then this king of mine could
hammer nai,s with a scepter.
1t was in the queer littl. town OF
Romney. W. Va. ana was gaining one
pound Il daE. drinking milk. eating Jam
and catching bass. The town spread out
over j rich little valley. and has per-
haps 600 inhabitants. The king and
1lNtu ltI me month with HilSS-oHdaN
His name Was Alphonso. quite properly.
for nc Claimed direct descent from King
Ferdinand the something. who was
chased from the throne of Spain in the
sixteenth century. Like all other ex-
kings. at that time. the proper thing
much you can verify in the histories In
America, eN-king Ferdinand settled
down and married the daughter of a
colonist- They had child Several
power again and sent for the exile, but
tie understanding is that he died before
regaining the throne.
Sitting by a coal oil lamp, my king
traced his ancestry directly back to that
one child, the son of AN ex-king pioneer
upon our coasts. Had the cards turned
up correctly. said my king, that little
Amerlcan-born son of don should
no-the party in power had TO grail
some one on the spot. so they picked
up another member Of the royal fam
| l.y. available and out of job at the
time. and placed him on the thrcne.
.Ef | could git my rights. dGrn il.
said my friend the king. II would OF
| been a settin on the throne o Spain.
| he said.
But who would put the roof on tn.
| creamery" I asked him
| He disda;ned to reply. That night. a:
| on all other nights. he slept in his clothes
| | used to see him doing so through tn,
doorway. He never closed il.
But to show that he had real Spanish
| tendencies. let ME relate the story of hi
| fight with the bull The state deaf NUT.
school was near at hand. and the super
intendent had pastured bull ii fir.
| meadow. One Saturday night a fine snort
! ing fellow, with patent leather tan shoe:
and a readvmade rel nccktie came to
| Romney engaged in the nefarious pur
suit of selling unworkable sewing ma
chimes to farmers wives. He brought
| with him some Cumberland (MdD wh.s.
ky. The king sat up all night drinking
that whisky The next morning he was
| in fine royal state of insobriety, and al
he needed was crown to lean over one
ear and a bedraggled robe of ermine te
look the part of a sporting monarch.
IF you have one drop of royal Spanish
blood in your veins. I said. you viii
go out in that meadow and give US ar
| exhibition of Spanish bull-fightins.'
| The names he called that bull con
| WINGED me that he really was a king
He said he would fight that bull. or an.