The Washington herald., 1916-08-07

some concern, unless they wholly lacking III
sense OF humor lead lives perfectly sheltered
from realities. Some of them, infected with the
spirit of democracy, known to be indifferent
to the ruin that stares them in the face and are
actually in favor of helping to bring it Per-
haps no one is really safe from democracy nova
days
The proudest member of rather large group
OF democratic Americans at The Hague the
man from small town in the Middle West who
was the only OF that had the good luck
to the Queen of Holland He boasted of
the incident till we grew tired of listening. 1t
was flectng vision, a mere glimpse face in
closed automobile; but it established personal
relation bound to last through life. 1t will not
at all surprise to hear that, since returning
home, the fellow has taken to ecturing on roy
atty. That story Of his almost seeing the Queen
| is bound to grow. By the time it reaches his
grandchildren it will have developed into per-
sonal acquaintance perhaps friendship
Though | hate to seem to boast, in the in
terest OF truth, l will confess that l have seen
many kings, l have even seen the Kaiser. No,
not since the war. l have also seen the King
OF Spain whose boyish appearance caused me to
do considerable thinking on the subject of kings.
And lately have seen the King of Sweden. In
TACT, have him several times Every
time | go to the opera l see him To get the
full satisfaction Of seeing king one should
see him once only. The second time rather
weakens the effect The third time makes you
feel that after all king is only human II at
this moment l told that the King Of
Sweden riding or walking along the street
outside, doubt if l should run to the window.
But | would go to see him play tennis They
say he IS fine tennis player He plays every
day at the tennis club. Anyone who is really
4 good player play with him, if properly in
troduced, OF course. He is always looking for
someone that can beat him, the story goes, and
nothing plcascs him much as to be beaten.
TO be frank, the King OF Sweden impresses
me as being a very fine Only fine men
behave he does in public when, as King he
has so many inducements to behave otherwise.
He is one of the few persons OF importance l
have ever known to go tc the opera for the love
OF the music How do | know? WE'LL in the
first place, he is usually alone. And in the
second place, he stays till the end. He takes
his seat very quietly and no one apparently pays
any attention to him. At the close OF each act
he waits till the artists have come forward to
acknowledge the applause. Then he usually
steps out and he doesn't come back till the cur
tain goes up again. When he doesn't step out
he turns the opera glass at the other people in
the house exactly you | might do if we
had been brought up in European ways.
The great opera singer that lives at our hotel
knows whether the king is in front or not She
knows beforehand whether he is going to be
there. How do | know that WE'LL ! heard
her say as ! was going up in the elevator few
| days ago, ayes, the king is coming to hear me.
He always comes when | sing" | had intended
! to go that night myself anyway, there he was.
And | noticed that when the great artist came
on the stage she glanced up at the royal box to
make sure he was there l wonder if it my
imagination that made ME think there was a
faint an almost imperceptible greeting between
their eyes, the kind Of greeting that can be
| achieved only by two great artists, without the
slightest movement of the head. Several of the
other artists, both men and women, went through
the same performance and and then they
would oetray that they were thinking OF that
quiet k1ngly figure up in the box, following the
performance intently.
1t is said that the reason the Queen of
Sweden appears in public so little is twofold:
first, she is not strong, secondly, as she a
German princess, she feels that it would not be
lifting tor her to be conspicuous in the way of
gayety or IN any other way just The King,
ODDLY enough, is related to France by being a
direct descendant of Napoleons field marshal,
Bernadotte This royal family is suffering woe
fully through the war; with relatives fighting one
another. In fact when you look at the war from
the point of view of royalty it seems like one of
the most dreadful family-quarrels known to the
world
his is a wonderful chance for one of the
kings OF the neutral countries just now to use
MS influence to stop the war. successful effort
would make him one of the heroes of the time.
1t might even help to revive the prestige of
kings For there are still people over here in
Europe who view the decline of royalty with a
sentimental regret. They enjoy looking at a
king. They take pride in referring to him as