The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-04-19

Madrid, Spain, April s19.---Now that Spain has taken the center. of the stage as the foremost neutral. follow ing the break of relations between the United States and Germany she is finding that the role of2the5 chief neu- tral is not altogether a happy one. There is added honor and rrRsttge as the intermediary between a1k the war ious capitals, but here at Madrid the representatives of all these capitals are ranged in so many hostile camps. with their own champions and fol- lowers, their own press and shades of new and gossip, their own policies. intrigues and wirepulling, that the government has found it convenient and necessary to draw a sharp line between these different groups so as to prevent animosities and embarass- ments which might seriously inter efere with strict adherence to neutral ity.
 The ISpanish capital is famous for the elegance of it's official receptions with strict adherence to precedent and etiquette, and with all the for eign repr resentatives mingling togeth- CT. Until recently, the wife of the German ambassador was doyenne of the wives of ambassadors. This cre- ated spn1ething of a strain when the various groups assembled and greet ed each other in the strict order of their rank.
 But when new British ambassa- dor arrived recently, the German am- bassador- succeeded as dean of the foreign representatives, and his wife continued as doyenne. As such the . 7;<kS, 1k i. front, not only in precedence, but in virtually directing all the intercourse of grand affairs. Even in the ordin- ary official meetings with the cabiH- ct ministers, representatives of the two hostile groups were brought to- gether in such way that separate at- dience rooms had to be hastily found in-order to avoid a clash, but all this is now overcome by the establish ment of different hours and days for all the groupsA
 Even the national and religious fes- tivals are undergoing change because of neutrality. The Kings birthday celebration was given up this year. Usually,it is attended by a grand re- ception of all the foreign represen- tatiyes at the royal palace, with gala performances and popular demon strations and bull-fights But all this was omitted this year as it was clear all the foreign representatives could not be brought together for one com mon rejoicing. The lenten festivals also, which are usually observed with great ceremony in Spain, are now much restricted for the same reason of neutrality.
 One of the most curious Of these ceremonies is usually on Thursday of the last week of lent, when the King washes the feet of twelve poor men at the palace It is called the lava torio,. isfa symbol of humility, and is open to the public who crowd the palace to, witness this unusual scene But this year the ceremony is omit ted, as it would bring together the two opposing war clements
 The need for this strict observance was made plain by several incidents. Before the new rules came into force there was reception at which all the ambaasadors were assembled, This brought together Prince x, the am- bassador of one of the Central Pow CTS and Lord Y, the ambassador of an Entente power. There was a mo- ments hesitation, and then the En- tente ambassador. to relieve the strain. smihngly extended his hand. But Prince X, instead of taking the --1nd. carried his own hand behind his back. WhereUpon the Entente ambassador, not to be embarrassed , by the affront, increased his smile in- to hearty laugh, and remarked:/
 vOh, I had quite forgotten we were at war;
 There have been only two elements to keep apart up to the rupture of relations between the United States and Germany, but this introduced a third element of countries which had broken rela&aons but not gone to war.