Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1918-10-12
KING Of BELGIUM
LIVES SIMPLY IN
A BRICK COT TAGE
Fighting Ruler With His Fam
lily About Him, Makes His
Headquarters Near 'FRONT.'
interested in America.

(By Newspaper Enterprise Ass'n.)
Washington, Oct, Everybody
in the warworn Belgian army. from
the gallant king to the brave little
privates in the ranks. is "eating up
every bit of news concerning what the
American army is doing, what Amer
lea is preparing to send over IN the
near future. and what money she is
raising to bring the war to a success
full finish.
This is the information brought by
Paul van den Ven. formerly professor
in the University of Louvain and now
a professor at our own Princeton uni
versity, and director of the Belgian
information service. Professor van
den Ven has Just returned after a long
visit at the Belgian front. He had n
two-hour chat with the king.
You can't begin to imagine" he
says, "the electrical effect the coming
of your Americans has upon our peo-
pie.
THE men in the trenches get the
French and Belgian papers. I was
there after Cantigny and Chateau
Thierry had been fought and won by
your men. Our Belgians were wild
with delight.
TN one sector the lines had become
stabilized because each side had turn
ed loose floods against the other. The
wet trenches were perhaps 1000 yards
apart Each side had boats, but there
We're few raids. But while | was
there the Belgian army was begin
ming to stir. One morning / saw
party of my countrymen returning in
boats. They had been out on an all
night raiding party. They were dead
weary, but they were singing. They
had taken some Hun prisoners and
their trench knives had blood on
them. You know what has happened
since.
'rhe king makes his headquarters
at La Panne. little village on the
Belgian seacoast. Here he lives like
modest citizen of moderate means
in simple two-story brick cottage
The house faces out on the sand
dunes. / remember there were two
flower beds which did not thrive well
in that sandy soil
1.-THE interior of the house is as
simple as the exterior The king has
tiny salon fitted out with some old
red velvet chairs very much the worse
table on which were lying some
French and English newspapers. At
this table the king does his work.
Picture of Family Life.
1.-THE queen and the children have
their plain bedrooms upstairs Prince
Charles, IA, one of the sons, is Sill
schoolboy. The Duke of Brabant,
II, heir to the throne, at the age
when most boys are in high school, is
serving as private in the army. AS
| was coming in / saw the pretty
blonde Princess Marie Jose, IL. romp-
ing in after a walk on the dunes. It's
a sweet. wholesome family life that
is led there at La Panne, broken, of
course, by the necessary absences of
the king with. his men. and the duke
who takes his turn in the trenches.
Il had two-hour talk with my
sovereign. 1t is. of course. difficult
to get to La Panne. 1t is quicker to
go there by auto than by train and
your papers have to be unexceptional.
But once you get there. little cere-
mony is observed. l went into the
kings cottage and found him waiting
for me. He received me standing and
we shook hands and stood there for
The king is very tall and soldierly-
looking. He is AZ and his face shows
the cares that he has borne for the
past four years. He wore the khaki
uniform of a general in the Belgian
army. And it was not the show uni
form that so many sovereigns put on
for occasions. | remember some of
the gold braid was dull and the whole
suit looked weather beaten. 1T had
evidently seen long service. in wind
and rain and snow Our SOVEREIGN
when lad of is. was in America and
he asked me many questions about
places and men he had known a
quarter of a century ago.
He was especially interested in the