The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1918-04-15

its privileges than of its opportunities.
In every serious word he says you real
ize his own sense that besides being
king he is human being, in a posi-
.tion of great responsibility towards
other human beings; that his lot is cast
in a difficult time, in which II true
men are called upon TO exert their
whole strength and pull their whole
weight.
These are not easy times in which
TO be king" he said to me; zone has
to know a great deal more and work
great deal harder than in any other
time. And, If you fail your failure
means a great deal more. | may not be
good enough for the post" he added,
but, anyhow, ! mean to try my best"
quote his remark because believe
It represents no mere affectation. but
genuine sense Of his responsibilities
and of the difficulty of discharging
them Alright II is not that he has an
obsession as to the greatness of his
position; rather that he has arrived at
the conclusion along with most men of
sense and spirit. that 1t Is none too easy
task to fulfill ones whole obligations
in any walk of life. and that the COM
plications of constitutional sovereignty
are not exactly things that make it
easier.
Like to Talk.
His conversation is, l think, less an
expression of his own mind than
search and angling exploration into
the mind of the person he is talking to.
He wants to know things, you feel: to
inform himself, to fish out and extract
the note OF truth from that changing
tune of voices all modulated to one
more or less deferential key. with which
II is the royal lot to be surrounded
And his methods are very clever. He
has a trick of starting a subject by
suddenly expressing a view, probably
rather a startling view, and possibly
not'at all his own view. in order to hear
what you have to say. He is much
more interested if YOU disagree with
him than If you agree: and | am sure
he taxes sly pleasure in the embar-
easements OF those who desire but are
afraid. to disagree with him. And he
Is successful in his method. Al the
know much more about you than you
know about him.
But there shines through his inter
course, certainly as | have found it, a
certain clear preference for the truth.
even though it may not be agreeable
which courtiers are perhaps not very
quick to crafty. 1t Is difficult for an
ordinary person, to whom the sources
of information on things in general are
open and who approaches them by the
common access, to realize the differ
ence between his views of them and
that of monarch, to whom they are
always interpreted in the light OF his
own position. The very minds of men
are as difficult for him to know as the
streets Of his own capital. Both are
self-conscious in his presence; they
are turned, as it were, to him, and
present the aspect which they deem
suitable. He sees everything in full
face, and nothing in profile. He hardly
ever overhears or overlooks; what he
hears is spoken to him, what he sees
is prepared for him to look at,
Aware Of Disadvantage.
The king of Spain is perfectly aware
of this royal disadvantage, and does
what he can to overcome it. partly by
seeing as many different kinds of neo
pie as he can and partly by the eNer-
else of his own very considerable in
telligence. 1t is his character more
over, to be sympathetic; and this, too.
has its pitfalls, for in matters outside
his immediate knowledge he is readily
open to persuasion. Perhaps too open.
for he seems sometimes to be influ-
enced by views and ideas the basis and
origin Of which cannot be really con-
genial to his own candid mind. 1t is
the weakness of graceful natures, and
in Don Alfonso there is an essential
grace of character outwardly matched
by the gracefulness of attitude and
movement which is remarkable even
in country where gracefulness is a