The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1918-04-15
IMPORTANT WORK
FOR SP ANISH KING
Ruler Anxious To Help His
Country Through Own
Services.
is "SPANIARD FIRST"
Interview Finds Alfonso
Active and Interested
Monarch.
"sPAN1ARD FIRST

Daily Mail, is, by special arrangement
| with that paper, made available for
members of the Associated Press:
| The first time I saw the king of
| Spain he was running up the steps Of
| the Ritz hotel in London, and the cab
man TO whom ] was paying my fare
remarked Good old Alfonso He was
certainly not old, and il is possible
| that at the moment he was not being
| particularly good; but the words cx-
| pressed faithfully enough the attitude
of mind. sympathetic. proprietary,
wholly indulgent of the British public
| ~ but foreign land 1t was enough that
| he was coming to England for wife,
| and that he was the friend and protese
of King Edward; he was zone of us"
The next time I saw him was at his
mothers palace of Miramar, in Sebas-
| tian, where he did me the honor to re-
ceive me in private audience. The first
| touch of autumn was on the roses and
| lit must be confessed) the geranums
of the palace garden, but the sunshine
| lay hot and bright on the blue waters
of the shcll-like bay, where, under the
very windows of the palace, the great
yacht Giralda was rolling at her moor
+, ings.
| One Portrait.
On the walls of the room where l
waited there was but one picture an
enlarged photograph of a little boy on
| a horse; little boy sitting firm and up
right in his saddle, his face turned to
look you straight in the eyes with an
expression of keyed-up courage. of
anxious boldness, as though to meet
whatever destinies might lie before
him. l thought, as ! regarded the pic
ture, that some good Influences must
have been at work moulding the little
mind that looked out through the win
dows of those smiling, fearless eyes;
land the words of the London cabby
came back to my mind and gave me
the sense that in Il foreign country and
amid the uncustomary environment Of
! royal state, / was about to meet with
a familiar friend. ".
Just Kt first, on being ushered into
his presence, that sense forsook me.
| Inc man WHO 'pi wa"
with Just Il touch Of formality to greet
me seemed to be deniZen OF the
historical rather than the actual world;
and the arched eyebrows. long Hops
burg chin, and the divided moustache,
/ a la Philip ~, under the long Bour-
bon nose, produced a strangely foreign
impression which it took a few mo-
ments of the easiness of the modern
manner and the we'll modulated Eng
! lish of the uuiet voice to dispel. But
only few moments.
Velazouez faded. and the little boy
Ion the horse and the youth enjoying
himself In London became SO real that
presently l told him about the cabby's
remark. 1t was abvious that it repre-
scented lust the kind Of feeling the
sportsman in him would wish to inspire
land the wide, slow smile spread over
his face as we talked of London and
England-especialiy of King Edward,
of whom he spoke with an affection
land regret that were very touching 70
an EngIisnman The love of life that
Iendeared Edward to his world found
La ready echo i'll the young heart OF
Don Alfonso.
Wisdom, From English King.
lie was my professor" he said, and
the boy who had never known IA
Their found in the worldly ~isdon ot
the English king a supplement to the
flowing though stricter influences OF MS
Town circle. He told me of the dozen
ways in which King Edward, by SHOW
Ing Il ready sympathy with southiui
high spirits. could hold them hacN
from follles or excuses by Single
word or hint. and at the same time
win the heart OF his young teilo"
Traveller on the difficult road OF roy
Ialty.
Il was his most loyal subject" said
King Alfonso; and very gracefully SAD
on the part of his Catholic majesty.
| | have had other talks with ms
ma iesty in the same and other sur
trountlings--among them i'll those OF inc
,royal palace in Madrid, perhaps the
most magnificent of the ihhabited
houses of kings. There the setting is
iso elaborate that one could hardy DC
surprised To find the man being Mt
tie obliterated by the monarch. but II
was not so in my experiences. men,
latter being passed from hand TO haho'
| one traversed alone the great chahpeT
Iunder the glowing canopy of Iiepoio'
il was the same friendly and unaffect-
cd sraciousness that waited for one
and led the way to the little ante
room, where chairs ard cigarettes were
substitutes for inclinations ana ior-
malities. BY dwelling on what he has
in common with you and seeming 10
ignore the rest, he throws light bridge
across whatever CULTS of training race
or estate may separate you from MN )
and so makes it possible for one whose
knowledge of him is as limited as mine
to form some living acquaintance WIN
the mind and character that lie be-
meath the smiling surface.
Unusual Modesty.
| The first thing that strikes one in
King Alfonso, apart from the fact that
he is "A Young man of extremely agree
| able manners, Is q certain modesty OF
mind which | imagine Is unusual In
ruling monarchs. 1t is true he ~ tho
king of Spain. hut YOU feel ALSO that he
ErAtv 1v.Nr A,t a. hi ~