Omaha daily bee., 1919-11-09
Washington, Nov. ..
Rec Bureau.

1SS - 80 Sssee
The debutantes of Washington
= have been completely sidetracked BY
ROYALTY this season, and insteads @
having things all their own way II
October and November they have
had to shift their coming-out partle:
Z to December, and late in the month
for the most part. The king, queer
and crown prince OF the Belgians
are nearing their own home after a
wonderful and unprecedented visl,
1 over the United States, Dut it vii
be many month before the stories
OF their stay in Washington Will
grow stale or tiresome.
The Secretary of State and Mrs
Lansing, and the Secretary OF the
Navy and Mrs. Daniels accom-
panied them to Norfolk and then
to Hampton Roads. to see them OIL
on the George Washington which
lay in waiting for them there, and to
bid them God-speed on their Jour
: ney. Then the secretaries and their
wives sailed homeward on the May
flower which was lying at Norfolk,
reaching here Sunday afternoon.
There were many intensely inter.
esting parties given for their royal
hiehnesses during the three days and
nights of their stay here, the most
interesting and unofficial of which
never got into print. Their visit
here only proves that kings and
queens and crown princes are hu-
\ man after all.
When the king was the crown
prince, training to succeed his uncle,
King Leopold, he visited in Wash
inqton, in the year 1898. One of his
greatest enjoyments on that visit
was the supper at the Alibi club
where precedence is thing un-
known, and even kings are no more
than ordinary men. !,
II was a revelation to his royal
highness the crown prince, now
king of the Belgians, to see famous
statesmen playing the role of chefs
and walters. and the twenty-five
men of various ranks in American
official and diplomatic ranks, sit
ting about bare table, eating from
wooden plates with two-pronged
forks and drinking from stone mugs
and having the very best time of
their lives. 1t was therefore the
most natural thing in the world for
the king to wish to visit that same
club again, and meet, so far as
possible, the very same men. grown
gray, and variously distinguished
in the service Of their country.
OF the four Chefs" who officiated
at the famous supper of 1898, only
one has passed on to his reward,
and that is the late Senator James
Mcmillan of Michigan. The
others are the United States am
bassador to Italy, Thomas Nelson
Page. recently retired from the dip
lomatic service; former Senator
George Peabody Wetmore, and
former Representative John Simp.
kins of Massachusetts,, General
Charles L. McCawley, then Cap
tain McCawley, aide to the presi-
dent, who whisked the crown
prince off from the splendid func-
ton given bv the then Belgian
minister and Countess Lichtervelde,
a dinner party followed by recep-
ton, at Rauscher's, of course after
everyone had arrived.
The Dinner.
On the evening Of the dinner
party last week, given by the secre-
tary of state and Mrs. Lansing, to
the king and queen. there was a
small reception afterward, and after
that reception. His majesty again
was whisked off to the little Alibi
to be greeted on entering, with
large picture of himself hanging
over the main fireplace where most
Of the cooking is done. He had sent
the picture back from Belgium duly
Inscribed on his return there in
1893.
The entertainment of the king on
that occasion remains secret with