The sun., 1919-10-04
Young America Watches Mon
arch Plant Tree in Cen
tral Park.
THE QUEEN ALSO ASSISTS
Neither Wore a Crown, but
There Was a Veil and
Lady in Waiting.

her grimy little hands down over tnat
part of her stifiy starched white dress
which covered her thin little shoulders
and paused to recover the breath which
excitement, and a dozen shrill voices
cut in:
"Did she look like what you s'posed
queen looked like?'
"Sure!" said Mary Maloney grandly.
Sure! And she walked past us and
smiled. No. she didn't say anything,
but she smiled like everything. And
the King he came too, and the Prince
he stood up in an automobile to be
took with the movies. and the Prince
he says: Well, / got to get out of
America pretty soon. before the ladies all
gets stuck on me-"
1t was Mary Maloney's good luck to
be right In the front VOW Of little white
| frocked, red necktied little girls from
| Public School So, Manhattan, which was
stationed Immediately below the stand
| from which King Albert and Queen Ellis
| abeth of the Belgians and the young
| Prince Leopold greeted the thousands of
school children whom Father Knicker
| booker sent to do them honor In Cen
trail Park yesterday afternoon. There
| fore she had a good view of the three
when they descended to review the ranks
| of youngsters in military fashion. Her
lick or the excellent work of her wiry
legs carried her close to the spot where
the King and the Queen and the Prince
shoveled seventy actual count-seven
shovelfuls of earth into the hole around
baby tree close to the tree that Gen.
Pershing planted few weeks ago. And
Mary, not being stingy, was doing her
best to share her experiences with the
children who were back in the last rows
and didn't get the chance to study the
royal expression and touch the royal
gown.
Had Heard About Queens.
1t was a great day for these thousands
of school children when their teachers
told them that they were selected to
go to the park to wave their flags and
sing their songs before a really, truly
King and Queen. Lots of them had
played king and queen, of course. As
| Mary Maloney said, two May days ago
her sister Sallie was a queen and rode
| in gold carriage with a crown on her
head and a white veil made from the
tops of peach baskets that came down
like long train. And some of them
had gone to the library and heard the
teacher read stories about fairy kings
and queens. But never had they seen
genuine flesh and blood royalties before.
for those children of foreign birth who
| were in the Sheep Meadow yesterday,
and there were many of them, were too
young to remember even If the skirts
| of royalty had passed them by in the
| far off land of their beginnings. So
| II was a great occasion yesterday-espe-
clal. as one small. dark headed lad who
| must have come from a Bolshevik home
| saTdonically remarked:
Kings and Queens Is getting scarcer
now, and blmeby mebbe there won't be
! none to see."
But If it gave the children a thrill to
| gaze on their majesties 1t must have
| awaked strange and mixed sensations in
| the breasts of the brave Albert and his
| tiny consort to see these rows on rows
| of neatly dressed, well fed children
standing there amid the green trees
| which never have felt the shock of shot
or shetland to think of the children
of their tortured land, whose baby years
have been so different.
The shadow of that thought seemed
to lie in the tired, IL smiling face of the
Queen, who for all the beauty of her
white costume and the gold colored
toque which gave the semblance of a
crown. and the long green feather
sweeping down. was just woman who
had borne and suffered much The
shadow was under the brave smile of
the King, and In his mild blue eyes. as
he made his brief speech to the children
| In his quaint and charming English
The Prince-well' the Prince was a lad
who was terribly fused by all this
paradlng around. and the ordeal of go
Ing through 1t all like a soldier absorbed
him to the exclusion of past troubles,
one gathered.
Royalty Late in Coming.
The party was due at the Sheep Mea-
dow at o'clock Long before 8 all that
part OF the park was crammed with rows
of the youngsters who stood In eager
expectation. never minding the hot sun
which beat down upon them and which
made the sweat triclSle in rivulets down
the broad faces of the policemen on
guard. Three o'clock came and passed
| the impatient children stood first on one
leg and then on the other; anxious
teachers trotted up and down the rows
and aimonished their charges to stand
still, now and keep in line there
Up IN the stand the Board Of Educa-
tion and the Mayors committee and all
sorts Of dignitaries stood or sat and pre-
tended that they were not sweltering.
At intervals the police band played ana
the children sang-and then all at once
there was a stir, and the CLEAN OF
shining automobiles and the furry of
the Belgian black. yellow and red swing
ing round the drlve-and the party was
there
Then what a craning of neclss there
was among the children, and a babble of
voices that the attendant teachers simply
couldn't suppress. There's the King
him in the soldier suit oh, dear; lie
amt got crown on" Say. the Queen
didn't come" yes, she did there she
is" rob. and she's got a lady In wait
ing. Jus. like the books say" And so
on until all other sounds were drowned
in the strains OF the Belgian national
hymn played by the band. When la
! Brabanconne" died away 1.-The Star
Spangled Banner followed. while AL
bert stood at salute on the platform
| amid the crowd of silk hated official
| welcomers.
Rodman Wanamaker and other more
or less well known New Workers. arrived
| in the Kings train, but what is a silk
| hated Manhattan to even a wee East
slider when there is a soldier King to be
seen? The Mayors committee and the
Board of Education might Just as we'll
have stayed away for all the children
| cared. There was an impression that
man said to be me president of the
Board of Education stood up and said
few words just after the children gave
the King a demonstration of Young
America taking the oath OF alieg lance 10
/ the Stars and Stripes, and he probably
! was introducing Albert. for the latter
spoke Immediately afterward. but the
chlldroa had ears only for the big man
in the Belgian uniform.
The Kings speech was short. Chill
| dren." he said. with his quaint foreign
| way OF making a Wv" OF his "r's" Chill
dren. the Queen and l." he smiled down
| at his wife. who stood with her head