Evening star., 1919-12-01
ROYALTY HEARS
AMERICAN SLANG
Little Stories About King A.
bert and Prince Of
Wales.
by HERBERT COREY.

NEW YORK, November 20-Here
are two stories which follow in the wake
of the visit paid by the King and Queen
of the BeIgians. AS almost every one
has learned by this time. the king
speaks a painful but correct English.
He is forced to translate from French
to English inside the royal headpiece,
so that when conversation eXudes it
/ has weight and dignity. During his
visit to New York he was-acCording
TO the story-seated on one occasion
by the wife of a man whose name
often appears in the papers. He man
ifested symptoms Of speech AT last he
/; succeeded:
New York." said he. ''is very Won
| derful city
Whereupon the lady slapped him
| jovially on the back:
| king" said she, you said a mouth
full"
Later on the lady's husband was
standing by the side of the king OH
lower Broadway. The king pointed to
the white tower of the Woolworth build
! ing:
What superb, a marvellous ca
! thedral!" said he.
He'll" said the gentleman he ad-
dressed, that amt no cathedral. king.
That's a 10-cent store"
Prince Of Wales a Live Wire.
Now the Prince of Wales has Wis
he knew precisely what he wanted
to DO. He wanted to see the cit.
1t was an open secret in his part,
that he had hoped to visit the town in
cognito, so that he might really see
It. One can imagine that lively
youth like the prince could have a
pretty good time here if ne were not
too grossly pestered
A visit by night to the lower east
Sidc is worth the while of any man.
be ne king or commoner. The streets
swarm with people from every nation
IN Europe-it is hardly too much to
say that representatives are there from
every people in the world. The smells
nave cousins german from Naples to
Inc Aicutian Islands. The Bronx Zoo
is worthy hurried call, and the water
trip about the island is enlightening.
Inc prince Is both soldier and sailor
and a glance at the Brooklyn navy
yard might interest him A dash
through the miles of residential streets.
saunter unattended down Broadway's
roaring lane of light, glance into the
CABARET restaurants. touch of over the
Top IN the subway, rattle uptown in
an l. train
Things of that sort might concejvably
Please the prince, who is live wire,
1or all that surface. diffidence that
makes his knees shake when he ad-
dresses a crowd He is bored immeas-
0o'S ~ itA6h SOIitty, DUt ne can talk
pleasantly to a pretty girl. But he is a
prince. And SO he was taken to Grants
tomb, and was dined and danced and
addressed.
Prince Knows Our Slang.
Which recalls a possibly apocryphal
STORY. Whether true or not, however,
the prince has a. real liking for Ameri-
can slang. He is even abe to use 4 in
the right way at the right time, which
is a gift. The average foreigner who
trles to unbend by using our quaint
Americanisms" presents a painful spec
tacle Anyhow the story goes that there
were two cornerstone layings in Lon
don one day. 1t was the duty of the
prince to take out the royal trowel and
lay one. The king was to officiate at
the other. The prince had done his
duty and was on his way home when
ne suddenly encounter the king. He
slipped behind the stalwart officer who
offended an, him before the paternal eye
Beat 1t" said the prince in a yio-
lent Whisper, "or we're pinched."