Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1920-08-12

the go-betWeen and interpreter for Siamese nODl-
lty ana many OF the other young European ladles
VINO, ike herself. had married the blue-bloods OF
Siam. She was the first of their number to don
the Slamese costume and wore it with such grace
that the others soon followed, and not long ago
the queen mother delighted to all OF
the foreign princesses' appear before her, robed
in the brilliant-hued dress of her own court
OF course, being foreigner and not being
equal in blood to her. royal husband, it would be
impossible to think that one of her two sons
should possibly wear the Samese crown. And so
the choice may be the third son of the late King
Chulalongkorn and his royal spouse the late queen
mother, who before her marriage was known as
Princess Sawa Pa Pongse. This third son, Prince
Nakorn Rajasrimasgiik his brother, the king, is
unmarried. His younger brother, however, Is
married, and married to half-sister, a daughter
of King Chulalongkorn. His issue, therefore,
would be in line for the throne.
What may work great change in the policy
of the king at the present crisis is the fact Of
the death of the queen mother. who died last
November and was cremated last month. She
was woman of great character and her opinions
had weight with her son, the king AS child
she brilliant creature-in both mind and
body Long before she chosen to be the
queen of her royal brother she was eager to learn
everything that ''brother' learned and nothing
was too hard or too difficult for her impatient
and impetuous mind
In after life the little princess proved to be all
that she had promised as child A lover of the
beautiful, she demanded and had about her the
beautiful things of life. Not only flowers and
coors and jewels for the body did she demand,
but flowers and colors and Jewels for the mind.
Never before had the young women Of Siam so
universal opportunity for study. The queen
mother built school after school-schools for the
prncesses-over which her own niece was placed
as "school mother and for the staff of teachers
of which she searched England Europe and Amer
In Not nnnfn with NO In inst f,1fo6 nfhnp
schools for the others-girs who had no royal
blood in their veins, but who had brains in their
heads-primary schools, graded schools, high
schools.
Long before the war she had become interested
in hospital work and had hospitals for the women
of Siam plentifully scattered throughout her
kingdom as had her royal husband planted hos
pitfalls for And. when Siam entered the war,
1t was the queen mother who started the Red
Cross work and gathered around her the chief
women Of the nation. Not content with the bOs-
pitfalls already built she built still another
larger and better equipped than any other in the
kingdom. and for 1t she sent to the uttermost
parts of the world for the hest in every depart
ment.
When the young king overthrow all precedent
and declared that he would not marry any of his
half-sisters-that he would not tolerate the royal
harem-and that rather than this he would re-
main single. It the queen mother who stood
by him and who assisted him In bringing ont the
"women of the court and compelled them to be
recognized part Of the new scheme of things.
At his majesty's coronation ceremonies the young
women Of the court-the kings half-sisters and
others who would naturally have become men,
hers of his household-were. for the first time in
Siames. history. at the royal ball. III the
theaters. at dinners md other royal public func-
lions. 1t was the young king who decreed the
new order, hut 1t the faithful queen mother
who made the new order II practical fact": in
the life of the Samese court.
Siam is tiny little kingdom. so cunningly
tucked away under the caves Of greater China that
the average globe trotter passes 1t by without so
much MS a backward glance. Rut he who does
stop fingers. and. lingering Is lost In the lure Of
the luxury Of this dIminutive Asatic paradise.
For Siam is the richest country of its size in the
world, and those who have lived there longest
claim that " Is most fascinating
The capt. Of the state. Bangkok Is situated
on the Menam Chno Phya ('the Royal Mother of
Waters'), stream that. rising up in the teak
forests of the North, cuts In twain both the coun-
majesticully past the fishing villages. past the
paddy fields and empties into the Gulf of Siam.
The capital Is ten miles upstream. city of
nearly nine hundred thousand persons 1t is call
ed the Venice of the East and 1t has more canals
than its namesake In the Adriatic.
The Siamese a soft-voiced pleasure-loynp
people; the corners of their mouths turn up-they
are always looking for something better