The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1920-09-18


lty and many of the other young European iadleS
who like herself had married the hlue-bloods of
Siam. She was the first Of their number TO don
the SIamese costume and wore ii with such grace
that the others soon followed and not long ago
the queen mother delighted to see all OF
the foreign princesses" appear before her, robed
in the brilliant-hued dress of her court.
Of course, being foreigner and not being
equal in blood to her royal husband, If would be
impossible to think that one of her two sons
should possibly wear the SiamGse crown. And 50
the choice may be the third son of the late King
Chuaongkorn and his royal spouse the late queen
mother, who before her marriage was known as
Princess Sawa Pa Pongse. This third son. Prince
Nakorn Rajasrima like his brother, the king, is
unmarried His younger brother, however. IS
married. and married to haf-sister, a daughter
of King Chulalongkorn. His issue, therefore,
would be in line for the throne.
What may work a great change in the policy
of the king at the present crisis is the tact Of
the death of the queen mother who died last
November and was cremated last month She
a woman Of great character and her opinions
had weight with her son, the king. As a child
she brilliant creature-n both mind and
body. Long before she chosen to be the
queen of her royal brother she eager to learn
everything that brother" learned and nothing
was too hard 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 tho body did she demand,
but flowers and cOlOrS aRd jewels for the mind.
Never before had the young women of Siam so
universal opportunity for study. The queen
mother built school after schoo|-schools for the
prIncesses-over which her OWN niece placed
as school mother" and for the staff of teachers
of which she searched England Europe and Amer
lea. Not content with this she instituted other
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 as plentifully scattered throughout her
kingdom had her royal husband planted hos
pitfalls for men. And when Siam entered the war
it was the queen mother who started the Red
Cross work and gathered around her the chief
women Of the nation. Not content with the hos
pitfalls already built, she built still another
larger and better equipped than any other in the
kingdom and for it she sent to the uttermOst
parts of the world for the best 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-
nv him and who assisted him in bringing out the
"women of the court" and compelled them to be
recognized as a part of the new scheme of things.
Ar his ma iesty's coronation ceremonies the young
women Of the rc,lrt-the kings half-SisterS and
others who would naturally have become men,
hers Of his household--were, for the first time in
Somes4 history seen at the royal ball. in the
theaters at dinners and other royal public func-
lions It was the young king who decreed the
new order but it was the faithful queen mother
who made the new order practical facto" in
the life of the Siamesc court.
Siam is tiny little kingdom. cunnincly
tucked away under the caves Of greater China that
tbe average globe trotter passes it by without so
much as q backward glance, But he who does
sion fingers and lingering. is lost in the lure Of
the luxury of this dinnutve Asiatic paradise
For Siam is the richest country of its size in the
world and those who have lived there longest
claim that it is most fascinating.
The capitai of the state. Bangkok is situated
on the Menam CIao Phya (''the Royal Mother Of
Waters'). a stream that rising up in the teak
forests of the North. in twain both the conn
fry and its capital and broadening 'ts banks flows
past the fishing Villages past the |
paddy fields and empties into the Gulf of Slam |
The capital is ten miles upstream. a 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 are a sOftyoiced. pieasCre-loytnp |
people; the corners of their mouths turn up-thev
are always looking for something better.