Polk County news. [volume] (Benton, Tenn.) 191?-1983, 1920-08-12

and spoke it fuently-so huently that she becam
the go-between and Interpreter for Siamese nobil
ly ana many OF the other young European ladie
"hc' like herself had married the blue-boods o
SIAM She the first of :hefr number to dol
the Siamese costume and wore it with such grace
that the others soon followed and not long agC
the queen mother was delighted to see all Of
the Foreign prnceSses' appear before her robet
III the brilliant-hued dress of her own court.
OF course being a foreigner and not being
equal in blood to her royal husband, it would be
impossible TO think that of her two sons
should possibly the Siamese crown. And so
the choice may be the third of the late King
Chulaongkorn and his royal spouse the late queen
mother, who before her marriage 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 half-sister, daughter
of King ChulalOngkom. His issue, therefore,
would be in line for the throne.
What may work great change in the policy
If 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
hvd weight with her son, the king. AS a child
she WIS q brilliant eroature-in both mlnd and
body. Long before she was chosen to be the
queen of her royal brother she was eager to learn
everything that brother" learned and nothing
and impetuous mind.
In after life the little princess proved to be all
THAI 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
colors and jewels for the body did she demand
but flowers and coors and jewels for the mind
NeyHr before had the young women of Siam
universal opportunity for study The queen
mother built school after school-schoOs for the
DriUrpSSpS-OVpr which her nippn was Dlacp0
as "sehool 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-girls who had no royal
blood in their veins, but who had brains in their
schools graded schools high |
schools.
Long before the war she had become interested !
N hospital work and had hospitals for the women
If Siam as plentifully scattered throughout her |
lingdOm as had her royal husband planted hos
)itals for men. And, when Siam entered the war,
t 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
,ltals already built, she built still another
anger and better equipped than any other in the
,ingdom and for it she sent to the uttermost
,arts of the world for the best in every depart
1ent.
When the young king overthrow all precedent
nd declared that he would not marry any of his
alf- sisters-that he would not tolerate the royal
arem-and that rather than this he would re-
lain single 1t was the queen mother who stood
V him and who assisted him in bringing out the
women OF the court" and compelled them to he
acocnjzed as n part of the new scheme of things.
+ his maiesty's coronation ceremonies the young
omen of the cCurt-the kings half-sisters and
theirs who would naturally have become men,
nrs of his household-were for the first time in
lanes4 history seen at the royal ball. in the
heaters at dinners and other royal public func-
ons II was the young king who decreed the
av order but 1t was the faithful queen mother
no made fine new order a practical factor in
lie life of the SGmese court.
Siam Is tiny little kingdom, so cunnngly
,cked away under the caves of greater China that
10 average globe trotter passes 1t by without so
ucb ms backward glance. But he who does
on fingers. and, lingering, is lost in the lure of
% luxury of this dimnutve Asiatic paradise.
or Siam Is the richest country of its size In the
Grid and those who have lived there longest
aim that It is most fascinating.
The conital of the state Bangkok, is situated
tbe Menam Chao phya Cthe Royal Mother of
oters"), stream that, rising up in the teak
rests Of the North, cuts in twain both the coun-
Diestically past the fishing villages, past the
ddy fields and empties into the Gulf of Siam.
The capital is ten miles upstream, n city of
arly nine hundred thousand persons. 1t is call
the Venice of the East and It has more canals
nm its namesake in the Adriatlc.
The Siamese a soft-volced, pleasure-lovIng
ople: the corners Of their mouths turn up-they
always looking for something better.