The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1920-08-20

the go-between and interpreter for Siamese nopli-
fty and many of the other young European lanes
who, like herself had married the hluebloods OF
Siam. She the first Of their number to don
the Siamese costume and wore 1t 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, rooed
in the brlliant-hued dress of her own court.
OF course, being a foreigner and not being
equal in blood to her royal husband, 1t would be
impossible to think that one of her two sons
should possibly the Siamese crown, And so
the choice may be the third 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 Rajasrma. like his brother the king Is
unmarried. His younger brother, however Is
married, and married TO half-sister daughter
of King Chualongkorn 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 cremated last month. She
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 was chosen to be the
queen of her royal brother she was eager to learn
everything that "brother' learned and nothing
too hard too difficult for her impatient
and impetuous mind.
IN a1ter lie the little princess proved 70 De all
that she had promised 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 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 schoo-schools for the
princesses-over which her niece was 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-girls 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 Slam plentifully scattered throughout her
kingdom had her royal husband planted hos
pitals for men. And, when Siam entered the war,
1t 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 1t 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-ssters--that ne would not tolerate the royal
harem-and that rather than this he would re-
main single, 1t was the queen mother who stood
by him and who assisted him In bringing out 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 rourt--the kings haif-sisters and
others who would naturally have become MEM
bers of his househod-were, for the first time in
Siamese history, at the royal ball. In the
theaters at dinners and other royal public func-
lions 1t was the young king who decreed the
new ORDER hut 1t was the faithful queen mother
who made the new order practical factor in
the life of the Siamese court.
Siam Is tiny little kingdom, cunningly
tucked away under the caves of greater China that
the average globe trotter passes 1t by without so
much as a backward glance But he Who does
stop lingers and lingering. is lost in the lure of
the luxury of this dimnutve Asiatic paradise.
For Siam is the richest country OF its size In the
claim that 1t is most fascinating
The capital of the state Bangkok Is situated
on the Menam Chao Phya {"the Royal Mother of
Waters'), stream that. rising up in the teak
forests of the North cuts IN twain both the coun-
try and its capital and broadening Its banks flows
majescally past the fishing villages past the
paddy fields and empties into the Gulf of SIAM
The capital is ten miles upstream. n city of
nearly nine hundred thousand persons IT is cali
ed the Venice of the East and 1t has more canals
than its numesake In the Adriatic
The Siamese are a soft-volced pleasure-lovine
people; the corners of their mouths turn up--they
always looking for somethng better.