The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1920-09-11

lty and many of the other young European lao'es
who. like herself, had married the hlue-bloodS ol
Siam. She the first of their number 20 con
the SianeSe costume and wore ii with such grace
that the others followed and not long ago
the queen mother was delighted to see all OF
the foreign princesses' appear before her robed
in 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 he
impossible to think that one Of her two sons
should possibly wear the Siamese crown. And so
the choice may be the third 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 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 cremated last month. She
was woman of great character and her opinions
had weight with her son, the king. As a child
she brilliant creature-in 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
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. 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 an opportunity for study. The queen
mother built school after school-schools for the
princesses-Over which her own 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 Siam as plentfully 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
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 out the
"women of the court" and compelled them to be
as q part of the new scheme of things
At his majesty's coronation ceremonies the young
women CT the rGurt-the kings half-ssters, and
others who would naturally have become men,
hers of his hOusehold--were for the first time in
Siauest history, ut the royal ball, in the |
theaters at dinners and other royal public func-
lions 1t was the young king who decreed the !
new order but it was the faithful queen motter I
who made the new order practical facto- in |
the life of the Siamesc court.
Siam is a tiny little kingdom. so cunnngly /
tucked away under tie caves of greater China that
the average globe trotter passes it by without .
much as a backward glance. But he who does !
stop fingers and. lingering is lost in the lure Of
For Siam is the richest country of its size in tine
world and those who have lived there longests
claim that it is most fascinating.
The capital of the state bangkok is situated
on the Menam Chao Phya ("the Royal Mother Of
a stream that. rising up in the teak
forests of the North. cuts in twain both the coun-
try and its capital and broadening i+s banks flows
past the fishing vila"es. past the
paddy fields and empties into the Gulf of Siam
The capital is ten miles upstream. a city of
nearly nine hundred thousand persons It is call.
I'd the Venice Of the East and it has more canals
than its namesake in the Adriatie.
The Siamese are soft-voiced. pleasure-loyino !
people the corners Of their mouths turn ur-thev |
are always looking for something better.