Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1920-08-12

and spoke it tluenty-so fuently that she became
the gobetWeen and interpreter for Samese nobil-
lty and many of the other young European ladies
who, like herself, had married the blue-bloods OF
SIAM She was the first Of their number to don
the SlalneSe 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 branthued 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 one of her two
should possibly wear the SiameSe crown. And
the choice may be the third son of the late King
ChualOngkOrn and his royal spouse the late queen
mother, who before her marriage known
Princess SaWa Pa Pongse This third son, Prince
Nakon Raiasrma, like his brother the king is
unmarried. His younger brother, however, is
married, and married to a half-sister, daughter
of King Chualongkorn. His issue, therefore,
s. 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 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 a child
she was a brilliant creature-in 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 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
universal an opportunity for study. The queen
mother built school after school-schools for the
prncesses-over which her own niece was placed
"school mother" and for the staff of teachers
of which she searched England, Europe and Amer
ica Not content with this she instituted other
schools for the Others-grls who had 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 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 sSters-that he would not tolerate the royal
harem-and that rather than this he would re-
main single, 1t 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.as part of the new scheme of things
At his majestys coronation ceremonies the young
women Of the cOurt-the kings half-sisters and
others who would naturally have become men,
bers of his househOld-were, for the first time in
Siamese 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 a practical factor in
the life of the Samese court.
Siam Is tiny little kingdom. cunnlngy
tucked away under the caves of greater China that
the average globe trOtter passes 1t by without
much as a backward glance. But he who does
stop fingers, and lingering is lost in the lure Of
the luxury of this diminutive Asiatic paradise
For Siam is the richest country of its size in the
world and those who have lived there longest
claim that 1t is most fascinating.
The capital of the state Bangkok, is situated
on the Menam Chao Phya ("the Royal Mother of
Waters'D, a 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
majesticay past the fishing villages, past the
paddy fields and emptles into the Gulf Of SIAM
The capital is ten miles upstream, a city of
nearly nine hundred thousand persons. It is call
ed the Venice of the East and It has more canals
than its namesake in the Adrlatic.
The Siamese soft-voced, pleasure loving
people; the corners of their mouths turn up-they
are always looking for something better.