The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-03-06
A Fleeing Glimpse of Princess Mary
BY LILA DAY MONROE

residence. where Victoria, owing to
her advanced age and physical in
firnities. would often stop and rest,
and perhaps hold short consulta-
ton with whomever of her ministers
were making the, tour of inspection
with her. when we heard a shrill
childish treble singing most Justify
The air? We got it before the
words. Why, murmured-"My
Country 'Tis of Thee" Someone
said, low. isn't that just like an
God save the king" the little voice
piped as he drew nearer. God save
the king" murmured the farmeS-ten-
derry.
1t was the little Prince John all
alone on the highway leading to Frog
more and as happy as a king because
he had eluded his attendants for some
precious hours
The day had been more than a bit
worrisome to the little prince. He
had, as We say here, gotten up on the
wrong side of the bed. He had thrown
his bicycle from the footbridge into
the morass, whence it had to be re-
trieved at great difficulty amid much
glorious mud and muck and he had
dismissed his attendants with all the
loneliness and kingliness that his eight
years of reign could command Be-
sides he had enjoyed the unheard of
the kings physician, "Oh, hello doc
tor" and had known that the doctor
was left gasping with incredulity
when he found out that he-little
Prince John-was about at that time
of night without an attendant.
They Idolized Him.
You may understand how those lit
tie escapades of Prince John have
been told and retold since his death by
a loving, idoHzing lot of people who
loved him for his boyishness, his
promise of future manhood, and not
merely because he was to them the
And now isn't it a blessed thing
that the war did not uproot any of the
romance-the age-old institutions
which make this life worth the liv-
ing-marriage and the giving in mar
riage. And the beautiful young Eng
lish princess is to be given in marriage
on the twenty-eighth of this month.
Her royal mother. Queen Mary, was
carefully. prayerfully educated in the
graces of queen by Victoria, who
wanted Mary sometime to be queen
To the mind that sees in royalty
only the outside trappings of power
and the display of wealth. leisure and
aristocracy there comes no conception
OF the painstakipg way in which the
two Marys, Princess Mary and her
queen mother, were reared.
The kings farmer loved to tell how
the queen would stop him, perhaps by
the roadside, ask him about the hay,
the pasture land, the cows. the trees.
showing that she had a comprehensive
grasp of all things pertaining to
Windsor farms.
A tree had to be replaced among
those bordering the long walk lead
ing from the castle to the copper
horse. Shakespeare immortalized one
OF them-Hermes Oak. Her majesty
was concerned about the tree, the
manner of planting. just as you would
be in regard to a shade or ornamental
tree in your dooryard.
And in all this housekeeping lore
the womanly. wifeIy concern that ems
braced a kingdom upon which the
sun never sets, Princess Mary is past
mistress. =
OF course, she had no time to do
her hair up high and have beaux dur
ing her busy girlhood; she was fol-
lowing in the footsteps OF her illus
trious grandmother, who did not be-
lieve in the early ripes, and the prin-
cess is now a woman nobly planned
royalty, gently, industriously reared.
And with perhaps more namesakesI
than any other OF the royal family.
So many of the Marys of the United
Kingdom wish to do her honor by con-
tributing to her hope box that many
agencies have to be established over
the kingdom to receive the love gifts