Evening star., 1924-03-02

when speaking Of him now and then
referred to him as that peasant"
Nevertheless, his majesty has a.
good blood in his veins as any. mon
arch In Europe. He is a great grand
son of Louis PHILIPPE OF France, and
he has the good sense to adapt HIM
self to his situation, which is that Of
ruler Of a peasant democracy. He is
. man Of fine education, and Is Of a
scientific bent. He has q mechanical
turn. I am told that he drives his
own automobile at times, and that he
SO we'll understands the running Of a
railway locomotive that he often
leaves the royal coach and takes hts
place in the cab Of the engine and
runs tho train for miles. The other
day he was making a trip to Vidin.
on the Danube. He was in the cab
with his hand on the levers and had
brought the train to a stop at one Of
the toRns. A great crowd came out
to meet him, and he stood there with
the blue denim overalls Of an engi-
neer covering his royal person and
made q speech. At Vidin he took a
, little steamer to the other side OF the
Danube. going into the pilot house
and taking charge OF the wheel. He
piloted the ship up the Danube to its
destination and then back to Vidin.
The people liked Boris for his con-
duct during the war. He Is the hero
Of their army. He went out with the
soldiers and slept in the trenches. and
was q number OF times under fire. He
Is thoroughly interested in everything
connected with the advancement Of
the country. He Is especially inter-
ested in the new athletic movement,
which has made foot ball the national
game, and he is honorary president
Of the National Athletic Association.
MY audience with his majesty was
4vA hxed for II o'clock in the morn
ing at the national palace here in
Sofia. It Is a large yellow, two-story
building, surrounded by, beautiful
garden. It 10 the heart Of Soma. and
only q three-minute walk sfrom my
hotel went past the soldiers at the
gate and met guard Of three others
with rifles on their backs coming to
take their places. Entering the PAL
ace, I was met by the master Of the
kings household and introduced TO
one Of his aides-de- camp, who led me
to q large salon on the second floor.
which was walled with arms Of every
description, including q modern ma
chine gun in miniature on the table.
OIL paintings Of the two Russian czars
who aided 30 much in giving Bulgaria
its independence looked down upon
me, and = portrait Of ex-King Ferdi-
nand occupied q prominent place.
waited only ave minutes before
the aide.de-oamp led me into q large
salon. where q dark-faced young man
rose and came toward me. 1t was
Boris. tho King Of Bulgaria. He was
dressed in = light pepper-and-salt
buainsss suit Of . fashionable cut,
with stiff collar ana gray knit tie,
in which was small ruby pin en-
circled with diamonds. There was
nothing ostentatious about his dress.
It was that Of q simple, everyday
business-like student American, such
type ~ you will meet in the clubs
or in the offices Of almost any part
Of our country. His majesty gave me
his hand. ana we Rat down and
ohattsd for some time together. ow.
Ing to his position asa constitutional
monarch, Am not able to quote what
he said, but can say that his talk
was full OF good common sense Views
as to the situation In this part Of the
world and Of friendliness aud graft
tuds 10 the American people for their
aid to Bulgaria n settling matters