Evening star., 1934-05-06

Tor some complaint or request, and the
King would always stop, listen graci-
ously and give word of advice, or
perhaps some money or an order on
the commissariat.
No matter what happens, the King
must be obeyed, and all the palace
servants make it plain that when one
is summoned Ly the King one must
jump and run. 1t so happened that
an American engineer, who had been
doing work for the King in the He'd
Jazz for some time, came to Riadh
at the time we were there. The morn
ing after his arrival, palace servant
summoned him to appear before the
King.
The fact that it was not very con-
venient for him to appear at that
moment made no difference; the sum-
mons was importunate and therefore
approximately obeyed, and Mr.. T..
emerged clad only in large bath
towel. Imagine his CONSERVATION
when he realized the object of the
summons, which was to meet an
American lady! She, too, had been
summarily called away from an urgent
bit of nursing. but the Kings desire
was accomplished. He introduced the
two and, of the three, was probably
the most serene and the least sur
prised.
Diplomacy Well Known.
His excellency's diplomacy is well
known and is well illustrated by the
following incident. When modern i'm
provements, including telephones,
were being installed in Riadh, the
Ikhwan (zealous religionists), leaders
grew suspicious and angry and went
to the King to voice their objections
to such innovations and works of the
devil from the lands OF the inf1del,
His majesty received the deputation
with all difference and respect and lis
tened to all they had to say.
Then he made pronouncement In
words to this effect: IF the tele-
phone is really a work of the devil,
we shall most certainly have none OF
it. Tear it out and cast it away. But,
on the other hand, if it is worthy
instrument, we must put it to the
test. OF certainty, if it is the work
of the devil, the holy words OF the
Koran will not pass over 1t, and. just
as certainly, if the holy words do
pass over it, it assuredly cannot be
the work of the devil. So we will ap-
point two mullahs, one to sit in the
palace and one in the telephone ex-
change, and they are to take turns
reading a passage from the holy book
and see what tranSpireS."
Needless to say, each mullah heard
the passage read to him from the
other end of the wire, and all were
satisfactorily convinced.
Perhaps Women Helped.
To see the King with his women
folk makes one conclude that much
of his diplomatic education was ac-
quired in just that connection. and
certainly, to keep several wives and
concubines, as we'll as a dozen or
more of sisters and daughters of va
rious ages and dispositions, all on
good terms with himself and with
each other, presents no mean prob
lem in the diplomatic line.
believe it is his boast that he has
had 153 wives and, of the $50 who
have been divorced, not one went
away angry at him. He has an at
tractive personality and a nice way
with his women and I am sure the
present contingent would lay down
their lives for him, as he seems to
have the happy faculty of making
each once feel that she is superior to
all the others and dearer to him BY
far.
Of course, he has had plenty of ex-
perience, but one wonders sometimes
how much their loyalty and love and
tolerance are influenced by the appeal
of his personality or by that of his
title. Certainly, I have never seen
these qualities manifested to such a
degree in other Arab women whose
husbands had no connection with a
throne.
(Copyright 1894. by the North American
Newspaper Alliance. Inc)