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Show : W liiivini il Jr&S) 11 mwmsh a a panging man II V J j A short, stoclcj' man, black of beard, and : thick of neck, with protrubcranccs beneath i Ms eyts and a wear' languor In his move-M move-M , mints; a man whoso chief delight Is danc w i; who feasts on sweetmeats when he Is '$M ! cot s""l:lng cigarettes or chewing aroma-.M aroma-.M He saim-that is Castro, tho terrible, tho ,illlular Prc-sldent, but actual dfctator. of V t "tnezuela, who threatens that ho will i' ' Mlwd an army at Now Orleans and lay P&8te tho fruitful valley of tho Mississippi Mississip-pi And Castro has subllmcsl confidence that he would bo able to make good his ,' fear-inspiring threat. Ho says he Is . a. I man ot destiny; compares himself to Ka-loieon, Ka-loieon, but avers that ho will avoid the f mlslakcs that led to Napoleon's fall. Cas-; Cas-; tro actually looks upon the little raga-' raga-' muffln republic over which ho holds auto-,; auto-,; atlc sway as ono of the world's great M . lowers. Hi modestly asserts that his S i Jjray nnd navy nro equal In prowess to m i ftcseofany other nation, and Insists that ff .. J:e toon v,oula uisposo or all his enemies. A ' could he but persuado them to fight him U Je DJ' one. But, says Cnstro, the nations ii ' or tho world, aro Jealous and fearful of fo they hunt In pack when so valinnt a ioa jib Voner.ucla appears menacingly on "'6 political horizon. ! .ill i8sald Castro once was a brigand It , 11 1b certain that ho was a soldier i iprtuno and a political adventurer. Tho 'r iii f la,",a ot Latin America aro not r r.ti, d,encd, and Castro hlmsolf docs not , ame know whether ho Is a natlvo of Venezuela Ven-ezuela or of Colombia. Even after ho at- juinea to manhood ho was in doubt for a r I,.a.s.t0 which republic he could most i ?bly 15ar allegiance. On an evil day - thI.1,6 w,,s cnst nil Venezuela gained a resident and lost hoi- liberties. t ",1,sllny" of which Castro talks , ?i,s"0J- a?k deilnlto shape and form I for .i ,nlc 110 naa heen exalted to jiowcr t"..1"0 t'xpress purpose of uniting all tho t i "-Amorican states into ono great re- i"Jtfic, with himself at Us head, which shall outrival the great republic of tho north: But Castro Is no longer a man of action. He appears to have forgotten tho role of fearless soldier and aggressive pol Itlclan. Ho dreams dreams of battles and of conquest, but his only campaigns ure on tho dancing floor, and the only conquests con-quests ho essays are against tho heart of some blooming matron or pretty maid who niuv have caught Ills llcetlng fancy. Castro's passion for dancing amounts almost to a mania. Whcnovcr ho Is within with-in reach of a soft guitar or persuaslvo mandolin, he never falls to pass tho shinning shin-ning hours at the "ballle." as tho dance Is called In the Latin countries. Every night there Is a dance at the residence of tho President, and at least once a month a grand ball at tho official palace. The President wants all the pretty and youthful youth-ful matrons and maldons as nls partners, and he Is Indeed an Indiscreet diplomat or visitor who seeks to rival the chief executive. execu-tive. Thoro Is a talo whispered that Mr. Bowen, tho American Minister at Caracas, objected to tho constant attentions which tho gallant President Indicted upon tho Minister's young and attractlvo wife, and when Mr. and Mrs. Bowen failed to appear ap-pear at tho bailies relations botween the two former friends becamo strained. Castro does not singlo out any particular particu-lar lady' for his attentions, but It !s well understood In Caracas socloly that the President does not caro for undue nctlvity on the part of his malo guests In the way of selecting partners. He wants all tho favors himself, and recently a rule which could not be surpassed In autocratic Rus Kla, has been In vogue at the Castro balls. No gentleman is supposed to ask a lady for a dance until nfter tho President has tilled his card Then he may order the programme strung out Into .'Xtras until It doubles or triples Us supposed length, but still Castro must have tho pick of the dances, and the man who has tho temerity temer-ity to start out on his own account Is speedily Informed oMils bad manners. An exceedingly charming young woman went to Caracas from Washington not long ago on business connected with the Stato department. She is an accomplished scholar, and was transcribing some old papers relating to tho boundary question. She was promptly Invited to tho President's Presi-dent's ball and was not a llttl3 nattered when tho President danced with her unceasingly. un-ceasingly. But some of the older residents resi-dents gavo her a quiet hint not to accept so many Invitations from the President, but to distribute her dances among tho younger men. But when sho followed this udvlco she received no more Invitations. This is the fato of all loung women v. ho show any Independence of character. The President Is not partial to the quadrille, quad-rille, so say Ills friends down there. Ho will cause the bandmaster to scratch ofr all tho stately minuets and substitute the waltz, the two-step, and tho gay mazur kas. Tho President Is a very active stopper, stop-per, and he wneels hla partnor with such elocIty that few American girls can keop up tho pace. While dancing ho munches, candy, talks and tells anecdotes without ceasing. Between Be-tween times ho smokes cigarettes, and Invariably In-variably offers ono to his partner. If, Ilko most American and British women, sho docs not indulgo In tho weed, ho produces acino candy cigarcttos. made of delicious chocolate, and insists upon at least an appearanco of Joining In hla smoko. Llko nearly all men of tho lower order, who pull themselves up to high social and political place. Castro Is full of egotism. ego-tism. Ho becomes very tiresome nfter a tlmo nnd tho gossip In Caracas 1b that Madamo Castro, his wife, has itaken rof-ugo rof-ugo in Purls against his constant reiteration reitera-tion of his wonderful destiny and his marvelous mar-velous qualities of mind. Tho President's well-known penchant for pretty womon and his constant attendance on them led to reports that Madame lo Presldcnto refused re-fused to share her honors with so many charmers. But tho usunl version Is that Madame Castro, who Is of a hlghor strlpo Intellectually than her husband, prefers llfo In Paris, whero sho Is educating herself her-self as well as her children. I,i fo In Caracas offers few attractions ; for an intellectual man or woman, and I tho present executive has nover found time lo elevate the educational standard or tho mental polso of his people. He Is Inclined to rosent any nttompts at pedagogy, peda-gogy, as tending to decrease his prestige. pres-tige. Tho economic conditions nnd tho gradual chango In tho people has led many sturlents of sociology to tho Venezuelan capital, but they rocclvo scant courtesy and no encouragement. Even tho Americans Just now arc feeling tho effects of Castro's latest plungo Into tho world diplomacy. He becamo overbearing over-bearing and more thnn usually autocratic when It was announced that Minister Ucwon would bo transferred to another station. In appearance, Castro doeB not reach tho Ideal of the martial adventurer, tho gallant soldier of fortune, or. tho strong mnn who can shape nations to his will. He is barely live feet thrco Inches, and Is ao stocky that ho seems oven of lesser height Ills lmmcn80 girth of shoulder and his big head glvo a Hiiggestloji of mentality, men-tality, which those closest to him say ho does not possess. Courage ho has and to spare, and absolute conviction In his own ultimate nuccens. But withal, h's character charac-ter shows such frivolity, such wanton carelessness, that ho forms an Interesting psychological study as well as an object lesson for tho student of political conditions. condi-tions. Slnco becoming President he has discarded dis-carded some of tho habits of his early vcars in Caracas, and he now dresses to the height of fashion. When ho first camo to tho capital, whore ho. now administers the government without tho slightest assistance, as-sistance, ho was sent aH Senator to tho Federal Congress from tho Andlno Stato of El Tachlra. His appearance In the Federal Assemblage was grotesque, and ono of his many claims to originality was that whenever ho got ready t& address tho body ho would Invariably take off his shoes, place them on his desk, and' then put on a pair of black kid gloves Now ho gets every part of his raiment from Perls, and ho takes tho same delight In leading tho fashions that he does In leading the dnnces. His utter lack of all knowlcdgo supposed In these days to b essential for the successful suc-cessful ruler nover falls to awaken surprise. sur-prise. At tho laet New Year's' reception, tho Minister from Holland presented a fellow-countryman, traveling in Venezuela Venezue-la for scientific purposes. Tho President asked whonco ho cume. and ho replied that his homo was In Holland, at Amsterdam, Amster-dam, tho capital of tho Netherlands. "Holland, Netherlands." repeated tho President. "All, I know that. It Is aillt-tlo aillt-tlo dependoncy of Curocao.' I havo been having great troublo with that Island lately. late-ly. 1 hope that In Holland you behavo better than In Curocao." Tho men about Castro aro hie old cronies and fellow-adventurers. Tho Secretary of tho Treasury, tho witty mulctcor, Tollo Mondoza, Is his right-hand man, and tho Secrotarv of Stato Is a stout barber, who nliqd his trado tp great profit In Valencia. But Castro ho' no real need of any of these. They hold offlco simply aa figureheads, figure-heads, and not ono of them would daro gainsay tho will of' the master During tho days whon Great Britain, Germany, and Italy wero blockading tho coast, when famine was broadcast and gleomy forecasts of tho future filled ih United States and tho people who stood by Castro against tho revolutionists, that worthv, with his muleteer and his barber, left tho capital and, taking tho best part of tho provisions eont from tho Interior, they hied them to La Victoria for a picnic pic-nic The American State department had an agent In Caracas, and ho was Instructed Instruct-ed to find out If It wcro true, that Castrt and his compadres were really passing tho time of peril In feasting and riot This agent went south into the orange groves, whero tho trail of the President led, and thcro he found things as tho foreign for-eign c rs lnthocapiUUhaclrprcsem ventured to express his surprlso to Castro, and that mighty chicftan was much wroth "Why should you bo surprised?" ho demanded. de-manded. "Wo havo played our paxL My Secretary of State has picked tho quarrel, and now It Is up to you. Blessed bo the Lronroc doctrine. Our role Is finished, and the fighting must be done by el tlo Samuel Sam-uel (our "L'nclo Samuel.) All the .papers in the case havo been sont to Washington by your Minister, who goes there as my ul attorney." jfl Beforo Mr. Hay's agont could recover In his powor of speech, tho two secretaries. If former mule-driver and former hlrsuto It artist, grasped a bottlo of champagne, H nnd, handing the American a sparkling Ml glass, said; "Drink lo tho Monroo doc- j SJ trine. Blessed Monroo doctrlno! Viva tho j Monroo doctrlno' It spares us sleepless m nights and gives us tlmo for the bailies." jjv |