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Show - I Anothor Kirie In Low With H ' Chowfa Maha Vajlravudh has H fallen in lovo at last! H And who Is Chowfa Maha Vajira- H rudh? Why, tho civilized, Anglicized, H Americanized king of Slam! You B know Siam, the land "where tho H white elephant grows and where- H1' love reigns supreme. Lovcland, H young girl tourists call It. H Wait, now don't rejoice, for no H wedding bells shall come of tho H king's love, and not one of tho H ' 6,000,000 subjects of this youthful H ruler, those natives -who lovo love, H who revel in affection and who de- H light in polygamy, shall celebrate H the joy of their monarch. For the H king of Siam is in love with a danc- H I ing girl and this fair charmer is bc- H yond the palo of convention in un- H conventional Siam. H Subjects in all countries are ag- H j grieved when their king falls in love I! with a dancing girl. You remember H j what the Portuguese did to their H young Xing Manuel when ho bo- H camo enamored of Gaby Deslys! H ' However, the Siamese aren't peeved H because Chowfa merely loves Yu- H lcida, tho Hot Sand Dancer; they H aro chagrined because Chowfa has H announced that ho will never mar- H ry, but live in the light of Yuleida's H ' love and let his lineage go hang. H Now, Chulalongkorn (you've cor- H I tainly heard of him, King Chokfa's B papa, who died in 1910) was differ- B cnt and far more to tho liking of his H ( people. Ho was a great success as H a king, but a still greater success H as a husband. In fact, he was one H of the most successful husbands H , since Solomon. His subjects point- M ed with pride to his 300 wives and m 236 children. They thought tho tou- H rists who visited Siam wero con- H gratulating Chulalongkorn when H they called him "Brigham." Hj Chowfa can't put Yulelda, the H dancing girl, on the throne beside H him, because the law says that a H king's wife shall bo his sister or H his half sister and no one else. H WHAT. HE LEARNED H ( IX COLLEGE. H Now, If Chowfa had lived all his H I life in tho tropical atmosphere of H J Siam he would probably be mar- I, HH 1 educated at Oxford and Heidelberg, and liked best of all to travel in tho United States. While learning fluency in the languages of Europe ho imbibed the idea that Incest was wrong qulto In the lino of every Aryan boy's education. Ho learned that polygamy wasn't a nlco thing to do, either. So today the queen's chair is empty and tho back yard whero Chulalongkorn kept his harem is as empty as a raided hen coop. When Chowfa mounted the throno tho Siamese were happy, for the now king was abbvo reproach. Ho was almost too moral and scrupulous for them to undorstand him. But for a couplo of years they were so engrossed en-grossed In the progressive programs of government that ho brought to them from out of the west that they gave little thought to his marriage. Then when ho didn't get married the long-faced counselors went bowing bow-ing up to him and asked him why. They said that there were thousands of lovely Siamese girls who would agree to a trial marriage at least, slnco trial marriages aro the custom cus-tom of white elephant land. Furthermore, Fur-thermore, there were plenty of his sisters and half-sisters about quite . anxious to love, honor and .obey him. Now, to understand tho Siameso you must know that while they aro an amorous people they are perhaps more faithful to marriage vows than any other people in the world. They aro willing to try a lest marriage at any timo with almost anybody, but once they havo permitted tho minister to say his little say they are bound and, what is more, are contented. Custom has trained the Siamese mind to consider the wedlock of full brother and sister to be perfectly proper when they are of royalty. But Chowfa know that civilization condemned con-demned such a union and that western west-ern ethics, which ho adored, would say harsh things if ho took a harem ha-rem unto himself. So ho explained to tho counselors that marriage was to him abhorrent and, so saying, bowed them out of tho room and settled back to the life of a celibate. There wero times when ho was tempted sorely, for tho native girls were beautiful with their animal slenderness and sensuous grace, their lustrous eyes, their long, silky; JLcU iwlJ 1x3) VJ41 I hair and lashes and their tiny, warm 0. WB. hands, but he remained truo to the 0& i lwHmSBII long schooling of his youth in the Ppli rW3mHPPJEJSSH JliH 1 A ft ft a A KS'v53S&MW?Pf7' MrBlM BOLD STA3TD. EP'SHH Once his peoplo started with hope, WiMSx'' BIHbKB for King Chowfa announced that If hJM TP!Ht he ever married it would be with an WWMi 3 lf JBsSilil3fiHH American girl. He wanted a maiden l'!fVk 3B!'fi uSffflflBffl from the land of liberty to share his fwMs. -KMBlmBB throne, ho wanted a wife that had h' SSSSsSSSBBSBt vigor of body and intellect, ono who tWii."" i iiH mhhmHH would stimulate and insplro him 'W'iMr " v9v-,d ,v iHaHHHH with her eager mind and vitality. V & t ' mGJB Ho wanted an independent, aggrea- - J T, . VJEm sIvo matc- w i 1 : -v. sH SvHvf? & r' " HPbHH fw) -' sit j$k l l JBnB IMPSHB8BBi ilMv .itilllmli I'! BfflJfe i KSrBKrlPr " a f ISpSilW v&iiii k' i 3BnPF., ill g l I'll i ilaKir-l' a QBiHi w -A v B)ff 1 H WmKBBkMmS irllli SI lEslw '4'' ' ; HHr T ,' I. iHliiSiSiSS Cultured, intelligent more refined I lliR W?BMMyHBil! 'r' 1 . nBn 'f- '' t r lBlS?'IS- tocrats, Kin- Chowfa, Kith rare I UmWJStmBmK $mmm&&' '" WLWtSSi sympathy for his people, wears. " H i fS f VBBHBBKKftS ' JSOm I 3l tlle osauo Testments of his fa- KS.ivtWSKBMBkQ- JUmmf .. 'snBBli thers' throne. . m Tied to ono of his father's daugh- t tcra and havo tho rear of his home full of bright-eyed native girls. But H Chowfa is not an Oriental at heart. B Ho is either an Englishman, a Eu- H ropcan or an American, since he t as He fancied that beforo such a prospect tho law of his country would bo changed to permit tho union, but nothing camo of the whole affair no daughter of Uncle Sam took tho hint The Oriental dancing girl in her luxurious adornment adorn-ment and abandon of movement is tho tueatricnl favorite of tropical countries, coun-tries, and in this harem queen's beauty lies thfc charm that iron tho unfortnnnlo Iviug Chowfa. ( : Once moro tho counselors came bobbing and scraping Tip to Chowfa to ask him when ho was going to give them a crown prince, for they needed a prospective heir, knowing as they did that King Chowfa would BS39nlnnBH mjk ,' '., cwJ '' " ! not Jive always, liut (jnowia still felt tho stern laws of tho west, tho Inflexible rules of its cultures, tho inviolate mandates of its code, ruore strongly than ho felt the exciting throb of tropical nature. Then the whole 6,000,000 Siameso gave up; it was a bad Job. Thoso modest whlto men had filled the boy's head with crazy ideas. Woo tho day ho had gono from the tombs of his ancestors to learn useless things In the land of the insane men who worried and hurried. Then Yulelda came to Bangkok with a troupo that was touring tho Orient Yuleida, the Oriental dancing danc-ing girl; sho who had gono up and down the east ravishing the eyes of maharajahs and sheiks and grand viziers. La Belle Yuleida (they are all la belle, thoso Oriental terpsl-chores, terpsl-chores, but Yulelda really was; at least sho won the heart of a self- contained king and overcame his fortification of mind). Yuleida danced before King Chowfa. Chow-fa. Tho theater company went on to further conquests, but Yuleida stayed in Bangkok. Sho was young and the king was young, And both King Chowfa Maha Tajtravudh Is European In bearing and thought.. The old beliefs and customs of his country on free lovo and polygamy are j abhorrent to him. His first lo-vo affair comes now ivhen he is thirty- I five years of nge. Siara Thinks King Chowfa Maha Vajiravudh Mad Because I i Ho won't marry one of his sisters, like kings of white elephant 2" land havo always done. ' His father, the lato King Chulalongkorn, had 300 wives and 236 J, children, while ho is a bachelor. Sinco tho dim ages free lovo and polygamy havo been popular in - Siam, and tho wholo atmospbere of this tropical land is "love." 5 j. He loves tho Oriental dancer Yuleida, yot won't lovo the nattvo girls, who aro just as beautiful and just as .active in tho musclo 3 j dances, 5 Ho said he Tvould never marry anybody but an American girL 1 A.l.iJ..!..t.A.lJ..(..t..t..l..i..t.J.n "T ' wero earnest and impassioned in their lovomaking. Again the sacred priests of the cult of tho whlto elephant came to the king to warn him. They quoted tho old, old law which forced abdication abdi-cation upon tho monarch who took as his queen any but a sister or half-sister. half-sister. King Chowfa smiled, quite likely a llttlo sadly, and told them that their concern was groundless, that he did not contemplato marriage, mar-riage, that wedlock was forever put out of his life. That was only the other day. Now Siam is chattering to itself at a terrible ter-rible rate of speed. What will It doZ' It must have a ruler in prospect There is no harm in tho lovo of the king an'd tho dancing danc-ing girl, but it has sounded the doom of their hopes of ' monarchal progeny. Tho contrast betwe6n King Chulalongkorn with 236 children chil-dren and King Chowfa with none is too marked for tho menial content of the Siamese. 2?IUCTICE PKEE EOYE. All geographers, explorers and writers who havo seen tho Siameso in their domestic relation maintain that tho -firmnosa of .purpose shown. byHho k.ing is reflective of tho marital mari-tal fidelity of the natives, fpr while I they practice free love and cultivate I tho greatest intimacy of relation be- ff tween the unmarried of the sexes, I all such liberties and privileges are j i rigorously excluded after marriage. Polygamy does not stir the wives to misery; they seem to enjoy tho ait- nation and to mako no efforts to , havo the custom broken. As a peoplo peo-plo tjicy. arc deeply affectionate and demonstrative,. Love is in the air, which is, or seems to be, the prin- ! cipal reason wliy King Chowfa la such a strange king. A few of tho more hopeful Si- ' amese aro saylngi "Now that tho king has shown that he can fall in love and now that he is learning tho . joys of affection and tho happiness ' to bofound in a mate, perhaps he f will marry and give us a queen some timo later ou." But 'the old men of the temples, shako their topknots emphatically; ' they havo talked to tho king uport tho matter and they remember the sot of his firm mouth and tho rcso- lution in his steady eye. , ,1 "No, ho will nevor marry," they y say. "Curse tho white men with their mad beliefs, Not marry your , sister? 'Pooh-pooh!" ! (Copyright, 1915.) j ,1 |
