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CopyrtKht, 1913, by thi- Star Company. - Great Britain Right* Ueajrved.^
DlSTRESSINfi lAMILYTROUBLES
OF THE POOR
LITTLE
Kim ofSiAn
The “Suffragette Fever”Has Broken Out in the Harem of 407
Wives and 604 Stepmothers, Making His Life One Long Worry
The Late King Chulalongkorn and Eleven Royal Siamese Princes—The Fourth Figure from the Right Is Maha Vajiravudh,
the Present King. From a Ph otograph Taken at Bangkok Shortly Before the Late King’s Death.
Maha Vajiravudh, the Young King of Siam, in His Choic
est Ceremonial Dress—The Curious Hat, Resembling a
New York Fireman’s Helmet, Is a Modern Accessory.
S INCE dapper little Maha Vajira-
vudh ascended the umbrella-
topped throne of Siam on the
death of his father, Cliula'loiigkorn,
two years ago, ms heritage of
d(M widows has become the least
of his troubles. His father's wid
ows, technically “step-mothers" of
the. new king, had been well trained
by Chulalongkorn according to
ancient traditions, and continue to
be properly submissive. But the
407 brand new wives, who. accord
ing to the custom in that queer coun
try. have foisted themselves upon
amiable and easy-going King Maha
Vajiravudh are giving him a whole
lot of new kinds of trouble.
It is an open secret at all the
Asiatic legations that, these royal
ladies have become infected with the
“new woman” idhas which reached
them from Japan by way of the new
Republic of China, Siam's next door
neighbor on the north. Co-incident
with the unbinding of Chinese wom
en’s feet, their Siamese sisters have
been unbinding their minds, and
when, every pretty girl in his king-
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dom is, or may hope to be, a member
of bis harem, what could be more
distressing to a king who loves
peace and quiet in his domestic
circle?
As yet there are no suffragettes in
Siam. Siamese women have not un
bound their minds quite that far.
But they are beginning to ask em- ,
toarrassing wifely questions of their
royal husband, and to make a fuss
about their “rights." If old King
Chulalongkorn failed to recognize
wife No. 579 on meeting her unex
pectedly, she was satisfied with a
humble jogging of the royal memory,
or would simply let the matter pass.
Not so, far from it, with the recently
acquired wives of Maha Vajiravudh.
Not only do they grow peevish over
unintentional neglect, but are cap
able of actually pursuing him
through his royal palace at Bangkok
with demands for husbandly atten
tions.
Although girls can be sold as
wives in. Siam, the position of
Siamese women in modern times is
very good, much more favorable, in
fact, than in “most other Asiatic
countries. Cruel, or even harsh,
treatment of these women is very
rare; and that is another reason
why the young king finds his do J
mestic problems so vexing. A typi
cal instance is just now convulsing
diplomatic society in Paris, where
(lie attachees of the Siamese Leg.-i
tion add to their popularity by oc
casionally relating tidbits of gossip
from home.
According to ancient custom, if
any Siamese girl offers herself to the
king he must receive her into his
army of wives, or find some other
husband for her. It seems that oii
the same day two attractive maidens
presented themselves at the royal
palace with matrimonial designs on
the king. As they were unusually
comely, and of widely differing types,
the young king graciously married
them both, and had them filed away
in their separate apartments for
future reference.
Now, one of these two newest
wives was a slight, dainty creature,
of the Mandarin class, whose educa
tion had been finished by the or
phaned daughter of an English navy
officer, from whom she had imbibed
advanced notions regarding a wife’s
vested rights. The other was sim
pler minded, but twice her rival's
size, in fact, nearly a head taller
than the little king himself. She
was a fine specimen of the women
of the River Menam Delta, physi
cally developed in the open air of
the rice fields.
She was no match in strategy for
the “kittle Qne’’—the palace atten
dants had soon given them the nick
names of "Little One” and “Big
One”—and, accordingly missed her
due share of the king’s attentions.
But the Big One was from a Delta
village whose Kamnan, or Headman,
wielded much influence i*t court,
and so she dared, several times, to
give the impudent Little One what
in American families would be called
called a "good spanking.’’
As this course did not prevent the
Little One from continuing to con
vince the king that his appointment
was to visit her, and not the Big
Sne, the sturdy bride from the rice
fields awaited her chance and pro
ceeded with stdrner measures. The
crisis occurred when her own in
fluential village Shamnan was a wit
ness of the king’s engagement to
drink tea with his Big One. The
king’s failure to keep his appoint
ment was her cue for action.
First, she told her plans to a few
score of wives whose sympathy
could he depended upon because
they had similar grievances of their
own. With these ladies distributed
in the passage ways, the Big One
marched boldly into the apartment
of the Little One, and, in the aston
ished king’s presence charged her
with her deceitfulness and then and
there gave her a sound “spanking.”
Then, having prostrated herself
before her royal spouse, she seized
I he little king in her strong arms
and carried him through the corri
dors crowded with expectant harem
sympathisers, to her own apartment.
Her boldness in asserting rights,
which he could not deny, so de
lighted the king that he not only
drank tea with his Big One, as per
engagement, but dignified her with
the positipn of favorite.
Alas! then the smouldering “new
woman” storm broke in good ear
nest. The Big One’s triumph was
short-lived. The spirited Little One
made common cause with the other
neglected wives, and as a result the
.poor little Siamese king has been
driven to his wits’ ends ever since
trying to distribute his attentions
equitably among half a thousand of
his more energetic spouses.
Worse yet, the more exacting his
wives become the more trouble the
king has in trying to satisfy the de
mands of their relations, who, by-
Siamese tradition, are not merely
relations by marriage, but actual
mothers and fathers and brothers
and sisters. Therefore, while being
officially Half Brother to the Sun
and Brother to the Moon, the king is
"brother” to a large proportion of
his eight or nine million subjects.
Formerly the King of Siam might
be excused for failure to recognize
nne of these relations, but now,
owing to the exegeant attitude of
most of his wives, they worry him
nearly crazy with their exactions.
For the Siamese King’s benefit
his brothers and sisters have been
numbered in native characters ac
cording to a peculiar system. His
brothers born of royal mothers have
the letter A with a number after it.
His brothers of non-royal mothers
are lettered B, with a number; his
sisters of royal mothers are lettered
C with a number, and his sisters of
non-royal mothers are lettered D
with a number.
Each one of them carries his or
her letter and number o na gold
badge around tjye’ueck. So the king
can tell at a glance, which brother
or sister he is looking at. The sys
tem also enables.hiin to tell if liis
relatives art' behaving as they
should.
The recital of these, domestic em
barrassments suffered hr King Maita
Vajiravudh really? tfojiljds like a
Perhaps Mexico Didn’t Get the Right Satan
t'
Curious Ceremony of
“Banishing the Evil
One” Which Hasn’t
Worked Out Well
Recently Across the
Rio Grande.
I N all the Mexican cities, villages
and haciendas, as' well as in
American towns where Mexicans
are more or less in evidence, the
time-honored custom of "burning the
devil” at Eastertide, was carried
out this year will all due ceremony.
But just now every man, woman
and child in that turbulent territory
is wondering what with the ill
Raising the Devil Effigy for Ea stertide Burning in Mexico City
Climax of the Celebration—
When the Devil is Blown to Bits
luck that the destruction of this
dummy should banish, whether in
the face of the revolutions they have
not seized upon the wrong “devil.”
It is indeed quite enough to spread
consternation throughout a super
stitious community when it is real
ized that instead of dispersing the
evil spirits, the blowing up of the
‘devil” has apparently bestirreu
these spirits to further fury, and
the ever-increasing terrors of civil
war are still rampant. Whaf a holo
caust if the supposed devil” were
an “angel” in disguise! In that
case, of course, the wicked “devil”
Is still wielding his pitchfork over
the land of bombs and bullets, and
must continue to hold sway until
next Easter!
Every year during Easter week
little groups of natives can be seen
in the public squares, courtyards
and fflazas, holdipg the “devil-burn
ing” orgies thpt are supposed to cre
ate an annual horseshoe for each
participant. The Mexicans grow
wildly excited during the proceed
ings, and when the climax of the
celebration is reached at the blow
ing up of the dummy the yelling
quite rivals the frenzied shouts of
the supporters of a winning college
football team.
The “devil-dummy” is made life
size of black cloth, grotesquely
painted, and intended to appear as
hideous and ominous as possible It
is stuffed with straw and rags, while
the stuffing is seasoned with a liber
al sprinkling of gunpowder. A con
venient tree limb is selected, and
Mr. Dummy is dangled by the neck
from the limb, just as the jolly min
ers were wont to entertain horse
thieves in the golden days of ’49.
A man holds the “devil” in the
desired position by a rope, so that
the effigy can be raised or lowered
to suit any particular stage of the
game. When all is ready the dummy
is swung back and forth in mid air.
All the men taking part in the affair
run madly to and fro, trying to tear
off a piece of Mr. Devil
ingly oscillates over t
almost out of reach
succeed in securing i
dummy, treasure it
edsuing year like
rabbit’s foot, while those
in their attempts are not
ered likely to he bless
as much good fortunt
After each man ha
cient. chance to grab
they all withdraw t*
tance, a match is tc
“devil,” and the quinti
a littl
died t
>enee <
is blown to hits. So all the il
is believed to be banished for a
twelve month. Just as the explosion
takes place the natives close in and
dance, jump and yell frantically
about the scene of the ceremonies.
Indians pould get pointers for their
most extreme war dances from these
fellows. Women and children also
take up the cry and cavort about in
fiendish glee.
It is of the utmost importance to
snatch a piece of the sw inging dum
my for a charm, for although there
are thousands of such celebrations
held during the period, no man cAn
take part in more than one. Th£y
all abide by this rule religiously, in
asmuch as any person going into
more than one of the “de vil” orgies
is considered to have overdone the
matter, so that ill luckwill be thrust
upon him at any rate.
Mother of the King of tSiani,
Who Takes Precedence Over
the 604 “Stepmothers” Left in
His Charge Ly the Late Chula-
longkofn.
warning from the tomb of Chula-
longkorn. Here is what the late
king said on the subject to an Eng
lish newspaper correspondent, who
was permitted to interview him in
hip palace aa Dangkok:
“You think too much about man
aging your wives, you American and
English husbands. Perhaps that Is
because you limit yourselves fo one
wile each. You are like a mother
who lias only one child, which she
keeps experimenting with until she
gets it spoiled.
“Women are rational beings, I
om©times think they have more
sense than men. Therefore, why
try to manage them? Let them
alone. If you interfere with them
too much they get finicky, and
don’t know what is the matter. A
little neglect at the right time is
better than a whole lot of petting.
If one of my wives gets to pouting
at me I simply pay no attention to
her. Within a day or two she is all
right.
“Women, as well as men, get sur
feited with sweets. You can easily
he too affectionate. These fireside
companions who get up every morn
ing before breakfast and say, ‘I love
you,’ and then keep repeating it at
intervals like parrots all day,
haven’t the slightest idea of the
true philosophy of wife manage
ment.”
Hut i; is apparent that the wise
Chulalongkorn never anticipated
any such situation as his son now
is worried by, for in this same in
terview he said:
”lu Siam the women do not. rea
lize ilia; they have any rights, and
consequently they are grateful for
the smallest privilege. This makes
for domestic peace and happiness.
How can you think of managing a
superior being who expects you to
plead on your bended knees for the
favor of kissing her hand?’’
And now it appears that Chula-'
longkorn's successor is confronted
with the European or American hus
band’s problem multiplied by about
a thousand—or by whatever num-
ber of wives he possesses who have
tasted the sweets of being “new
women.”
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