d asked him for a boat, which the Commandant had
promised to give the boy. He had not yet done so, however, and seeing
him at the concert, the young King ran from one end of the room to the
other, when the concert was at its best, and, stopping in front of him,
said, "Commandant, when are you going to bring me the boat?"

In San Sebastian the royal family have a magnificent palace called the
palace of Ayete, where, however, they live very simply. Alfonso plays
all day on the beach with his sisters and other children, running about
or making holes in the sand with his little shovel, in view of
everybody. He takes long drives also among the mountains and through the
valleys. Sometimes there is a children's party in the gardens of the
palace, when he mingles freely with his young guests. Indeed, it is not
always necessary that he should know who his playmates are. Not long
since he was getting out of the carriage with his mother at the door of
the palace in Madrid, when two little boys who were passing stopped to
look at the boy King. "Mamma, may I ask those two boys to come upstairs
to play with me?" Alfonso asked the Queen. "If you like," was the
answer. He accordingly went over to the two boys, and asked them
upstairs to play with him, and all three ran together up the palace
stairs to the King's apartments.

The young King's birthday is always observed as a festival in the
palace, and on his Saint's day, also, which is the 23d of January, there
is always a grand reception. On this day it is the custom to confer
decorations on such public functionaries as have merited them.

As a descendant of Queen Isabella there is something appropriate in
Alfonso having sent an exhibit--a small brass cannon--to the great Fair
in Chicago, at which he was the youngest exhibitor.

It is fortunate for the young King and for the country over which he is
to rule that the important work of forming his character and educating
his heart has fallen to a woman so admirably qualified for the task as
the Queen Regent.

Born on the 21st of July, 1858, Maria Cristina is now in the early prime
of life. Her appearance is distinguished and majestic; her manners are
simple and amiable. She has a sound understanding and a cultivated mind,
well stored with varied information. She is of a serious disposition,
and is religious without bigotry, and good without affectation. During
the lifetime of King Alfonso, her husband, she took no part whatever in