A UNIQUE SCHOOL. For Princessee Only.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7132, 22 June 1901, Page 3

A UNIQUE SCHOOL. For Princessee Only.

(New York Sun \) . Princesses are numerous enough in Europe to suggest that a school for them might be a profitable undertaking, but it is a fact that the only institution of this kind is not in Europe at all> but in Siam. Ihis school whose principal' is an English lady, is situated at Bangkok, and has. for its •pupils some fifteen princesses belonging to the royal family of Siam. Like other less aristocratic young lady boarders, they are allowed to return to their homes on Friday and remain until the time for their classes to begin on Monday. . Then they are returned to the care of their English teacher by the servants of the family. They learn enly elementary reading and writtof at sohool, and, indeed, rarely progress beyond these elements of education at any time of their lives. "But,. they learn fully the "mysteries of cooking, making beds, preparing poultices for the sick and attending to other details of household Me They practice with enthusiasm the art of writing menus in French, they experiment in dressing the table with flowers, and learn a kind of first-aidfto-the-injured , system adapted to their country. Astronomy and the exact sciences . have not yet .reached this country of unemancipated womanhood. But the education they receive is the best • kind to suit them for their work in life as they step from the. school to the heads of their husbands' establishments. ' These royal pupils range. in 'age from ten to fifteen years. This latter age is begmnig to betoken the old maid in Siam, and there are few of that age.iii the school. On Friday, the. nurses f roan the royal palace re-inforced by other female attendants and guards, .begin to arrive at the school to escort their mistresses back to their homes. Here they remain until the same domestic delegation marches them back to' their English teacher* on Monday. In the meantime', she had all the work requiring mascuy line participation attended to during the absence of the, pupils, for men are never allowed to approach the building while the royal young ladies. are inside. No masculine, eye noti related to them by blood, is allowed to fall on their artless Siamese beauty until after marriage. ; French and English .axe the two* languages these young women learn, and it is after the fashion prevailing in these two countries that they acquire their ideas of European life:and manners. Some of these fashions have through this . English schoolteacher's influence been introduced into the court of Siam, where the French and English cuisines have made their way in spite of Oriental prejudice.. This has, of course, come, from the early education of the young prinoesses in their royal , boardingschool. But it is said that no ambition to . imitate the women . , of tije vWestero world has ever reconciled them to sitting in chairs in preference to on the floor. .