Dean

Any morning down Washington's broad, smug streets glide sleek gleaming Rolls-Royces, lean sport cars, great grey-lined limousines. Liveried chauffeurs pull up gracefully in front of buildings gay or sombre with grey, blue, green, yellow, black, purple, red--flags of varied designs. Out step pompous diplomats, flick imaginary dust from immaculate morning coats, stride self-conciously up their embassy walks with top-hats a-glinting in the morning sun. Ah!--to be a diplomat! Last week Don Juan Riano y Gayangos, dean* of all Washington diplomats, Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of His Most Catholic Majesty Alfonso XIII of Spain, resigned. His place will be taken by Don Alejandro Padilla, at present the Spanish Minister at Lisbon.

*"Dean" in reference to the Diplomatic Corps is applied in a purely technical sense to that representative of longest residence in the particular locality in question. Don Riano became First Secretary of the Spanish Legation in 1900 and his resignation lets drop the mantle of age upon the shoulders of Belgian Ambassador Baron Emile de Cartier de Marchienne.