household all wear the mourning color, and during the period set apart
for the days of mourning no dinners or festivities of any sort are
given, no persons are received or presented at the court, and the king
and court retire into private life.

As soon as the appointed time is passed, the mourning garments are laid
aside, and the gaieties are resumed as if nothing had happened to
interrupt them.

As a rule, a court only goes into mourning for a relative of the
sovereign or a member of the reigning family. It is most unusual for a
court to be ordered to mourn for a person who is not of the royal blood,
and that the Spanish court has been ordered to pay this mark of respect
to Señor Canovas shows the high esteem in which he was held.

The cowardly assassin who murdered the Prime Minister has suffered the
penalty of his infamous crime. He was tried, found guilty of his
dreadful deed, and put to death.

The Queen Regent has had to choose another Prime Minister in Canovas'
stead, and this has been a hard task for her. In Canovas she lost her
best friend and constant adviser, and his place was not easily filled.

On the death of Señor Canovas, General Azcarraga, by virtue of his
office of Minister of War, assumed the duties of the Prime Minister, and
it is upon him that the Queen's choice has fallen. General Azcarraga is
supposed to be thoroughly in sympathy with Señor Canovas' plans for
Cuba, and to be prepared to carry them out.

He is said to approve of the way Weyler has been conducting the war, and