12 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN 



Latin for King. Very soon now they will 

 have George V, with "Rex" following it. 

 When Queen Victoria lived, and coins were 

 minted, they as well as the great State docu- 

 ments were stamped with the words Victoria 

 "Regina," or else "Reg.," an abbreviation of 

 the former which means Queen. They thus 

 perpetuate this ancient and elegant lan- 

 guage which their predecessors spoke, wrote, 

 and also used on their money. For these 

 reasons, although the name "Queenie" is my 

 familiar appellation, Regina Melapis is my 

 great Latin name, and my mother and I 

 were named by none of your illiterate, ill- 

 natured, stilletto-flourishing men like those 

 of the Black Hand, and who perhaps stab 

 somebody if he does not give up his posses- 

 sions to them, but by scholars, nature lovers 

 and scientific men who understood the Latin 

 language as it had been used by the savants 

 and quality people of the sunny, beautifully 

 hilled and blue laked land of Italy. For, I 

 am now going to let out my secret to you. 

 I am a Queen Bee. I mean I am a Queen 



