The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-12-16 00:00:00

SUNDAY AT SANDBINCIIAM.

A Correspondent of the Daily Nell'a gives the follow-
ing particulars respecting the grievous illness of the
Prince :
SANDRINfaIAM, Sunday Forenoon.
The condition of his Royal Ilightiess, Indicated by yester-
day afternoon's bulletin, continues with alteration almost
haperceptible. The sleep which the patient obtained in the
early hours of yesterday, and again is the afternoon, must,
at least to some extent, have exercised a recuperative effect ;
and to it, in conjunction with the quietude of last night,
may lie ascribed the eircumstances that although, as the
bulletin id this looming phrases it, there is still great
prostration, there does not appear to be any Increase in
the prostration which is the natural sequence of the
acuteness of Friday's exacerbation. The condition of
the lungs is that calling for most concern from the
medical men. Altl gh exaggerations boll rout in
their palpable absurdity have been printed regarding
both the pulmonary and the Intestinal symptoms, it cannot
unfortunately admit of doubt that pneumonic symptoms of
a very grave character had manifested themselves. As medi-
cal men well know, typh.•id fever of the severest type cul-
minates as often in pneumonia as in htemorrhage or per-
foration of the Intestines: and there are cases where all
three complications develop themselves. In the case of
hremorrhage, it is exhaustion which is the immediate cause
of a fatal issue; with perforation, a like result follows in-
stantaneously horn the shock, or a few hours later front
inflammatiom In the pneumonic phase the issue is more
postponed, whether for good or evil, but no medical
man will venture to deny that congestion of the
lungs is as deadly an effusion into the peritoneum front
wroixeitig. flow deadly is the latter complication is but
too well known. No sanguine angory ein be drawn from
the tone of the bulletins, looking at the slower decisiveness
of the pneumonic complication. The popular belief that
the usual remedies had ceased to lie efficacious may be
gathered from a rumour which had obtained currency that
the Prince's botcher was in readiness all Friday and throuzh-
out the night t,i Lill and skin a sheep, that the roakins skin
might be utilised for wrapping the Prince's form in it, in the
dreaded event of coldness from collapse setting in and re-
fusing to yield to other treatment. There is some warrant
In history for this recipe as a Royal one in shore than one
sense, and of late, as it happens, there have been some con-
tributions in professional journals to the medical archreo-
logy on the subject.

All around Sandringham the country, mostly flat, and con-
siderably woody with trees of swarthy foliage but of no great
sire, is covered with snow to the depth of several inches.
There is no telegraph station nearer than Lynn, about eight
miles from Sandringham. Wolferton Station, which Is the
station fur Sandringhamdmige, and distant from it about
two miles, consists of a single little waiting-room with not a
holm, within sight. Beyond the gronads'of the Lodge is the
hamlet of Demingham, consisting of a few cottages and the
" l'oek Inn." Let Inc minute a night's experience of some
of those whose duty compelled them to watch for tidings
through the anxious hours between the going down of the
sun on Friday and its rising in the sullen snow sky on the
morning of Saturday. There war the long cold drive on
Friday evening back to L)nn. To be transmitted by the
telegraphic wires, a little before midnight, came the tidings
that Prince Arthur's special train would pass through Lynn
about one in the 1110rfill114, and the civil suggestion that we
should avail ourselves of it as far as Wolferton.
Away through the snow whirled the " special,"
not the less swiftly that there were apprehensions
that its occupant might be late for the brotherly
duty on which he came. In the gloom, by the
station, stood a brougham with lighted tamps. " What newer
asked the Prince eagerly of the servant who opened the car-
riage door for Ides. "No worse," was the reply. "Thank
God—no 'verse !" was,all the comment, with a halfdoreak in
the accents, and then 'Vie Prince was off at the hill trot up
the snow-mottled hill. There followed more slowly another
vehicle, containing those whose duty it was to watch for
tidings.

That night there were few sleepers about Sandringham.
Many lights were in the windows of the/lodge, besides ahow.
ing dully through the blinds of the sickroom. In gardeners'
houses, gate-lettgee, and cottages were to be seen the lights
of anxious and foreboding watchers. Inside the gate.
was visible the flash of the patrolling policeman's
bullseye. And now further progress lint to be matte
on foot. Not much to learn, yet that not utterly
disheartening The Prince is asleep, and is thought
to be a trifle easier." Then drove to Dersingham into
a stone-floored room In the " Ogle" and the duty of
arrangiug every hour. One inquirer had to visit the lodge
till the issue of the morning bulletin, wading through the
deep snow, losing the way, overshadowed as it was by the
mart pine trees, finding it again after much stumbling and
struggling ; past the Norwich gates, skirting the park-
wall and startling the ground game from their fdrms.
He whose turn it was to mnke the inquiry
stumped onward towards the policemen:a bulleeye,
to draw • long breath of rsher as he -heard tidings
which were good in so far as they were not abeeintely had.
Then came the task of rousing the horse repeats, whose duty
It was to convey the brief message to the Lynn telegraph
office, where, through the live-long night, the operators on
the wires never thought of sleep, as little thought of, indeed,
by the watchers for the tidings.
the energy and self-restraint of the Queen no one can
think without admiration. Since her arrival at Sandringham
she has been much in the sick-room, much too with her dis-
tressed 'laughter-in-law since that endtracee of silent weeping
in which the mother and the wife of the sufferer were
clasped on Friday evening. Bet her Mejestv nerved herself,
also, for the exercise en important to her health, walking out
with the Ditchers of Roxburghe in the private grounds of
the Lodge yesterday forenoon, And taking a short ride in the
afternoon. The arrival of the Duke of t'undiridge, so loved
and trusted by all the family, must have been a source
of great strengthening and comfort. Much did his
Royal Highness himself want comfort as he passed
through Lynn yesterday afternoon. Ills summons had con-
tained nothing to feed any glimmer of hope, and it was at
once affecting and pleasant to have It in one'e power to in-
form the De ke that the horizon was not quite so dark. It
beseems not to speak of emotions not to be concealed—
emotion all the more touching when manifested by one whom
the werld known as made of aterner stuff than common.
Further comfort ewaittm his Royal Highness at Wolfertou.
anti his parting words as he drove off were, that "he hoped
to God all would come right yet." There are few in England
this Sabbath-day who do not fervently echo the aepira-
ties. . . . .

SANDIUNGIIAM, Sunday Erming.

On reaching Sendringham Douse a little after six to-night
my earliest Information was of a cheerful character. Acck.r.l.
leg to my venerable informant the Prince had shown mate-
rial improvement in the early afternoon. The phlegm had
come away from the lungs, indicating a lapse in the rouges-
thin, and the great dread was now of weakness that
threatened to licinnie collapse. The Queen NV. almost Wl-
guise. A frequent visitor to tho sick room, where the Prin-
cess Alice, who looks much worn annt tired, and the Princess
of Wales were the almost constant watchers, the Queen had
expressed something approaching to a belief that the
worst wits over, and that amendment- -slow and vacilliating
it might be—was to be anticipated. Yesterday, when
visiting th 9 little Sandiingham Church, she had expressed her-
self ill this way to the venerable rector, and used repeated ex-
pressions to the same effect to-day and whereas on the first
visit to the sick room the Queen had remain, d unrecognised
by her son to her own deep grief, Le had known and striven
to speak to his snottier this afternoon, and that surely WAS EL
good sign. At the service in Sandringham church this
forenoon the special prayer had been revel, ed by the
rector, but is fulfilment of the wishes of a letter
from the Princess of Wales. lie read a prayer which
was already familiar to her Royal Highness. This was
before the Collects, and the Princess left before the Litany,
accompanied by her Lady In Waiting the Countessof Jlaccles-
field, and went straight to her own rOOlll. The Duke of
Cambridge had maniLaited deep emotion during the ammo%
The Queen had not been to church, lint had walked In the
morning with Lady Nlacclestield in the gardens, and had
driven outside the park in the afternoon. There was posi-
tive cheeriness In my friend's farewell : and had his view of
the sullied been the right one, the country would have been
free to anticipate favourably.

But there were ominous looks on other faces in the house,
and shakes of the head in answer to whispered questions.
The Duke of Cambridge I desired to see, not without war.
rant, but the official who took toy card brought back word
that the Duke um too much engaged to be interrupted, and
that he could not venture to present the card. I was told
that the Duke was in the sick room. The further tidings,
told with tears, was that all the family were collected in the
sick room, and that they were watching by the bedside for the
worst. This was at a quarter-put six. The unfavourable
change. which !gathered had in it some, if not all, of the aspects
of a paroxysm of pulmonary congestion, accompanied by
stertorous breathing, had taken place about five or
ten minutes to six. Mr. Francis Knollys, the Prince's
private secretary, told me that the issue of the customary
bulletin was delayed, and that when it appeared he feared
for the nature of its contents. More he was not free to say,
and desired he should not be pressed : but added that the
Queen was sustaining herself, wonderfully, waiting
to learn what was apprehended to be a very
speedy issue. The news came about twenty
minutes put seven that a wonderful—indeed, almost a
unraculona—turu bad tact, place for the better; that the

Pitons had vomited, and with the vomiting that the :tenter
symptoms had disappeared , that the stertorous breathing
had ceased, and that he had sank into a calm eteep. The
Princess quitted the sick room with something like a smile
on her (a,.', MIL the weight of impending evil avined
magically to lighten from off the house as I left it shortly
before eight.

The Correspondent .4 The Ti OW also gives the fol-
lowing description of Sunday at Sandringham :
The more favourable aspect of things last Sunday morning
Induced he! Royal flighness the Princess of Wales to quit
for a few nmments the bedside of the Prince in order to
join in public worship at Sandringham Church. anti to
Mier up prayers for the Prince. The Princess wrote a
few lines to the Vicar, the Rev. Lake Oaslow. So simple
and so Winding are the words that their heartfelt
earnestness, trust, and humility will strengthen the
affectionate respect In which the Princess is held by the
nation. I may venture, then, to mention their purport. This
morning the Princess wrote, " husband being, thimitOod,
somewhat better, I am coining to church. I must leave, I
fear, bvfore the service is cohcluded, tint I may watch by
his bedside. Cast you not say a few words in prayer in the
early part of the service that I may Join with you in
prayer for my husband before I return to Mush" Tlie Prin-
cess attended serviee, reaching the Church by the private
path from Sandringham grounds. She was attended by
Lady Macclesfield Wilt tieneral Sir William Kn.llys, sad at
the time of her entrance the Princess occupied the Royal pew
alone. To meet the wishes of her Royal Highness, the Rev.
.Vicar, before reading the Collect speaking In • voice trem-
bling with emotion, which he vianly sought to suppress said
"The prayers of the congregation are earnestly sought for
I his Royal !niftiness the Prince of Wales, who is now must
seriously ill. The prayer was in this form

_
" 0 Almighty God, Father of All mercies, we implore Thy
aid for this sick member of this Royal Family. To thine
ever.watchf iii ears we commend him, his body, and soul. Si
thou heavenly physician, thou only canal heal him. 0 meet
merciful, Thou only most strengthen and comfort him.
Bless, we beseech Thee, all the means which may he need
for his recovery, and If Thou smut fit restore him to health
and strength. 0, arm him against the special temptations
to which its is now exposits!, and 1111 him wW. Thy holy spirit.
Grant that in all his clistreas he may patiently /inbuilt hine
self to Thy will, and, looking upwards to Heaven, may see
by adoring faith the glory that shall be revealed hereafter.
0, God, guide, support, and bless him In this life, and after
this scene in over, 0, receive hiss into thy kingdom, through
him who died and sseei again far all men, Jesus Christ our
Lord and Redeemer."
As this prayer was read with deep feeling and in accents! of
fervent sympathy by the minister, who prayed for a kind,
gracious, and well.loved friend no less than for the Pella
Prince, round whom so many hopes and strong affections
clustered, there was a deep and reverent emotion throughout
the small congregation, consisting chiefly of the household
and dependents of the house, amongiwhom their Royal muster
I. deeply beloved. All joined fervently in the prayer which
reflected their heartfelt trust. The Princess rose shortly
after, and noiselessly quitted the church by the side door
through which she bad entered, and which adjoins the Royal
pew. The Duke of l'ambridgo sic, Prinrna Alfred, Arthur,
anti Leopold were present. before commencing the Litany
the Minister again besought the special prayers of the con-
gregation for his Royal Highness.
- -

_
The text of the sermon was from Psalm cxlvi., verse 5,
" Happy is he Mar lutth the God of Jacob for hiir help, whose
hope ix in the Lord hi., God." Very delicately and very
affectionately, without immediate reference by name to the
sufferings of the Prince, it suggested and touched upon the
topics of grave self texamination and trustful hope suggested
by the prayerful consolation which the selected text Implies.
'the sermon was short, Impressive, and preached with a
simple and earnest emotion which went straight to the
hearts of the congregation. What the little congregation
separated it was to learn with thankfulness that the midday
condition of the Prince continued to offer some slight en-
couragement, and so they went their way doubtingly and
oppressed with anxieties, but refreshed in spirit and enter-
taining feeling of prayerful hope.
There is no mother throughout the kingdom who will not
sympathize with the poignant anxiety which the Queen
suffers on witnessing the distressing illness of the Prince
(continues The Time? correspondent.) Through her great
grief the Queen has borne herself with mutable and thought-
ful firmness, which has enforced the most contest and re-
spectful admiration and sympathy. Her Majesty's health
is happily sustained, lice itoyal Highness the Princess
of Wales has during these last anti most trying days
deepened the affectionate admiration and respect her many
virtues and endearing qualities have impressed on those
nearest to her. In this trial the Princess has shown every
wifelike and Christian virtue, anti while watching with un-
remitting care over her husband, whose room she can at any
time hardly be induced to quit, has been able to nerve her.
sejf to continuous and tender offices of usefulness. Princess
Alice, it is known, is an accomplished, tender, and expe-
rienced nurse. No person, in fact, however exalted er how-
ever humble, has ever been the object of more incessant
skilled, and untiring care and affection than the Prince of
Wales Indeed, the household of the Prince are hardly less
affectionately devoted to him than his immediate family, and
this has been constantly evident both in great and small
things connected with the Prince's illness.

'From the Special Correspondent of The Times.)
LYNN, Dec. 11. 5 p.m.

• - -
The untiring devotion, the skill and tenderness which
are lavished upon the Prince have been richly rewarded by
a success, which have often seemed beyond the anticipation
of experience and the reach of authorised forecast. My tele-
grams to you, of which the last in your first edition was sent
by ice at 1.43 this morning, apprised you, I hope, clearly, and
in a mariner which all can enderstand, while the technically
Instructed will not except to it, wherein lay the chief scarce
of danger and how sadly the morning of Monday dawned
upon a condition of oppression and of bronchial effusion
which threaten, a to become at any moineat suffocating
from the difficulty which the patient experienced in clear-
ing the air tubes or in breathing through them while ob-
structed. This position of affairs lasted for some hours.
The Prince had some sleep, tended bysilent and affectionate
watchers, among whom was the Duke of Edinburgh. The
Queen and other members of the Royal family had desired,
when retiring to rest at • late hour, that they should be
immediately summoned if any change should occur and
before it was light in the morning a change for the worse
did occur—a paroxysm of difficult breathing, with
I general symptoms so alarming that no one could say
I how, or how quickly the attack would end ; and it became
I necessary to fulfil the instructions of the Queen and family
by arousing them and interning them of the alarming change
I which hail once more set in. At eight o'clock, when the
I morning bulletin was issued, the spasm of the air tubes
I had somewhat subsided. The Prince was easier and the
I immediate causes of anxiety were lessened, but the more
urgent syruptams still continued. This lasted through the
morning, but with a atadual temioncy to srmisalsu
of the severity of the more serious local disturbances,
and you will trace in reading the succession of bulletins
for noon and afternoon that there is a perceptible
heightening in the wording of the bulletins, which is in
itself hopeful, and which may be thus interpreted—" The
symptoms of suffocating catarrh continued. Ihe air
passages being thus obstructed by bronchial secretion the
respiration is greatly interfered with, and the expulsive
efforts of the lung being too feeble to be effectual, great
distress occurs. This distress is aggravated by occasional
spasm of the tubes, tending altogether to close their calibre.
This spasm is a result of the irritation camied by the
lmigment of the bronchial secretion in the tubes. It
greatly aggravates the distress and causes the most alarming
access of breathlessness, approaching to asphyxia." I give
these ample explanations because they will enable the most
unlearned to translate into a faithful vocabulary of their ORD
the precise words in which the physicians explain with
scientific accuracy the varying phases of the illness at short
intervals. . . . . Let me repeat what I mid yesterday, that
the bulletins drawn with the moat conscientious care, in
order to afford to all who read them an accurate insight
into the progress of the Prince. I should think it shame
to indulge the prurient curiosity of idle readers
with the small and painful details which constitute that
saddest of all gossip, the prying tittle-tattle which pretends
to violate the sttcreti privacy of sickness and of sorrow in
whatever station. Were I disposed to give such
details, I must, indeed, seek them from persons in whose
Judgment I can have no confidence, any more than In their
feeling or discretion. For those on whose knowledge alone I
can rely, and on whose authority I safely learn, are as un-
willing to trench upon such ground, and as scorn-
ful of the cruel, indecent, and wholly unfaithful gossip
which has been retailed as they are honourably willing to
afford competent interpreters of technical fact such material
for illustrating the Important factors ins the progress of the
case as may enlighten the public mind, and thus relieve un-
necessary anxiety and remove the fear of say mystery
behind which more and worse may be concealed than what
appears.
The whole nation accompanies the Queen and the l'rincess
of Wales with so much of earned, loyal, and affectionate
sympathy that I know I shall lie expected to says word as to
the health of the Royal mother and wife of the Prince.
Briefly I may renew the assurances of yesterday. Her
Majesty bears the trial with resignation amt fortitude, and
her great sorrow net solicitude have elicited the, more clearly
those high qualities which belong to her as head eta nation,
and of a tmolerly attached tastily. The intimate sympathy
which has existed from the first between the Que, n and thePril
cess of Wales has of course been strengthened by their com-
mon trouble, and the presence of the Queen in a time of so
great anxiety and responsibility has been by all Pit sea
great support, and by the Princess of Walea especially an an
Infinite comfort. The unaffectedly and sincerely religious
character of the Princess has strengthened her In her trial.
The aid of solemn prayer which she besought of the ,
Chaplain of the Prince, the Rev. W. Lake Onslow.
In that now historyc letter to which I ventured
yesterday to refer, has never been wanting to her, and this
Is only an illustrative incident in stile and character which
are respected the better they are known. it is with difficulty
that the Princess could be induced to quit her husband
for short intervals, even though the skilled sisterly nursing
of the experienced Princess Alice has never been wanting in
those intervals.

UNAUTITENTICATED STATEMENTS.
Under date Sandringham, 10 IL M., Tuesday, the cor-
respondent of the Pall Mall Gazette writes :
There N an abominable system of spying and gossiping
organised by some inquisitive reporters which leads to the
diffusion of vague rumours of all kinds, and to the circulation
of false statements concerning such entirely private matters
as the mutterings of the Prince in Ms Moments of wandering,
and to such announcements as these That the Prince has
but a few hour. to live," Cannot survive,- and so forth. These
statements have no other foundation or authority than the
midden alarm which spread through the servants hall when
the Prince la seized, as he has several time. unfortunately
been, with sudden accesses of elhaustionand dinbrult breath-
ing which Wore so threatening an aspect that the Royal
Family tare been apprised, and have assembled near th e
Prince. ills needless today that no such prediction as that the
Prince could not survive tat ever been made by the physicians,
who alone could be authorized to make it. They have never
hot hone, while they have not fel: authorised to disguise
the full extent of the danger The Pall Mall Gazette of
Torsday also rove:—'• A statement has been published this
ne riling that Lord Limiest...rough is seriously 111. We learn
Cu inquiry at his lordship's residence that he le in good
health, considering the very anxious time he has Jately passed
through.”