Orangeburg times. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1872-1875, 1874-12-31

"wo no'ct SEQ we1 what &e're standing on.S
hFo- rIa st
QUEEN VICToRfA's PRIVATE
UHARAUTER.. 'a'.''s--
It is very hard thing to find out the
truth about royal.peraonages. ;, Inyy are
30 snyifonsd .and shut out by the chain
mail Of etiquette thntSthey oan4 be only
known to very few people. These peo-
pie who do know are, Of course, very
shy OF. talking of them, especially in
England, where royalty seems to affect
Tie mind with fever of alteration, and
where speech becomes eulogium as soon
as you say .t her majesty."s s,,.
But tho queen who has HAD the most
prosperous and distinguished reign SO
lar Of any monarch who has ever filled
the throne with a royal crinoline in the
history of the world, is problem some.
!. Swhat worthy Of study. How steady
have been tho acquisitions of territory
-~slnoe. che came -to-powersir What must
old Queen Bess think as she looks at
the map of England now?e a greater
shan she will never fill ss.i1e pages of his
tory, If England's greatness rebounds to
Victoria. OF course. we believe that
she is individually cipher, and that her
ministers have done the work but we
must not forget that, had not the queen
had some elements of greatness, she
could have made her ministers vast
amount of trouble, and England less
great than it is.
She had the reputation as young
Tho world has read of her striking higher her
maid of honor, Lady Flora Hastings.
when the poor girl was dying of q mys-
terious disease. She was not beautiful.
and she was said to be jealous of those
who We're She fell in love with her
cousin, the duke of Cambridge, and
with young nobleman of her court.
The astHte ministers did not let her
marry either of them, and doubtless
she tore her hair and flung her slippers
about, as any other girl would do If
thwarted in her firtations. England's
queen, too If she could not have her
own way, who could? And yet, she
has probably had less of it than most
women. Yet every old Polonius of them
"builded wiser than he knew" when
he plotted to marry her to her cousin,
Prince Albert. A happier marriage
never blesseda throne. In looking back
over the thirty years of devoted wife
hood, and tho seemingly deep grief at
the loss of her husband, one must re.
spect Queen Victoria. She can be no
common woman who loves and regrets.
as she has done.
Hor beautiful domestic life and the
royal blood of children interested every;
papa and mamma in the United King
dom. MY boy was born on the same
day with Prince Leopold" said Scot
stish- landlady to me as. I admired her
i fiaxen. haired laddie, and her face flushed
with pleasure. This sentiment of 10y
atty of which we know so little, is syery
attractive. The human figure never
looks 80 well and so nobIy rs when it.
looks up. 1t has NO snobbery in it, as.
between royalty and the peop1e, for roy
atty is to them incarnate England. The
queen was loving and attentive mother.
Every day, rs her old doctor tolls US,
she saw every one of her children,
paid those motherly attentions to their
teeth and hair and costume, which many
fashionable mother neslects, and this
with all her enormous work, for no
charWoman in her majesty's dominions
worked as hard rs she.
When We remember that the royal
nursery absorbed NIL the attention of
one great man. that il was an institution
OF tho state, that every royal infant had
q retinue of admirals, generals, noble
duchesses, and the like, as soon as it
was born, to look after it, this material,
solicitude is another point in Queen
Victoria's character of great and unex-
pected excellence.
When the prince of Wales was here.
ms a.young boy, he was accompanied by
Gen. Bruce, who was his governor. Tho
prince would jump into his lap and
caress him, love-like, but the general
never entered his presence unless COM
= n,anded to do 30. The prince might be
familiar when he pleased; tho subject,
never What 70 state OF things We
can imagine the royal under nurse say.
ing May be permitted to brush yonr
royal highness's hair2' to recalcitrant
prince of three years, and receiving a
very ungracious snub.
But there came into this royal nur-
sery, one presence which always brought
about law and order. It was the father.
SE PRINCE ALBERT
was ali incorporating disciplinarian.
1t would be- curious to imagine what
England would havo been, what the
queen would hhve been, without this
extraordinary mana man of such gifts
aud graces who had the remarkable gift
and grace to nonenity. The English
would have been jealous, would have
been up i'll arms, had they suspected
how great he was; indeed, they were
even jealous Of his appearance in
politics.
We get pleasant glimpses OF Qneen
Victoria's accomplishments from Men
delsshon's letters. When the great