Daily Kennebec journal., 1882-05-13
NO. 113.
Queen Victoria at Home.

| One of the great charms of her Majesty,
| has always been her voice. To the initiated
| the voice is always the cearest and most un-
| failing index of character. In contemporary
literature we have repeated notes of admira-
| tion for this pure and peerless voice. LADY
de Dustanville was in the House Of Peers
when the Queen first appeared. 1t was
| most imposing sight Her voice was full,
clear and sweet, and most distinctly heard.''
Passages of this kind might be multiplied
Miss Fox gives some very pleasing incidents
of the early days. Uncle Charles dined
with us. He was delighted and daxzled by
the display on the Queens day, and mention
ed right merry quibble, perpetrated by my
Lord Albemarle, who, on her Majesty saying,
Il wonder if my good people of London are
as glad to see me as am to see themg' point
ed out as their immediate cockney answer
the bubble V. r." She relates the touching
incident that when the Queen drove one day
to the Park, just after a dastardly attempt in
fear of assassination. she forbade her ladies'
to attend her and expose themselves to dan
ger from which she would not shrink"
Stockmar came over nearly every year to
visit the Queen and the Prince, and almost
entirely took the management OF the whole
menage into his hands. He put all the de-
tails of the management of the roval house,
hold on sort of philosophical basis. lie
passed at will from the broadest generaliza-
tons on the British Constitution to the small
est details of the nursery. The organization
and superintendent of the children's DEPART
ment occupied considerable portion of
Stockmar's time. In one of his letters he
writes "The nursery gives me more trouble
than the government of kingdom would do"
We may mention that the little Princess (the
Crown Princess of Prussia, now woman
blooming with health and life, was for many
years sickly child, whose rearing long SEEM
ed matter of doubt.
He found that an odious system of red
tapeism pervaded the management of the
royal household. Ii was in the hands Of
three great state ofhcers-the Lord Steward,
the Lord Chamberlain and the Master of the
Horse. These are always noblemen Of high
rank and great political position, who of
course delegate all the practical duties into
the hands of subordinates. The result was
that all the tricks of the Circumlocution Office
were to be found in Buckingham Palace and
Windsor Castle. There was great deal Of
the how w-not- to do-it element. The outside of
the Palace belonged to tho department of
Woods and Forests; the inside cleaning of
the windows belonged to the Lord Chamber
lains department. The Lord Steward laws
the fire, and the Lord Chamberlain lights IL.
The Lord Chamberlain provides the lamps,
and the Lord Steward must clean, trim and
lipbt them If a window-nano was hroLan
or a cupboard door went wrong there was a
whole series of formalities TO be gone tbrouyh
before either could be mended. Stockmar
complains that there was no one to receive
that tbev wandered ahom, tho corr;dors .tona
and unassisted. NJ. Guizot relates that hi.
was circumstance which once actually
bappened to himself II was tbrouoh hi,
state of things that the how .Jones was enabled
at one o'clock in the morning actually m hide
himself under the sofa of the room next ths
Queens bed room. lust after the birth NJ the
PRINCESS RovaI Once whom rho Oroen va.
taken i'll there was nobody whose bu.;ne.s II
was to attend such a matter; until at Last a
domestic had the presence of mind 70 hail a
cab to come to the door of Buckingham
Palace and 70 drive off 10 fetch a doctor