Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-03-29


One of the great charms OF her majesty has
always been her voice. To the initiated the
voice is always the clearest and most unfailing
index OF character. In contemporary literature
we have repeated notes of admiration 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 dis
tinctly heard" Passages of this kind might be
multiplied. Miss Fox gives some very.pleasing
Incidents of the early days. ''Uncle Charles
dined with u.s. He was delighted and dazzled
by the display on the Queens day. and mention
ed right merry bubble, perpetrated by my
Lord Albemarle, who, on her majesty saying, 4
wonder II my good people of London are as glad
TO see me as l am to see them?' pointed out as
their immediate cOckney answer to the bubble
V.R." She relates the touching incident that
when the Queen drove one day to the park. just
after dastardly attemptsin fear of assassina-
ton, she forbade her ladies to attend her and
expose themselves to danger 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 neYdge into
his hands. He put all the details of the man.
agement OF the royal household on a sort of
philosophical basis He passed at will from the
broadcast congratulations on the British consti-
tuition to the smallest details Of the nursery.
The organization and superintendent of the
children's department occupied considerable
portion of Stockmar's time In one of his
letters he writes 'The nursery gives me more
trouble than the government Of q kingdom
would do" We may mention that the little
princess (the crown princess Of Prussia), now q
many years sickly child. whose rearing long
seemed matter of doubt. He found that an
OdiOus system of red-tapeism pervaded the
management Of the royal household. 1t was in
the hands of three great state officers-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 TIE circumlOcution Office were to be
fOundin Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.
There was great deal of the hOw-not-to-do-it
element. The outside of the palace belonged to
the department of Woods and Forests the inside
cleaning of the windows belonged to the Lord
Chamberains department. The Lord Steward
lays the fire, and the Lord Chamberlain lights it,
The Lord Chamberlain provides the lamps, and
the Lord Steward must clean, trim and light
them Ii window pane was broken or a cup
board door went wrong, there was q whole
series of fOrmalities to be gone through before
either could be mended. StOckmar complains
that there was no one to receive visitors. and
show them their rooms; and that they wandered
about the corridors alone aud unassisted. NJ.
GuizOt relates that this was circumstance
which once actually happened to himself. 1t
was through this state of things that the boy
Jones was enabled at 1 O'Clock i'm the morning
actually to hide himself under the sOSe of the
room next the Queens bedroom. Just after the
birth of the Princess Royal. Once when the
Queen was taken ill there was nobody whose
business it was TO attend to such matter: until
at last domestic had the presence of mind to
hail cab to come to the door Of Buckingham
Palace and to drive off to fetch a doctor
We have reason to believe that all the ancmaz
lies which StOckmar pointed out in his memo
randum have been rectifed. The royal house.
hold is now model to every household in the
kingdom Its guests are made as comfortable as
deed. in the pleasantness and freedom of the
arrangement, Windsor Castle seems almost
Liberty Hall to its visitors. The Baroness Bun
sen writes:-"I have always liked the visits at
Windsor; the comfortable quiet and independ-
ence In which one could spend as much time as
one would OF the day in ones own comfortable
rooms, where / have written letters and read
books for which had no time in London. The
period OF state stiffness was often restricted
within the narrOwest imaginable bounds" She
amusingly observes: zone must make an N B.
that when one visits queens they give one
everything but matches. l was once in the eX-
IRENE of distress for one at Queen Adelaide's"
Before parting with Baron StOckmar, however
We must quote his striking language respecting
the Queen: 'The character Of the Queen deyel-
ops itself to great advantage. She gains daily
in judgment and experience. The candOr,
truthfulness honesty and fairness with which
she judges Of men and things are really delight
full; the impartial sef-knowledge with which
she speaks of herself is thoroughly charming"