Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1884-02-06
Queen Vic Oria's Buy Lif'.
HOW SHE TRAVELS, WORKS AND READS.

l
Few people suspect what elab ,rat,
arrangements have 10 be made whci
Queen Victoria goes on journey, say
the Modern Age. To keep her secur
from harm within her own resenc
requires no little ale,tness; but when tn
queen travels from London to Bilmoral-
distance of about 800 miles. which take
10 hours TO perform-hundreds of uen
railway employees, policemen. ana othe
officials. have to be told off for speci,
duty, and scores of trains carrying pas
sengers or freight are DELAYED in tbei
progress. The lines Of rail on which tn,
car journeys bristles with soldiers, /, II,
during the king OF Spain's late voyage /,
ments heng mobilzed to form Gordon,
along the passage of the royal train
even M Grevy, when he goes rom Pari
to bis seat at Montsous Vaudrry, is re
minded of his greatness and It's danger,
by detachments of mounted gen,armes
and by sentries with fixed bayDnets al
every station. In England there is moth
Ing OF all this; the queen has no military
guard or escort, and yet all the measures
for her protection are admirably complete
pilot engine precedes the roy Il train BY
twelve miles. and for half an hour before
1t passes all the traffic on both tracks
along its route is suspended. fhere is no
resumption OF the traffic at the different
stations until n quarter of an hour after the
queens train has passed them, and during
this time danger signals are exhibited ut al
stations. Moreover. every grade crossing
has it's gate locked and guarded, the
switches have all been safely locked and
men are posted along the lines to see that
by no chance any human being or animal
strays on 10 them.
In the royal train itself there are two
lookout" men besides the ordinary guard
One OF them stands on the engine and
faces the rear of the train TO watch for
signals from any of the windows; the
other is stationed in The guards van. and
keeps his eye on the track behind the
train. An electric apparatus connects all
the carriages with the engine and the
guards van, and three telegraph operators
travel in ono of the compartments with
appliances for repairing the wires on the
road if, in the event of an accident. these
wires should be found damaged. Finally,
director of the Northwestern company
goes with the train, and is supposed to
have charge of it-a necessary precauton,
for if anything went wrong it would be
desirable that an official should be on the
spot with power to issue orders to all
railway servants in the name of the
company.
No caprcious, unsocial feeling on the
part of the queen dictates the arrange,
ments made to secure full privacy during
her travels. When she is in good health
it is necessary that she should trave! in
such a way that no inroads be made on
the time which she devotes to business
There is not lady in her dominions so
constantly occupied as she, and she can
only transact public and private affairs to
her satisfaction by not allowing yesterday
business to overlap TO days. Every
morning while parliament sits. and twice
week at other times, she receives Il
report on the general state of affairs from
the prime minister, who writes in the
third person--"Mr. Gladstone presents his
duty 10 your majesty" etc. and these
are always answered. Despatch boxes
are brought into the queens train at all
the stopping stations while she travels,
and she dictates letters TO one of her
ladies as the train hurries hel along-these
missives being afterwards handed for
registry and copying TO the private secre,
tary.
Copies of all dispatches sent ont from
the foreign, colonial and Indian offices are
forwarded to her, and she reads through
the most important Of them; she has also
to affix her signature to great many
papers every day. Formerly she signed
with her own hand, using n quill pen, but
about five years ago she adopted stamp
ing machine with fac smile Of her
signature. The only documents she now
signs in writing are patents of creation of
baronets and knights of the different
orders. The heaviest part of the queens
correspondence, however, consists in send
ing letters to the members of her widely
scattered family in England and abroad
Most of the princes OF Germany are in
some way her cousins or nephews, and no
marriage takes place between members of
the Protestant houses without her being
consulted as 10 the preliniinares. What
is more, Queen Victoria is often appealed
10 as Il peacemaker in princely quarrels
and the assistance she gives to her minis
ters in this way, as regards their foreign
policy, is perhaps hardly realized. The
queen writes letters which her ministers,
having the fear of parliament before their
eyes. could not always dare TO write
They must use circumlocutory forms,
whereas the queen can 60 straight to the
point, and she never fails to do 50 when
the occasion demands.
In making notes from what she leads,
the queen uses q small gold pencil case
that was Prince Alberl's, and which is
attached TO her watch chain. Speaking of
notes. it may be observed that very
interesting collection of Mr.. Blacks
novels will possibly find its way at some
future date from the queens private libra
ry into the British museum. The margins
of every volume, and particularly the
passages descriptive of Highland scenery,
have been profusely annotated by the
queen, and some of them have been
illustrated by sketches on the fly leaves.
Generally speaking, the queen is not a
reader of novels. She reads the Times
regularly, and looks at the pictures in
Pinch and the illustrated papers; but the
literature she prefers is furnished in books
of historical and personal memoirs. OF
this last kind she peruses every volume
that appears. "Moxley's "reminiscences"
"Bishop Wilberfore's Correspondence
LADY Bloomfeld's Memoirs" Lord
Ronald Covers Recollections, have all
passed through her hands during the last
year.