Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1884-02-01
QUEEN VI0T0RINS BUSY LIRE.
now SHE TRAVELS, WORKS AND READS

now SHE TRAVELS, WORKS AND READS.
Few people suspect what elaborate arrange
ments have to be made when Queen Victoria
goes on journey, says the Modern Age To
keep her secure from harm within her own
residence requires no little aertness; but
when the queen travels from London to Bal
moral-a distance of about 500 miles, which
takes 10 hours to perform-hundreds of men,
railway employees, policemen, and other Off
cials, have to be told of for special duty, and
scores of trains carrying passengers or freight
are delayed in their progress. The lines of
rail on which the czar journeys bristes with
soldiers, and during the king of SPANS late
voyage to Estramadura one heard Of whole
regiments being modified to form cordons
along the passage of the royal train even NJ.
Grcvy, when he goes from Paris to his scat at
Montsous Vaudrey is reminded of his great
ness and its dangers by attachments of mount
ed gendarmes, and by sentries with fixed bay
onets at every station. In England there is
nothing of all this the queen has no military
guard or escort, aud yet all the measures for
her protection are admirably complete. pi
lot engine precedes the royal train by twelve
miles, and for half an hour before it passes
all the traffic on both tracks along its route is
suspended. There is no resumption of the
traffic at the different stations until quarter
of an hour after the queens train has passed
them, and during this time danger signals are
exhibited at all stations. Moreover, every
grade crossing has its gate locked and guard
ed 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 to them,
In the royal train itself there are two 'look-
out 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 con-
meets all the carriages with the engine and the
| guards van, and three telegraph operators
travel in one of the compartments with ap-
| pliances for repairing the wires on the road
| it, in the event OF an accident, these wires
should be found damaged. Finally direct
| or of the Northwestern company goes with
the train, and is supposed to have charge of
| it-a necessary precaution, for if anything
/ went wrong it would be desirable that an Off
| cial should be on the spot with power to issue
orders to all railway servants in the name Of
the company.
| No capricious, unsocial feeling on the part
| of the queen dictates the arraug .ments made
to secure full privacy during her travels.
| When she is in good health 1t is necessary
that she should travel in such way that 10
| luTOhth Dt uhuC On lut llllt WHICH rue ut-
votes to business. There il not a lady in her
dominions so constantly occupied as she, and
she can only transact public and private af.
fairs to her satisfaction by never allowing
| yesterday business to overlap to-day's Ev-
cry morning while parliament sits, and twice
week at other times, she receives report
| on the general state Of affairs from the prime
minister. who writes in the third person
Mr.. Gladstone presents his duty to your
| Majesty, etc. and these reports 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 hurrIe, hei
along these missivcs being afterwards hand
ed for registry aud copying to the private sec
rotary.
Copies OF all dispatches sent Out from tht
foreign, colonial and Indian offices arc for
warded to her, and sho reads through the
most important Of them she has also to atiiA
her signature to great many papers every
day. Formerly she signed with her owl
hand, using quill pen, but about five years
ago she adopted II stamping machine with d
fac simile of her signature. The only docu
| ments which she now signs in writing are pat
ents of creation of barouets and knights o
the different orders The heaviest part of the
queens correspondence, however, consists il
sending letters to the members of her widely
scattered family in England and abroad, Mos
of the princes of Germany are in some way
her cousins or nephews, aud no marriage take
place between members Of the Protestan
houses without her being consulted as to the
prelimiuarics. What is more, Queen Nictorii
Is often appealed to as peacemaker in prince
| ly quarrels, and the assistance she gives to he
ministers in this way, as regards their forcigt
policy, is perhaps hardly realized. The queer
writes letters which her ministers, having tn,
fear of parliament before their eyes, could no
always dare to write. They must use circum
locutory forms, whereas the queen can g
straight to the point, and she never fails to d.
| 80 when occasion demands.
Ia making notes from what she reads, tn
qu, en- uses a small gold pencil case that wa
Prince Alberts, and which is attached to he
watch-chan. Speaking Of notes it may b
ol served that Il very interesting collection o
Mr. Blacks novels will possibly fud its wa.
at some future date from the queens privat
library into the British museum The mar
gins of every volume, aud particularly tn
passages descriptive of Highland scenery
have been profuocly annotated by the queen
and some of them have been illustrated b.
sketches on the fly leaves. Generally speak
ing. the queen is not reader of novels. Sh
reads the Tlrucs regularly, aud looks at th
pictures in Punch and the illustrated papers
but the literature she prefers is furnished il
books Of historical and personal memoirs. q
this last kind she pefuses every volume ths
appears. Monkeys "Reminiscences, " "Bisb
op Wiiberforce's Correspondence, Lad
Boomheld's Memoirs Lord Ronald Cow
er'7 Recolectons,' have all passed thro' be