Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-05-08

aow the Prince of Wales Conducts Hin.
' self at His Country Residence.

How the Prince of Wales Conducts Him-
" self at His Country Residence.
Whenever the Prince of Wales can
escape from the duties which devolve
upon him--and surely at times there is
no harder working man in all the
Queens dominions-he flies to Sand
bingham for repose and recreation,
finding special pleasure in intercourse
with soldiers, sailors, diplomatists, art
lists, and leading the life of a country
gentlemen, keen after sport, unfailmg
in his benevolence, %solicitous about the
welfare of the jewellers on his land, and
looking after the education of their
children and the comfort of their
homes. That this is not an exaggerated
abstract of what the Prince does will
surely be testified by any who have
ever been in the district, and have
learned in what way the Prince of
Wales discharges his duties as a land
lord. The interest he takes in agri-
culture and the Improvement of stock
has been rewarded by prizes which
have been received at agricultural and
cattle shows; and it has been found
compatible with the preservation of an
extraordinary quantity of game to have
good crops and contented neighbors.
But the Hares and Rabbits Bill perhaps
has had not such full play within the
limits of Santringham chase as in
other parts of Norfolk.
At Sandringham the Prince and
Princess of Wales lead the quiet, we'll
ordered, tranquil, yet busy life of an
English gentleman and his wife, sur
rounded, nevertheless, by some of the
state which is i%nseparab]e from their
position. There is at the gate by the
%janitor a blue-coated, helmeted person.
age, familiar with the discipline of
Scotland Yard, to look after vagrom
men and women, and the broad paths
and strawberries between the Cottage
and the Hall are under the eye of other
members Of the force. But the penalty
which greatness pays for security is
not very heavy, and ministers in Lon
don or on their travels in the three
Kingdoms are subjected to the disagree
ment of being looked after by consta-
bles. The royal palaces filled with
treasures of price need protection as
much as public museums, etc.. and
their inmates, moreover, are especially
exposed to the o%nslaughts, aggressions
and importunate attempts of the wide
ranging guerrilla of lunatic. weak
minded folk to whom the members of
! royal families offer irresistible attrac-
| tons. [ remember one annoying old
person who sent me by every mail to
the Crimea in 1886 boxes of tracts
and prophecies, with long letters, in
which she described herself as "Proph-
etess to the Queen of England, the
Prince Consort of England and the
Eject" and I own 7 was very much
pleased when I read of her being taken
care of before l returned; but the race
is not extinct, and all sorts of mad
people try from time to time to burst
in upon Windsor, Balmoral, Sandring-
ham, Osborne or Abcrgeldie-yes,
even in the valley of the Dee. But in
these days there must be warders Al
the gate as there. were in days of old.
Although many of the larger kinds
Of birds, Which. once gave a peculiar
interest to the Norfolk wastes, such as
the great bustard and the wild swan,
have disappeared. the prominence OF
the county for sporting purposes is
still maintained: and even if there be
districts in which the cartridges are
pro rata more numerous, the soil Of
Norfolk and the dispositions fthe farms
are generally exceedingly favorable
to plenty of birds, and in no, place dc
pheasants thrive better. The contigu.
ration of the coast and the wastes 'o1
mere and marsh are, favorable to great
gatherings of sea birds and wild fowl;
and although. the salmon is not heard
of as it was>in.the days when the Cor
poration of Lynn made p~resents~of fish
to the neighboring lords, and the
streams are not adapted for trout, Their,
is an abundance of white-fish, and the
ponds and still deeps are full of pike
The Prince, however, is not IN enthu'
siastic angler, and is quite content with
the sport which is afforded to him by
the East Norfolk hounds, by his owr
w~ell-stocked coverts, by the best pre-
serves in England, and by the dee1
forests at Balmoral.
The meets of the East Norfolk pack
now hunted by Mr.. Fountaine, are
generally accessible. Later in the sea
son come Tie shooting parties-the ho1
corners for pheasants, the hecatomb.
of rabbits, and the partridge drives
and there are, moreover, outlying ex
cursions to the marshes for snipe, and
to the ponds neal Babingley for teal
widgeon and duck. The experiment
made by the Prince of importing
grouse and turning them loose on the
heather seems fairly successful for the
limited area of moor available, and a
present some dozen packs are said tt
be making themselves comfortable fo1
the winter. They need all the shelter
they can get, for the winds blow colo
from the Wash, and the snow lies deel
at times, nor does the sky of East Nor
folk glow with frequent sunshine all tn
year round. The mode of life at Sand
bingham is full of healthy enjoyment
House time is half an hour earlier thar
that of Greenwich, so that the half-pas
nine breakfast is really at nine; the two
"