The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-10-01
QUEEN VICTORIA.


How She Appears, Dr~ sses aad Acts VIE.
On Omeisl DreA Parade.
As we looked down lis wonderful
gallery from our point Of vM' tage. there
came slowly along toward us q little
group consisting of ten or twelve ZEN
tlemen and two ladies walking in tfhs
wise: in the center was . lOw-sized,
stout. red-faced old lady. apparently
sixty-Odd years of age. This was Queen
Victoria. She wore . black silk dress
made short enough to escape the floor.
The skirt was full the front being COW
cred with six or eight vandyked Hounces.
The back Of the skirt hung fun and
plain. Over this was worn . simple
little black cloth dOlman wrap. A desc,
large, black bonnet. from which hung .
short, black. round net, or grenadine
veil, was on her head. Her face was
rosy to the point Of redness. her hair
very gray and brushed simply behind
her ears; the cheeks were not red all
over. but q sort of notified red and
white. Once she smiled as some gentle
man of the party was presented to her,
inclined her head towards him in gra-
cious but aristOcratic sort of way, and
exposed all her teeth as she smiled;
they were very white, and so even and
perfect as to look suspiciously false.
The Queen carried gold-headed
ebony walking stick, and made good
use of it. leaning on it as she stopped to
look in the cases, OF to talk, with her
elbow akimbo. in comfortable fashion
that did my heart good. She walked
rapidly along. moving in a booming.
ship-under-full-sale sort of fashion. an
idea borne out by her ample skirts and
fat. dumpy body.
Sir Philip Cunliff Owen, Secretary of
the exhibition. walked on one side of
her and Lord Somebody or t'other on
the other. They did not walk up along
side of her in an equal sort of way. but
off about four feet from her, prancing
sideways toward her with their bodies,
their hats in their hands, and their
backs constantly eurving as they courte-
sled and bowed in a fashion that re-
called ones ideas of the days Of Queen
Elizabeth.
Behind the Queen came the Princess
Beatrice and her husband, Prince
Henry. He is tall, rather n;ce-look-
ing man. with brown hair and mustache.
and dressed in dark frock coat and
trousers. The Princess had on blue
fOulard that probably cost fifty cents q
yard. 1t was covered with white polka
dots. and the long draped overdress
was edged with that white lace known
as wal antique" Her bonnet was a
little Frenchy affair of white lace and
dark-blue velvet, and the waist of the
dress had Y shaped arrangement of
white lace let into it, front and back. |
She did not walk up alongside of her
in daughterly sort of way.
but came on behind her Majesty and |
politely waited until the Queen had en-
amined each case before she ventured |
to look herself. The Princess is plump,
very unlike princess in her manner.
and not handsome. She has not the
extreme. almost ultra-graciousness of |
demeanor to the public that characteri- |
yes her sister-in-law, the Princess of |
Wales.
When the Queen got to the end of the
galleries nearest us she came few feet |
forward in the open space beyond the
exhibits so that the hundreds collected
might have good view of her. and |
then, without looking at them or with |
out any demonstration on their part, she |
slowly turned. and, like the King of |
France. went back again. l observed
the crowds of her subjects gathered
about, and there was not an atom of |
only the most searching.
and grave and sombre curiosity, and |
when she had gone quiet turning
away, as if that were all. l talked the
rther day with an intelligent middle
class gentleman on this question of the
royal family. He said: when the
Queen dies we will have the Prince of |
Wales for King; but after him there will
be no more Kings nor Queens for old
England. We are on the eve of great
revolution that will come quietly and in
order. and surprise no one. London
Cor. n. o. Picayune.