The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-05-29

dressmakers, ETC.; one dresser and one
wardrobe woman are in constant attend
ance on the queen, taking alternate DAYS.
Dress is matter in which. even in her
young days, her majesty does not appear
TO have taken much interest. At present
her perpetual mourning allows of no crude
color combinations. Some of us elders
have pleasant, if vague, recollection OF
Victoria Regina good many years ago,
say forty or forty-three, in a very simple
and becoming bonnet tied beneath the
chin, wreath OF wild roses under the
brim. framing a sweet, kindly Young face
All me- sorrow and experience have writ
their cruel marks on hers and ours since
then.
If admitted to the queen informally, the
page-ln-waiting simply announces the
visitors name thus: "Mr. -, your
majesty" on which she bows slightly and
continues to stand or sit, generally the
former; then she begins the conversation.
The initiative in this is always left to her
majesty. 1t is not etiquette TO open a
subject with her, only to reply to her re-
marks.
The queen terminates the interview by
another slight inclination, and usually by
gracious smile. The visitor retires
backing and bowling till he reaches the
door for no one must turn his or her
back on our sovereign lady.
One OF the trials to which the court
ladies are subject is caused by the passion
her majesty has for walking and driving
III the coolest weather. Few of them are
as hardy and as Indifferent TO ease as
their royal mistress, and to be dragged
for ~ - 81 or
is driving shower of snow across the
hills at Balmoral, or to pace the grounds
at Osborne under a drenching rainfall, IS
not the most agreeable mode OF taking eX-
ercise.
To the philosopher or republican the
array OF court functiOparieS, holders ofob-
solete Offices, may seem somewhat ridicu
lous if not pitiabfe, and not far removed
from the dignitaries who wait on the po-
tentates of pantomime or burlesQue, and
even we, shackled as we are by the irons
OF time-stiffened routine, can scarce help
a smile as we glance at the list of the
royal household, and read the titles OF
some OF the appointments. The barge
master" and the keeper of the swans"
possibly may have their uses, but to the
uneducated ear the item page of the back
stairs has an ugly sound one can hardly
imagine these youths with clean hands.
The master of ceremonies may be a
necessity, but when he is apparently
topped bv marshal of the ceremonies,
the mind fails to take in the magnitude of
the office, nor are ones ideas rendered
clearer when we find that the master" is
a general, baronet, and X. c. B.. while
the marshal" (which sounds so much
bigger is only an Hon. Mr.. -. Then
comes the hereditary grand almoner,'
who Is a high-class peer; the master OF
the buckhounds; - the hereditary grand
falcOner" ia duke; and, most mysterious
of them all. "the groom of the robes !"
What are his duties Is he to rub
down her maiestys gowns? If so, let us
pray he may not follow suit with the
The influence OF the court on English
social lie is at present almost nil. But
before the prince consort's death. the
queen looked sharply into the character
and standing of those presented to her.
and was successful in keeping the circle
around her as irreproachable as mere NOR
tai society can we'll be. Indeed, few Lou
doners doubt that had our sovereign lady
kept her place at the head Ofsocial affairs,
we should probably have been spared
some OF the scandals in high life, reports
of which have from time to time rendered
the daily papers more curious than edify-
ing. The fair gentle princess of Wales was
too young and inexperienced when the
retirement OF her royal mOther-in-law OBJ
Iiged her to take up the social scepter, to
exercise much authority; she could only
teach by example, and this she has done
we'll. In truth the court is much more
by the country than the coun-
try by the court. The tendency of the
royal personages is decidedly in favor of
dropping the more medieval items of
their following, and restricting themselves
10 the less cumbersome style of the great
mobiles, There is even a whisper that the
office of master of the buck
hounds, with his satellite huntsmen and
is to be abolished before
many months are over.
From the court to the nobility is scarce
a step, though in no other European
country is the life of the mobiles so indie
pendent OF royalty. They like to show re-
spect to the sovereign, as does every class
Of her majesty's subjects, but they do not
care for the ceremonials of a court, which
can add little or nothing TO their inherited
or acquired rank OF splendor
The question: Is England's nobility
what it should be, considering its great
advantages? naturally suggests itself in
with this topic. A counter
question may well be put: Is any man or
class Of men what they should be?
Let us waive all special pleading how
ever, and speak frankly. OF the reckless.
extravaganza dissolute members of the
peerage we have heard more than enough;
but how about the quiet, demonstrating,
peers, who honestly do
their duty by their tenantrv, their fami-
lies, and that portion of beloved mother
earth which it has been their happy lot
TO possess? "0h, no; we never mention
them their names are never heard - Yet
the majority of the peers are men of this
stamp, not disturbed perhaps by the pos
session of extraordinary mental abilities,
but gentlemen OF decent lives and honor
able natures. Their wives and daughters,
they enjoy ''the season" in town.
can vet feel with and for their poorer
neighbOrs their schools and charities are
R boon to young and old, and the great
house" IS more often than not a small CEN
ter OF civilization. Without boasting, !
think it may be asserted that in no other
is the nobility as a class so virile.
useful, and abreast OF their times, chiefly
because its ranks are so constantly re-
cruited by new blood from below
All that is best among our legal, militia
~, naval and commercial men pass into
the upper house, and invlgorate the peers
with their fresh intellectual force.
Still no one can look upon and around
the present condition of things and doubt
that the beginning OF the end has come;