Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-10-03
AUNT cnLoR,E WHITE.

AUNT chLORiE WHITE.
4 Now Jersey Women VINO Onoe slapped
| Queen victoria. -
In picturesque village among the
! well-wooded hills of Norris County,
N. D.. lives an elderly woman from
whom DR.. ii. S. Drayton has drawn
the following naive story. The mar
| ration is in the old lady's words:
my father" said Mrs. White,
twas a clerk in the arsenal at Wool
witch when l was a chit of a girl, and
l was very fond of running about in
the arsenal yard. where used to play
| among the big guns and the heaps of
cannon balls. The officers all knew
me. and l knew King William very
well. and the Duke of Kent They
visited the arsenal occasionally, and
there would then be parades and
evolutions and cannon firing, which
delighted me very much. King Will
lam called me Chlorie--I don't know
why-and sometimes said that he
would cut off my curls. / had a great
lot of hair that curled. Sometimes
the Queen would be naturally in the
party that came to the arsenal. The
Duke and Duchess of Kent came
occasionally, and they were received
also with military honors, as the
Duke was high officer in the army,
and the guards fired signal guns in
token of his arrival When royal
party came to the gates these guns
let all the soldiers at the arsenal and
down the marshes know that they
must be at their posts. and no one
was allowed then to enter the gates
/ without authority.
Zone day we heard that the Duke
and Duchess were coming. and l was
at the gates when they arrived. A
little girl came tripping along, and I
did not suppose that she was in the
royal party, for had never seen her
before, and when she was about to
enter the yard, called out: You can
not go in there. She stopped and
looked at me, and then said: I am GO
ing in 1 ran to her and said: No,
you are not, and took hold of her to
prevent it. Then an officer came and
pulled me away, saying that I had
been very rude to the Princess Vic
toria. My father learned of it, and
was very angry with me and thought
that he might lose his place on ac-
count of it. was made to apologize
to the Princess and beg her pardon,
and received a severe whipping from
my father. They say that slapped
her face, but am sure did not, but l
might have shaken her a little or
slapped her arms. because was angry
that she did not heed what said. and
I thought that it was only out of
curiosity she had run over to the
arsenal while the Duke was there.
elbow old was she thenp 1 should
say nearly my own age, ten or twelve.
It was several years before her coro-
nation. I remember just how she
looked. She was a trim little thing
with light hair. a hat trimmed with
roses on her head. She wore green
silk Spencer, and low, button shoes
with straps around the ankle. felt
sorry that had treated her so when 1
was told who she was, but it was a
pretty hard task to beg her pardon. I
was very likely self-willed. saucy
little wench, and spoiled by the SOL
diers and officers. I have a brother
Richard who was for some time an
officer in the Royal Engineers and has
held important positions. Another
brother of mine fought in the Crimea-
He was an officer, too. My brothers
were well-educated men.
''Did the King say any thing about
the affair with the Princess? Yes; he
asked the next time he came where
Chlorie was, and when he saw me
said that he was glad that 1 had
begged her pardon. I usually saw
King William whenever he visited the
arsenal, and he was really quite
friendly toward me-"
Mrs White is a woman not far from
seventy years of age; the time of her
birth 1 could not obtain, as she in
Dictated a chary reserve with regard to
the exact number of her years. She
is intelligent, ready, and has that
bearing that shows past associations
with people of education and good
social rank. How it was that she
came to America appears to be due to
the fact. of her marriage being dis
tasteful to her family and to her de-
termination to do as she pleased. II
might have done better than .asrry a
common soldier" she said, nut
loved him. My family would nor rec
opniZe him. and that threw us out ~