The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-01-04
IN MEMORY OF ALBERT.
"MAUSOLEUM DAY" DESCRIBED BY
DAVID kER.
Victoria Allows the Monument to the
Prince Consort to Be Opened Only Once
a Year, and 1t Is a Great Privilege to
Be Present.
Especial Correspondence


Especial Correspondence
LONDON, Dec 'Mausoleum Day"
1t Windsor comes during this month.
forming a curious study for anv one
who happens TO have never seen it be-
fore, and never wishes to see it again.
The whole affair Is an interesting exam
| pie of the way in which thing of little
Or no value in itself assumes a priceless
Importance the moment IL is supposed to
! be rare and difficult to obtain. If one
could only contrive to persuade people
in general that being ducked in horse
| pond was a unique privilege, granted
! only to a select few. | have not the least
| doubt that every horsgpond in the coun-
/ try would be alive with houndering
! victims forthwith. Had the mausoleum
| of the late prince consort been daily
| opened for public Inspection people
would have got tired of it long ago, but
as the queen has been graciously pleased
| TO open it only one day in the whole
year-the anniversary of her husbands
death-visitors flock in annually from
all parts of the neighborhood by hun
dreds and even by thousands in spite Of
the difficulty Of procuring tickets of ad-
mission. l was present one year.
AS a matter of course, on a public
holiday the weather was as bad as it
could be. A damp mist. a drilling
rain and sky as dismal as a comic pa
per gave quite national character to
the whole scene. Policemen and stage
conductors looked sulky and quarrel
some, misanthrODical hackmen seemed to
take fiendish pleasure in scattering the
liquid mud as widely and vigorously as
possible, and foot passengers eyed one
another in passing with an aggrieved
and vindictive air, as if each considered
the other in some way to blame for the
universal discomfort.
By the time we reached Windsor the
gloom overhead had deepened till the
whole sky was as obscure as an explana-
tory note But nothing that the pro-
verbal English weather could do availed
to damp the ardor Of these pilgrims to
the Mecca Of England. some of whom
(as subsequently learned). after tramp
ing all the way to the mausoleum and
back through the thick, yellow, treachy
mud for which Windsor is so justly
famous, actually went up to the castle
and attended the afternoon service at
st. Georges chapel. solely in order to
consecrate their prayers with the beatific
vision of two fat elderly gentlemen with
yellow faces, around whose bald heads
clings the halo Of superstitious rever-
ence with which conservative John Bull
still contrives to regard the Prince of
Wales and the Duke Of Edinburgh.
Passing across the endless procession
of skeleton trees forming the Long
Walk the lea1ess, dripping boughs o.
which, half seen through cold white
mist, added to the dreariness of this
gloomy scene-I came Up 10 the entrance
Of Frogmore park. The sacred gates,
ordinarily closed against all profane per-
sons not belonging to the royal house
hold, were now thrown wide open, and
through them eddied motley crowd.
But even in this madness there was a
method. for the stalwart policeman who
stood at the gate as ticket taker took
good care that no one should pass unli-
censed.
As usual in such cases, the throngs
that crowded to sec the show were far
better worth looking 1T than the show
itself Three or four tall young Life
Guardsmcn in smart new scarlet jack
cts. curling their trim mustaches and
f0urishing their daudiGei canes a5 they
glanced over the crowd with an air Of
grand, iuJal5ent superiority, TO the
bOundlesS admiration Of bevy Of red
checked nurse girls and kitchen maids
who Ogled them from a distance; .
SCARED and u4burned color sergeant
of the line (whose bronze "Kandahar
medal showed that he had smelled pow
der on fields Of battle very different from
a sham fight or q reyicw). eying the "hOl-
iday soldiers with grim contempt as they
went staggering past him; half dozen
smooth faced EJon lads in tall hats,
round jackets, and broad. white turn
down" collars, laughing and talking as
only sclCOib3ys can. and evidently en-
joyirg themselves 10 the full in spite Of
the gloomy weather; a brace Of sallOw,
impudeut looking London shop boys,
covered with a smallpox Of cheap Jew
elry, casting annihiI4ting glances at the
passing girls, and poisoning the air with
bad cigars as convincing proof that
they have become men," half a dozen
London housemaids-down here for the
day-chattering and giggling in a way
to recall forcibly the Scriptural com
parison Of the laughter Of fools to 1.-THE
cracking Of thorns under a pot"
hale, brisk. portly old lady evidently
the wife of some well u do Berkshire /
farmer, whose rudy. CHEEKY face, seen I
in the depths Of huge old fashioned /
bonnet, looked ike a FIRE lighted in
cave. She was surrounded by bevy Of /
clamorous children. and seemed quite as /
eager and talkative as any child Of them /
all. Then followed three or four Wind /
sor aldermen, enjoying themselves in a /
prim, respectable, municipal manner. as |
if conscious that they were far too great |
men TO manifest any vulgar emotion ike |
the common unofficial herd around them. !
After these came a miscellaneous crowd, !
among whom we observed as the fash /
ionable reporters say TWO rustic lovers, /
with their hearts full Of passion and 4
their mouths full OF PIE shedding fakes !
Of piecrust ike rose leaves around them 4
Is they walked.
Tnes.s and similar groups I'll up the i
whole extent OF the broad, fat. sloppy .
read leading 70 Frogmore pal
ace, which has certainly nothing very
palatial about i. L Is simply small 4
one stored country villa Of the ordi-
nary type. coated with some diabOEcal
kind Of pain; which gives 70 Il the sick
", bilious complexion q a raw potato,