The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1891-12-01
THE ROOMS OF A QUEEN.
GRAND AND GORGEOUS, BUT Ex-
CEEDINGLY UNHOMELIKE.

victoria's Huge Palace in Windsor and
How the Dreary Waste of Stately Room
After Room Impressed an American
Woman Who Visited 1t.
The Scotch moors, as l saw them in
July, are already fading in my memory
into a soft harmonious mingling of rus
set and green, for the heather was not
yet purple; but the sun caught the spray
of a mountain rivulet tumbling on its
rocky way, or turned more vivid the in
tense green of those patches Of verdure
in the midst Of the brown of the heather, !
which we think seem SO unnatural when
artists who paint in the highlands trans
fer them to canvas. These high lights
stay by one when the hills and all the
ordinary features of that charming Scot
land melt into the dimmest of memories.
One of these summers high lights was
a visit to the queens private apartments
at Windsor. | { don't know what red tape
and long waiting and diplomatic refer
ence it took to get the permit. | only
know that the thoughtful American girl
who remembered me and made me one
Of the four who were to invade the
sacred precincts conferred much pleasure
on me, and even though we were all so
disappointed in what we saw, it was hu-
man, was it not, to be delighted to go
where few enter?
We looked upon the herd of common
ers who filed by us in the wake of the
cicerone, who every hour takes throngs
of sightseers through the main part of
Windsor castle. Their hands were red
with Baedekers, but we loftily ignored
guidebooks for one day.
There were but three high lights there
to remember. One was General Cor
don's Bible, before which l could have
knelt, for it was the we'll worn book ola
soldier who took it into the tented field
as his companion.
There is no m~istaking a book that has
been read, the very way it lies open, the
invisible marks of reverential fingers,
the color of the paper which the open al:
produces.
1t disturbed me to see it in a hideOus
little glass casket all ornamentation and
fligree. Very fine in it's way, I suppose,
and taking many pounds out of the
hero's sisters pocket, who gave it to the
queen, but so inappropriate to the sim
pie life of that heroic soul, that martyr
to the mistakes of his country.
TWO MARBLE STATUES.
The second high light in the queen S
= own domicile was the view from the
= state drawing room windows of the
Z avenue stretching miles and miles away.
! 1t was sunny and bright, for some far
1 back English sovereign or his wise gar
1o,o. bod rnrhonc pvjHpnt1U hGtioUa1
that with all his possessions there was
nothing quite equal to the God given one
of sunshine, and SO there was a wide
strip of the greenest turf in the world on
either side of the drive. There were no
parterres, no fountains or statues, sim
ply this broad open sp9ce, where her
z majesty could walk OF drive for miles,
hidden by the forest trees or either side
{ from the staring eyes of the public.
The third high light in those drearily
q magnificent palace corridors was the life
" size modelling of the queen and the prince
cOnsort, made since his death. The
marble was scarcely pure enough to
represent as perfect an ideal of Wifely
!: love as any sculptor is ever likely to
=. give. The queens face turned toward
her husband reveals the utmost devotion,
the most tender entreaty, as she leans
against him imploring him not to leave
her. Whoever has not understood wifely
alteration before must go away from
this exquisite exemplification of it with
a new knowledge of what its possibilitie:
are. | do not even know if it is gooc
modelling. l only know that, intract
re able, cold and Inexpensive as marble
is supposed to be, it speaks in the face
80 and attitude of the queen as no painting
| remember to have seen.
IS | wish l could feel such genuine ad
N miration of the prince, but he is so Eng
it lish, so handsome, so far away. Hi
head is turned quite from his wife, anc
er as she clings to him he cOldly points t
distant lands.
g NO TRACE OF HOME.
- There was nothing else in these gor
Ia geOus rooms that stays by me. Their
h. seemed to me miles of corridors, draw
~ ing rooms, little and big; dining room
of and boudoirs, all glitter and glow. Th
usual gilt and ormOlu, marble and onyx
ic gloss of satin and rich stuffs, the dazzl
~ of luminous glass, p~ervaded the entlr
suites of apartments. We kept lookln
al for some room where theie mlShI pe
&C. trace of LONELINESS.
as We longed to see a ~workbasket, eve
ed if her majesty doesn't do needleworb
r. and a sitting room where there might b
an ordinary writing desk, a bookcas
IS with some well thumbed volumes or
ne Chair-an American rocking chair even
in which a loving oman had rookie
10 her babies to sleep.
Ae The doors were closed on the queen
a and prince consorts bedroom, but II
ok genious inquiries caused the Old house
i'd keeper to give up their secrets. Their
Ter was no difference. They lived IN ther
wv in state, and l began to think my chic
ish ideas that kings and queens slept
II their crowns was not far wrong.-EllZ'
let both II CuSter in New York Sun.