The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-07-17
ECHOES OF THE JUBILEE.
A Portland Woman's Impressions Of
the Great Spectacle.
BIDDING FAREWELL TO THE
METROPOLIS.

MEIhUfOLISs
The Procession of British Troops-Map-
nfficent Observation-Disclosures and
Dramatic Events-Tcur in England
Completed.
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE Of THE PRESS.
London, June %, 1897.
Diamond Jubilee reigns supreme
throughout the United Kingdom, from
north to south, from east to west, the
blaze of countless bonfires lighted stimuli
taneously at a given signal proclaim jubi-
lee The very air is literally red, white
and blue with jubilee; London is decor
ated from end to end, festoons of green,
garlands Of roses, gay colored buntings,
adorn building after building. The cleo
trio devices almost battle description;
notices hailing Victoria our Mother
Queen" 1--WE loyal. Thou royal Sixty
years Of unexampled prosperity" are
what we read on every side. Father"
we overheard child ask "what has Vic
toria done herself that everyone gives her
such great praise?" For moment, an
answer seemed beyond the fathers power
to give; "Ah, we'll my son, she has been q
very good woman, very, good wife and
mother, and very good Queen, very
good indeed" he reiterated, clinging to
goodness as if that alone made material
greatness. AS we moved on we wondered
if the child, like ourselves, was still un-
satisfied. Our Jubilee began weeks ago,
but England's, it seems to us was in
augurated at Crystal Palace, by Handel's
Triennial festival. Those mighty Choir
uses rising and surging like the boundless
ocean, what words can portray their
power and grandeur! "Israel in Egypt"
''The Messiah" we had no conception Of
their stupendous depths It is thrilling
sight to look upon over five thousand
musicians, but to hear their voices and
instruments quickens ones pulse. The
whole house rose and sang with loyal
hearts and true, "God save the Queen"
the effect was magnificent but our lips
breathed with fervor never before
known, My Country tbs of Thee, sweet
land of liberty, of Thee sing" The
events preceding the memorable 22nd we
will mention later but will first endeavor
to describe the experiences of a "lone lorn
Mrs. Gummidge'' and daughter seeing
the Jubilee procession. q
The first actual personal intimation we
received that we were in ''the thick of
the fray" SO to speak, was when on Re-
gent street, Saturday morning, looking
for our Atlas bus, we read, increased
Jubilee fares, one shilling any distance 2
AS we had been paying "tuppence"
-four cents C>this meant an increase Of
twenty cents and it made our pocket book
feel as low in coin, as we. did in spirit
We recovered however when we remem
bered that our numerous pilgrimages
through London were ended and tina
our seats at the rooms of the London
Glove Co. where we go for the procession,
could be reached by the underground
railway, which remained in statu quo as
to place and fare. Monday we felt rest
less, anxious for the NOR
row; we spent a large por-
ton of the day dallying with dumb bells,
indian clubs and sand bags; not that we
crowd, but we simply wanted to be in
our usual health and strength. We re-
tired at p. III. after begging our land
lady to thoroughly rouse us at q. m.
This hour may seem unreasonable to the
uninitiated but did we not see crowds on
June Goth at five in the morning on our
way to the commemoration service at
Westminster? and we trembled lest we
should be late for the procession. After
'daybreak' meal which was not Of q
jubilee character we looked askance at
the long array of sandwiches prepared for
our sustenance and were tempted to go
forth trusting in the might of the Aerated
Bread Co. to supply the inner woman,
but discretion murmured, "think what
ssts papers Pr0phs siege you % osy be n
so we hastily picked up
our supplies and with something of dis
may in. our hearts, started for the station.
But where was the dense throng, through
which we had secretly dreaded to elbow
our way? Two people never before as
sumed such huge proportions as we. t
the clock as we sat down on the wooden
benches at the station, to wait for the
AS train, and we were the sole represen-
tatives of our sex, together with six of the
sterner, who without haste or violence
quietly took our seats in the railway car.
mage. 1t dawned upon us as we passed
from station to station 1--WE went two
miles out Of our way to avoid the crush
and few early birds, as foolish as we,
boarded the train, that the Jubilee jam
was bubble inflated by the English
nation, but which blown too hard and
long had burst. We dreaded, yet were
anxious to see the monster" shownforth
| by the press all over the world in such
dark and dismal type, and when it failed
to materialize in our presence, we could
have wept like Alexander ''for a crowd tc
conquer 1t was all SO tame, SO prosaio
so different from the exciting scene We
had imagined. We had the entire side
walk to ourselves, we strolled round about
St. PauPs and counted her "bulwarks''-
in other words innumerable stands gay
with bunting, and blooming with paper
flowers. Of course there were many PEG
pie on the streets, but the solid phalanx Of
human beings, that we had been led to
expect would extend in every direction
of the compass, was not there. We finally
succumbed to what was hopelessly easy
walked to our seats and sat watching and
waiting.
About eight o'clock people began con.
orepating on the sidewalks and stood