Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-06-25

! VI lhblDSldlH, VI tUt DuilulIS ulOl Nut
science Of bacteriology, or the directing
Of the Roentgen rays which have revO-
lutionized surgery, or helped in the in
yentions for facilitating printing and
railroading and ocean voyaging. One is
not TO be credited or discredited for the
virtue or the vice, the brilliance or the
stupidity of his or her contemporaries
While Queen Victoria has been the
friend of all art, all literature, all sci
ence, all invention, all reform, her
reign will be most remembered for all
time and all eternity as the reign Of
Christianity.
Beginning with that scene at 3
O'Clock in the morning in KCnsington
palace, where she asked the archbishop
Of Canterbury to pray for her, and they
knelt down, implOring divine guidance
until this hour, not only in the sublime
liturgy of her established church, but On
all occasions, she has directly or indi-
rectly declared, 81 believe in God the
Father Almighty, maker Of heaven and
earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only be-
gotten Son. l declare it, fearless o.
contradiction, that the mightiest cham
pion of Christianity today is the throne
Of England. The queens book, so much
criticised at the time Of its appearance,
some saying it was not skillfully done
and some saying that the private affairs
Of "a household ought not so to have
been exposed, was nevertheless a hook
of vast usefulness from the fact that it
showed that God was acknowledged in
all her life and that Rock Of Ages"
was not an unusual song in Windsor
castle. Was her son, the Prince Of
Wales, down with an illness that baffied
the greatest doctors of England? Then
she proclaimed a day Of prayer to Al
mighty God, and in answer to the pray
ers Of the whole civilized world the
prince got well. Was Seyastopol to be
taken and the thousands Of bereaved
homes Of soldiers TO be comforted, she
called her nation TO It's knees, and the
prayer was answered. See her walking
through the hospitals like an angel Of
mercy. Was there ever an explosion Of
fire damp in the mines Of Sheffield or
Wales and her telegram was not the
first to arrive with help and Christian
sympathy? Is President Garfield dying
at Long Branch and is not the cable un-
der the sea reaching to Balmoral castle
kept busy in announcing the symptoms
of the sufferer?
The Christian Queen.
l believe that no throne since the
throne Of David and the throne Of Heze-
kiah and the throne Of Esther has been
in such constant touch with the throne
Of heaven as the throne of Victoria.
From what | know Of her habits she
reads the Bible more than she does
Shakespeare. She admires the hymns
Of Horatio Bonar more than she does
Byron's "Corsair. " She has not know
ingly admitted into her presence a cor
rupt man or dissolute woman. To very
distinguished novelists and very cele-
brated prima donnas she has declined
reception because they were immoral.
All the coming centuries Of time can
not revoke the advantages Of having
had go years of Christian womanhood
enthroned in the palaces Of England
Compare her court surroundings with
what were the court surroundings in
the time of Henry VIII, or what were
the court surroundings in the time OF
Napoleon. in the time of Louis ANl,
in the times Of men and women whose
names may not be mentioned in decent
society. Alas! for the reyelries, and the
worse than Belshazzar feasts, and the
more than Herodian dances, and the
scenes from which the veil must not be
lifted. You need, however, in order to
appreciate the purity and virtuous
splendor Of yiotoria's reign to contrast
il somewhat with the gehennas and
the pandemoniums Of many OF the
throne rooms Of the past aud some Of
the thronerooms Of the present l call
the roll of the queens Of the earth, net
that l would have them come up or
come back, but that | may make them
the background Of a picture in which l
can better present the present soptuage
marian, so soon to he an ocicgc MARIAN.
now on the throne Of England, Ler eX
ample so thoroughly on the rcht sln'
that all the scandal monecrs IN an th'
nations in six decades have rCt lCN
able to manufacture an evil srspclu
in regard to her that could be mace l.
stick: Maria Of Portugal. Isabella auC
Eleanor and Joanna Of Spain, Cathe
rine of Russia, Mary Of Scotland, Maria
Theresa of Germany, Marie Antoinette
of France and all the queens Of Eng
land. as Miss Strickland has put them
before Us in her charming II volumes
and while some queen may surpass our
modern queen in learning, and another
in attractiveness Of feature, and anoth-
er in gracefulness Of form, and another
in romance of history, Victoria surpass-
es them all in nobility and grandeur
and thoroughness Of Christian charac-
ter. | hail her, the Christian daughter,
the Christian wife, the Christian moth
er. the Christian queen, and let the
church Of God and all benign and gra-
cious institutions the world over cry
out, as they come with music and ban
nered host, and million voiced huzza,
and the benedictions Of earth and heav-
en-, "What wilt thou, Queen Estherf'
A Noble Life.
Another thing | call to your attention
in this illustrious woman's career is
that she is a specimen Of high life IN
corrupted. Would she have lived to Gel
ebrate the sixtieth anniversary Of her
coronation and the seventy-eighth ami
versary Of her birthday, had she not
been an example of good principles and
good habits. While there have been bad
men and women in exalted station aud
hum BILE station who have carried their
vices clear on into the seventies and
eighties and even the nineties Of their
lifetime. such persons are very rare.
The majority Of the vicious die in their
thirties and fewer reach the fortios, ana
they are exceedingly scarce in the fifties
Longevity has not been the character
istic of the most Of those who have
reached high places in that or this
country. In many cases their wealth
1 Ill. hrfr