The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-06-25
scented toilet waters. A taste for them
Implies reversion to barbarisms

49, ~ - (&@ RE*fE4
No portrait of Queen Victoria. it has
been said. IS satisfactory to those who
know her well. The likeness may be per-
feet. says 'sHarper's Bazaar but the ex-
gives no idea of the brightness with
which her face can light up In private
life when free from public cares. But
what other expression than that of sad
ness-the sadness of one who has q bur-
den almost too great to bear-can be ex-
pected insthe portraits of a woman who
Tor sixty years has been ruler over one
fifth of the globe and the sovereign Of
soO. 0Oo,000 of souls? The nrst remark she
made when, a mere girl, she was in
formed of her accession to the throne Of
Britain, was. MY Lord Archbishop, pray
for met, n the sense of responsibility
which this first presentiment of the du-
ties which her lot called upon her to per-
form must have deepened as the sphere
OF her influence widened, as the rush of
the modern spirit of change Increased.
bringing ever new problems to be solved,
as years with all their memories passed
over her head. The influence of Queen
Victoria has been twofold. h has
never ceased to be a queen. with a strong
natural sense of her own claims and the
authority Of her position; she has never
ceased to be a good woman. whose do
mestic virtues nave given her a hold on
the hearts of her people that no one in
he long line of her predecessors ever
possessed. This mixture of dignity and
simplicity has characterized her from her
first appearance. No one could be more
self-possessed, more regal in bearing,
than the girl who faced her first privy
council; no one could be more natural,
more unaffected, than the same girl, who.
when the ceremony was over, flung her
self into her mothers arms and burst in
to tears. On the great day of the coron-
alton her voice was heard clear and
steady as she took the path to her peo-
pie; nothing could be more stately than
the grace with which she received the
homage of her subjects. Yet when poor
old Lord Role. then between eighty and
ninety years of age, stumbled and fell on
the steps of the throne, her childlike ques-
ton to the great officers who surrounded
her was, May l not get up and meet
him?.
During her long life she has seen the
map of Europe rearranged; she has seen
Kingdoms fall and empires rise; she has
seen IN her w immediate dominions
greater changes than those of all previous
centuries, changes in the whole current of
mems thoughts, in religion, in literature,
and in art, and with her natural quick in
telligenee, with her long training under a
succession of statesmen of all shades of
opinion, she has always ito use a common
phrase which. like all common phrases. is
highly expressive) kept up with the pro-
cession' of the world. In public life she
is the best informed person in her empire
as to the progress of political events and
the current of political opinion at home
and broad. and in private life she has
united hard thinking and love of art. The
work of a sovereign, such as she has been.
called on to do. is never ending. Every
day, every hour. has.i task, which can
only be accomplished by a systematic ar
rangement of every moment of time. Il
these royal duties, in the supreme court
esq of punctuality. she has never failed,
and when this is remembered, it is only
a mean spirit that can object to her not
taking, of late years, a more prominent
part in the social life of England. A
sovereign who takes such a part is apt to
become a partisan and be Influenced by
the factions of the court, and indeed, be-
fore Victoria's reign, every sovereign was
a partisan, while she has always been
loyal to her ministers, to her Parliament,
n to her people.
The country folk of the eastern coun-
ties, says the London Daily Graphic
while regarding it as quite safe to grow
lilac bushes in their gardens, cannot be
lightly and easily induced to bring a
branch of the sweet flower into their
houses. Some of the more rigid refuse
to gather it at all, and would regard the
gift of a bunch to a friend as a very sorry
present, which would speedily involve him
in difficulties. Pleasant though the scent
of the lilac be, and temptingly leading
itself to personal adornment, many a
country girl shrinks from putting a sprig
into her dress. For such an act will surely
condemn SO rash a maiden to single bless
edness for the term of her natural life.
She who wears lilac will never be taken
to church." runs an old saying.
Indeed, lilac seems fatal to affairs of
the heart, for the smallest spray pre-
scented to the betrothed is the surest way
to break the bond. The lilac, indeed, is
a flower with so fearsome a reputation
as to be boycotted alike by lovers and
their lasses in the eastern counties, where
superstitions and traditions of old-world
myths still retain a strong hold on the
rural mind. It is not uncommo to see
jugs and jars festively filled with big
branches of lilac blossoms, with its
decorative foliage, placed on the window
sills outside country cottages, for the
spell is supposed by some to have no
power In the open air. But to bring a
bunch inside the portal is held to be a
direct temptation to Fate to do It's worst
who can answer for the disasters
and deaths which may befall a house
hold so careless as to pay no heed to the
repeated warnings of grandparents as to
the u~nluckiness of lilac?
A clever woman once defined q girls
idea of happiness as .sthe knowledge
that she can have a new silk petticoat
she wants it." M do you
blame the girls I don't Nothing sounds
so prosperous and luxurious as the frou-
frou of silken Innings and silken petit
coats.
Changeable tints remain in high favor
for the newest petticoats. The petticoat
is a half yard narrower than last season,
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