The times., 1898-12-11

their noses and she wisely forebore to in
sist upon an alien custom.
In very sharp contrast 10 the rather
gloomy Spanish court on the great day in
December is the jollity that reigns II
the home of the little Queen of Holland.
Wilhelmina celebrates the festival Wig
orously and delightedly. She has always
had tree on Christmas eve. always hung
up her stocking and she adores to give
presents. While in Stuttgart recently at
tending her cousins wedding, she went
out shopping on foot every day, gave
large orders on London and Paris shops
and there is scarcely a poor child in the
Hague who is not remembered by the
queen.
One of her chief joys on Christmas
morning is to follow the ancient Dutch
custom of appearing suddenly at a door.
and after finging a gift rolled in a L,g
ball Of straw, into the room, running
away as fast as she can. Another Christ
mas habit is that of driving about the
snowy streets and tossing handsful of
bonbons wherever she sees a group of
children.
In England the Queen spends her Christ
mas at Osborne, and rather more quietly
than any other day in the year, while the
family reunion Is usually held by the
Prince of Wales and his household and
more apt to be a new thoroughbred puppy
of some breed not represented in her ken
nels, pair of prize fowls remarkable
mino bird. or some living thing that this
gentle lady can claim a pet. One
Christmas his gift was a beautiful cow
who had her horns and hoofs gilded, her
prize medals and ribbons and her pedigree
on parchment hung to a collar of leather
and silver around her neck and by a
tsa ..f tIrl Isl !
his head herdsman led the handsome ami
NAL up to the long open windows of the
breakfast room, as near as possible to the
Princess chair.
A day or two before Christmas a special
messenger always sets out from Sandring-
ham House with several big boxes of
goods in his care, which he is pledged to
deliver safely at the royal palace in CO.
penhagen. These boxes hold many hun
dreds of dollars worth of Christmas gifts
from the Princess of Wales to her Danish
relatives. for the kind-hearted woman re-
| members not only her family, but the
youngest cousin, the old servants in her
fathers home, and those women in CO.
penhagen who were her youthful play
mates, and who are, some of them, ex-
ceedingly straitened in means.
During her summer visit to Denmark
the Princess usually finds out what would
be most appreciated by every individual
and shops later in London with list in
hand. To her father she always sends
books and some bit of beautiful porcelain.
for King Christian is manufacturer of
some of the most exquisite china in the
world and an expert collector. The Prin-
cess of Wales has given him specimens
of Rookwood, New Jersey wares and
the pottery our Indians make and she
always provides some dozens of Christ
| mas trees for the hospitals in her old
| home.
Perhaps the saddest woman in Europe
at Christmastide is the ex-Empress OF
/ France Eugene. Her chief gift is made
! to the chapel connecting with her house
where the bodies of her husband and
son lie, and as was the custom of the
Empress Elizabeth of Austria, she is at
| the tombs of those she loved and In
prayer by o'clock on Christmas morn
ing To the chapel she has given. year
by year, the most gorgeous windows, al
tar ornaments, carved stalls, and dur
ing the twelve months she is busy en-
broidering with her own hands magnifi-
cent robes that she presents to whatev-
er churches her son or husband Worship
ed in.
Every Christmas Princess Eva of Bat
tenburg goes to spend the day with the
i lonely woman who Is her godmother
and who gives the child such jewels as
crownhead might envy. This is done
partly out of love for the child, who is
likely to inherit her fortune, and partly
because she has never, forgotten the
great kindness she received from Queen
Victoria in the early days of her mis-
fortune and exile.