Gilpin observer., 1900-03-22
QUEEN yIC's LIFE.
SHE DRESSES Palmer THAN
HER SUBJECTS.
Lives Moro Frugaiiy and Maintains q
Greater Air of Comfort and Homeli-
ness About Her Private Rooms-Her
Daily Labors.

The home life of Queen Victoria has
ever been a subject of widespread in
terest and sympathy. Her somewhat
dull and monotonous childhood, her
idyllic married life, her long widow
hood and her peaceful by busy old age
have alike attracted both writer's and
readers on every hand. Perhaps the
most remarkable feature in the queens
career has been the skill with which
she has contrived to maintain the sim
plicity of an old-fashioned English
home life, Notwithstanding the pomp
and ceremony which necessarily be-
long to court. This is largely due to
her early training. The daughter of
the duke of Kent, q prince of very
limited income, the young Princess
Victoria saw little of the luxury which
is commonly supposed to abound in
royal circles. Strict economy was the
rule of her early home, and the lesson
has never been forgotten
Amid the costly magnificence which
characterizes the state apartments the
queens private rooms are always not
able for their comfort and LONELINESS.
is far more economical than many of
her middle-class subjects.
The queen attributes her long life
and excellent health very largely to her
practice of spending as much time az
possible in the open air every day. In
her youth riding was her favorIte recre-
alton, and in Scotland she has almost
lived on pony back. Now, of course,
carriage exercise has taken its place.
EVERY morning her majesty goes out in
her little pony chair. often visiting the
tarm and stables in the course of her
drive. Sometimes her chair is drawn
by beautiful donkey which wa. pur-
chased in the south of France by his
royal mistress to save him from ill
treatment. This donkey rejoices in the
name of Jacko, and on holiday coca
sions wears a curious harness adorned
with bells, and with two foxes brushes
hanging over his binkers The greater
part of the forenoon of each week day
is devoted to business, for no woman in
the land gets through more actual work
in the course of each week than the
queen. Her dispatch boxes are ar
ranged on table set in Windsor park,
near the Frogmore teahouse. whenever
the weather permits. Here the queen
carefully reads and annotates the in
Vulnerable dispatches which come to
her from the foreign and home offices,
Tor it has been the rule of her life to
attend personally to all important af-
fairs of state.
But this by no means represents all
the multifarious occupations of the
queen. Her private correspondence is
enormous, for it is a kind OF unwritten
family law that all her children and
grandchildren shall write to her every
day. All important housekeeping ques-
tion5 are settled by the royal mistress
herself, who often orders the meals and
even keeps an eye on the household
linen.
Even the smallest details of domestic
economy are not regarded by the queen
as beneath her notice. A story is told
that on one occasion she went into a
practically disused room at Windsor
and noticed cabinet that had evil
IDENTIFY not been busted that day. She
promptly wrote the royal autograph in
the dust, and beneath the name of
the particular maid whose duty it was
to dust the room. This may seem rath-
er a small matter. but when one re-
members that nearly 1000 persons are
employed in Windsor castle and its
precincts it shows very remarka Die
knowledge of the personality of so vast
a staff.