Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1901-02-17
WHAT FOOLS THESE
M0RTALS Be"

The passing of Queen Victoria is the
most notable event in the first month
of the new century. For nearly eight
decades she occupied as an Austrian
paper says, "a wonderful place in the
hearts of her people and in the poll
tics of the world" The duties of her
position were most arduous, but to al
most the last hour she performed them.
She is said to have signed about fifty
thousand documents yearly. No dis
patch of any Importance was ever sent
of without her approval. The pro-
ceedings OF Parliament were closely
watched by her, and all the power vest
ever on the side of pace and justice.
The London Times speaks of her as
Smoothing the rugged places
of international relations" La
bouchere declares that 'her inf1u-
ence for peace has always been
felt in continental politics. Secretary
Gage said OF her, "A sovereign under
the theory of divine right she was IN
reality the head of highly democratic
state" and it was given to her Ito
guide the unfolding destinies of
mighty nation. She lived her life in
the full glare of that fierce light that
beats upon a throne" The circum-
stances of her birth her childhood, her
coronation, her girlhood, her court
ship. her marriage the birth OF her
children, her widowhood her old age.
and her death, have been told and re-
told till they are az familiar TO us as
the words of the catechism and the
new testament. No woman ever SUI
fered such publicity as Britain's be-
loved queen.
And what was the effect OF this pub
LEFTY and this participation in the pol
itics of the world? Did any one ever
intimate TO Queen Victoria that a wo-
man could not be good queen and at
the same time a good wife and mother?
When she signed those fifty thousand
political documents. did her prime MIN
listers tell her that she ought to be
darning the Prince Consort's socks ard
sewing on his buttons? When she
opened Parliament, did the members
of the House of Lords and the House
of Commons get up and intimate that
she ought to be at home rocking the
cradles of the infant princes and prin-
cesses? Did the journalists of Eng
land say that the publicity incident to
her queenly position was robbing her
of her womanly delicacy and charm?
Did the historians of her time write
her down as an unsexed. degraded, IN
womanly woman who had left her
sphere to dabble in the mire of in
ternational politics." Perish the
thought. The chorus of eulogy that
was sung around her death-bed was but
repetition of that which resounded
all through her long life. Her laure-
ates praised her in their noblest verse;
her statesmen delighted to do honor TO
her judgment and her common sense
in matters political; no historian ever
wrote of her save in praise of her vir-
tues; and as for the masses of her
people they loved her as a mother and
revered her as a queen.
She will live" says Secretary Gage
in the hearts OF the people. wherever
the English tongue is spoken, as a
good woman, a wise ruler. and worthy
examplar of all who may be clothed
with political responsibility, whether
under the Democratic or the aristo-
cratic forms of government" LET US
think of her this morning" says the
| London Chronicle "by her highest
title; not by her crown and scepter, but
by her own magnificent and splendid
! ideal OF womanhood." This most re-
| spected of all women" says one OF the
head lines in the Courier Journal.
! Loved more as woman than
as queen" says another.
And yet-if our American wo-
man express a modest wish TO
participate in politics to the small ex-
| tent of voting two or three times year.
what happens? Why the American
statesmen and preachers and journal
lists who have been lauding a royal POI
litician to the skies would tell their
| humble compatriot that she was an I'M
sexed unwomanly degraded creature.
and they would shake darning basket
and cradle before her eyes and ma
jestically order her back to her sphere.
What fools there mortals be-"
Ida CALVERT OBENCAIN.