Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-01-22

ana sentiments. many or which she can
neither understand nor appreciate. Every
one Of her contemporaries and friends has
passed away. and with them have vanished
all her old time associations There IS no
one remaining to whom she can really talk
about matters. F"
| The Queens Sense of the Ludicrous.
This remark of Princess Christian goes
far toward explaining the unhappy and
even morose expression that pervaded the
queens features during the last 30 years OF
her reign, save when something extraor-
binary occurred to excite her Keen sense or
the ludicrous. On such occasions as these
she would laugh with degree OF heartiness
and even violence that would have COM
pletely staggered those who had never seen
her without that half sad, half sour droop
of the corners of her mouth.
l remem Der especially one case where sis
laughed so much that she almost had lit
of apoplexy in consequences. The incident
which excited her visibility was the misad-
venture of photographer who had been
summoned from London to Windsor to
take pictures of her majesty and of her
children It was the first time in his life
that the man had ever found himself in the
presence of royalty, and he was very nerv-
Gus. So great indeed was his trepidatioD
that on putting his hand beneath the cloth
for the purpose of getting the right focus
/ he suddenly upset the camera. The sight
of the latter, with its three legs sticking up
into the air, while the frightened photog-
rapher stood stock still, we'll nigh pertified
with fear and with the black cloth still
hanging over his head and face, struck both
the queen and Prince Leopold, duke of Al
bany, as so intensely funny that they both
burst into peals of the most immoderate
laughter.
The little great lady fairly shook with
merriment as she lay back on the sofa
where she was sitting, while Prince Leo
pold threw himself OF the foor-and fairly
shrieked with delight. The scene, however,
was brought to a sudden and somewhat
tragical conclusion, for the prince laughed
so hard that he broke a blood vessel and
brought on fit, from the effects of which
he almost died at the time.
| This sense of the ridiculous constituted a
! remarkable feature of the queens charac
ter throughout her life and is noticeable,
moreover, in the books which she published
concerning her life in the highlands.
| Even in her childhood and girlhood pre-
vious to her accession to the throne in 1887
Queen Victoria seems to have given evil
dence of this underlying current of merri-
ment and fun in the constitution of her
character. True everything was done that
could be done to check it by her mother,
the Duchess of Kent, whose severity and
even harshness toward the young princess
called forth on one memorable occasion, at
state banquet at Windsor, a violent and
public rebuke from King William Nv.
Personal Traits.
Queen Victoria was small in stature and
during the latter part of her life very stout.
This, however, did not prevent her from re-
| tanning most remarkable grace and maj
T2 Ii
conceive anything moro captivating and
winning than her smile. Always plainly
| and even shabbily dressed in black gowns
that were often rusty, it was impossible not
to feel when in her presence that that little
old woman had ruled for more than half a
century over the greatest and most extern
sive empire of the civilized globe, and with
all that a true, warm hearted woman, full
of tenderness, a broad minded, unaffected
piety and sincere sympathy for all that are
in trouble or distressed. thoroughly hui
man empress in fact, whose affections,
thoughts and utterances were understood
and appreciated at their true value by her
subjects. sa ri
Coming to throne furnished by the inn
moralities of her predecessors, Queen Vic
toria completely reformed the moral atmos-
phere of the court, and to certain extent
also of the entire British people, for not
understanding all the epithets that are hurled
against it British society is today infinitely
superior in morals as well as in honor to
what it was previous to 1885, Vice there is
and always will be in metropolis so large
as London, in society so elastic and ac-
cessible as that of England, but vice is no
longer so rampant, so unbiushing and so
public as in days of yore
That Queen Victoria fostered the fine
arts is best shown by the fact that a large
proportion of the former enormous imports
of art objects from France into England
have now ceased. Britain has learned TO
supply her own demand for art objects
Her majesty's interest in such matters as
these was only natural, for she was one of
the most accomplished women of her do
minions, being a painter of considerable
merit, musician of rare talent, clever
writer, as shown by her Highland Leaves, y
and remarkable linguist Not content
with knowing German. French and Italian,
she set herself down when past the age of
% to study Hindoo, and was able at the time
of | er death to converse freely with her two
or three Indian body servants
Moreover, her long experience as a ruler
and the profound knowledge which she pos
sessed of international politics were almost
without parallel among the European SOY.
ereigns and statesmen, and endowed heI
with great prestige and influence. The lat
ter. exercised with much caution and fore
sight, proved sufficient on several occasions
to avert continental wars, and it is no secret
that Emperor William of Germany and
Alexander III of Russia We're restrained
from fighting for years by nothing but the
wise Intervention of Queen Victoria.
Ex-ATTAcHE.
STORIES OF A SOVEREIGN.