Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-01-31
VICTORIA'S REIGN


Nearly eighty-two years of life and
siXty-three as queen Of the Kingdom
Of Great Britain and Ireland, were
rounded out by Queen Victoria. No
monarch Of ancient or modern times
ever equaled this reign in length of
years. No monarch of any time ever
gave a people a more kindly and be-
nefcent reign, or set before them a
life more conspicuous for its purity
and the virtues of womanhood.
What a retrospect is hers! Be
ginning as queen, she became an
empress. The history of her reign is
the greatest in the annals of Britain.
Since her accession to the throne the
area of the British empire has been
doubled. Her government exercised
a potential part in every rearrange-
ment of the map of Europe. Within
her reign waste places in the world
became thickly peopled, powerful and
appanages of her empire. Australia,
New Zealand, New South Wales, terra
incognitas when she assembled the
throne, have since astounded the
agricultural riches, and have become
the homes of millions who speak the
English tongue and are proud to call
themselves British subjects. Africa,
from being the hunting ground Of big
game, has been explored to its
farthest limits and a vast portion
brought under British sway to dazzle
the eyes of the world and excite the
covetous natures of men with it's gold
and diamonds-the Ophir of the
ancients Egypt has new ruler, and q
British subject in that land today
Yields the substance of power, while
its nominal ruler grasps the shadow.
When Victoria assembled the throne
railways were in their infancy and the
general mode of travel was in stage
coaches. She witnessed the disap-
pearance of the latter and the mar
velous development of the first. The
telegraph, the ocean cable, the tele-
phone, the electric light, were things
undreamed of when Victoria began to
reign. The German empire did not
exist nor did a United Italy. Austria
was a first-class power and Prussia a
minor kingdom; the pope was a tenn
poral as we'll as spiritual monarch,
and Italy was a country of half a
dozen or more separate kingdoms
when Victoria assembled the throne.
Japan was a closed nation to civiliza-
ton, and China also, in those early
days of the young queen, Spain was
a powerful monarchy, and ruled over
continent. Brazil was an empire, and
a descendant of the Braganzas sat on
its throne. Mexico was the possessor
of that vast territory now Incorporate
ed in the United States of America
Texas, California, New Mexico,
Arizona. Wondrous changes, indeed,
have taken place in the map of the
w I'D and the conditions of it's people
since Victoria began to reign.
Few Wars.
The Sepoy rebellion in India and the
Crimean war, in which France and
England forced Russia to bow to their
united power, were the major wars of
Victoria's long reign. The British
arms have seldom been idle, but their
use was almost entirely directed
against the fanatical and savage
races of Asia and Africa.
In science and literature the Vic
torian era is a remarkable one, even if
in the latter realm there is lacking the
Shakespeare and Spenser Of the
Glizabethan age. The names of OAR
win, Spencer, Huxley Stephenson, and
Tyndall will stand in science forever,
while in literature the fame will grow
as years roll on of such names as
Dickens, Thackeray, Lytton, George
Eliot, Charles Reade, George Mere
dith, the Kingsleys, Mrs GaskelI,
Trollope, Charles Lever, Tennysen,
Browning, Swinburne, and Matthew
Arnold and Kipling; Thomas Carlyle,
Freeman and Froude, Green, Lecky.
and Buckle; Colenso. Farrar, Pussy
Newman, and Manning.
AS Child.
AleXandrina Victoria was born in
&ensington palace, London, May "a,
1919. Her father, duke of Kent, was
very fond of the child, and it was
while romping with the baby in the
first year of her age that he con-
tracted pneumonia that took him to
another world. His widow, the
duchess of Kent, brought up the
culture ruler of England
In youth she was part of the Eng.
liSh girl world DoiJc uora how
special delight, and chiefly those from
Holland. The doll-dressing period
began with little Victoria in the year
1929, when she was 10 years of age.
With her own knowledge, assisted by
her foreign governesses, she made the
costumes for more than fifty little
puppets. More than half of the in
ternational costumes Of the girl Prin
cess have passed away never tC
return.
Sir Henry Ponsonby is authority for
the statement that her majesty was
devoted to dolls and played with them
until she was II years of age. Little
Victoria's make-believe family con
sisted of more than a hundred and
fifty dolls, of which 1872 are still pre-
served in the Osborne house collec
ton. Most of them Victoria dressed
herself, although she was helped By
baroness Lehzen. as is faithfully re
corded in the autobiography of he
majesty.
The little princess day passed il
the Following manner: She rose earl,