Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1901-01-22

longest on record and extending con.
siderably over half a century-she
had seen all her oldest friends and nc.
quaintances as well az numerous members
Of her immediate family disappear into the
grave, until at last she felt herself quite
alone in the world Not single one Of her
former associates to whom she could un-
burden her mind, discuss the earlier events
OF her reign, or with whom she could enjoy
congenial intercourse, was left.
Mamma Is so entirely alone" exclaimed
her daughter, the Princess Christian, In my
hearing one day "You can't imagine how
sad 1t is for her We all belong to young
er generation and have different thoughts
and sentiments, many OF 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"
The queens Sense of the Ludicrous.
This remark OF Princess Christian goes
Tar toward explaining the unhappy and
even norose expression that pervaded the
queens features during the last 80 years Of
her reign, save when something extraor-
dinary occurred to excite her keen sense OF
the iudicrous. 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.
! remember especially one case where she
laughed so much that she almost had fit
OF apoplexy in consequence. The incident
which excited her risibility 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.
ous. So great indeed was his trepi iation
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 it's three legs sticking up
into the air, while the frightened photog.
rapher stood stock still, we'll nigh pertifed
with fear and with the black cloth still
hanging over his head and face. struck both
bany, ~ 40 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 on the floor and fairly
shrieked with delight. The scene, however,
was brought to q 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 i'll 1887
Queen Victoria seems to have given evi.
dence of this underlying current Of merri-
ment. aud fun in the constitution Of her
character. True everything was done that
) could be done to check 1t 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, violent and
public rebuke from King William ~
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
esty Of deportIient 1t was impossible to
conceive anything more 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 O
century over the greatest and most exten
sive empire Of the civilized globe, and with
all that true. warm hearted woman, full
Of tenderness, u broad minded, unaffected
piety and sincere sympathy for all that are
III trouble or distressed, a thoroughly hui
man empress in fact, whose affections,
thoughts and utterances were understood
and appreciated at their true value by her
subjects.
Coming to a throne tarnished by the i'm
moralities Of her predecessors, Queen Vic
toria completely reformed the moral atmos
phere OF the court, and to a certain extent
also Of the entire British people, for not
Sithstanding all the epithets that are hurled
against 1t British society is today infinitely
superior in morals AZ well as In honor to
what 1t WAS previous to 1887. Vice there is
and always will be in u metropolis so large
~ London, In u society so elastic and ac
cessible as that of England, but vice is no
longer so rampant, so unblushing aud so
public as in days OF yore.
That Queen Victoria fostered the fine
arts is best shown by the fact that 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
miriions, being painter Of considerable
merit, musician Of rare talent, clever
writer. as shown by her Highland Leaves"
and remarkable linguist. Not content
with knowing German, French and Italian,
'Nr set herself down when naSt the age Of
20 to study HindOo, and was able at the Tins
Of her death to converse freely with her two
Or three Indian body servants.
Moreover, her long experience as ruler
and the profound knowledge which she pos
sessed Of international politics were almost
without parallel among the European sov-
ereigns and statesmen, and endowed her
eth great prestige and influence The lat
Ter, exercised with much caution and fore
Nght, proved sufficient on several occasions
TO avert continental wars, and ii is no secret
that Emperor William OF Germany and
Alexander III Of Russia were restrained
from lighting for years by nothing but the
wise intervention of Queen Victoria
FIX -ArrACHE.
STORIES OF A SOVEREIGN.
Anecdotes About the Late Queen Victoria
Srom Various Sources.