The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-02-03
THE QUEENS CORONATION.
An Englishwoman i'm Detroit Saw
the Whole Parade.

tne " nOle faTHde.
Mrs Mary Jane Weary, of Detroit. saw
Queen Victoria on her way to her corona
tion and among her "reminiscences which
she told to the Free Press" was the fol-
lowing:
''oh. yes. mind well when the Queen
was crowned. was mere slip of a girl
then. about thirteen years of age. and I
was so close to the young Queen as the
royal procession passed that l could have
reached out and touched her hand. l re-
member hearing the great bell of St
Paul's Cathedral toll cut the announce
ment of the death of King William ".
This bell. l think. is tolled only when a
member of the royal family dies. On the
morning OF the coronation a party of
young girls, including myself, all as mer-
ry as crickets, sought out the most ad-
vantageous place from which to view the
parade. The costers we're doing a flour
ishing business selling chairs and tables,
and we paid one of them half crown to
get on table
We were in St. James Park. directly
opposite Buckingham Palace, and saw he
Queen come out of the palace leaning
upon the ara of some dignitary whose
great crowd strained and surged forward
eager to get the best possible view of The
royal party, our table suddenly collapsed
and down We went. None of us was in tn
least injured. and ! remember how indig-
nantly We insisted that the cos,er should
give us back our half crown. This he
of course, refused to do. and, nothing
daunted. We squirmed our way to C0nsti-
tuition Hill. where we got right in he
front row of spectators Here We OBJ
tanned 4 splendid view of the magnificent
procession. 1t seemed to me that tn re
must have been 500 musicians in the band
and l don't believe ! ever heard such
beautiful music. The picture of the royal
carriage, with its eight cream-colored
horses, handsomely caparisOned, and each
attended by a groom. left a clear and
deep impression on my mind. JUS as he
carriage drew near TO where We We're
standing, part of the trappings broke and
there was pause Tor repairs. This mis-
hap favored our little party with a fine
opportunity TO view the dazzling spien-
dor of royalty. Victoria was within arms
reach of me. She bowed sweetly TO the
huZzas of the multitude, and bore the
ordeal with dignity and calmnes5 re-
markable in one SO young.
I'VE little girls did not miss anything
worth seeing that eventful day. We WAN
deFeC over many noted section OF the
great city-through the Strand, Temple
Bar, Fleet Street, Cheapside, Ludgate
Street and other well-known and historic
thoroushfares, and at night We took in the
grand illuminations The streets were
choked with hurrahing humanity all day
long and no one that witnessed the coro-
nation festivities could quite ever forget
the occasion. No, l don't remember see
ing the Duke of Wellington in the process
sion, but l saw him several times upon
other occasions, however. He remained in
seclusion pretty much except when in at
tendance at public functions. But the Iron
Dukes horse, which was frequently exer-
cised near his residence. was an object Of
great interest, and curious crowds would
follow the animal whenever it appeared.
When / was in London the dukes house
was barricaded and constantly guarded
through fear of assassination from French
sources in revenge for Napoleon's down
fall"