The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1901-01-23


+, faF toward explaining tho unhappy Ano
even morose expression that pervaded the
| queens features during the last 80 years oil
her reign, save when something extraor
binary occurred to excite her keen sense Of
| the ludicrous. On such occasions rs thesG
she would laugh with degree of heartincss
and even violence that would have com
pletely staggered those who had never seer
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 fiji
of apOplexy in consequence The incident
which excited her visibility was the misad-
venture of a photographer who had been
summoned from London to Windsor tG
take pictures of her majesty and of her
children. 1t was the first time in his life
that the man had ever found himself in the
presence of royalty, and he was very lerv-
GUS So great indeed was his trepidation
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, well 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 on the floor and fairly
shrieked with delight. The scene, however,
was brought to sudden and somewhat
tragical conclusion, for the prince laughed
so hard that he broke 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, 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 mai
esty of department. 1t was impossible tc
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
century over the greatest and most extern
ssive empire of the civilized globe, and with
all that true, warm hearted woman, full
of tenderness, broad minded, unaffected
piety and sincere sympathy for all that ara
in trouble or distressed, thoroughly hui