St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1901-04-03

Off the Coast of snrdinin- ArriVaI a
Malta-News of Queens Deaih-Visit
. from the Royal Family-A Yachting
, COurse-The Winter ia Southern Eu
rOpe-signs of Summer in Malta
Steamer y ervice.
Dear CALEDONIAN:
Since your readers last fell asleep owe
my long letter from Arcachon, France
they have had four months of rest. Dur
ing that time l have seen the curtain
drop on the wonderful exposition on th'
Seine; have pleasantly renewed my first
acquaintance, 38 years since, with
Lyons, the great industrial center o.
France; have seen Marseilles preparing
for its hysterical reception OF Kruger;
have spent day at Tunis wlthits lascin-
at1ng picturesque life, its streets busting
with camels and automobiles, bicycles
and donkeys. Arabs from the desert and
French swells from the Paris boulevards
and after six months absence, a home
coming at Malta, favored by such a
gracious sea from MarseiIles to our
grand harbor, that we quite forgot the
usual discomforts of the three days voy-
age.
On the sixth of November, when the
ballots were quietly settling the question
whether Bryan or Mckinley would be
the next occupant of the White House,
we were off the coast of Sardinia anxious
for the cable which would meet us at
home, settling the anxiety which loyal
Americans abroad would naturally feel
when such great issues were at stake.
The grand old Apostle wheu his friends
met him at Appii Forum, felt as we did
when we read the Herald cable, handed
us as we stepped from the steamer on
our arrival here. We thanked God and
took courage. During that hot presiden-
tial campaign, our daily prayer had been
God Save our Country" and those
votes on November 6, were an emphatic
response. Will that 16 to heresy, with
its Nebraska father for q champion, crop
out again four years hence, or is it now
buried beyond all resurrection?
We found the season at Malta opening
most promisingly, the hotels crowded,
the fleet in the harbor and gay winter
in prospect. Out of the blue there came
bolt in January which completely
changed the social outlook. We were
out dining with some army and navy
officers, the opera to follow the dinner,
when over our coffee cups there came the
message from London, "the Queen
dying" this followed by a local post,
script, 1.-THE governor and admiral and
general close their opera boxes tonight"
Twenty-four hours later it was "God
save the King" the reign of the good
Queen Victoria finished Outside OF Lon.
don there was nowhere | imagine
greater outward manifestation of grief
than in Malta. The flags at halfmast,
the stores closed, the guns firing, the
bells tolling, the Queens statue covered
with Grape and scores of wreaths around
the base; on every store and building
huge posters with deep black border
Queen Victoria the Good-Mourned bv
27O,O0O,OOO subjects-died January %, |
1901" All the people in black, the
theatre and royal opera house closed.
All these outward signs of mourning |
shall always recall as the most impress
stve demonstration of it's kind | ever
witnessed. The Maltese are southern in |
their nature-full of emotion and add to
these 10000 subjects twenty and more
thousand equally loyal soldiers and sail
ors, and you have the material for this
remarkable display called forth by the
death of that English Queen-the most
universally beloved of any sovereign the
world has ever mourned
Sunshine is the traditional atmosphere
OF our winter hours in the Mediterranean
but since Jan. 22d we have been in
eclipse, the island in Grape. The royal
family of England have always loved
Malta. Queen Adelaide, wife of William
~, spent two winters here and from
her private purse gave $125,0O for the
erection of the beautiful English church,
whose tall spire is one of the finest OBJ.
jects seen in approaching the grand har-
Dor. Three times the present King has
visited Malta and the Queen has been
here in her yacht accompanied by her
daughters. The Duchess of Argyle is
well known here and the Duke of Edin.
burgh, as admiral, was stationed here
for years, and the street on which this
house stands was named after one of his
daughters, the Princess Melita, born in
the palace OF San Antonio. The heir ap-
parent has spent some time on the
island and the late Queens granddaugh-
ter, the wife OF Prince Louis of Batten-
burg, lived some years here in a most
modest house in Valletta. All these
royalties have been most popular. doubt
Whether anyone can see in dozen years
residence elsewhere more royal and ex-
royal samples than in Malta. or more of