Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-10-12
Seeing Sights
at Big air.

st. Louis. Oct 9.-"The poor dear
old queen. Five million dollars worth
of presents and not thing she could
use. Not even a sofa pillow to lay her
head on; not even a pair of comfort
able carpet-slippers for her tired
feet"
This was James comment after look
ing over Queen Victoria's jubilee pres
ents which are displayed in % large
glass cases on the upper floor of the
hall of congresses. She doubtless eX-
pected to see an array of sugar spoons.
salad forks. clocks. card-trays, liner
napkins and other useful things suck
as are commonly bestowed upon the
brides of our town. John thought
they might have given her a mani
cure set or autograph album just tc
make her think of old times"
But here are over four hundred pres
ents, mostly from the queens subjects
in her colonies and not one of them
of any use except a sumptuous carved
ivory chair the gift of the Maharajah
of Travancore. This chair is valued
at $250,000 and yet | doubt if the queen
ever sat in it. The other presents con.
sist largely of silver and sandalwOod
baskets. richly carved and many of
them iniaid with ivory Many of then.
are cylindrical in shape doubtless con.
tanning scrolls of parchment upOn
which the queens subjects wrote theil
Fluctuations and good wishes. A pal
ticularly costly and beautiful casket
came from the Sardar Edalji Khur.
shedji Motif and the Parsi community
of Surat. One naturally wonders why
the Sardar and the Parsi communit;
didn't send an automobile coat of :.
necklace of pearls or something real
swell
There are casllets galore from ALA
habad. the Dewan of Palanpur Assam
the Maharaja of Orcha. the Rajah of
BObbili in Vizagapatam, Madras, anG
whole lot of Indian Rajas and
princes. There are also royal saddles
and elephant tusks. The Indian Rajas
and princes meant well but some one
should have passed the word around
not to make any more caskets or
music cases. The two swarthy British
officers who are guarding these pres.
ents are the biggest men | have seer
at the exposition. The PatagoniaI-
giants are small beside them. l asked
one of them what the jubilee presents
were valued at. He said that no one
had undertaken to estimate their value
and that they were not insured. !
also learned that the presents shown
are only a tenth part of what the
queen received. and that their vaiu-
had been estimated by American sill
versmiths at 100000.
Johns step was elastic and his face
lighted up with pleasant expectancy
as we climbed the hill 10 the Japanese
paviliOns and pagodas. John swear;
by the little Jap. He wants to see
everything he does and everything h.
makes and | must admit that these
little Yankees of the east" are by
far the most interesting people at the
exposition. II is hard to think of then
Smelling Port Arthur and pounding the
cars army out of its boots. so gentle
they. Not content with occupying
large portion of each exhibit palace
with the products of their skill anG
industry they have thrown in this ex
hibit on the hill for good measure
Passing through the great carved
wooden gates we sat down in a nearby
tea house to rest and 10 drink some
FOrmOsa tea served by the little Japa
nese maidens. who. Jane SAYS. "are
just too cute for anything"
T A D.