Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1917-03-02

Like many Processes, she naQ q los
ter mother, the wife of a common
sailor, who occupied cottage not far
from Osborne castle, and piled his
trade within plain view OF the Royal
Yacht club. There is a comfortable
freemasonry among all mothers, and
the sailors wife, accommodated with
lodging in the castle, brought with her
her year-old boy, Alfred Barton. The
fisherman's son and the princess
played together and evinced so strong
a mutual attachment that, when Mrs.
Barton's services we're no longer need
ed, she continued to bring her child
to the castle to play with the little
lady of exalted lineage.
This happened for years. Every
summer the little princess was brought
to Osborne by her parents; every sum-
mer she insisted on playing with Al
fred. 1t was not until he was thir-
teen and she twelve that the old
queen, who had viewed the childish
attachment complacently, took alarm
at an intimacy which seemed likely to
continue. The princess parents en-
deavored to break the friendship, but
proved powerless in the face of their
little daughters obstinacy and her evil
dent misery. In fact, the children
could no more live without each other
than a flower can live when plucked
from it's stem.
There was long family confer
ence, at which the old queen made the
sensible suggestion that the acQuaint-
ance should be permitted to continue
until the princess was put into long
dresses. Then, she said, nodding her
head sagely, thoughts of social con-
quest and royal lovers would quickly
make her forget the fisherman's son.
But in the meanwhile, to prevent
Bertha from suffering any i'll from the
association, she proposed to have Al
fred Barton educated at one of the
fashionable public schools.
"And here, to everybody's astonish-
ment, Ned Barton, the fisherman, in
terposed his veto. One might have
thought that he would have welcomed
the opportunity and have been proud
of his sons royal patrons. But the
monarchy of England is founded upon
certain we'll understood principles,
and the subservience of the subject is
based upon an immutable self-respect
and jealous maintenance OF his rights
and liberties. Ned Barton, standing
humbly in the presence of Queen Vic
toria and their serene highnesses,
Princess Bertha's parents, stoutly said
that he viewed the intimacy with as
much misgiving as they did, that he
was a plain fisherman and intended
that his son should follow the sea-;
he would not have him made into a
shoddy gentleman at Harrow or Elton.
And Queen Victoria had to abandon
her program.
$50 the acquaintance continued for
several years more, and before the
princess had been put into long
dresses her parents were faced with
the fact that she loved Alfred Barton
with sisterly affection which showed
every symptom of developing into a
stronger feeling. She was an only
child and ruled them. She would not
go into society. or meet her royal low
ers, or do anything but spend half OF
each year at Osborne, and sail with
Alfred Barton, and have him to tea in
the grounds at Osborne castle.
"Of course, you have guessed who
Alfred Barton was. He had come
back to birth to win his beloved,
whom his death had left solitary, near
ly 800 years before; but he had con-
fused his memories. He had come
back wrong, just as a man, taking the
wrong train from New York, might
start of on a parallel track, and yet
wind up at st. Louis instead of Chi
cago.
They were declared lovers when
the matter was brought to my knowl-
edge by Sir Henry Foulkes, physician
in-waiting to Queen Victoria. And it
was then that made this discovery
"But if the parents of the princess
could not break off the acquaintance,
at least they could prevent marriage,
WHICH WOulQ, III ldCI, nave OSOn ~
marriage under the laws of both Eng
land and Germany. There was no
thought Of marriage between the
young folks, it was believed. Their
serene highnesses resigned them
selves to seeing their daughter remain
an old maid-one Of those royal old
maids whose status is so eloquent a
tribute to the tenacity of their mis-
placed affections. The lovers met
more rarely, for Ned Barton had been
made captain of small steamship
which carried freight and occasionally
passenger or two between South
ampton and Cherbourg, and 1t was
only during his occasional periods OF
absence ashore that he came to the
castle. And here he had won such
favor by his sterling integrity, his
manliness, and his manners, which
were those of nobleman rather than
of a common fisherman's son, that he
enjoyed the complete confidence OF
the queen.