Year: 1869

SioooNo may w Wcit 10 iMlIdte. Inc tihAo
not passed in the affairs of state are pass
ed in domestic duties, for the queen eats
no idle bread. Her breakfast hour is
8 o'clock. This is the social meal of
England. The queen meets her guests
at the breakfast table with the unaffect-
Z cd ease of a high born lady. Motherly,
unaffected and considerate, all are put at
their ease Letters intended for the FAM
lily and guests are put at the plate OF
each, and it is no breach of decorum to
examine them. She is the woman of the
household at her breakfast table, and
not the queen of state. The dinner is
more formal, stately affair. The queen
attends personally to her household, to
the employment and discharge of ser
wants, to the expenses, the wages and all
that pertains to the disbursement Of
funds. Sewing, knitting, visiting the
poor and sick, for her majesty always has
round that she goes, to employ the
time not officially occupied. As SOW
ereign she is the hardest worked woman
in England. Her official duties usually
commence at o'clock in the morning,
one hour before breakfast. Wherever
she is, dispatches are sent daily in, by
moescngore, who rido in frct GLASS czaIs,
bearing what are called baskets. The
papers from all the departments are sub
mitted to her. These baskets are dark
morocco boxes about foot in length
These are sent from Downing street, the
admiralty, the home department, the
head of the army, &c. Each basket is
locked by the minister who sends it. A
card hanging from the inside contains
the name of the minister Every train
to Windsor, Balmoral and Osborne, car
ries messengers with these boxes. The
queen and the minister alone can unlock
them. All these documents have to be
read by her, for she signs nothing which
she does not read. Every bill, act, trea-
ty, document, petition or paper requiring
her name, are subject to her personal at
tention. Her majesty is admitted to be
one of the best women in the kingdom.
Each days business is finished before the
day closes. Usually the messenger waits
and takes the basket, locked by her maj
esty, back to the minister from whom it
came. The queen holds a ready pen and
carries on her personal correspondence,
which is very large. She pays her own
postage like any lady in the land. She
has always given personal attention to
her children, and their religious training
has been the object of much solicitude
and care. Her favorite pastime at Bal
moral is among the poor, the lowly and
the sick, with whom she talks, reads,
prays, and leaves medicine, food, money,
and little tokens of her regard Letter
By Bmleigh.


INSTANTANEOUS DEATH" Jerome
Cardan relates that eight reapers, who
were eating their dinner under an oak
tree, were all struck by the same flash of
lightning, the explosion of which was
heard far away. When some people
passing by approached to see what had
happened, they found the reapers, to all
appearance, continuing their repast.


One still held his glass in his hand, an
other was in the act Of putting piece
of bread into his mouth, third had his
hand in the dish. Death had come up
on them suddenly whilst in these posi-
tions, when the thunderbolt fell.


Ten reapers, who had taken shelter
under hedge, were likewise killed al
together during a violent storm.


Like those mentioned above, they had
profted by this necessary suspension of
labor to enjoy frugal meal. A touch
ing detail, related by the Rev. Mr. But
Ter, who narrowly escaped being victim
to the same storm, shows with what rap
{ idity the whole Of this joyous group had
been deprived Of life. One of the un-
fortunate beings had a dog in his lap at
the moment the lightning fell Whilst
he caressed the animal with one hand,
with the other he offered it piece Of
bread Both the man and the dog were
petrified, as it were, in this position. The
paralyzed hand still held the piece of
bread, and the expression on theanimal's
face seemed to say, Give me some more;
come, give ME some more p


To die with the rapidity of lightning
is to die as rapidly as thought itself; for
the flash which kills SO quickly, lasts q
time as brief as that which but shows us
the spokes of the wheel of locomotive
--as that which but enables us to see i'm
movable in the air the ball which flies
through darkness from the cannon's
mouth p


The Mosr BEAUTIFUL HAND.-Two