"
The Prince wrote to his daughter as only _he_ could write--wisely and
thoughtfully, yet tenderly and brightly. There was in this letter a
charming passage about his playfellow, Beatrice. After saying of his new
grandchild, "The little girl must be a darling," he adds, "Little girls
are much prettier than boys. I advise her to model herself after her Aunt
Beatrice. That excellent lady has now not a moment to spare. 'I have no
time,' she says, when she is asked for anything, 'I must write letters to
my niece.'"
Shortly after his first little niece was born, the Prince of Wales made
his first acquaintance with the New World. He went over to America to
visit the vast domain which was to be his, some day, and the vaster
domain which might have been his, but for the blind folly of his great-
grandfather, George III. and his Ministers, who, like the rash voyagers
of the "Arabian Nights' Entertainment," kindled a fire on the back of a
whale, thinking it "solid land," till the leviathan "put itself in
motion," and flung them and their "merchandise" off into the sea. He was
a fine young fellow, the Prince, and was received with loyal enthusiasm,
and heartily liked in the Canadas. I believe we of the States treated him
very well, also--and that he had what Americans call "a good time,"
dancing with pretty girls in the Eastern cities, and shooting prairie-
chickens on the Western plains.
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