To the Queen and her family they have
given more,--love and free-hearted devotion. Her Majesty has always gone
about among the poorer tenants of the estate, like any laird's wife, in
an unpretending, neighborly way; and they, thanks to their good Scotch
sense and Highland pride, never take advantage of the uncondescending
condescension, to offend her by too great familiarity, or shock her by
servility. Taking up her "Journal," I have chanced upon an account given
by Her Majesty of a round of visits to the cottages of certain "poor old
women," and here is an entry or two:
"Before we went into any, we met a woman who was very poor, and eighty-
eight years old. I gave her a warm petticoat, and the tears rolled down
her old cheeks, and she shook my hands and prayed God to bless me: it was
very touching.
"I went into a small cabin of old Kitty Kear's, who is eighty-six years
old, quite-erect, and who welcomed us with a great air of dignity. She
sat down and spun. I gave her, also, a warm petticoat. She said, 'May the
Lord ever attend ye and yours, here and hereafter; and may the Lord be a
guide to ye, and keep ye fra all harm.'"
Now, some readers, whose ideas of royal charities are derived from the
kings and queens of melodrama, who fling about golden largess, or "chuck"
plethoric purses at their poor subjects, may be amused at these entries
in a great Queen's journal, but "let them laugh who win"--the flannel
petticoats.
Pages:
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294