AMERICAN GOSSIP ABOUT THE QUEEN.

Tuapeka Times, Volume II, Issue 79, 14 August 1869, Page 6

AMERICAN GOSSIP ABOUT THE QUEEN.

In domestic life her Majesty sets an example that the nobility and the wealthy classes may do well to imitate. The time not passed in the affairs of the State are passed in domestic duties, for the Queen eats no idle bread. Her breakfast hour is eight o'clock. This is the social meal of England. The Queen meet her guests at the breakfast table with the tinaffectsd ease of a high-born lady. Motherly, unaffected, and considerate, all are put at their ease. Letters intended for the family and guests are put at the plate of each, and it is no breach of decorum to examine them. She is the woman of her household at her breakfast table, and not the Queen of State. The dinner is a mere formal stately affair. The Queen attends personally to her household, to the employment and discharge of servants,, to the expenses, the wages, and all that pertain to the disbursement of funds. Sewing, knitting, -visiting the poor and sick, her Majesty always has a round that she goes, to employ the time not officially occupied. As a Sovereign she is the hardest-worked woman in England. Her official duties usually commence at seven o'clock in the morning, one hour before breakfast. Wherever she is, despatches are sent daily by messengers, who ride in first-class cars, bearing what are called baskets. The papers from all departments are submitted to her. These baskets are dark morocco boxes a foot in length. These are sent from Dowling-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, carries messengers with these boxes. The Qtreen and Minister alone can unlock them, for— she signs nothing which she does not read. Every Bill, Act, treaty, document, petition, or paper requiring her name, is Bubject to her personal attention. Her Majesty is admitted to be one of the best business women in the feing- ! dom. Each day's business is finished before the day closes. Usually the messenger waits and takes the basket, | locked by her Majesty, back to the j Minister from Tvhom it came. The Queen holds a ready pen and carries on her personal correspondence, which is very large. She pays her own postI age, 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 aad care. Her favourite pastime at Balmoral is among the lowly and the sick, with whom <&he talks, reads, prays, and leaves medicilie,food, money, and little tokens of her regard.—" Boston Journal."