Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 6.djvu/212

368 WORKMEN AND HEROES It is not for us to lift the curtain of sorrow that fell like a funeral pall over the first years of her widowhood. For many a day it seemed as if the grief was more than she could bear, and although she was sustained through it all by God's grace, and supported by the sympathy of the nation, yet it was naturally a long- continued and absorbing sorrow. Other blows have fallen since then. The ten- der and wise Princess Alice, and the thoughtful and cultured Duke of Albany, have also been gathered to their rest ; and the queen has had to mourn over one after another of her most faithful servants taken from her. But the hallowing hand of time, the soothing remembrance of unspeakable mercies, and the call to noble duty, have done much to restore the strength, if not the joy, of former days. Her people rejoice, and the influence of the Crown is enormously strength- ened, when in these later years the queen has been able once more to mingle with the nation. When we touch on the third period of her life which may well be termed that of sorrow, although brightened by many happy events in the domestic life of her children we reach times that are familiar to every reader. These have been years in which the cares of state have often been exceedingly burdensome. The days of anxiety during the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny have more than once had their counterpart. Afghanistan, Zululand with its Isandula, and the Transvaal War with its Majuba Hill, Egypt, and the Soudan, brought hours of sore anxiety to the sovereign ; but they were probably not more harassing to in- tellect and heart than the months of difficult diplomacy which the threatening aspect of European politics frequently laid upon Government. I may say in passing that no portrait of her appears to me to be quite satis- factory. They usually have only one expression, that of sadness and thoughtful- ness, and so far they give a true representation ; for when there is nothing to rouse her interest and when she is silent, that look of sadness is doubtless what chiefly impresses one. Her face then bears the traces of weary thought and of trying sorrow ; but when she is engaged in conversation, and especially if her keen' sense of humor has been touched, her countenance becomes lit with an ex- ceedingly engaging brightness, or beams with heartiest laughter. Her life at Balmoral since her great sorrow maintains, as far as may be, the traditions of the happy past. She still makes expeditions, cognita or incognita, sometimes to the scenes of former enjoyment or to new places of interest. She has in this way visited Blair, Dunkeld, Invermark, Glenfiddich, Invertrossachs, Dunrobin, Inverlochy, Inverary, Loch Marll, and Broxmouth. The queen, among her people at Balmoral, gives a splendid example to every landlord. " The first lady in the land " is the most gracious mistress possible. Her interest is no condescending " make-believe," as we sometimes find it in the case of others, who seek a certain popularity among their dependents by show- ing spasmodic attentions which it is difficult to harmonize with a prevailing in- difference. With the queen it is the unaffected care of one who really loves her people, and who is keenly touched by all that touches them. She knows tnem all by name, and in the times of their sorrow they experience from her a personal