Great Britain -- History -- Victoria, 1837-1901 -- Fiction
The part to be taken in the celebration by associations, cities, and
kingdoms had all been planned when it occurred to the editor of one of
the London newspapers that nobody had remembered the children. "Let us
give the boys and girls of London a feast and an entertainment in Hyde
Park," he suggested. "You can't do it," declared the grumblers. "It is
a foolish, wicked scheme. There will be a crush, accidents will happen,
and hundreds will be injured." Nevertheless, people subscribed so
generously that soon all the money needed had been provided. When the
children came to the Park, they were taken in groups to great tents;
and when they came out, each one had a paper bag which contained "a
meat pie, a piece of cake, a bun, and an orange." Their little hands
must have been full, for besides the eatables, each one received a
little medallion portrait of the Queen and a Jubilee mug. The mugs saw
hard service among the thirsty little folk, for all day milk, lemonade,
and ginger beer were free to every child who presented his empty mug.
The children were amused by all sorts of games and shows. Dukes and
princes and representatives of powerful kingdoms came to see the good
time; and at last the Queen herself came and gave a special greeting,
not to the grown folk, but every word of it to the children. Long
before bedtime had come, every one of the twenty-seven thousand small
people was safe in his own home, and the grumblers grumbled no more.
June 21, 1887, was "Jubilee Day." Fifty years had passed since the
young girl had been aroused from her sleep to hear that she was Queen
of a mighty nation; and now, in all the glory of her half century of
successful sovereignty, she was to go to Westminster Abbey to thank God
for his help and protection.
She now represented, not a kingdom, but an enormous empire, and every
corner of it wished to do her honor. The streets of London were spanned
by triumphal arches. They were made into a fairyland of flowers,
banners, drapings of silk and velvet and tapestry. Staging for seats
had been put up all along the route, and every seat was filled.
Fabulous prices were paid for a house, a window or even a few square
inches on a rough plank. Thousands of people had been out since sunrise
to secure a place to see the grand procession; and at last it came in
sight, moving slowly toward the multitude that waited all a-tremble
with excitement and with devotion to the noble woman who was the symbol
of home and country.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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