She is gay and festive. She exhibits models of all her public buildings, among the most interesting being the tower in which Anna Bowlegs was decapitated. The order of this lady’s garter too is very curious, and is exhibited, together with her marriage certificate. The only article sold in this department is WINDSOR SOAP, put up in neat boxes, _fac similes_ of the castle in which its peculiar properties were first discovered. Victoria and the girls are faithful attendants at the table. They are assisted by Mr. John Bright, the eminent proprietor of a popular kidney disease, and also by the Chief of our Fire Department, who is suspiciously attentive to the oldest of the ladies. We end up our day’s travels in Russia. The tardy participation of this power was attributed in some quarters to the exertions of a Mrs. Catacrazy, who was offended by a Washington lady, and took this means, it is said, of “getting even.” Such is not the fact. The cause was, briefly, as follows:-- PRINCE GORTSCHAKOFF [A STATE SECRET.] visited this country _incognito_ a short time ago, and of course passed a few days in Philadelphia. One day, leisurely walking through East Park, with his clay pipe in his mouth and his _shillalah_ in his hand, he carelessly broke a small spray of green from a bush by the wayside and stuck it in his hat. A careful Park guard saw him and arrested him at once, on a charge of malicious mischief. The Prince remonstrated in choice Russian. The guard, pretending not to understand him, answered in Chaldaic, and dragged him before Magistrate Smith. He was fined five dollars for destroying the shrubbery and ten dollars for speaking disrespectfully to a Park guard. When it was discovered who the offender was, Mr. Wm. M. Bunn, in his capacity as Guardian of the Poor, at once paid the fine. Mr. Bunn explained to the Prince what a valuable country this was, when a foreigner is obliged to pay five dollars for a single green sprig. Gortschakoff gratefully presented Mr. Bunn with the order of the “Golden Fleece,” and regretted that he hadn’t another to bestow upon the magistrate. This and this alone was the cause, and we tell it confidentially to our countrymen. The tardiness, however, did not materially affect either the exhibit of Russia or the success of the Exposition. Indeed, the French visitors freely asserted that the Exhibition far surpassed the Vienna fair of ’72, and the German guests boldly declared, with a unanimous voice, its superiority to the Paris Exhibition of ’67. CHAPTER IX. “THE FLICKERING.” ... HOW IT DIMMED AND HOW IT BRIGHTENED. [Illustration]