Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 February 1901 — VICTORIA LAID TO REST. [ARTICLE]

VICTORIA LAID TO REST.

Remains of Britain’s Queen Placed In the Tomb. The scenes of solemn pomp which were inaugurated at Cowes Friday and which were brought to a close Saturday with the solemn services at Windsor are probably unparalleled in the history of funeral pageantry. All England apparently rested hushed and thrilled in the mournful consciousness that it was to say a final farewell to its queen, and the worhl at large could uot but be impressed by the remarkable ceremonial in which national grief displayed itself. It would seem, from the fact of her expressed wish for a military funeral, that Queen Victoria desired that in the rites nothing should be omitted to emphasize the dignity of queenhood. Victoria the woman, the “mother of her people,” was assured of the sincere mourning of all classes. The first portion of the journey of Victoria to the earth whence she came and over so large a portion of which she ruled was completed Friday. Through winding lanes of almost summer verdure, through iloating walls of steel —bulwarks of the mourning nation—her body wns home; on laud by a gun carriage, on water by a royal yacht. Behind the cortege came Kings, Emperors omT’princes, walking humbly between the black clad lines of sorrowing islanders. All the colors of a dozen royal courts were massed in the uniforms of the rulers of n half dozen nations and their trains. The sunlight gleamed from the hilts of jeweled swords and gemmed decorations. When the journey through the cedarhedged path was ended there followed a sight notable and impressive. It was the transit of the funeral yacht across the waters between walls of warrior steel. Battleship after battleship thundered its grief, band after baud wailed its dirge, and crew after crew bowed low their heads as the pigmy yacht swept past. It bore no passengers save an admiral on the bridge and four red-coated guards at the corners of the simple, gleaming white bier resting amidships. The Alberta emerged from the smokecrowned steel lane, the lust gun was fired, tile sun sank behind a cloud, a new moon hung low in the winter sky, the anchor dropped in Portsmouth harbor, and the first part of Victoria's*iast journey came to an end. Iu the scenes witnessed Saturday the historic character of the ceremony was emphasized both in the pageantry and in the environment wherein thdV took place. The body, after it had been borne across London, from Victoria to Paddington station, was taken to Windsor, the historic home of English royalty since the days of the Norman conquest. There, in St. George's chapel, a beautiful structure hung with the escutcheons and banners of her royal ancestors and reminiscent in every stone of some chapter of Euglisli history, fiual services were hold and the Queen’s body lifted for the last time, was borne thence to the prince consort's mausoleum at Frogmore. Here is tlie last resting place of England's Queen. Under the massive granite sarcophagus, upon the right of which rests the recumbent marble statue of the prince consort, she was laid at rest as she had commanded thirty-eight years ago. The tablet above the vestibule to the mausoleum bears the legend inscribed at her own orders in 1862, with the words, “Farewell, beloved! Here at last I will rest with thee; with thee, in Christ, I will rise again.” The remains of the late Queen of Great Britain were laid at rest beside the grave of the prince consort iu the beautiful mausoleum which she built for the purpose. The royal tomb is situated within the ground pt Frogmore House, which stands in Windsor Park. From the windows of Windsor Castle the Queen had a fine view of the mausoleum and frequently in summer time she used to drive to Frogmore for breakfast or afternoon tea. The grounds iu which the mausoleum stands are very ornamental and many of the trees were planted by the Queen’s hands. The mausoleum erected by Queen Victoria for her own remains nnd those of the prince consort is beautiful and cost $1,000,000. The interior is tilled with handsome Italian carvings, heroic statues, colored marbles, bronze ornamentation and mosaics, nil iu medieval fashion. Years of loving supervision were spent by the Queen in elaborating the details. The^ sarcophagus of the prince is richly carved. On the marble slab containing the remains a marble effigy of the prince reposes. By its side there will be placed an effigy of the Queen. At the head of the granite steps are two bronze figures of angels guarding the door, and near the portal is a fresco of Christ breaking from the tomb. The crucifixion and the adoration are also the subjects of fine frescoes. Among the statues are those of David, Solomon, Daniel ami Isaiah. There is a blue and gold cupola, and the windows are of stained glass.