THE DECLINE OF FAINTING

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 9814, 25 August 1897, Page 5

THE DECLINE OF FAINTING

Nobody has remarked (says Mrs Cnw°w »'i Truth) that England was rescued in 8r Majesty's reign from leeohes. Her »ther certainly died from leeching, cupping £J? ■ - ng - He was relieved of 120oz of c .rJV n ■»•* *«*t illness, exclusive of what Ci T°i I,S a PP l ' catiou °f leeches took from fill*.' JL a J' c a vague recollection of bottles ev#« _ leec,,es °" the ,nantel shelves of t l V l was taken to M a cnild - J .' cm.! °;- , lies with weak "y® B wh *» were wHlanllv leeched in the temples and behind sZIT\ ''I°*™* off the blood" that was "PPosed to be gathered round tho hidden I V* r nervw - For more than thirty years leeched heafd ° f Rny friend bein 8 hJ a il? t - n8 Wa ' thou g h t interesting when coLM_' ,c *, ty came to the fchrone - it was ■JJ'J'wu proper for an engaged young **y to swoon away if she received . letter

containing the news of her lover having sprained his leg. The Queen was thought too insensible because her voice did not falter when she announced to the House of Commons her engagement to Prince Albert. Consumptive heroines were best liked by novel-readers. Girls took a pride in being in poor health. They used to talk of their ailments as they now talk of the bike and golf. Prince Albeit, when skating on the pond in Buckingham Palace Gardens, early in the forties, slid into a hole in the ice. The Queen did not faint, but helped to pull him out. She thereby greatly lost the esteem of romantic ladies. They would have taken a far deeper interest in her had she swooned away, the Prince been drowned, and her Majesty come forward after the funeral as a young and forlorn widow. The men, 1 am sure, would have also liked her better. They thought il all right for elderly ladies to be sensible ; but what they mostprized in yjung ladies was simpering sensibility or sentimentality. The poet Moore's ideal was still iv fashion when the Queen came to the throne. The same type of damsel was the ideal of Bernardin de St. Pierre at the beginning of the century ; she would blush when praised, and weep when blamed. Men may have felt chivalrous devotion to the lady with money behind her, and fine houses in which to receive her company ; but the struggling woman who had to he courageous was no more prized or respected by the other sex than the door mat. Wondrous are the changes the Queen's reign has wrought! j

DEATH OF 7ITE QUEEN'S DRESSER.

The greatest blow that the Queen lias suffered this memorable midsummer has Iwen the loss by death of Mrs Macdonald, her senior dresser. This discreet and capable Scotswoman enjoyed her Majesty's confidence to a degree that could not be easily realised by any one not intimate with the history of the Court during this generation. She was tlie widow of one of the Queen's foo+.men, who died three years after the death of the Prince Consort, and one of the most pathetic episodes in the personal life of her Majesty was the care, with which she .sought in the midst of her own bereavement to oiler consolation to her sorrowing maid. Mrs Macdonald was the daughter of a blacksmith, whose home (says tlie St. James 1 *) was on the outskirts of Abergeldie, and her association with the Queen's service began more than forty years ago. She is the "Annie" who is referred to nearly a score of times in the published journals of her Majesty's life in the Highlands. She might often be seen in the toy-shops in the vicinity of the Royal Palace, buying knickknacks for the Queen's grandchildren, little gifts for the aged peasantry on Deeside, or warm clothing for cases of penury that were brought to her notice. She was a woman of unassuming piety, and enjoyed the sincere regard of her Royal mistress.

[We shall be glad to receive in this column brief contributions, both from the "New Woman"' and also from her sisters who do not lay claim to "advanced" ideas. Contributions must not exceed sixty lines in length, and may be either original of selected. In the latter case the source should be stated.]