A MIDGET’S LOVING REVERENCE

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1514, 7 March 1901, Page 60

A MIDGET’S LOVING REVERENCE

The Countess- Ma-gri, formerly .the - wife of Tom Thumb, and herself a midget, is writing her reminiscences in an American journal. This is her description of a. visit which she and Tom Thumb paid to Queen Victoria : In' 1864. my husband and myself, being in London, were summoned to appear before the Queen at Windsor Castle. This was my first appearance air Court, and I looked’ forward, to* it with a degree of interest that amuses me now... But my memories .of “The Good Queen” are vivid, and I am glad, too, that they are of a dear, gracious woman rather than the far-away impressions of a reigning sovereign. Her Majesty had invited quite am audience of distinguished people, together with the 11 oya.l Princesses and Prince Leopold. We went through the programme which we were giving the general public, and elicited much applause. This- was in the superb room known as the “lieu,bens ‘Boom'.” After we were through, the Queen signalled the General and myself to approach her. We did so, and her gentle, homelike manner immediately relieved! my mind of any lingering feeling of dread* or awe I may have had. and I felt at ease with her. She took my hand, and laying it on her palm: smiled as she called attention to the difference in size, remarking, “It is smaller than an infant’s.” All the lords , and ladies acquiesced', and one of them exclaiming, “Oh, see'her tiny feet!”' Her Majesty continued to hold-my hand, and patted it in her dear, motherly way as she talked. For she did talk directly with us, without any royal nonsense of speaking through the “lord-in-waitmg.’ ’ .Somehow this very thing has always made me admire her more. It was .as if hdr womanly, aniotherly self were .superior tq all the laws of Court etiquette which govern a< Queen. She asked me about my family, and: the simple New England home-life I necessarily described may have had interest for this representative of the Old England from which it sprang. She laughed a® she recalled the General’s first visit, and asked him if he remembered how he had taken his cane to punish the unapproving demonstration of her poodle. The General answered her promptly, and assured her he could never forget his first visit to Her Majesty. She continued the conversation for r some little time, then kindly dismissed uis intq another room, where' refreshments were served us. The Queen was dressed, in mourning, and her quiet black, -while eminently be•cbihinigi Was sd little in' accord with 3ii s V -childhood’s - ideal of'the royal wardrobe tnat I -smile now to.;think of it. And T kept, any own counsel in the matter, too: t-I wasn’t going to: betray my ignorance. by' expressing -wonderment, but ■my girlish mind couldn’t 'quickly take .in the idea of a- Queen without a crown, and; dressed more- plainly than some, of her attendants. • ■ . I; have seen other Queen-s since then, and met Kings and potentates of all nations and all sorts of costumes, but for none of them do I hold the same loving reverence that I do for this Empress .and Queen —Apctp-ria, :