IT is most pleasing to notice the universal respect and affection paid to the memory of our late beloved Queen, by all classes of society. Though passed away from earth, she yet lives in the hearts of the subjects she so long and so wisely ruled.
One special feature in the life of Victoria was the motherly kindness shown by her to her afflicted and poor subjects. She was ever keenly alive to the sufferings and necessities of those in trouble and in poverty. This could be illustrated to a large extent by quoting from her journals. Here is just one extract:
“We met an old woman who was very poor, eighty-eight years old, and mother to the former distiller. I gave her a warm petticoat, and the tears rolled down her old cheeks, and she shook my hands, and prayed God to bless me; it was very touching.
“I went into a small cabin of old Kitty Kear’s, who is eighty-six years old—quite erect, and who welcomed us with a great air of dignity. She sat down and spun. I gave her, also, a warm petticoat; she said, ‘May the Lord ever attend ye and yours, here and hereafter; and may the Lord be a guide to ye, and keep ye from all harm.’”
Balmoral, as every one knows, was the Queen’s Highland home, and in her younger days Her Majesty was on speaking terms with all the farmers and cottars within miles. She sometimes called on one of her humble neighbors, a dear old woman over a hundred years of age. After reading to her on one occasion the centenarian looked earnestly at the Queen and said, “May I ask your Majesty a question?” “As many as you like,” she kindly replied. “Will you meet me up yonder in the Paradise of God?” Listen to the Queen’s answer— “YES, by the Grace of God and the all-availing Blood of Jesus.” Her only hope for eternity lay in the precious, atoning Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, which cleanseth from all sin all who put their trust therein (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)).