16 FEBRUARY 1901, Page 16

AN IRISH BOY'S TRIBUTE TO THE QUEEN.

(To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."!

Sin,—The following incident which occurred here the day after the Queen's death may perhaps interest your readers. A little barefooted boy in a ragged jacket was running down Grafton Street when he came to one of the posters spread in the street, bearing amongst other news the words " Death of the Queen," in large letters. After gazing sadly at it for a few moments, he searched his pockets, and, finding a penny, he ran and bought a bunch of violets, and kneeling down in the muddy street, laid it reverently on the Queen's name. The gentleman who saw it, a well-known bookseller, said "The tears came into my eyes " ; and those who cherish the remem- brance of her Majesty's amused and happy face as she drove slowly through thousands of children in the Phoenix Park last April, and listened to their cheers, and in some cases endearing if rather familiar words, feel sure that she would value that bunch of violets, bought with probably the giver's only coin, and left to be trampled in the muddy street, as much as any of the costly wreaths sent from all parts of