A JUBILEE REMINISCENCE.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR:'] SIR,—A correspondent has told you some of the remarks made by a London crowd on Jubilee Day. May I add what I heard in a village crowd in Sussex? An agricultural labourer
said to me, " The Queen will be glad when this day's over."
Yes," I said, "she'll be very tired."—" Oh, I am not think- ing of that; she'll very likely be shot, you know."—" Be what? "—" Well, some one will shoot her, like as not."—" You would not say that," I replied, "if you had seen and heard some ten thousand people yesterday in St. Paul's Churchyard singing God Save the Queen,' and all with their hats off."— " Did they now ? What ! do they like her up there then ? " At the sports on our green in the afternoon I heard the following conversation : " I don't think this here Jubilee's quite right, Ben."—" Why not ? "—" We'll be going too far, and doing more nor we ought too; for what have we been doing all this day ? Worshipping of a woman, and that ar'n't putting God in his right place. He won't like us worshipping a woman instead of him, Ben."—" Well, George, if you feels like that you hadn't ought to stay any longer at these here sports. You ought to go home, George, and then to-night you'll go to bed with a good conscience." But, as my gardener afterwards told me, he didn't go away, bat bided to the very end ! And George is one of our Parish Councillors.
Previous page
