The Golden Rose

When tho "Golden Roso," the gift of the pope to Queen Amelia, of Portugal, was prosented to her b.y the envoy of his holiness; Marquis Jules de Sacchetti, in the church of the Necessidades in Lisbon, amid imposing ceremonies, the event marked an epoeh o fif ty years since a queen of Portuga received this distinguished honor. In 1843 Maria II. da Gloria won it, anc she was the first queen of Portugal to get it after a lapse of three hundrec I years. This golden rose, says the New York Sun, is the premium of tho popes of Rome for the best, the most religious, and most virtuous ainong the queens of Europe; but, unfortunately, thcre has lately grown up a wickec suspicion that it brings hard luck, because a great many royal ladies who gained it lost their thrones shortly afterward. It surely is not to be inferred that Leo XIII. sent it to the, innocent queen with the diabolical intention to dethrone her and establish a republic in Portugal. It is a beautiful present, thus described in a leading Paris paper; "Upon a tall, triangular socle there stands a sort of chalice with the pontifical arms engTaved upon it, and f rom this there emerges a cluster of golden roses, one of which, larger and In fuller bloom than the others, sparkles with dewdrops all of diamonds. In the heart of this rose there is a little cachette, a valve into which the balm and perfumes aro introduced at the moment of the benediction." It is needless to say that this splendid rose has made the queen as happy as a big sunflower. God save her majesty Queen Amelia!