THE
CHILD PRINCE AND THE CHILD PEASANT.
You know that Queen Victoria has a brood of little children; fat little cubs they are, too, if we may trust the pictures of them that we see in the shop-windows; and although they are a queen’s children, I will bet you a new kite that you have more cake and preserves and candy than they ever had all together in their lives, for English people do not allow their children such unwholesome things. Their rosy cheeks come of good roast beef and mutton, dry bread, and very plain puddings, with plenty of sweet milk. That is the way to make stout, healthy boys and girls. Victoria is a right good, sensible mother; her children, though they are princes and princesses, do not go unpunished, you may be sure, when they do naughty things. She wants to make them fit to rule England when they are called to do so; and in order to do that properly and wisely, she knows that they must first learn to rule themselves. Not long since she went with her little family to the Isle of Wight. While there, her young son, the Prince of Wales, took it into his royal little head to pick up shells by the sea-shore. While doing this, his little lordship noticed a poor little peasant-boy who had picked quite a basket-full of pretty shells for himself. The naughty little prince thought it would be good fun to knock the poor boy’s basket over, and spill out all his shells; so he gave it a kick with his royal little foot, and away it went! Now, the little peasant-boy did not relish that sort of fun as well as the prince. He quietly picked them all up, replaced them in his basket, and then said, “Do it again if you dare,” for he knew he had his rights as well as the prince. Up went the prince’s naughty little foot again, and over went the peasant-boy’s shells. Very soon after, the prince went crying home to his mother, Victoria, with a bloody nose and a swelled face. Victoria asked him where he had been, and how he got hurt so badly; and the prince told her that the little peasant-boy had done it, because he (the prince) had kicked over his basket of shells. Did Victoria hug up the little prince, and say, “You poor, dear little child, how dare that good-for-nothing little peasant-boy lay his hands on my noble little son? I will send and have him severely punished for his impertinence?” Did she, the queen, say this to the little bruised, crying prince? No, indeed. She looked him sternly in the eye, and said, “The peasant-boy served you just right, sir. I hope you will always be thus punished when you do so mean an action.” Then she sent for the little peasant-boy, made him some presents, and provided his father with means to give him an education. Was she not a sensible mother? and was not this a good lesson for the little proud prince? I warrant you he will remember it all his life long, and when he gets to be king, if he is half as sensible as his mother, he will thank her for it. Another good thing I must tell you of Queen Victoria; they say that she has each of her children taught some trade; so that if Fortune’s wheel should turn round so fast as to whirl them off the throne some day, they would then be able to get their own living. I like Queen Victoria, and I hope her little family will grow up to be a great comfort to her, for a mother is a mother, all the world over, whether she wears a crown on her head or not, and queens have a great deal of care, and much less happiness than you think.