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Page 95
"Well," said his father, "they were suited to the condition of the
country; and their effect, upon the whole, has doubtless been
good,--although they teach men but a very small portion of their
duties."
CHAPTER IX.
Hitherto, Mr. Temple's narratives had all been about boys and men. But,
the next evening, he bethought himself that the quiet little Emily would
perhaps be glad to hear the story of a child of her own sex. He
therefore resolved to narrate the youthful adventures of Christina of
Sweden, who began to be a Queen at the age of no more than six years. If
we have any little girls among our readers, they must not suppose that
Christina is set before them as a pattern of what they ought to be. On
the contrary, the tale of her life is chiefly profitable as showing the
evil effects of a wrong education, which caused this daughter of a king
to be both useless and unhappy.
Here follows the story.
QUEEN CHRISTINA.
BORN 1626. DIED 1689.
In the royal palace at Stockholm, the capital city of Sweden, there was
born, in 1626, a little princess. The king, her father, gave her the
name of Christina, in memory of a Swedish girl with whom he had been in
love. His own name was Gustavus Adolphus; and he was also called the
Lion of the North, because he had gained greater fame in war than any
other prince or general then alive. With this valiant king for their
commander, the Swedes had made themselves terrible to the Emperor of
Germany and to the King of France, and were looked upon as the chief
defence of the Protestant religion.
The little Christina was by no means a beautiful child. To confess the
truth, she was remarkably plain. The queen, her mother, did not love her
so much as she ought; partly, perhaps, on account of Christina's want of
beauty, and also, because both the king and queen had wished for a son,
who might have gained as great renown in battle as his father had.
The king, however, soon became exceedingly fond of the infant princess.
When Christina was very young, she was taken violently sick. Gustavus
Adolphus, who was several hundred miles from Stockholm, travelled night
and day, and never rested until he held the poor child in his arms. On
her recovery, he made a solemn festival, in order to show his joy to the
people of Sweden and express his gratitude to Heaven. After this event,
he took his daughter with him in all the journeys which he made through
his kingdom.
Christina soon proved herself a bold and sturdy little girl. When she
was two years old, the king and herself, in the course of a journey,
came to the strong fortress of Colmar. On the battlements were soldiers
clad in steel armor, which glittered in the sunshine. There were
likewise great cannons, pointing their black mouths at Gustavus and
little Christina, and ready to belch out their smoke and thunder; for
whenever a king enters a fortress it is customary to receive him with a
royal salute of artillery.
But the captain of the fortress met Gustavus and his daughter, as they
were about to enter the gateway.
"May it please your Majesty," said he, taking off his steel cap and
bowing profoundly, "I fear that if we receive you with a salute of
cannon, the little princess will be frightened almost to death."
Gustavus looked earnestly at his daughter, and was indeed apprehensive
that the thunder of so many cannon might perhaps throw her into
convulsions. He had almost a mind to tell the captain to let them enter
the fortress quietly, as common people might have done, without all this
head-splitting racket. But no; this would not do.
"Let them fire," said he, waving his hand. "Christina is a soldier's
daughter, and must learn to bear the noise of cannon."
So the captain uttered the word of command, and immediately there was a
terrible peal of thunder from the cannon, and such a gush of smoke that
it enveloped the whole fortress in its volumes. But, amid all the din
and confusion, Christina was seen clapping her little hands, and
laughing in an ecstasy of delight. Probably nothing ever pleased her
father so much as to see that his daughter promised to be fearless as
himself. He determined to educate her exactly as if she had been a boy,
and to teach her all the knowledge needful to the ruler of a kingdom and
the commander of an army.
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