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Page 97
"Who is this daughter of Gustavus?" asked the old man. "We do not know
her. Let her be shown to us."
Then Christina was brought into the hall, and placed before the old
peasant. It was strange, no doubt, to see a child--a little girl of six
years old--offered to the Swedes as their ruler, instead of the brave
king, her father, who had led them to victory so many times. Could her
baby fingers wield a sword in war? Could her childish mind govern the
nation wisely in peace?
But the Swedes do not appear to have asked themselves these questions.
Old Lars Larrson took Christina up in his arms, and gazed earnestly into
her face. He had known the great Gustavus well; and his heart was
touched, when he saw the likeness which the little girl bore to that
heroic monarch.
"Yes," cried he, with the tears gushing down his furrowed cheeks, "this
is truly the daughter of our Gustavus! Here is her father's brow!--here
is his piercing eye! She is his very picture. This child shall be our
queen!"
[Illustration]
Then all the proud nobles of Sweden, and the reverend clergy, and the
burghers, and the peasants, knelt down at the child's feet, and kissed
her hand.
"Long live Christina, queen of Sweden!" shouted they.
Even after she was a woman grown, Christina remembered the pleasure
which she felt in seeing all these men at her feet, and hearing them
acknowledge her as their supreme ruler. Poor child! she was yet to learn
that power does not insure happiness. As yet, however, she had not any
real power. All the public business, it is true, was transacted in her
name; but the kingdom was governed by a number of the most experienced
statesmen, who were called a Regency.
But it was considered necessary that the little queen should be present
at the public ceremonies, and should behave just as if she were in
reality the ruler of the nation. When she was seven years of age, some
ambassadors from the Czar of Muscovy came to the Swedish court. They
wore long beards, and were clad in a strange fashion, with furs, and
other outlandish ornaments; and as they were inhabitants of a
half-civilized country, they did not behave like other people. The
Chancellor Oxenstiern was afraid that the young queen would burst out
a-laughing, at the first sight of these queer ambassadors; or else that
she would be frightened by their unusual aspect.
"Why should I be frightened?" said the little queen;--"and do you
suppose that I have no better manners than to laugh? Only tell me how I
must behave; and I will do it."
Accordingly, the Muscovite ambassadors were introduced; and Christina
received them, and answered their speeches, with as much dignity and
propriety as if she had been a grown woman.
All this time, though Christina was now a queen, you must not suppose
that she was left to act as she pleased. She had a preceptor, named John
Mathias, who was a very learned man, and capable of instructing her in
all the branches of science. But there was nobody to teach her the
delicate graces and gentle virtues of a woman. She was surrounded almost
entirely by men; and had learned to despise the society of her own sex.
At the age of nine years, she was separated from her mother, whom the
Swedes did not consider a proper person to be entrusted with the charge
of her. No little girl, who sits by a New England fireside, has cause to
envy Christina, in the royal palace at Stockholm.
Yet she made great progress in her studies. She learned to read the
classical authors of Greece and Rome, and became a great admirer of the
heroes and poets of old times. Then, as for active exercises, she could
ride on horseback as well as any man in her kingdom. She was fond of
hunting, and could shoot at a mark with wonderful skill. But dancing was
the only feminine accomplishment with which she had any acquaintance.
She was so restless in her disposition, that none of her attendants
were sure of a moment's quiet, neither day nor night. She grew up, I am
sorry to say, a very unamiable person, ill-tempered, proud, stubborn,
and, in short, unfit to make those around her happy, or to be happy
herself. Let every little girl, who has been taught self-control, and a
due regard for the rights of others, thank heaven that she has had
better instruction than this poor little queen of Sweden.
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