The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1853-04-09
FOR THE BOYS g. GIRLS.
ALFRED TIE GREAT.

Ais and their papa. Read it,boyys and girls,
i, Will both amu>c and instruct YOU.
p You will like to hear about King Alfred.
have many pleasant things to tell YOU
When he was lttlc bov. he went with his
father to Rome There the Pope Leo anolnt-
cI him a future King, just As the prophet
Sanlp.! arointcd KIM David.
At Rome he Gained much knowledge, but
n. learned much more when he came back to
NJ mother. I'm sure She was a good mother,
Hr shc took very grea. pains with him. Eve
r; d,v She used 20 show him one Of her pray
cr.iook,. and all is beautiful printin.s. He
liked TO look 4. the red, and blue, and black
letter, in it: and although it was Latin
book. and one which he could not understand
he soon learned to read it, His mother Their
gave lin some more books 50 he read then
all. and became very fond of reading. tie
also liked TO listen sometimes to some OF tn,
men VINO would come and play harpS, ant
sing songs; Just as YOU like now to sit at the
pnrlor window, and hear the men play tn,
-tirk -a-tink things" as Ada calls them.
idn. And to give them penny after
wards
p. All, but the old harlS whom Alfred
listened to. sung him fine songs. He stared
at them. and opened his liftle mouth, land lis
lrnrd long as he heard them sing about Sax
ON heroes and the gloricS of men who were
brave. Soon he learned to sing those songs
himself, and to play the tunes on the harp
and often when he >at down in the evening tc
Sin. and play. he thought that he would be a
great king too, and that men should one day
talk about his glory.
But, when he grew ol,ler,hr began tothink
how he should make this glory. and what a
..rlorv" was. Then, as he thought he found
that there was a true glorv-vrrv different
from the one he could make by fighting. He
found out that the glory Of killing belonged.
not to kings, but to bru,cs. for not any man
could even fight SO much or ret so much of
that kind OF glory. as lion. Indeed, do Won
know that now. when men speak of the glory
OF the bravrst King Of England, they only
ray he was as fierce As the king Of The Jrute>
for. he was Il ion hearted"
". And mans heart is the best part of
him
P. But Alfred looked up higher: and from
the world above, he found deeper thoughts
he WAS to be King Then he tried to know
Tie glory Of the hing Of kings.
DO YOU know what that is?
The glory of the King Of kings. is TO send
';e.'e on earth. and goodwill towards men,"
and to live in the hearts of those who love
him, 50 this is the proper glory for all kings.
This. too, was A!trcd's glory-to brin-
pr2,e-todo good to his pccplc-to he praised
" ,,.o,c who Iocld him and such gloryv,likc
that OF the Eternal One, will last for ever.
Now, hear of what he did In the year ST.
he was made King of ENGLAND. when h. found
i, overruu with Danes. These men were al
most masters of the Island. and they would
not 90 away unless he could drive them ont.
I, does not seem to me r"ht that he should
fight or kill them-but it appeared then, to
he The only thing that he could do. He fought
very many battles with them, but greater
swarms Of Danes came over, until the Saxon
people were so frightened, that many of them
chose rather to be slaves, than to defend their
country. Alfred was, therefore, obliged tc
give way.
But in the midst of all his troubles, h'
never forgot the glory of doing good. I have
heard that, one winter, when he and his wifi
had only single loafin their hopsc,a pilgrim
knocked at his gate to beg for bread. Alfrc'
then gave the poor man the half of his onl
loaf and turning to his wife, he told her tina
"tiod, who could feed five thousand with fv
leaves, could make that haIf loaf be sufficien
for them
At length, he was in great danger from tn
Danes, who wanted to kill him, and he wa
obliged to hide hims elf in secret places.
SO he put on the dress of a country servan
and engaged himself to poor farmer to tax
caro- of his cows. dare say Won have hear
before, how he was told by his mistress
mi al some cakes, and was scoldcd for m
cooking them well. His mind was so full o
thoughts of his Kingdom that he forgot h
new duties. He thought OF nothin. but ho
he Sh"nld save his people from the cruz
DancS-until he was reused by the farmer
whe. who said that the cakes were spoile,
an1 that he was a lazy fellow.
Whilst he was Obliged to hide, news we,
brought to him that there was hope Of defea
inc the Danes, who had become very carcleS
because they thought he was dead. Then
dressed himself As harper, and entering II
camp Of the Danes, he sang them some SONG
and pleased them very much. He saw in II
camp. the Danish chief Guthrum He notice
that he and other chiefs of the Danes, spe
lheir nights and daySin tcastinc and drinkin
thinking themselves safe from all harm
Then he noticed. and perhaps counted a
their te,ts. and found out which would
the best place &c make an attack.
SO, one night he collected all his friend
who made upa large army. and fell on IL
Danes snl1cnl v-awakened them-astonis
ed thcm-and defeated them. They ki1c
many, and made the others prisoners. Wi
their great chief Guthrum. Very son aite
wards, Alfred sutducd all the Danes in II
Island