American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1879-12-13
FOR THE YOUNG FOLKS.
THE PRINCESS SUNBEAM.

|
when think about it / am sorry tina
you can not see with your own eyes in
stead of looking at it through mine, fol
as you read these words | am sure NJ
such vision of battlements, and towers
and floating banners, and terraced gar
dens with fountains and trees and deeI
clusters of flowers will rise before you as
L see this very minute; and deep il
vaults under the palace are heaps OF
precious stones and piles of shining
gold.
But the King was not happy, for all
these things. When he looked out OF
his palace windows across his beautiful
kingdom he always sighed. 1t seemed
to him that among all his subjects there
was not one happy or peaceful man.
There was nothing but quarreling from
one end of the year to the other. The
lawyers were all rich and went about
with satisfied air, as if they had moth
ing to complain of; but the King scowled
whenever he saw them. for he was tired
of their arguments and tired of the trou-
bles that make them profitable.
Nobody loved his neighbor and no.
body obeyed the laws if he could posi-
bly, help it; and all day long, when the
King sat in his great Judgment hall, the
people poured in and out in two long
lines and each one had some complaint
to make and some fault to find Some
times the tired old King lost his temper
entirely and wished he were the poorest
man in all the kingdom, that he might
hide himself away and never hear any
i'll of another. The saddest part of it
was that the palace was the worst place
of all, and in the palace there were none
SO bad as the Kings sons. They kept
the place in turmoil day and night,
and nobody could govern them. They
bullied the servants, and insulted the
people in the streets, and fought with
each other in the courts of the palace
and sometimes in the very presence of
the King.
Wherever they went mischief and hate
seemed to go with them. If they hunt
ed, some poor mans fields were ruined
by their fierce riding after game; if
they mingled in the crowds at the mar
and joined in the games, they
took their places with naughty air and
broke all the rules to make themselves
winners. Wherever they went the curses
of the people followed them, and they
penetrated even through the palace
lie hn of hn II
Now the King meant to rule like a just
King, and to do that he thought he only
needed to enforce the laws. All his life
he had been a fighter, and now in his
old age he was stern and harsh; just to
every body, the high and the low alike,
but never showing any love to his peo-
pie or his sons. He thought that if he
made every body obedient he would make
every body happy; but he went at it in
the wrong way.
One beautiful morning in the early
spring there was great hustle at the
palace and all the banners We're set fly
ing in the sunlight, and for once there
was smile on every body's face; for
early, very early, in chamber that
looked toward the east, a little Princess
had come into the world Such beau
tiful little creature nobody had ever seen
and just as they laid her ut the
foot of the great bed the sun came up
over the mountain and shot Il ray of
light straight through the palace win
dow and into the face of the Princess,
and she opened her eyes and smiled.
Then the stern face of the King grew
soft for minute, and he said, She
And all through the kingdom there
was rejoicing and merriment. Nobody
could remember such a happy time be-
fore, for the King had decreed that for
a whole week no work should be done
and no man should trouble his neigh
Dor. All day long, flowers were hung
from window to window, and merry
crowds of children filled the streets with
laughter rs with flying feet they played
the games no longer forbidden; and at
night the palace easements glowed with
light, and far across the country its
great walls shone like a picture set in
the clouds. The gates were wide open,
and tables were set in the halls and gar
dens, and whatsoever would might come
and eat.
In the palace people went about soft
ly and spoke in whispers, as if they
feared to waken the little baby fast
asleep in the Queens chamber. And
every day the Princess grew lovelier.
She always opened her eyes the very
minute the sun came into the room in
the morning, and closed them the very
minute it went out in the afternoon.
Sometimes flower will make whole
house sweet, and you will know it is
there even if you have never been told.
Just SO the Princess, small as she was,
filed the whole palace. People knew
she was there although they had never
seen her. All through the halls and in
the great banqueting rooms, and even
in the solemn chamber where the throne
was set between the golden lions, gen
tie spirit ruled.
1t did not happen all at once, but lit
tie by little a wonderful change went on
between those stately walls. The Kings
sons, although sometimes they were fierce
enough when far across the fields in the
wild rush of the chase, grew kindly one
to the other, and the echoes of their
fighting no longer rang down the long
and the King seemed to be
growing young again. Not that his long