THE YOUTH’S CABINET.

Are Children all Kings ?

S eeeeeenatell

BY DR. W. A. ALCOTT.

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nere is a book of high authority

to be found in our libraries, in

which all mankind are represent-

ed as kings. Now, as children

belong to the race, it would seem that
they are kings also.

For a king is a sovereign, or ruler.
Does not one of the definitions of Noah
Webster’s great dictionary say so? And
are not children rulers, along with their
parents and other friends, over a mul-
titude which no man can number?

If I have excited your curiosity, my
young friends, by these remarks, it is
but right that I should gratify it. It is
but right that I should tell you what I
mean ; and in what old book of authority

it is, and in what chapter and verse, you

are constituted kings.

If you look in the first chapter of
Genesis, at the twenty-eighth verse,
you will find the following language :—
«‘ have dominion over the fish of the sea,

and over the fowls of the air, and over

every living thing that moveth upon the
earth.”

Now, whose words, think you, were
these ; and to whom were they directed ?
Were they not the words of the King of
kings, and addressed to the first pair of
our race—to those from whom all the
rest of the human race were to descend ?
Were not you and I, and the whole of
the present generation, thus placed over
the present animal tribes, both of sea and
land? |

And what was the object of the great
Creator, the King of kings, and Lord of

lords, in thus making us all kings over
V. 6

 
  
 

87

{he countless millions, which, by the
breath of his power, he has formed ?
Was it that we should rule them as with
a tod of iron; of in gentleness, and ten-
derness, and love?
might promote their happiness; or was
it that we might exercise our power—
exercise our “dominion”—in making
them miserable ?

Was it that we

These questions may be answered, by

ascertaining what are the duties of a good
king to his human subjects? How does
a good king of Great Britain, for exam-
ple, exercise dominion over the many
millions of his subjects, so as to atiswer
the intentions of God concerning him?

Not, most certainly, in making them

labor to such an extent as to render

them mere slaves. Not in keeping them
in ignorance all their lives. Not in mak-

ing war against them. Not in frighten-

ing away to the woods all who survive

the general massacre.

The good child, who is conscious that
he ig made a king of the animals around
him, will do all in his power to pro
mote their happiness. He will not make
war upon birds or, fishes, unless under
the most absolute and pressing necessity.
Unless he greatly needs them for food, or
is annoyed by thém in an unusual degree,
he will not hunt, fish, or entrap them.
He will greatly prefer to feed thém.

My residence is nearly stirrounded by
chestnut trees, and the place is some-
times called “Chestnut Grove.” Birds,
in gteat numbers, frequent the place,
both in winter and summer. Only the
other day, though the weather was quite
cold, and the sndéw father deep, no less
than five or six sparrows came around
the door, where the crumbs from the
table had been thrown, and even hopped

MAB