"IF I WERE ONLY A KING."

NE fine, warm, summer day, four children were playing together in the garden.

"Oh!" said one of them, "if I were only a king, I would live in a beautiful castle that should reach up to the clouds."

"And I," said another, "would wear nothing but gold and silver clothes."

"If I were one," cried a little boy, "I would do nothing but eat cake and pudding all day long."

"And I," said a little girl, blushing, "would give money to all the poor children I saw, so that they might buy food and clothes."

Which of these children do you think would have made the best ruler?

Leonora, from the German.