you want
to be called a true sportsman."

BOYS AND GIRLS AS RULERS OF MEN.

ALFONSO XIII., KING OF SPAIN.

BY MRS. SERRANO.

There have been a great many Kings, since Kings first began to rule; but
perhaps the little boy who to-day wears the Spanish crown is the only
one among them all who was born a King; his father, Alfonso XII., having
died more than five months before his birth, the throne remaining vacant
during that time.

For the young people of America Alfonso XIII. possesses an interest
apart from and superior to that which attaches to his exalted position
as the ruler of a great nation, in being a descendant of the
noble-minded and great-hearted Queen, the illustrious Isabella, who, by
her encouragement and assistance, enabled Columbus to undertake the
voyage across unknown seas which resulted in the discovery of a new
world.

He is descended also from Henry of Navarre--the famous Henry of Navarre
whose white plume so often led his soldiers on to victory--through
Philip, Duke of Anjou, Henry's great-grandson, who succeeded to the
Spanish crown, under the title of Philip V., on the death of his uncle
Charles II. of Spain. Philip was the first of the Bourbon family who
reigned in Spain, as Henry of Navarre was the first of that family who
reigned in France.

[Illustration: THE KING OF SPAIN.]

To the Spanish people, who sincerely mourned the death of Alfonso XII.,
who had endeared himself to them by his frank and amiable disposition
and by his many good qualities, the birth of the young King, which took
place in the royal palace in Madrid on the 17th of May, 1886, was a
joyful event. It was announced to all Spain by the firing of twenty-one
cannon in every city throughout the kingdom. On the same day the infant
was proclaimed King, his mother, Queen Maria Cristina, who had acted as
Regent from the time of the late King's death, continued to fill the
same office during the young King's minority.

A few weeks afterward, Queen Maria Cristina went with the royal infant,
in accordance with the Spanish custom, to the church of Atocha. She
drove to the church in a magnificent state carriage drawn by six horses
covered with plumes and glittering with gold, and followed by many other
splendid carriages. The Queen was dressed in deep mourning, and from
time to time she held up the little Alfonso, who wore neither cap nor
other head-covering, to the view of the people, who cheered and crowded
forward