man, who feared God above all things, and tried to do his very best
for his people. He made good laws for them, and took care that every
one should be justly treated, and that nobody should do his neighbor
wrong without being punished. So many Abbeys had been burnt and the
monks killed by the Danes, that there were hardly any books to be had,
or scholars to read them. He invited learned men from abroad, and
wrote and translated books himself for them; and he had a school in
his house, where he made the young nobles learn with his own sons. He
built up the churches, and gave alms to the poor; and he was always
ready to hear the troubles of any poor man. Though he was always
working so hard, he had a disease that used to cause him terrible pain
almost every day. His last years were less peaceful than the middle
ones of his reign, for the Danes tried to come again; but he beat them
off by his ships at sea, and when he died at fifty-two years old, in
the year 901, he left England at rest and quiet, and we always think of
him as one of the greatest and best kings who ever reigned in England,
or in any other country. As long as his children after him and his
people went on in the good way he had taught them, all prospered with
them, and no enemies hurt them; and this was all through the reigns
of his son, his grandson, and great-grandsons. Their council of great
men was called by a long word that is in our English, "Wise Men's
Meeting," and there they settled the affairs of the kingdom. The
king's wife was not called queen, but lady; and what do you think
lady means? It means "loaf-giver"--giver of bread to her household
and the poor. so a lady's great work is to be charitable.




CHAPTER V.