Scoutcraft - If I Were King

"If I were King.''' — Alexandre Dumas fils has written:

"If I were King of France I wouldn't allow any child of under twelve years to come into a town. Till then the youngsters would have to live in the open — out in the sun, in the fields, in
the woods, in company with dogs and horses, face to face with nature, which strengthens the bodies, lends intelligence to the understanding, gives poetry to the soul, and rouses in them a curiosity which is more valuable to education than all the grammar books in the world. 

"They would understand the noises as well as the silences of the night ; they would have the best of religions — that which God himself reveals in the glorious sight of His daily wonders.
"And at twelve years of age, strong, high-minded, and full of understanding they would be
capable of receiving the methodical instruction which it would then be right to give them, and
whose inculcation would then be easily accomplished in four or five years. 

"Unfortunately for the youngsters, though happily for France, I don't happen to be King.