Don’t forget that all great emperors were once little boys.

>Few accounts of the future emperor [**[Dom Pedro II of Brazil](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Pedro_II_circa_1887b_transparent.png)**] endow him with any humanity: he usually appears in a serious, solemn attitude, engrossed in his studies. Yet occasionally the mischievous child is seen, as in the story of one of his daily visits to his sisters’ room, which [Pedro de Alcântara](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Pedro_alcantara_filho_isabel.jpg) recounts to the chief steward: “At 8 I breakfasted. Then I went to the schoolhouse to see my sisters. It so happens that my sisters were not paying attention, so I criticized them, and they turned their backs on me: I hit them without meaning to, and they burst out crying. I left, and soon after Dona Mariana came to me saying that my sisters were crying and that I should make it up with them. I wouldn’t do it. What a lie!” ___________________________ **Source:** Gledson, John, and Lilia Moritz. Schwarcz. “The Nation’s Orphan.” *The Emperor's Beard: Dom Pedro II and the Tropical Monarchy of Brazil*. New York: Hill and Wang, 2004. 38. Print. **Original Source Listed:** Tobias Montero Collection, 1834, Brazilian National Library. __________________________ **Further Reading:** [Dom Pedro II of Brazil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_II_of_Brazil) [Dom Pedro de Alcântara of Orléans-Braganza, Prince of Grão Pará](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_de_Alc%C3%A2ntara,_Prince_of_Gr%C3%A3o-Par%C3%A1)