'T was after church on Ascension day – There, where Elysian meadows smile, The wild thyme and the camomile The aspen quivers nervously, And climbing bindweed hangs on high Nor stops the eye till mountains shine That bound a spacious view, Beyond the lordly, lovely Rhine, There, monuments of ages dark Till, swifter than the steaming bark, The ivy there old castles shades That speak traditions high And mail-clad chivalry. crusades, Here came a twelve years' married pairAnd with them wandered free Seven sons and daughters, blooming fair, A gladsome sight to see. Their Wilhelm, little innocent, By turns, he gave his hand, so dear, To parent, sister, brother; And cach, that he was safe and near,. Confided in the other. But Wilhelm loved the field-flowers bright, With love beyond all measure; And culled them with as keen delight As misers gather treasure. Unnoticed, he contrived to glide Adown a greenwood alley, By lilies lured, that grew beside A streamlet in the valley; And there, where under beech and birch He strayed, till neither shout nor search Still louder, with increasing dread, But 't was like speaking to the dead -- An echo only came. Hours passed till evening's beetle roams, And blackbird's songs begin; Then all went back to happy homes. Save Wilhelm's kith and kin. The night came on all others slept Their cares away till morn; But, sleepless, all night watched and wept That family forlorn. Betimes the town-crier had been sent With loud bell up and down; And told the afflicting accident The father, too, ere morning smiled, And to the wight would bring his child A thousand crowns had offered. Dear friends, who would have blushed to take That guerdon from his hand, Soon joined in groups - for pity's sake, The child-exploring band. The news reached Nassau's Duke: ere earth Was gladdened by the lark, He sent a hundred soldiers forth To ransack all his park. Their side-arms glittered through the wood, With bugle-horns to sound; Would that on errand half so good The soldier oft were found! But though they roused up beast and bird From many a nest and den, No signal of success was heard From all the hundred men. A second morning's light expands, Unfound the infant fair; And Wilhelm's household wring their hands, But, haply, a poor artisan Searched ceaselessly, till he Found safe asleep the little one, Beneath a beechen tree. His hand still grasped a bunch of flowers; There stood a female deer Who dipped her horns at all that passed" The spot where Wilhelm lay; Till force was had to hold her fast, And bear the boy away. Hail, sacred love of childhood-hail! How sweet it is to trace Thine instinct in Creation's scale, Even 'neath the human race! To this poor wanderer of the wild Speech, reason, were unknown And yet she watched a sleeping child And thou, Wiesbaden's artisan, Restorer of the boy, *The female deer has no such antlers as the male, and sometimes no horns at all; but I have observed many with short ones suckling their fawns. Was ever welcomed mortal man The father's ecstasy- the mother's The sisters' sobs-the shout of brothers, The working man, with shoulders broad, The thousand crowns; a pleasant load, And Nassau's Duke the favorite took Into his deer-park's centre, To share a field with other pets, Where deer-slayer cannot enter. There, whilst thou cropp'st thy flowery food, And man shall never spill thy blood - THE JILTED NYMPH. A SONG, (To the Scotch tune of "Woo'd and married and a'."] I'M jilted, forsaken, outwitted; Yet think not I'll whimper or brawl The lass is alone to be pitied Who ne'er has been courted at all: |