FOR CHILDREN. 21

And often when I go to plough,
The ploughshare turns them out 5
For many thousand men,”! said he,
‘ Were slain in that great victory.”

“ Now tell us what "twas all about,”
Young Peterkin, he cries,
And little Wilhelmine looks up
With wonder-waiting* eyes ;
** Now tell us all about the war,
And what they killed each other for?”

“ Tt was the English,” Kaspar cried,
** That put the French to rout ;
But what they killed each other for,

I could not well make out;
But every body said,” quoth® he,
That twas a famous victory.

“ My father lived at Blenheim then,
Yon little stream hard by ;4
They burnt his dwelling to the ground,
And he was forced to fly;
So with his wife and child he fled,
And knew not where to rest his head.

* With fire and sword the country round
They wasted far and wide ;
And many a wretched mother, then,
And new-born infant, died ;

* It is said that 36,000 men were left killed and wounded
on the field.

2 Wonder-waiting—waiting for wonders.

> Quoth—says or said.

* Yon little stream bard by—close to yonder little stream.