FOR CHILDREN. 251

And there, where under beech and birch
The rivulet meandered,

He strayed, till neither shout nor search,
Could track where he had wandered.

Still louder, with increasing dread,
They called his darling name :

But ’twas 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
Throughout Wiesbaden’s town.

The news reached Nassau’s Duke—ere earth
Was gladdened by the lark,

He sent a hundred soldiers forth
To ransack all his park,

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.

’ Kith and kin—friends and relations,