76

“‘T saw the blue Rhine sweep along, I heard, or
seemed to hear,

‘The German songs we used to sing in chorus sweet
and clear;

And down the pleasant river and up the slanting hill,

‘The echoing chorus sounded, through the evening
calm and still ;

And her glad blue eyes were on me, as we passed,
with friendly telk

Down many a path beloved of yore) and well remem-
bered walk,

And her little hand lay lightly, confidingly, in mine,

But we’ll meet no more at Binget, loved Bingen on
the Rhine.”

TWO PERSIAN SCHOOLBOYS.

His trembling voice grew faint and hoarse, his grasp
was childish weak,

His eyes put on a dying look, he sighed, and ceased
to speak ;

His comrade bent to lift him, but the spark of life
had fled —

The soldier of the Legion in a foreign land is dead ;

And the soft moon rose up slowly, and calmly she
looked down

On the red sand of the battle-field with bloody corses

' strown ;

“Yet calmly on that dreadful scene her pale light

seemed to shine,
As it shone on distant Bingen, fair Bingen on the Rhine.
— From Mrs. Norton's Poems.

 

TWO PERSIAN

SCHOOLBOYS.

By Mary J. SAFForRD.

{—pAKE, Otanes, wake,
the Magi are sing-
ing the morning hymn
to Mithras. Quick, or
we shall be late at the
exercises, and father
promised,if we did well,
we should go to the
chase with him to-day.”

“ And perhaps shoot a lion, What a feather in our
‘caps that would be! Is it pleasant ?”

Smerdis pulled open the shutters that closed the
‘windows, and the first rays of the sun sparkled on
the trees and fountains of a beautiful garden beyond
whose lofty walls appeared the dwellings and towers
‘of a mighty city. Already the low roar of its traffic
reached them while hurrying on their clothes to join
their companions in the spacious grounds where they
‘were trained in wrestling, throwing blocks of wood at
‘each other to acquire agility in dodging the missiles,
tthe skilful use of the bow, and various other exercises
for the development of bodily strength and grace.

A few minutes later the two brothers, Smerdis and
‘Otanes, with scores of other lads, ranging in age from
seven to fourteen years, were assembled in a vast
playground, surrounded on all sides by a lofty wall.

 
  
   
 
 
   

The playground of a large boarding-school?

It almost might be called so, but the pupils of this
boarding-school were educated free of expense to
their parents, and it received only the sons of the high-
est nobles in theland. This playground was attached
to the palace of Darius, King of Persia, who reigned
twenty-four hundred years ago, and these chosen boys
had been taken from their homes, as they reached the
age of six years, to be reared “at his gate,” as the
language of the country expressed it.

Otanes and Smerdis were sons of one of the highest
officers of the court, the “ear of the king,” or, as he
would now be called, the Minister of Police. Hand-
some little fellows of eleven and twelve, with blue
eyes, fair complexions, and curling yellow locks, their
long training in all sorts of physical exercises had
made them stronger and hardier than most lads of
their age in our time. Though reared in a palace, at
one of the most splendid courts the world has ever
seen, the boys were expected to endure the hardships
of the poorest laborer’s children. Instead of the gold
and silver bedsteads used by the nobles, they were ~
obliged to sleep on the floor; if the court was at
Babylon, they were forced to make long marches under
the burning sun of Asia, and if, to escape the intense
heat, the king removed to his summer palaces at