3.  Old Kaspar took it from the boy,
     Who stood expectant by;
   And then the old man shook his head,
     And, with a natural sigh,
   " ’T is some poor fellow’s skull,” said he,
   “Who fell in the great victory.

4.  “I find them in the garden,
     For there’s many hereabout;
   And often when I go to plow,
     The plowshare turns them out;
   For many thousand men,” said he,
   “Were slain in that great victory.”

5.  “Now tell us what ’t was all about,”
     Young Peterkin he cries;
   While little Wilhelmine looks up
     With wonder-waiting eyes;
   “Now tell us all about the war,
   And what they killed each other for.”

6.  “It was the English,” Kaspar cried,
     “Who put the French to rout,
   But what they killed each other for,
     I could not well make out;
   But everybody said,” quoth he,
   “That ’t was a famous victory: 

7, “My father lived at Blenheim then,
     Yon little stream, hard by;
   They burnt his dwelling to the ground,
     And he was forced to fly;
   So, with his wife and child he fled,
   Nor had he where to rest his head.

8.  “With fire and sword, the country round
     Was wasted, far and wide;
   And many a nursing mother then,
     And newborn baby died;
   But things like that, you know, must be
   At every famous victory.

9.  “They say it was a shocking sight
     After the field was won;
   For many thousand bodies here
     Lay rotting in the sun: 
   But things like that, you know, must be
   After a famous victory.

10.  “Great praise the Duke of Marlboro’ won,
      And our young prince, Eugene.” 
    “Why, ’t was a very wicked thing!”
      Said little Wilhelmine. 
    “Nay, nay, my little girl!” quoth he,
    “It was a famous victory.

11.  “And everybody praised the Duke
      Who this great fight did win.” 
    “But what good came of it at last?”
      Quoth little Peterkin. 
    “Why, that I can not tell,” said he,
    “But ’t was a glorious victory.”

Notes.—­The Battle of Blenheim, in the “War of the Spanish Succession,” was fought August 13, 1704, near Blenheim, in Bavaria, between the French and Bavarians, on one Ride, and an allied army under the great English general, the Duke of Marlborough, and Eugene, Prince of Savoy, on the other.  The latter won a decisive victory:  10,000 of the defeated army were killed and wounded, and 13,000 were taken prisoners.

XXI.  “I PITY THEM.”

1.  A poor man once undertook to emigrate from Castine, Me., to Illinois.  When he was attempting to cross a river in New York, his horse broke through the rotten timbers of the bridge, and was drowned.  He had but this one animal to convey all his property and his family to his new home.