"Heaven rest his soul !" replied an ancient dame, leaning upon her crutch; "Heaven rest his soul! He has lain these fifteen years in the house that he will never leave." The goatherd shuddered, as in the last speaker he recognised his neighbour, who seemed to have suddenly grown old; but he had lost all desire for farther question. At this moment, a brisk young woman pressed through the anxious gapers, carrying an infant in her arms, and leading by the hand a girl of about fourteen years old, all three the very image of his wife. With increasing surprise he asked her name : "Maria !"-And your father's?" Peter Klaus! Heaven rest his soul! It is now twenty years since we sought him day and night on the Kyffhausen mountains, when his flock returned without him; I was then but seven years old." The goatherd could contain himself no longer; "I am Peter Klaus," he cried; "I am Peter Klaus, and none else; and he snatched the child from his daughter's arms. All for a moment stood as if petrified, till at length one voice, and another, and another, exclaimed, "Yes, this is Peter Klaus! Welcome, neighbour !welcome, after twenty years!" THE SHADOW ON THE WALL. THERE is a shadow on the wall, Which comes between my rest and me; There is no living form to see; I strive to shut it from my sight, Nor heart-nor tongue-can utter prayer; I wander, listless, through the street, There, many a well-known face I meet— It is her shadow that I see. Her shadow! Oh, so young and fair! My heart too black for her to share; We stood upon the river's edge, The sunlight on its petals shone; He snatch'd in vain the bending reeds: "SHE MAY BE THINE, IF HE BUT DIE!" I turn'd from her appealing eyes, But saw her shadow in the wave: With arms uplifted to the skies She called on Heaven and me to save: I heard her dismal, piercing cry, "Oh! do not leave him there to die! "I come to thee, belov'd, I come Since other aid has been denied-- I know not how I drew her out, All night I linger'd near her door, And met their looks of silent woe: Oh, how I longed that voice to hear, When weary night withdrew her shroud, I stole amid the tearful crowd, That near the loved one's chamber flock'd: How could I dare to stand among Those bleeding hearts-that stricken throng? They let me pass without a word, But there's her shadow evermore, Her lover's rescue from the grave: It rings for ever in my ear, "Twill haunt me downward to the grave: But when I've left this world of strife- Dissolve before the Eternal Day? CHRISTMAS IS COMING. J. R. PLANCHÉ. FAREWELL to the lilies and roses, Adieu to green leaves and bright skies, Prepare for red hands and blue noses, Fogs, chilblains, sore throats, and old guys: The sun, Sagittarius nearing, Begins to look blousy and queer; And winds sing, in accents uncheering, The last dying speech of the year. The days they grow shorter and shorter— You can't see the town for its smokeInvention, Necessity's daughter, How long must we blacken and choke? Contract with some wholesale perfumer, To wash off the soot as it falls; Or let a gigantic consumer Be placed on the top of St. Paul's. Contrive by some channel to turn it, Ere down our poor throttles it rolls; Why can't the gas company burn it? "Twould save them a fortune in coals! Much longer we cannot endure it: s; The smother each residence crams Unless something's soon done to cure it, 'Twill cure us, like so many hams. The cit, now from Thanet's fair island, Each Englishman, now at his hope's end, Swings out of the world at a rope's end, |