"Let us, my friends, take this fearful storm with its desolating horrors, which have now exhausted themselves and upon which this sublime peace has come down from heaven, as a token that the storm which is now raging through German society will sweep away the poisonous vapours of self-love, and make the glorious German sun shine brighter than before; that the barren waters which now cover so many acres of young green grass will pass away, and offer a new land for fresh honest labour and honest golden fruits. "May this hope and this assurance soften the grief for the beloved dead whom we now commit to the sacred bosom of the earth--this hope, this assurance, and the certainty that they have not died in vain; that they were blossoms struck down by the storm to warn the gardener that he must tend and cherish the noble tree more carefully. "The call comes thus to us the elders and old men. As they died gladly and joyfully, without asking whether they might not still live, hastening to death as to a feast, so must we live without asking whether we had not rather die. "The call comes thus to you who are younger, to you all the louder and more urgently, the longer the road stretches before you, the more powerful are the obstacles that rise in your path. "Oh! thou bright star of day, whose last ray now shines upon us, and thou holy sea, and thou reviving earth, I take you all to witness the vow which we make at the grave of these too early dead: to renounce from this hour all littleness and meanness, to live henceforth in the light of truth, to love each other with the whole strength of our hearts! May the God of truth and love overrule all to the honour of man, and the glory of the German name!" The voice of the speaker died away, but the echo of his words reverberated in the hearts of the hearers as they pressed silently round to offer the last honours to the dead, bathed in the reflection of the rosy glow which the sun, now set, threw up to the sky, and which the sky lovingly returned to the earth. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 1: No translation can give the full effect of the play upon the word "Schmidt;" _Anglicè_, Smith.--_Translator's Note_.] THE END. * * * * * BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, SURREY. _S. & H_. * * * * * BENTLEY'S FAVOURITE NOVELS. _Each work can be had separately, price 6s., of all Booksellers in Town or Country_. * * * * * MRS. HENRY WOOD. MISS RHODA BROUGHTON.