and with roses on their heads, and garlands in their hands, they seemed as if they did not feel that they stood in need of a routing dose of good advice; in short, not one of them appeared to pay the slightest attention to a discourse which could not but have been very interesting to the parents. However, in one respect I must own I was slightly disappointed; the burden of the discourse must have been on the duties and future prospects of the children, and on the honors and advantages of the new school; for I particularly remarked that not once did the clergyman point or address himself to the old building-not a single eye but my own was ever turned towards it, and none but myself seemed to feel for it any regret that it was about to lose a village importance which for so many years it had enjoyed. It was sentenced to be deserted, and walls which had long been enlivened by the cheerful sound of youthful voices, were in their old age suddenly to be bereft of all!

I could not help feeling for the old institution, and when the discourse was ended-when hats had returned to people's heads, and when the procession of children, followed by the ministers had already began to move, I could not for some time take my eyes of the old fabric. The date 1552, and the rude-looking image of the boy, particularly attracted my attention; however, the old hive was deserted, the bees had swarmed, --had already hovered in the air, and to their new abode they had all flown away. Jostled from my position by people who were following the procession I proceeded onwards with the crowd, but not without mumbling to myself-

Let others hail the rising sun,

I bow to him whose course is run.

As soon as the children reached their fine new abode, a band, which had been awaiting their arrival, struck up; and in the open air they instantly sung a hymn. The doors were then thrown open, and in high glee the little ereatures scrambled up the staircase, and the mayor, clergymen, and schoolmasters having followed, a great rush was made by parents and spectators, I managed to gain a good place, but in a very few moments the room was filled, and so jammed up with people, that they could scarcely raise their hands to wipe the perspiration which soon began to appear very copiously on all faces. It became dreadfully hot, and besides suffering from this cause, I felt by no means happy at a calculation which very unwelcomely kept forcing itself into my mind, namely, -that the immense weight of human flesh which was for the first time trying new beams, might produce a consummation by no means "devoutly to be wished."

As soon as order was established, and silence obtained, the Catholic minister addressed the children; and when he had finished, the tall Lutheran clergyman, whose description I have already given to the reader, followed in his deepest tone, and with his gravest demeanour; but it was all lost upon the children; indeed it was so hot, and we were so little at our ease, that all were very glad, indeed, to hear him conclude by the word "Amen!”

The children now sung another hymn, which, in a cooler climate, would have been quite beautiful; the mayor made a bow-the thing was at an end,

and I believe every one was as much delighted as myself to get once again into pure fresh air.

As I had been told by the teacher that the children would dance and eat in the evening, at four o'clock, I went again to the school at that hour, expecting that there would be what in England would be called "a ball and supper;" however, the supper had come first, and the remains ofit were on two long tables. The feast which the little ones had been enjoying had consisted of a slice of white bread and a glass of Rhenish wine for each; and, as soon as I entered the room, two policemen bowed and begged me to be seated. They and their friends were evidently regaling themselves with the wine which had been furnished for the children; however, the little creatures did not seem to want it, and I was very glad to see it inflaming the eyes of the old party, and flushing their cheeks, instead of having a similar effect on the young ones.

It had been settled that the children were to dance; but they were much too young to care for such an amusement. The little boys had got together at one end of the room, and the girls were sitting laughing at the other, both groups being as happily independent as it was possibleto be. Sometimes the boys amused themselves with a singing game-one chanting a line, and all the rest bursting in with the chorus, which, though it contained nearly as much laughter as music, showed that the youngsters were well enough conversant with both. The girls had also their song. As I left the room several of the children were singing on the stairs-all were as happy as I had desired to see them; and yet I firmly believe

that the whole festival I have described,-oakleaves, roses, garlands, festoons, bread, wine, etc., altogether, could not have cost the town of Langen-Schwalbach ten shillings! Nevertheless, in its history, the opening of a public establishment so useful to future generations, and so creditable to the present one, was an event of no inconsiderable importance.

THE OLD PROTESTANT CHURCH.

THE Old Protestant Church, at the lower extremity of Langen-Schwalbach, has not been preached in for about three years; and being locked up, I had to call for admission at a house in the centre of the town, The man was not at home, but his wife (very busily employed in dressing, against its will, a squalling infant) pointed to the key, which I gravely took from a nail over her head. This venerable building stands, or rather totters, on a small eminence close to the road-long rents in its walls, and the ruinous, decayed state of the mortar, sufficiently denoting its great antiquity. The roof and spires are still covered with slates which seem fluttering as if about to take their departure. The churchyard continues in the valley to be the only Christian receptacle for the dead; and within its narrow limits, Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists end their worldly differences by toundly sleeping together, side by side. Here and shere a tree is seen standing at the head of a Protestant's grave; but, though the twig was exclusively planted there, yet its branches, like knowledge, have gradually extended themselves, until

they now wave and droop alike over those who, thus joined in death, had, nevertheless, lived in paltry opposition to each other. The rank grass

also grows with equal luxuriance over all, as if the turf, like the trees, was anxious to level all human animosities, and to become the windingsheet or covering of Christian fraternities which ought never to have disputed.

In various parts of the cemetery I observed several worn out, wooden, triangular monuments on the totter; while others were lying prostrate on the grass-the "hic jacet" being exactly as applicable to each of themselves as to the departed being, whose life and death they had vainly presumed to commemorate. Although the inscriptions recorded by these frail historians were scarcely legible, yet roses and annual flowers, blooming on the grave, plainly showed that there was still in existence some friendly hand, some foot, some heart, that moved with kindly recollection towards the dead. Upon several recent graves of children there were placed, instead of tombstones, the wreaths of artificial flowers, which, during their funeral, had either rested upon the coffin, or had been carried in the hands of parents and friends. The sun and rain-the wind and storm-had blanched the artificial bloom from the red roses, and of course, had sullied the purity of the white ones; yet this worthless finery, lying upon the newly-moved earth, had probably witnessed unaffected feelings, to which the cold, white marble monument is often a stranger. The little heap of perishable wreaths, so lightly piled one upon the other, was the act, the tribute, the effusion of the moment; it was all the mother had had