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 UNDIKE. 13

our good God ; on the contrary, I praised Him in silence for the new-born babe. I should also speak an untruth, were I to say that any thing befell nie, either on my jias- sage through the forest to the city, or on my returning homeward, that gave me more alarm than usual, as at that time I had never seen any appearance there which could terrify or annoy me. The Lord was ever with me in those awful shades."

Thus speaking, he took his cap reverently from his bald head, and continued to sit for a considerable time in devout thought. He then covered himself again, and went on with his relation :

" On this side the forest, alas! it was on this side, that woe burst upon me. INIy wife came wildly to meet me. clad in mourning apparel, and her eyes streaming with tears, 'Gracious God!' I cried, ' where's our child? Speak!'

"'With Him on whom you have called, dear hus- band,' she answered ; and we now entered the cottage together, weejjing in silence. I looked for the little corpse, almost fearing to find what I was seeking ; and then it was I first learnt how all had happened.

" My wife had taken the little one in her arms, and walked out to the shore of the lake. She there sat down by its very brink ; and while she was playing with the infant, as free from all fear as she was full of delight, it bent forward on a sudden, as if seeing something very beautiful in the water. My wife saw her laugh, the dear angel, and try to catch the image in her tiny hands ; but in a moment — with a motion swifter than sight — she sjjrang from her mother's arms, and sank in the lake, the watery glass into which she had been gazing. I searched for our lost darling again and again ; but it was all in vain ; I could nowhere find the least trace of her.

" The same evening we childless jmrents were sitting together by our cottage hearth. We had no desire to talk, even if our tears would have permitted us. As we