your University to learn whether scenes of this kind are got up in earnest or in jest. If in jest, I have now enough of it. If in earnest, I will simply remark that no one but a ruffian would come to a banquet uninvited; and no one but a coward and a scoundrel would attempt to bully the host.'

"Art thou speaking of me?' cried Mentz.

"I am speaking of thee,' replied the youth in the mildest possible tone, and I have yet more to say.'

6

"By the bones of my father!' said Mentz, resorting again to a favorite oath. But stop,' he continued, 'I have pity on thy young head and inexperienced hand. Thou art heated with wine. Thou knowest not what thou dost. Take the goblet and drink. Why should I shed thy blood, poor boy!'

66

What was the astonishment of all, when Arnold, as if cowed by his deadly foe, rose, took the cup, slowly approached the seat of his insulter, and raised the goblet in the air as if about to pronounce the toast.

"A smile of savage triumph distorted the features of Mentz. He shouted with a hoarse and drunken laugh:

"Drink deep! Drink quick! Ha! ha! ha! Otherwise, thou knowest, I have made a vow to make thee drink on thy knees!'

"Arnold did not drink. He waited a moment, till not a murmur broke the silence, and then said:

"Thou drunken, bragging bully! Thou hast lorded it long enough over the weak. Thou hast trampled too long upon the defenceless. Thus I yield to thy threats. Thus I drink thy health.'

"As he spoke he dashed the contents of his goblet full into the face of Mentz, then hurled the goblet itself at the same mark. Mentz staggered a few paces back. The shining liquor dripped from his clothes and features, and a stream of blood trickled down his forehead.

"Never was an assembly more astonished. At first the act was greeted with an irrepressible applause, which, however, ceased almost as suddenly as it had arisen. For, though the unexpected drama had nobly commenced, it was uncertain how it might terminate. Mentz had inspired every one with such an idea of his courage and wrath that the instantaneous destruction of Arnold seemed the only possible denouement. Indeed some of the younger students almost expected that a bolt of real lightning would issue from his hand and lay his doomed enemy in ashes at his feet.

66

Nothing of all this. Mentz, bewildered and stunned with astonishment, grief, shame, cowardice and drunkenness, covered his face with his hands.

66

Arnold, tranquil as a marble statue, waited with folded arms.

"The latent hatred which lurked in the students' breasts flashed forth.

A thrill of sympathy greeted the victim who had struck down the insolent oppressor in the moment of his triumph. Many exclaimed:

"Brave Arnold! Noble Arnold! Canst thou fence? Hast thou skill with the pistol?'

แ

"No,' replied Arnold. 'I cannot fence. I have no skill with the pistol.'

"Rash boy! what has tempted thee into this fury?'

"Readiness to die rather than submit to insult.'

"Die then thou shalt!' thundered Mentz. 'I challenge thee to mortal combat.'

"I accept the challenge.'

"It is for thee to name place and weapon; but let it not be longer than to-morrow night, or I shall burst with rage and impatience.'

“Thou shalt not die so inglorious a death!' replied Arnold. 'I will fight with thee to-night.'

"To-night be it,' said Mentz;

though to-night my hand is not

steady; wine and anger are no friends to the nerves.' "Dost thou refuse?'

"No! but to-night is dark. The moon is down. clouded. The wind goes by in heavy puffs and gusts. We cannot see to fight to-night.'

now.

The stars are
Hear it even

The moon and

"Good!' said the youth; 'then we will not go out. the stars thou shalt never behold again. We will lay down our lives here in this hall-on this spot.'

"There is no one here whom I choose for my friend,' said Mentz. "No matter,' said Arnold; 'I will, for myself, also, forego that advantage.'

"But-but-that is—we have no weapons,' said Mentz.

"Oh yes,' replied Arnold, drawing a pair of pistols from his bosom. 'I did not come here to meet an uninvited guest without providing means to give him a welcome. In all Germany there is not a better pair.'

"Young man,' cried Mentz, in a voice clouded and low, quite sobered by his new position.

"Dost thou hesitate?' asked Arnold.

"Mentz desperately seized one of the pistols and said:

"Name the distance.'

"There shall be no distance,' said Arnold quietly, 'not even this table between us. Foot to foot-breast to breast. I came here to die, but not alone. Here I take the last leap. Here I throw away a life worthless and hateful to me; and here I drag down with me, into the black depths, this trembling, bullying coward. Now plant thy pistol to my bosom. I plant mine to thine. Thy puppet yonder-Carl von

Klipphausen-shall call, one!—two!-three!—and at the third call we shall both be in the unknown world.'

"He raised the pistol.

"Mentz followed his example; but, oh shame! drew the trigger be fore the call commenced. His pistol hung fire, and, in his agitation, fell to the floor.

"The self-possession of the bully was not increased by the deafening cries of Shame! Shame!'

"Arnold picked up the fallen weapon and placed it in the trembling, nerveless hand of his enemy.

"Mentz,' he said, 'you are a base donkey in a lion's skin. If you apologize for your uninvited presence you may walk out of the room a living man. If you refuse, you will be carried out a corpse.'

"Had I not been heated by wine,' growled Mentz, 'I could-of course-never have intruded myself where I was not invited.'

"Do you ask my pardon?'

"A pause. Arnold cocked his pistol.

"I beg your pardon!' said Mentz.

"One thing more,' rejoined Arnold. Can you favor me with the definition of a straight line?'

"It is the shortest line between two points.'

666

'Well, take that line between the point where you stand and yonder door. When I want you at my table, I will invite you. Good-night, sir! Pleasant dreams!'

"Mentz disappeared amid uproarious shouts of laughter and numerous missiles hurled from the hands of his quondam admirers. He was never subsequently seen among the students."

"And Arnold?" inquired Norman.

"The beautiful Gertrude had encouraged the boy with hopes which that morning she had confessed herself unable to fulfil. She had accepted the hand of a noble and wealthy general attached to the person of the Emperor, and would thenceforth sparkle as one of the brightest jewels around the throne. It was under the influence of this disappointment that the young man had resolved to destroy his existence with his own hand, at the conclusion of a fête to his companions. But Mentz's message, arriving at that critical moment, suggested a new idea. He might turn his self-destruction to some account by confronting the audacious swaggerer, who with such impunity had trampled upon every opponent. The success of his scheme counterbalanced his despair, and restored his mind to its natural equanimity. Thenceforth he went on his way rejoicing, caring as little for the beautiful, faithless Gertrude as for the fire-eating, craven-hearted Mentz."

Ralph Hoyt.

BORN in New York, N. Y., 1806. DIED there, 1878.

OLD.

[Sketches of Life and Landscape. Revised Edition. 1852.]

Seemed it pitiful he should sit there,

No one sympathizing, no one heeding,
None to love him for his thin gray hair,
And the furrows all so mutely pleading
Age and care;

Seemed it pitiful he should sit there.

It was summer, and we went to school,
Dapper country lads and little maidens,
Taught the motto of the "Dunce's Stool,"
Its grave import still my fancy ladens,
"HERE'S A FOOL!"

It was summer, and we went to school.

Still, in sooth, our tasks we seldom tried;
Sportive pastime only worth our learning,
But we listened when the old man sighed,
And that lesson to our hearts went burning,
And we cried;

Still, in sooth, our tasks we seldom tried.

When the stranger seemed to mark our play,
(Some of us were joyous, some sad-hearted,)

I remember, well, -too well,—that day!
Oftentimes the tears unbidden started,

Would not stay,

When the stranger seemed to mark our play.

When we cautiously adventured nigh

We could see his lip with anguish quiver:

1

Yet no word he uttered, but his eye

Seemed in mournful converse with the river Murmuring by,

When we cautiously adventured nigh.

One sweet spirit broke the silent spell,
Ah, to me her name was always heaven!
She besought him all his grief to tell,

(I was then thirteen, and she eleven,)
ISABEL!

One sweet spirit broke the silent spell.

Softly asked she with a voice divine,

Why so lonely hast thou wandered hither; Hast no home ?-then come with me to mine; There's our cottage, let me lead thee thither; Why repine?

Softly asked she with a voice divine.

Angel, said he sadly, I am old:

Earthly hope no longer hath a morrow,
Yet why I sit here thou shalt be told;
Then his eye betrayed a pearl of sorrow,—
Down it rolled;

Angel, said he sadly, I am old!

I have tottered here to look once more

On the pleasant scene where I delighted

In the careless, happy days of yore,

Ere the garden of my heart was blighted
To the core;

I have tottered here to look once more!

All the picture now to me how dear!

E'en this gray old rock where I am seated
Seems a jewel worth my journey here;

Ah, that such a scene should be completed
With a tear!

All the picture now to me how dear!

Old stone School-house!-it is still the same!
There's the very step so oft I mounted;
There's the window creaking in its frame,
And the notches that I cut and counted
For the game:

Old stone School-house!-it is still the same!

In the cottage yonder I was born;

Long my happy home-that humble dwelling; There the fields of clover, wheat, and corn,

There the spring with limpid nectar swelling; Ah, forlorn!

In the cottage yonder I was born.