The Child And The Hind

Come, maids and matrons, to caress     Wiesbaden's gentle hind;     And, smiling, deck its glossy neck     With forest flowers entwined.     'Twas after church, on Ascension day,     When organs ceased to sound,     Wiesbaden's people crowded gay     The deer park's pleasant ground.     Here came a twelve years' married pair,     And with them wander'd free     Seven sons and daughters, blooming fair,     A gladsome sight to see!     Their Wilhelm, little innocent,     The youngest of the seven,     Was beautiful as painters' paint,     The cherubim of heaven.     By turns he gave his hand, so dear,     To parent, sister, brother,     And each, that he was safe and near,     Confided in the other.     But Wilhelm loved the field-flowers bright,     With love beyond all measure;     And cull'd them with as keen delight     As misers gather treasure.     Unnoticed, he contrived to glide     Adown a greenwood alley,     By lilies lured, that grew beside     A streamlet in the valley;     And there, where under beech and birch     The rivulet meander'd,     He stray'd, till neither shout nor search,     Could track where he had wander'd.     Still louder, with increasing dread,     They call'd his darling name:     But 'twas like speaking to the dead,     An echo only came.     Hours pass'd till evening's beetle roams,     And blackbird's songs begin;     Then all went back to happy homes,     Save Wilhelm's kith and kin.     The night came on, all others slept     Their cares away till morn;     But sleepless, all night watch'd and wept     That family forlorn.     Betimes the town-crier had been sent     With loud bell up and down;     And told th' afflicting accident     Throughout Wiesbaden's town.     The news reach'd Nassau's Duke, ere earth     Was gladden'd by the lark,     He sent a hundred solders forth     To ransack all his park.     But though they roused up beast and bird     From many a nest and den,     No signal of success was heard     From all the hundred men.     A second morning's light expands,     Unfound the infant fair;     And Wilhelm's household wring their hands,     Abandon'd to despair.     But, haply, a poor artizan     Search'd ceaselessly, till he     Found safe asleep the little one,     Beneath a birchen tree.     His hand still grasp'd a bunch of flowers;     And, true, though wondrous, near,     To sentry his reposing hours,     There stood a female deer,     Who dipp'd her horns at all that pass'd     The spot where Wilhelm lay;     Till force was had to hold her fast,     And bear the boy away.     Hail! sacred love of childhood, hail!     How sweet it is to trace     Thine instinct in Creation's scale,     Even 'neath the human race.     To this poor wanderer of the wild     Speech, reason were unknown,     And yet she watch'd a sleeping child,     As if it were her own!