d marshes; enchanters, demons; the streams were the
abodes of lovely water nymphs; the glens of the woods, of delightful
fairies.

[Illustration: TOWER OF RUeDESHEIM ON THE RHINE.]

Into these regions of shadow, mystery, of heroic history, of moral
conflicts and Christian triumphs, it is always interesting to go. It
is especially interesting to the American traveller, for his form of
Christianity and republican principles came from the Rhine. Progress
to him was cradled on the Rhine, like Moses on the Nile. In the Rhine
lands Luther taught, and Robinson of Leyden lived and prayed; and from
those lands to-day comes the great emigration that is peopling the
golden empire of America in the West. "I would be proud of the Rhine
were I a German," said Longfellow. "I love rivers," said Victor Hugo;
"of all rivers I prefer the Rhine."

It is our purpose in this story-telling volume to relate why the
Zigzag Club was led to make the Rhine the subject of its winter
evening study, and to give an account of an excursion that some of its
members had made from Constance to Rotterdam and into the countries of
the North Sea.

"All hail, thou broad torrent, so golden and green,
Ye castles and churches, ye hamlets serene,
Ye cornfields, that wave in the breeze as it sweeps,
Ye forests and ravines, ye towering steeps,
Ye mountains e'er clad in the sun-illumed vine!
Wherever I go is my heart on the Rhine!

"I greet thee, O life, with a yearning so strong,
In the maze of the dance, o'er the goblet and song.
All hail, beloved race, men so honest and true,
And maids who speak raptures with eyes of bright blue!
May success round your brows e'er its garlands entwine!
Wherever I go is my heart on the Rhine!

"On the Rhine is my heart, where affection holds sway!
On the Rhine is my heart, where encradled I lay,
Where around me friends bloom, where I dreamt away youth,
Where the heart of my love glows with rapture and truth!
May for me your hearts e'er the same jewels enshrine.
Wherever I go is my heart on the Rhine!"

WOLFGANG MUeLLER.

CHAPTER II.

GHOST STORIES.

THE ZIGZAG CLUB AGAIN.--SOME "GHOST" STORIES.

The Academy had opened again. September again colored the leaves of
the old elms of Yule. The Blue Hills, as lovely as when the Northmen
beheld them nearly nine hundred years ago, were radiant with the
autumn tinges of