aving filled the cart in the usual
way, and finding himself out of employment, he directly shovelled
the compost out again, and when the farmer returned the cart was
empty.

But poor Peter, with all his dulness, possessed some remarkable
characteristics. He was very strong of arm, and wonderfully swift of
foot, and his senses were acute. His musical gifts were most
marvellous. He would reproduce, in his humming way, the notes of a
tune that he had heard but once,--a thing that might have baffled an
amateur.

He also had a lively sense of the beautiful and the sublime. He
would stand at night gazing on the stars as though transfixed by the
splendors blazing above. His whole being was thrilled with joy on
the approach of spring. He would sing all the day as the atmosphere
became warm and balmy, and would often prolong his melodies far into
the beautiful nights.

He died aged about seventy years.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE BELLS OF THE RHINE.

LEGENDS OF THE BELLS OF BASEL AND SPEYER.--STORY OF THE HARMONY
CHIME.--THE BELL-FOUNDER OF BRESLAU.

One evening, after the story-telling entertainments, Mr. Beal was
speaking to the Class of the great bell of Cologne which has been cast
from the French cannon captured in the last war.

"It seems a beautiful thing," he said, "that the guns of war should be
made to ring out the notes of peace."

"There is one subject that we did not treat at our meetings," said
Charlie Leland,--"the bells of the Rhine."

"True," said Mr. Beal. "A volume might be written on the subject.
Almost every belfry on the Rhine has its legend, and many of them are
associated with thrilling events of history. The raftmen, as they
drift down the river on the Sabbath, associate almost every bell they
hear with a story. The bells of Basle (Basel), Strasburg, Speyer,
Heidelberg, Worms, Frankfort, Mayence, Bingen, and Bonn all ring out a
meaning to the German student that the ordinary traveller does not
comprehend. Bell land is one of mystery.

"For example, the clocks of Basel. The American traveller arrives at
Basel, and hurries out of his hotel, and along the beautiful public
gardens, to the terrace overlooking the Rhine. He looks down on the
picturesque banks of the winding river; then far away his eye seeks
the peaks of the Jura.

"The bells strike. The music to his ears has no history.

"The German and French students hear them with different ears. The old