are showing,
Their hearts are fresh, their memory is not short;
And as we never shunned good cheer and drinking,
From foaming bumpers we'll not now be shrinking.

'Tis true the Button landlord has been moving
Out of his cosy tavern on the Square,
But still retains his former skill in brewing,
And in his new inn keeps the same good fare.
And as around the table we sat cheering
Our hearts with kindly memories of old,
From many lips I these glad news was hearing,
Which please the Poet more than heaps of gold:
The Trumpeter, whose story I'd been singing,
To young and old more joy was daily bringing.

As a vignette the weekly paper gracing
He's blowing politics instead of music now;
And even more, somebody has been placing
My hero on the stage--but ask not how.
Could I but see the walls of the new tower,
Which now is rising in the old one's place,
Embellished by an artist of great power--
The figures of my song devised with grace!
Thus might an artist's hand make expiation
For the abuse by stage-representation.

However, let that go, I am not fearing
Whatever purpose thou mayst serve my song;
Now that a new edition is appearing,
I send my greeting home with it along.
On thy fourth tour thou Schwarzwald-child be hieing,
Where truth and goodness dwell, there enter in,
And preach to those who with _ennui_ are sighing,
How innocent amusement they may win.
As often as there comes a new edition,
"Preserve thee, God!" be ever my petition.

Seon in the Aargau, _November_, 1864.

PREFACE

TO THE FIFTIETH EDITION.

The Trumpeter now, all alive and refreshed,
To the Jubilee loudly is blowing;
The present year has both of us blessed,
Great favour and lustre bestowing.
I have my fiftieth year attained,
Through joy and through sorrow surviving,
And his editions--such fame has he gained--
At the fiftieth are now arriving.

It may be that I a part of my youth
And joy with him have been leaving;
But still from these scenes--to tell the truth--
Great pleasure I now am receiving.
To the Eggberg I climbed, where on high are seen
The homes of the Hauenstein