ce; but he was a
rude, unpolished old fellow, and the best one can say is, that he meant
it well. Certain it is they seemed to acknowledge the force of his
suggestion; for they at once removed the child to a warm bed, while they
ordered the hostess to administer a very comfortable cordial of her
own devising; and, to shew their confidence in the remedy, had three
likewise provided for their own individual comfort and support.

It is not my wish to dwell on the sad portions of our tale, wherever the
recital would elicit nothing of our little hero's character: and such
was the period which now ensued. Fritz was conveyed, early on the
following morning, to the village hospital, where his case was
pronounced of the very gravest nature. The dangers from cold, inanition,
and exposure, were all inferior to the greater one resulting from
some injury to the brain. I cannot be expected to be clearer and more
explicit on this theme than were his doctors; and they, with proverbial
propriety, did differ most amazingly: one advocating a fracture, another
a concussion, and a third standing out for both, and something more.
They agreed, however, on two points; one of which was, that he would
die--and the other, that as he was evidently very poor and had no
friends, his death was of less consequence. I would not be here
understood, by any malevolent critic, as wishing to infer that the
doctors' neglect of him was a strong point in Fritz's favour. I merely
desire to relate a simple fact--that he continued to live from day
to day, and from week to week, gaining in strength, but never once
evidencing, by even the slightest trait, a return to his faculty of
reasoning. Alas, poor child!--the intellect which, in all his sorrow and
poverty, had been his happiness and his comfort, was now darkened, and
he awoke from that long dream of death--an idiot!

Perhaps I may not have used the fitting word; but how shall I speak of
his state? He seemed sad and sorrow-struck; never spoke, even to answer
a question; moved listlessly and slowly about, as if in search of
something, and muttering lowly to himself. No one ever saw him smile,
and yet he did not weep. He looked more like one in whom reason was,
by some terrible shock, suspended and held in abeyance, than actually
routed or annihilated. Unlike most others similarly afflicted, he slept
very little, remaining usually, the night long, sitting beside his bed,
gesticulating with his hands in a strang