ow steeled they
are against the finer affections and softer feelings of the world; but
it might be as well to ask if the daily business of life--which to them
is one of sheer necessity--does not combat more powerfully against
the indulgence of sorrow than all the philosophy that mere wisdom ever
taught?

Poor Fritzerl awoke with a heart almost weighed down with affliction,
but still he went forth with his goats to the pasture, and tended and
watched after them as carefully as ever. The next day, and the day after
that again, he went about his accustomed duties; but on the third day,
as he sat beside Grettl'a under the old linden-tree before the door, he
whispered to her,--

"I can bear it no longer, Grettl'a! I must away!--away!" And he pointed
to the distance, which, vague and undefined as his own resolves,
stretched out its broad expanse before them.

Grettl'a did her best to persuade him against his rash determination:
she reasoned as well as she could reason; she begged, she even cried to
him; and at last, all else failing, she forgot her pledge, and actually
ran and told her father.

The Bauer, sorry to lose so faithful a servant as Fritz, added his
influence to the little maiden's tears; and even the Bauer's wife tried
to argue him out of his resolve, mingling with her wise suggestions
about a "wide world and a cold one" some caustic hints about ingratitude
to his friends and protectors.

Fritz was deaf to all: if he could not yield to Grettl's prayers and
weeping eyes, he was strong against the old wife's sarcasms.

He cried all night through, and, arising before the dawn, he kissed
Grettl'a as she lay sleeping, and, cautiously opening the latch, slipped
out unheard. A heavy dew was on the grass, and the large, massive clouds
rested on the mountains and filled the plain. It was cold, and
gloomy, and cheerless---just such as the world is to the wanderer who,
friendless, alone, and poor, would tempt his fortunes in it!

Fritz wandered on over the plain--he had no choice of paths--he had
nothing to guide, no clue to lead him. He took this, because he had
often gone it with "Star" when he was happy and contented. As he went
along, the sun rose, and soon the whole scene changed from its leaden
grey to the bright tint of morning. The hoar-frost glittered like
thousands of spangles scattered over the grass; the earth sent up a
delicious odour; the leaves, as they opened, murmured softly in the air;
and the litt