ZigZag Journeys in Northern Lands;

nd the Lands of the Baltic.-Tommy

now that the old Class had gone; he was a lad of good principles, bright, generous, and popular. As may be judged from the

Europe, over which Charlemagne ruled, and which now is divided into the kingdoms of Northern Europe. The stories of haunted castles, spectres, water nymphs, sylvan deities, and fairies, if shapes of fancy, are full of instruction, and I know

UCAL CASTLE

e magic on the minds of the Club; and a formal motion that the Rhine and the Baltic be th

GERMAN

s being thus happily and unanimously carried forward. The boys had asked hi

o place more stress on the fine old fictions of Germany and the North than upon actual history. These fictions for the most

onti

e for a proper estimate of these a

ON POPULAR

e of a lion, called Percy. A humorist, wishing to produce a sensation, placed himself i

gs, it

mber of persons collected, each one gazing on the bronze figure, expecting to see the phenomenon. Their imagination sup

runs somethin

here are witches, t

en't no witches, are

these lines. The marvels of superstition are

IOUS RITES OF

The spectres of demonology are not more fearful than those shapes of fancy produced by opium and dissipation; and th

ain a greater or less credit when they touch upon supernatural things. Instances of monomaniacs (persons insane on a single subject) who have imagined th

in a doctor. He endeavored to reason with her, but she only replied to his philosophy by stretching out her neck, which she seemed to think was a remarkably long one, and hissing. The old lady had a set of gilt-band china cups and saucers, which, in her eyes, had been a sort of household gods. The knowledge of

silence those who attempted to reason with her by the luminous argument, "See, here (crooking one arm at her side

glass; and a comical figure she cut when she went abroad, picking up and putting

aunted, or that they held communion with the spirits of the invisible world, instead of exciting laughter and pity, t

to a fair, was riding homeward on hor

, according to the custom, and his head was fa

His fears caused him to look very carefully about him. As he was approaching the old church i

s imagination that had invested some natural object with a ghostly shape. But t

ng. He knew well enough that his mind was somewhat unsettled by drinking, and what he saw might, after all, he thought, be nothing b

signs of life, gesticulating mysteriously, and uttering g

ith shadows; it was a ghostly place,-Teviotdale churchyard; and, in perfect keeping with the tim

st, his hair almost bristling with apprehension, the supposed phantom leaped upon the back of the horse and clasped the frighte

w over the earth like a phantom steed. Such riding ne

d lustily for his servants, who, coming out, were commanded in frantic tones to "Tak aff the ghaist, tak aff the ghaist!

eemed opening before her. Her husband was taken ill, and suddenly died. She had confided in him so fondly that the wo

friends at night, to weep over his grave. These melancholy visits had the effect of giving a new i

as her husband, and awaited his approach with great exhilarati

e. He was taken from his saddle to his bed, where

r relating the above au

would have been very hard to convince the honest farmer that he had

reputation of being haunted, and would have been a

de, into which he was in danger of being thrown. This dreadful vision, with other fancies as gloomy, cast a shadow over an eventful period of his life, and gave a dark coloring to certain of his writing

nsider duly how liable to error are an unhealthy mind and an excited imagination. Every man is not a knave or a cheat who claims to ha

nature that the unschooled and undeveloped do not see, so it may be that a spiritually educated mind may know more of the spiritual wor

it is easy to start a superstitious story, and to sugg

RESS ON

"that the first seven meetings of

f meetings Seven Nights on t

journey with Mr. Beal might give us an account

mmittee was appointed to arrange the literary exercises for seve

s, chiefly by members of the old Club. Among these were the Province House Stories of Hawthorne,

en by Tommy Toby, an old member of th

T. DUNSTAN AND THE DEVI

Among these princes was Louis, the son of Charles the Simple, of France, who,

sters to the King of France, another to the Emperor of Germany, another

land was at peace for many years, and the nobilit

chief in his day and generation than any other man. T

onbury church, which was then repairing, and ascended the scaffolds and went all over the building; and because he did not tumble

ed Dunstan's

said to have wrought, he was greatly pleased, and thought to turn the g

The people heard the sounds, full of seeming expression, as though touched by airy fingers, and, as they could not discre

that I cannot tell you the worst things that he did. He discovered

d to calculate the influence of the stars on a person's destiny, and who understood the effects of poisonous vegetables and minerals. The Saxon magicians

be drowned; and people with unquiet conscience are usually very superstitious. At any rate, he made a bosom friend of Du

d, binding him hand and foot, threw him into a miry marsh. But the water was shallow, and Dunstan kept his nose above the mire, and, after shouting lustily for help, and flou

cceeded upon the throne by his half-brother, E

conquered Cumberland from the Ancient Britons, and protected his kingdom against the fierce sea-kings of the North. Like his great ancestor, King Alfred, he was fond

o drink deeply of wine. He lived fast, and his friends lived

not apt to make a long history; and the history of Edmu

d, his brother, a well-meaning youth, who wa

He was very ambitious to meddle in affairs of state, but his bad name had weakened his influence with Edmund, and it see

his time working very hard as a smith

TAN AND

! He has the back-ache all day, and the leg-ache all nigh

ame to tempt him, which, with his aches for t

tification, but he would not be tempted to do a thing like t

ave become a very holy man, or the

he like of which was never known before. The people were much astonished. Some of them went to Dunstan to

kly drew his pincers from the fire, and seized his tormentor by the nose, which put him in such pain that he bellow

unstan's liking, for the artful

from a lingering illness for years. He felt the nee

ngs and aspirations, a man whom even the Devil cannot corru

prelate to his court, and made him-of all

med to do justly and to govern well. His decease, li

me remarkable "irregularities"-as stealing is sometimes called nowadays-had tak

land was Edwy the Fair,-fifteen year

he was handsome. Though so young, he had married a beautiful pri

was, besides Dunstan, another great mischief-

ed by all the prelates and thanes. Edwy liked the society of the girl queen better than that of these rude pe

the guests. So he went and made complaint to Dunstan, and Dunstan went to look for the missing king. When the latter came to the queen's apartment, and was refused admi

of great impropriety, and talked in a very overbearing way, and Edwy, th

e the treasurer in the last reign, I believe. I intend to ca

, and, guilty man that he was,

Dunstan to account for his late doings in the treasury. But the

party of men was sent in pursuit of him to put out his eyes. But he was too foxy to be caug

wn to himself a sufficient party to insure his personal saf

and this precious pair soon discovered the va

eak the spirit of Edwy, and thought to accomplish their end by capturing the queen. They caused her to be stolen from one of the royal palaces, and her che

he scars on her cheeks, that the hot irons had made. When her beauty ret

ed her from bondage, and gav

an, who had been apprised of her coming, intercepted her, and ordered that she should be tortured and put to death. They caused the cord

g at times from the acuteness of her pain, she died at Gloucester,-per

thinner day by day, his beauty faded, his thoughts turned heavenward, and he aspired to a better crown and kin

Edgar, who succeeded to the Anglo-Saxon throne in the

g upon him the archbishopric of Canterbury. Think of conferring an archbishopric as the price of a brother's ruin and death! Ah, better t

gate, and vicious. He once broke into a convent and carried off a beautiful nun, named Editha. For this violation of the sanctuary, Dunstan

ts of England against the neighboring sovereigns, and compelled the King of Scotland a

ge around England in great state,

John the Baptist, on the River Dee, he appointed eight crowned kings

nd old abbey and said his prayers, after which he retur

lden time, which tell of the glory of England, when the ei

two sons. The elder of these was named Edward, the son of a good queen, E

e succession to her own son, Ethelred, a boy about seven years old. Dunstan decided against

ng every one well, and believing, with childish simplicity, tha

is reign should be a short one, if it was

n forests waved around it, and blue hills seemed to semicircle the sky. The silver horn of the

Chancing to ride near Crofe Castle, Edward thought that he would like to see Elfrida and his li

ppeared, her face g

a winning way. "Pray dismount and come in, a

e evil had befallen me. Please bring me a cup of wine, and I will drink to your h

She gave another order at the same ti

the boy king. As he held it up it sparkled in the light. Elf

rd, putting the bri

burned like fire. He sprang upon the boy king and stabbed him in the back. The affrighted horse da

en body at last. They took it up tenderly and with

DER OF

eding, and dragged over the rough earth, he began to

ad on the cold ground, and another boy king weeping in the forest castle, and beaten

hrone at the age of ten. He wa

is head at Kingston, he pronounced a curse instead of a blessing. Neither the blessing nor the curse of a man li

s. He continued to practise jugglery, which he called performing miracles, whe

ad used politics to help the church, he was ma

stabbed and dragged to death at his horse's heels; and Ethelred lost his ki

, fifteen years of age, 955 to 958; Edgar, fifteen years of age, 958 to 975; Ed

nty-six years, and governed England

may have been good, after all. He lived in an age of superstition, when it was believed that any political act was right that would increase the power of the churc

ises for the eveni