Prussians, and the gray hairs of the old chieftain will now cause the
hair of our youth to turn gray with shame and grief."

[Footnote 3: Vide Foerster's "Modern History of Prussia," vol. i., p.
757.]

"Oh, it is a terrible disgrace for us, and I hardly know how we are to
bear it in a manly and dignified manner," said Count Pueckler, gloomily.
"In these hours of melancholy only we feel the full extent of our ardent
love for our country; now only we perceive the indissoluble ties that
attach our hearts to it! I should like to pour out my blood in tears for
this crushed, disgraced, and yet so dearly-beloved country, and I feel
that if we do not rise speedily from our degradation, I shall die of
despair!"

"You will not die," said Schill, gravely, "for all of us who love
Prussia, and are devoted to her honor, must not think of dying at the
present time; all of us must assist Prussia in rising again from the
dust, so that she may once more boldly meet the tyrant, and take revenge
for herself and for Germany! For Prussia is Germany now, because she is
the only power in Germany that has resisted and braved the Corsican
conqueror. But God wanted first to arouse her from her arrogance and
vanity, and make the weakness of her leading men known to her, that she
might rise after a noble regeneration and with redoubled strength. Life
springs from death, and Prussia had to fall so low as to break her old
decrepit limbs that were still kept together by her glory from the Seven
Years' War; and then the young, vigorous soldier of the new century will
arise and draw the sword to deliver his subjugated country, and avenge
its desecrated honor!"

"Then you hope still for a change for the better?" asked Count Pueckler,
mournfully.

"I base my hopes on the propitious star of Prussia," exclaimed Schill,
enthusiastically, "on the future, on the wrath and grief which will
awake now in all Prussian hearts, arousing the sluggards, strengthening
the vacillating, and urging the timid. I base my hopes on the tears of
Queen Louisa, which will move Heaven to help us and awaken avengers on
earth. And, for ourselves, comrade, with our wounds, with our disgrace,
we must be like the spirits of vengeance that sweep across the heath in
the howling storm of diversity, and awaken the sleeper who would give
way to dreams of peace and inaction. Prussia must not make peace in her
present calamitous condition; she must fill the hearts and minds of all
with