Page:Poems of Emma Lazarus vol 2.djvu/191

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THE DANCE TO DEATH.
178


" Herr Nordmami was placed in close confinement, and during the same year his head fell under the sword of the executioner.

"Prince William returned, broken down with sorrow, to Eisenach. His princely father's heart found no com- fort during the remainder of his days. He died soon after the murder of the Jews — his last words were, 'woe! the fire!'

"William reached an advanced age, but his life was joyless. He never married, and at his death Meissen was inherited by his nephew.

"The Jewish cemetery in Kordhausen, the scene of this martyrdom, lay for a long time waste. Nobody would build upon it. Kow it is a bleaching meadow, and where once the flames sprang up, to-day rests peaceful sunshine."