A lofty column, with a statue of the great duke on the top, in the
garb of a Roman warrior, had been erected in the park, the base of which
monument was covered with inscriptions containing thousands of words,
including more names of battles won than we had seen on any monument
previously. The Battle of Blenheim was fought in 1704, and forms the
subject of Southey's well-known poem in which he describes old Kaspar
sitting before his cottage door on a summer evening after his day's work
was done, while his grandchildren, little Wilhelmine and her brother
Peterkin, were playing on the green before him. The children had found
something in the stream hard by, and had brought it to Kaspar to explain
to them what it was that they had found "that was so large and smooth
and round." We could almost imagine we could see old Kaspar taking it
up in his hand and explaining to the children that it was the skull of
some poor fellow amongst the thousands who had been slain in that great
battle, and describing the misery that followed it, to teach them, and
all mankind, the curse of war.
[Illustration: MONUMENT TO THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH.]
Then followed the questions of the little children, often difficult to
answer as everybody knows, and which even puzzled, old Kaspar himself:
"Now tell us all about the war,
And what they killed each other for.
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