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16 The National Music of America.
little while another citizen had unbarred his door and sang with him; as the two went down the street they were joined by another, and another, until, when they had come to the end of the road at the Niederring, a hill close to the town, there was a little band of twenty-five, men, women, and children, all that was left of the town of Goldberg. Whether it was that the plague had spent its violence, or, which is more probable, that the minds of the survivors were more serene and less afraid of death, none of this little band died of the Black Death. They returned to their homes, set their houses in order, buried their dead, and the town began to prosper anew. But each Christmas eve, for centuries after this event (even to very recent years), the inhabitants of the town gathered together at divine service at midnight, and at two o'clock they marched to the Niederring, where all united in singing the following chorale: |
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