though I could embrace you!"

What schoolboy or schoolgirl is not familiar with those stirring lines
from "William Tell's Address to His Native Mountains," by J. M.
Knowles? And the story of William Tell,--is it not dear to every heart
that loves liberty? Though modern history declares it to be purely
mythical, its popularity remains unaffected. It will live forever in
the traditions of Switzerland, dear to the hearts of her people as
their native mountains, and even more full of interest to the stranger
than authentic history.

"His image [Tell's]," says Lamartine, "with those of his wife and
children, are inseparably connected with the majestic, rural, and
smiling landscapes of Helvetia, the modern Arcadia of Europe. As often
as the traveler visits these peculiar regions; as often as the
unconquered summits of Mont Blanc, St. Gothard, and the Rigi, present
themselves to his eyes in the vast firmament as the ever-enduring
symbols of liberty; whenever the lake of the Four Cantons presents a
vessel wavering on the blue surface of its waters; whenever the cascade
bursts in thunder from the heights of the Splugen, and shivers itself
upon the rocks like tyranny against free hearts; whenever the ruins of
an Austrian fortress darken with the remains of frowning walls the
round eminences of Uri or Claris; and whenever a calm sunbeam gilds on
the declivity of a village the green velvet of the meadows where the
herds are feeding to the tinkling of bells and the echo of the Ranz des
Vaches--so often the imagination traces in all these varied scenes the
hat on the summit of the pole--the archer condemned to aim at the apple
placed on the head of his own child--the mark hurled to the ground,
transfixed by the unerring arrow--the father chained to the bottom of
the boat, subduing night, the storm, and his own indignation, to save
his executioner--and finally, the outraged husband, threatened with the
loss of all he holds most dear, yielding to the impulse of nature, and
in his turn striking the murderer with a deathblow."

The story which tradition hands down as the origin of the freedom of
Switzerland dates back to the beginning of the fourteenth century. At
that time Switzerland was under the sovereignty of the emperor of
Germany, who ruled over Central Europe. Count Rudolph of Hapsburg, a
Swiss by birth, who had been elected to the imperial throne in 1273,
made some efforts to save his countrymen from the oppression of a
forei