THE HOME OF TELL.

CHAPTER X.

GAIN the windings of the river were seen, as several of the rivers of Switzerland have been, and by a gradual descent in the midst of the same delightful scenery, we came down out of the mountains where for two months the sunshine had been constantly on our pathway, and where we loved to linger still, but dared not lest the cold winds of autumn should drive away the pleasant impressions already received. In the loveliest days of the year, the hazy, musing, dreamy days of Indian summer, (for Indian summer is whenever these days come,) we entered the land so famous in song and story- the land of William Tell. William Tell, the hero of Switzerland, he who occupies the first place in the hearts of his countrymen, and who is still honored by every token of remembrance although centuries have passed since he gave to Liberty such a firm foothold in these lakes and mountains. During all these centuries,

"True as the Alp to its own native flowers,
True as the torrent to its rocky bed,

Or clouds and winds to their appointed track,
The Switzer cleaves to his accustomed freedom,
Holds fast the rights and laws his father left him,
And spurns the tyrant's innovating sway."

Into Altorf, a curious little Swiss town near the birthplace of Tell, where the houses were huddled close together after the fashion of the

ILLUSTRATIONS.-1. Statue of Tell at. Altorf. 2. The Vow of the Rutli. 3. Tell's Chapel.

country, all standing right upon the street paved with uneven pointed stones, (they seemed,) so that it was doing penance to walk upon them, the trio entered with eyes extended to catch some sign of the hero of past ages; they peered at all the posts and glanced at the stones, looked enquiringly at the steeples and read the notices and guide-boards till in the earnestness of the search they became the centre of attraction, and were surrounded by numbers seemingly fearful lest their town was to be carried off bodily by the intruders; children and dogs barked till the smaller one of the party became somewhat alarmed lest the carrying off might be on the other side. But our motto is, "ever onward," and the search was rewarded by the sight of a statue standing over the spot where Gesler raised the hat, and where the apple was shot from the head of the son by the unerring hand of the father. Near by is a tower whose outside is covered with frescoes recording events in the life of Tell.

Curiosity satisfied at that point, the march was continued to Fluelen, at the extremity of the Bay of Url, whose waters were stirred by the oars of the hero; upon whose banks he leaped from the boat which was carrying him to captivity; and upon whose hillsides were made unfailing shots from the bow that sent the arrow to the heart of the tyrant. And we were permitted to look upon these places, so hallowed by association, this scenery, unsurpassed in grandeur and beauty even in this grandest of countries, and to walk nine miles at the foot of mountains from seven to eight thousand feet high, all the way on the border of the loveliest lake in Switzerland, the Lake of the Four Forest Cantons.

The Axenstrasse is nearly all the way cut in the solid rock, by the side of the lake, and is hard and smooth as the floors of our houses; it extends from Fluelen to Brunnen. At our backs were the snow-clad mountain peaks, hazy and blue at their base, but white and golden at their summits, giving all their colors to the waters below, while far away in the

distance, huddled in the curve of the lake, was the goal for which we were striving, Brunnen, and Schwytz, four miles above on the mountain side. Ever and anon we met droves of little dun Swiss cows, led by "Broon Lesel," which so gracefully wore her collar to which was attached a monstrous bell, followed by a "graceful ring" of bells and cattle to match them; all these were preceded by a mountaineer playing upon his Alpine horn, and following by another sending forth the Alpine cry. Who can imagine, who can tell the pleasures of the walk? And the Mecca of Switzerland lay in that route; yea, we visited it. At the foot of the great Axin rises a little chapel visited by pilgrims from all parts of the world Tell's Chapel. It stands on the spot where the brave man, released from his fetters to save the tyrant Gesler from a watery grave, having seized his cross-bow, swung himself upon the plat,

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'High springing with a bound, and sending back
The staggered boat from the whirl of waters."

An appreciative people raised this chapel in 1588, thirty-one years after the death of the one to whom it was consecrated, all the parties, it is said, having been his personal friends; and every year, on a certain day, a procession of boats laden with flowers, proceed slowly to this spot and deck it with wreaths - Nature's language of love. It opens upon the lake and bears upon its three sides ancient frescoes representing the principal events in the life of the hero whose name it perpetuates.

The shores of this most beautiful lake have witnessed other scenes in the history of Switzerland, dear to the freedom-loving Swiss as well as to the patriots of all lands where Freedom has had a birth and still lives to honor those who struggled to obtain it. At the extremity of the Axenstrasse, and also of that part of the lake called Bay of Uri, (for the name changes merely by a turn in the waters,) lies Brunnen, whose white houses had been the guiding star to the travelers from across the waters. This interesting little village faces Fluelen at the eastern extremity of

ILLUSTRATIONS.-1. Axenstrasse. 2. Monument of Schiller.