San Andreas independent., 1856-12-20

A FAMILY EPIsoDE.-The Counts of
Hapsburg, a powerful family of the Can
ton of Aragua, the Counts of Rapper-
shwyl, rulers of the Lake of Zurich, the
Counts of Toggenburgh, rivals of both
these houses, in their impregnable. strong
hold of Fischengen, and several other in
fuential chieftains, disputed among them
selves the dominions of these groups of
mountain lakes and forests Their nomi-
nal subornidation to the empire of Ger
many was regulated exclusively to their
interests; individual caprice was the only
law they acknowledged; they were, in fact
the thirty tyrants of Athens become here
dltary, and dwelling In so many citadels at
the entrance of the valleys. Their man.
ners were as wild and savage as their To-
cality; their traditions teemed with blood
those of the Counts of Toggenbnrg.
bore ample testimony to the arbitrary fe-
rocity of their judgments; the castle of
this family, erected on rock overhanging
the lake, was totally inaccessible to an
enemy. One of the lords of this house,
Henry Of Toggenburg, had married lady
named Ida, whose beauty became the mir
acle and theme Of the entire land. The
Count was as jealous as he was affection
ately attached to his lovely helpmate.-
Chance gave an apparent substance to this
deadly shadow which embittered his hap
piness. One day, while the Countess was
contemplating from window in her tower
the lake and valleys which lay expanded
before her eyes, in the abstraction of the
moment she suffered her wedding-ring,
which had slipped accidentally from her
finger, to remain on the ledge of the win
dow, and returned without noticing the
loss. A crow flying round the battlements
observed the ring glittering under ray
of the sun; attracted, as all birds are, by
the brilliancy OF the gold, the crow alighted
on the tower, and thrusting his neck be-
tween the bars, carried off the ring to his
nest. Discovering afterwards that the
gold was Of less value than an-earth worm
to feed her young, she allowed it to fall
upon the beach. A page belonging to the
castle, hunting in that neighborhood few
days after, found the ring, and not know
ing to whom to restore it placed itupon his
finger without dreamingof future mischief.
Count Henry seeing the ring upon the
finger of the page Immediately persuaded
himself that it was gift from his wife to
her paramour and the evidence of Grim
inal intercourse Without listening to
any counsel or argument beyond the i'm
pulse of vengeance, he caused the young
page to be bound to the tail of an untamed
horse, who dragged his dislocated men,
bers in mad career across the rocks and
precipices then, taking his innocent wife
IN his arms, he precipitated her from the
top Of the battlements into the chasm be-
low; but the gulf rejected the victim
The rocks, covered with thorny shrubs, re-
tanned the beautiful Ida, suspended by her
garments and long tresses over the brink
Of the abyss. She contrived to escape
under the shadow Of night and demanded
sanctuary at the convent of Fischingen.-
Her innocence, discovered and acknowl-
edged too late, brought her repentant hus-
band to her feet; but, although she par
doned the action, she steadfastly refused
ever again to live with him as his wife, and
passed the remainder Of her days in cell
Of the monastry, praying for the guilty
Count and the unfortunate page who had
been SO cruelty inundated to an unfounded
suspicion.
A.