Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1867-08-28

The Turks one day opened his prison
doors and told him to go home, and he
reached Ridcsheim safely, and remember
ing his vow, told Gsela that she must be.
come nun She had promised to become
the wife of brave young knight,,who low
ed her, ard begged and prayed her father
not to shut her up in gloomy cloister
but he was stern, hard man, be had
made VOW and would keep it. "Obey
re, or shall curse you forever" was his
answer to her prayer Then the poor
girl. distracted at the thought of being a
prisoner all her life, and separated from
her lover, ran up to the top Of this tower,
jumped over the parapet, and fell into the
swift river, which bore her lifeless form
far away-down to Bishop Hatto's tower,
which We can see in the distance. There
q fisherman the next day recovered the
body. Though several hundred years
have passed since then, the supcrstitious
fishermen and boatmen say that some
tjmes when the mists creep along the val
ley they see the pale form Of Gisela hov,
etiug round this Old tower, and when; the
wind sweeps through the trees they hear
her mouruful wailings
THE MOUSE TOWER.
We pass Biugen, which has lovely
situation just where the mountains come
down TO the Rhine. The Romans built a
town lere, and we may see the stone
work Of a bridge over the Nahe, which
they erected eighteen hundred year, ago.
Here we see Bishop Hattos tower, on an
island called By the country people the
Mouse tower. Bishop Hatto was a cruel,
hard hearted man, who was councillor to
the Emperor Otho, and who died in 970.
The present castle was not built till after
his death.
The peasants will tell you the story Of
, his dcath-that there was a famiue-that
the poor had nothing to eat--that they
came to Bishop Hatto, who had his barns
, full Of wheat--that he got them all into
} one of his buildings, fastened the door
set the building on fire and laughed whilt
, they were burning to death. and said tha,
their cries were like the squealing Of
rats The poet Southey has given u,
the story in verse. He says Of what fol
lowed:
To the Bishop there came man from his farm
tie had II countenanCe white with alarm,
"My lord, opened our granaries this morn
And the rats had eaten all your corn"
! Another came running presently,
And he was a. pale pale could be
) Ely? my lord Bishop fly" quotb he:
f "'ien thousand rats are coming this way
The Lord forgive you for yesterday"
The Bishop thought of this tower: i
was strong and high. he could stop al
the holes, and so he came from his coun
Try house to this spot and fastened all
the doors and windows But the rat
followed him, swan the rivera great ar
my, hundreds of thousands together--al
making haste to reach the castle.
Down on his knees the Bishop fell,
And faster and faster his beads he did tell
As londer and louder, drawing near,
The saw OF their teeth without he could hear.
And in at the windows, and in at the door.
ARd through the walls by thousands they
, pour,
Aud down through the ceiling up through tht
From the right and the left, from behind ant
before,
From within and without, from above ant
below.
{ And all at once to the Bishop they go.
: They had whetted their teeth against the stones
And now they pick the Bishops bones
They gnawed the flesh from every limb,
, For they were sent 10 do judgment on him.
1t is by such traditions as this thai
, the Rhine has become the classic river O.
Europe. BY many German freside th'
story Is told to the eager ears of children
{ aud human nature must have changed
very much since my boyhood if this story
, is not relished in American households.
| oBERwEsEL.
, On the western bank is the little towt
, Of Oberwesel, lying under steep noun
0 t,in which rises high behind it. TIT
= Romans settled it and called it Vcsalia
: 1t is very charming spot. We look VI
to another old clstle with a round towe
which seems just ready to slide down in
to the water. 1t is called the Schon5ery
and 1t once belonged TO the Schonber!
family. which has had great name il
r German history. One Of the Counts com
( mandcd the English troops at the bsttl
r of the Boyne--winning the victory. w
= notice rocks in the river, which the boat
q men call the seven sisters, and they hay'
G a story to tell about them that grea
r many years ago, seven beautiful countess
0 lived in one of the castles which we Sc
G now in ruins. It's crumbling walls over
D grown with ivy. All the young Knight
2 OF the RhincIand came to make love to th
0 beautiful ladies, who would not choos
Q them husbands but who took great pleas