The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1871-07-07


Lest with thee hencsfofth. ever. night and day,
Regret should waik.
-Gaiaxy.
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
Four year, Of the fourteenth CEN
tury had passed away. All Austrie
was plunged into dismay and confu-
sion, Albrecht, emperor and king,
and equally tyraDt and despot, had
been slain by band of desperate no.
bles, of whom Rudolph Won der
Wart was chief.
Agnes, the widow of the murdered
Kaiser, vowed vengeance, and kept
her VOW. One by one the conspira-
tors were hunted down. Last Of all
Rudolph was doomed, and on the
fair morning on which our story
commences Rudolph came forth to
die. easa
Knight and noble were ranged in q
glittering circle around the imperial
throne raised on the execution ground
and on which was seated the empress.
Her naughty face was set in pitiless
hate and triumph, as the scafold op-
posite, topped by the dreadful wheel
on which the criminal was to be
bound, and guarded by the red-caped
headsmen. The solemn tolls of the
old church bells fell heavily on the
ear of the guard, with the prisoner
in their midst, as they neared the
scaffold.
Greedily the empress watched him
as he mounted the stair. His naughty
face was rigid with repose, and his
blue eyes were glittering as STEEL
His brow flushed angrily, as the
headsmen roughly tied his hands.
but sneering laugh from the en-
press seemed to restore his calm
Agnes looked on triumphantly, as he
was bound to the wheel, and thrill
ran through the great assembly as
the executioner lifted the iron bar
and let it fall with crash on the
limbs of his unfortunate victim.
He gave one moan of agony, and
was silent. The torture that for
hours he knew would be his, he
steeied himself to bear. Before the
eyes of his deadly enemies, Won der
Wart resolved he would wait the Bit
ter end in silence.
There was yielding of the vast
crowd around the scaffold, and n
murmur of sympathy, unchecked,
even, by awe of the empress. A wo-
man PASSED swiftly up the, scaffold.
and paused for o moment as she
glanced at the criminal stretched on
the wheel above.
She was very beautiful. Her gold
en- hair fell in thick ringlets over her
rounded neck, and her dark blue
eyes and sculptured face we're of rare
loveliness. She was Gertrude Won
der Wart, come to soothe her hus-
bands agony to the last.
The empress laughed in bitter de-
rision. and the supple courtiers
around, taking their cue, launched
shaft after shaft of biting derision
and coarse double entende against
the woman who dared to cling to a
traitor. Her face crimsoned for a
moment, but she crushed down her
woman's torture at the voices around
her, and looked only on her dying
love. -..-.-..
"Waterr he muttered. Water.
this thirst burns.
Gertrude glanced around, and saw
near by tank which fed fountain.
Swiftly she swept down the steps,
and taking off one of her shoes, ell
ed it with water. Their re-ascend-
ing, she climbed slowly up to the side
of her husband, and needless, in her
lofty love and sublime calm, of the
venonied tongues around, pressed her
lips passionately to his face, which
worked in agony.
He scarcely seemed to feel her lips
on his brow at first, for. he only
muttered "Oh, death, end this slow
agony! Come = come = welcome
death!"
Rudolph, my ownr' she whisper
ed and placed her shoe to his quiver-
ing mouth. which seemed to cling to
the welcome water.
The sun sloped to the west, and its
red rays fell on the damp brow of the
dying man. His wife kept her mar
BILE calmness and with ceaseless care
her little white hand wiped the drops
from his forehead, and wet his black
ening lips with water.
"I prayed for the coup de grace,
he whispered '.before thou camest,
darling, but I am content to inger
now"
$50 perish traitorsl. said the en-
press.
A mortal wrench of pain shook Ru-
dolph's every limb for space, but
he set his teeth hard and made no
sign. Then he caught Gertrnde.s
wrist. and looked at her with the last
long gaze of unutterable Ioye radiant
in his dimming eyes.
She drew his head upon her bosom
and clasped it. as Il those twisting
arms could have guarded him from
death. And she heard him say with
such gratitude in his tone as could
only be syllabled by lips to be stilled
forever in q moments time:
"Gertrudel my Gertrudel This is
indeed love until deathl''
The question. does getting drunk
ever advance ones happiness?s would