LIBRARY OF CONGRESS^ 
 
 ^p^r^^t^ II 
 
 ' ®]^ap ©qpirig^l f u... 
 
 Shelf A £25 (p 7 
 
 ~ \ S 21 2. 
 
 IjNITED states of AMERICA 
 
 V 
 
/ 
 
 Q^T\&derlwe^ 
 
An Overture to 
 
 William Tell 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM H. McELROY 
 
 ii 
 
 
 NEW YORK 
 The Republic Press 
 
 1892 
 
 
CorvKiCiHr 1892 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM H. McHLROY 
 
••yv / 
 
AN OVERTURE 
 
 TO 
 
 
 gHACKERAY called "Vanity Fair" a novel 
 without a hero. If we resolve William 
 Tell into a myth, then Switzerland has the 
 unique and rather dismal distinction of being a 
 land without its greatest hero ! It may be con- 
 tended that the transformation of the man Tell 
 into the myth Tell was accomplished long ago. 
 5 
 
But 1 am not so sure of that, after being here 
 and there in Switzerland. True, the earliest Swiss 
 historians make no mention of Tell. True, all the 
 guide-books — concocted out of Switzerland — in- 
 form their patrons that there never was any such 
 person. 
 
 True, Baring-Gould, in his " Curious Myths 
 of the Middle Ages," argues that the familiar 
 story of Tell and the apple is a simon-pure 
 fiction, and in order to strengthen his position 
 points out that the analogue of the story is 
 part of the legendary record, antedating their 
 serious history, of several countries besides 
 Switzerland. That is one side of the Tell issue, 
 but there is another. 1 was at Zurich the other 
 day, and while sauntering through its arsenal 
 was shown the bow with whicli William Tell 
 "fired the shot heard round the world." And 
 a formidable weapon it is. The bow proper is 
 of steel, the stock is of oak braced with iron, 
 and the great trigger is of iron. You could tell 
 an ox with it — the bow which our old friend 
 Ulysses carried could scarcely have been harder 
 to bend. Why does Zurich keep William Tell's 
 
bow and guard it so carefully? Because of a 
 public sentiment protesting that the bow stands 
 for a fact and not for a fraud. This same 
 sentiment similarly manifests itself at Altdorf. 
 1 saw there a statue of heroic size of William 
 Tell. It was erected as late as 1861, on the 
 spot where he executed his immortal feat ot 
 marksmanship. It is certain that if any Swiss 
 should attempt to down it, he would be 
 treated by his fellow countrymen as General 
 Dix proposed to treat the miscreant who 
 offered to haul down the American flag. In 
 addition to the bow and the statue, three 
 memorial chapels attest that William Tell 
 is believed in and revered by the Swiss masses. 
 It is not in sane human nature, is it, to erect and 
 perpetuate chapels in remembrance of myths? 
 Two of the three are on Lake Lucerne, and the 
 other is at Burglen, standing on the site of the 
 house in which Tell was born. A man is born, 
 not made ; a myth is made. One of those 
 on the lake was erected in 1^588. Now the 
 Tell iconoclasts rely largely on the circum- 
 stance that "no trace of such a person," 
 7 
 
as Baedeker puts it, "is to be found in the 
 work of John of Winterthur (Vitoduranus, 
 1 ■?4q), or that of Conrad Justinger, of Bern 
 (1420), the earliest Swiss historians." But 
 the chapel in question deprives this argu- 
 ment of its significance. The two historians 
 were silent touching Tell, but here was a 
 sermon in stone, nearly as ancient as one of 
 them, and more ancient than the other, 
 testifying that there was "such a person." 
 Obviously, it bears directly and forcibly on 
 the point to incjuire how the school-children 
 of to-day, in Switzerland, are taught to regard 
 Tell. In Zurich 1 purchased recently a school- 
 book (in German) entitled " Historic Picture 
 Book for the Swiss Youth. Third edition. 
 Zurich." One of the historic pictures presented 
 in this elementary work for the instruction of 
 the Swiss youth is the familiar story of Tell's 
 dauntless heroism. Yesterday 1 borrowed one 
 of the books which the children down here 
 in this village of Weesen study. It has on its 
 title-page — this work also is in German — "The 
 Geography and History of Switzerland, for 
 
Schools and the Home. Lucerne, 1870." Like 
 the Zurich text-book, it treats William Tell as 
 a historic character, and gives whom it may 
 concern to understand that the account of his 
 achievements which have come down from 
 former generations is to be accepted, its sketch 
 of his career ends with a couplet which may 
 be translated, "The story of Tell should be 
 told as long as the mountains stand on their 
 foundations." 1 have only to add that it is 
 c]uite possible that the end of this interesting 
 contention is imminent. For although the 
 Tellites apparently are unyielding, and the 
 anti-Tellites immovable, some such compromise 
 may ultimately be agreed to by both camps 
 as the one which has united some of the 
 Homerites and anti-Homerites of England. 
 These students of Homer, according to one 
 of our witty British brethren, have unani- 
 mously resolved that "the poems commonly 
 attributed to Homer were 'not written by him, 
 but by another man — of the same name.'' 
 
 Switzerland will celebrate her six hundredth 
 birthday this week with befitting pomp and 
 9 
 
circumstance. A stranger within her gates 
 who resents the ill treatment of a good man, 
 fain would see William Tell rematerialize to 
 the confounding of his implacable enemies 
 the iconoclasts. What more inspiring oppor- 
 tunity for doing so than this great and 
 glorious anniversary ! Hence the Overture to 
 William Tell which follows. 
 
 Weesen, Switzerland, 
 A tig. 3d, i8gi. 
 
 10 
 

 HE legend of the National hero 
 of Switzerland is destitute ot 
 historical foundation. — Baede- 
 ker s Guide to Switzerland. 
 
 II 
 
WILLIAM 
 
 TELL, 
 
 thou of the 
 champion bow, 
 
 iL'ii-l Much do I yearn 
 to know 
 
 ^'^'ia im.\\\ l^m '^^f„ 
 
 - Whether the thrill- 
 ing tale that's told 
 of thee. 
 
 -fl 
 
 That's writ in school-books 
 here and o'er the sea, 
 
 And stirs all freedom's sons where'er they be. 
 
 Is genuine, as are these Alpine heights. 
 
 Or simply one of fancy's brilliant tlights 
 
 That's called in that fair land in which we dwell 
 A sell ;— 
 Pray tell us. Tell, 
 Do tell, 
 Do, Tell ! 
 
 13 
 
II. 
 
 Wert thou a man, like Brown or Jones or 
 
 Smith, 
 Or, like the bow-boy Cupid, just a myth — 
 
 A noble myth, 
 
 Of point and pitii, 
 
 But still a myth ? 
 Hast thy biography no greater worth 
 Than idlest yarn that e'er was spun on earth. 
 Which adds not to our knowledge but our 
 
 mirth, 
 Yarn spun by folks who fashion men and scenes 
 
 For the marines ? 
 
 III. 
 
 Didst thou with cruel Gessler bokily grapple. 
 Shooting from ofl" thine offspring's head an 
 
 apple, 
 Causing the arrow— ah, what skill ! — to enter 
 
 The small fruit's centre? 
 14 
 
Or wert thou ne'er in freedom's fight enlisted, 
 For the good reason tiiat thou ne'er existed ? 
 
 Pray tell us, Tell — 
 
 Ring falsehood's knell — 
 
 Do tell, 
 
 Do, Tell. 
 Re good to history and solve the mystery, 
 Give to the world thine own, thy truthful version 
 
 Of that target excursion. 
 
 IV, 
 
 'Tis held by Baedeker, that guide so honest, 
 
 That thou wert never otherwise than non est ; 
 
 He counsels tourists to be sure and label 
 
 The epic of thy deeds a cunning fable, 
 
 One bound to last 
 
 While freedom lives and Alpme peaks stand fast, 
 
 A very able. 
 
 Aye, a matchless fable, 
 
 But still a fable ! 
 15 
 
And yet, and yet, as all Cook parties know, 
 Fair Zurich town — fee half a franc — doth show, 
 With patriotic ardor all aglow, 
 Among its choicest treasures thy great bow ! 
 
 A phantom bow? 
 
 O no, not so. 
 
 But that objective bow, that concrete one, 
 
 With which thou halved the fruit and missed 
 
 thy son, 
 
 While Gessler gnashed his teeth, and felt 
 
 undone. 
 
 Muttering, ''Tell needs no tutor 
 
 As a shooter." 
 
 What doth that bow, O William Tell, imply 
 
 If not that Baedeker doth truth defy? 
 
 That what he says of thee is in his eye? 
 
 For sure if thou ne'er wert, there could not be 
 
 A bow of thine — to that must all agree — 
 
 And so 
 That bow 
 
 Just lays the sceptic low. 
 i6 
 
VI. 
 
 Besides, where mountain monarchs grandly rally 
 
 Round a fair village of the Uri Valley, 
 
 Right there, 
 
 In Altdort"'s Square, 
 
 Its pride beyond compare, 
 
 Its toast, its boast, the thing it loves the most, 
 
 As pious pilgrims love the Mount of Zion, 
 
 As loves Lucerne Thorwaldsen's splendid lion. 
 
 There stands a statue of heroic size, 
 
 Strength in its limbs and valor in its eyes, 
 
 The statue of a man and, mark you well, 
 
 O, keen-eyed Baedeker, the man is Tell, 
 
 Is William Tell, 
 
 Tell, the apple-shooter. 
 
 Tell, the Gessler-hooter ! 
 
 And as the bow of William Tell implied 
 
 A William Tell, logicians must decide 
 
 That Altdorf's statue clearly presupposes 
 
 The self-same man, as rose-leaves call for roses, 
 
 Or as a count of noses calls for noses, 
 17 
 
Or as the books of Moses call for Moses. 
 
 Well may the Swiss, then, sternly put aside 
 
 And deride 
 Baedeker's guide ! 
 
 VII. 
 
 And so the chapels christened with thy name. 
 If they could have a tongue would fierce exclaim 
 To the vain vandals who attack thy fame, 
 
 " For shame ! " 
 Like statue and like bow each little chapel 
 Necessitates the cleaver of the apple — 
 
 Canst thou not hear them cry, with scorn 
 and scoff, 
 
 "Come off!" 
 
 VIII. 
 Rut tliis is not enough, O Tell, for though 
 Chapel and statue and the Zurich bow, 
 And every Alpine mount and lake and dell, 
 authenticate the claims of Vv'illiam Tell, 
 
 AH is not well 
 i8 
 
While yet the lusty demon known as Doubt 
 On every breeze its horrid flag doth flout, 
 And aims to put thy memory to rout, 
 
 To knock thee out. 
 We pray thee celebrate thy country's birth 
 By coming back again to Alpine earth. 
 Come back ! come back ! upon her birthday 
 
 morn, 
 Top of Mount Blanc or on the Matterhorn 
 Greet thou her glorious sixth centennial dawn ; 
 Then, on a lightning train to Zurich go 
 
 And get thy bow 
 And shout, in voice that thrills from plain 
 
 to plain, 
 
 "Ye crags and peaks, I'm with thee once 
 
 again," 
 
 To the astounding 
 
 And confounding 
 
 Of tiiose who'd rob thee of thy dazzling fame; 
 
 Come back, O Tell, and stop the sceptic's bark 
 
 Reshooting at that mark ; 
 19 
 
And since 'twould be unfair, in fact, a crime, 
 To risk a little boy a second time, 
 it might be well, in view of what he's said. 
 To place the apple on the sceptic's head — 
 
 On Baedeker's head ; 
 Then, if thou hit'st the fruit, acclaims shall rise 
 
 To the skies. 
 And Baedeker must prompt apologize. 
 But if the arrow, flying rather low, 
 Goes through the sceptic's head — but no, not so, 
 
 We know 
 
 Thy bow. 
 And 'tis a perfect shame to doubt tliy aim! 
 
 20 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 illillllllllllillllii 
 
 015 873 620 2 
 
 
 m 
 
 B 
 
 ^^^H 
 
 K^"*'. 
 
 , ) 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 ■ 
 
 ^^^H 
 
 HI* "' 
 
 •,; 
 
 ^^9 
 
 ffi 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 r 
 
 i' » 
 
 
 
 
 jPPfiH 
 
 ^Bu" 
 
 V