The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1878-04-27

SuiuS Tue hauueTeIs saIeiJ nome, tnFC
perilous storms and darkness ! IF Fathe
Jan would but return-with the long trail
of feet footed dogs, and the great sledg
packed with bountiful provision for th
cherries remnant of winter. Or even tn
tall brother, Feodor-mounted on hug
snow shoes, and gaily drawing his ligh
sled, heaped with spoils of the winter chase
But Father Jan was leagues away, beyon,
the bleak fells and perilous ice-cliffs, tn,
iron barriers that bounded the Norwegian
cotter's narrow world And Feodor
tracking his prey along the frozen fords
might not return till the hearth was colo
the failing larder empty
And then, the Easter garlauds, for tn,
Holy Virgins shrine at Halk-dal-and tht
Easter offering of white bread, eggs and
honey, for the dear Gods needy ones-th,
poor! Ola wept afresh-her fair fac,
hidden in gray Freyda's silky neck. Per
haps the beloved mother, and the helpless
little ones of their own humble household
would sorely need the simple aims tha
Ola's pious hands had yearly offered at tn,
far away village shrine And yet, if sh,
were forced to go empty handed upon hel
annual pilgrimage at -tide-woulC
not the blessed mother-the mother O.
sorrows-knowing her poverty, and pity
ing her helplessness, smile on her from tht
blissful Heaven, and grant her humble
petitions all the same?
A CLEAN of comfort warmed her gentle
heart, tho she remembered with a pans
of keen regretfnl anguish the wonderful
garland of cliff-roses, vowed to the Blessed
Virgin on Easter-day-the marvellous, rart
cliff-roses, that only her Nicklas dare
gather-the secret of whose perilous haunt.
had died with him
For, months ago, ere the grass withered
and the first SHOWS fell, and the wintry
gales blew wildly, Nicklas Sword, the bold
young seal hunter, had ventured his frai
boat amid the black waters beyond the
fretful ford. A great tempest arose sud
denly, churning the waves to white Tipped
fury among the grinding iceblocks of the
gloomy northern sea; the little boat, rent
and splintered, had driven ashore-but
handsome, stalwart Nicklas came not back
again.
Ola was his bctrothed, and the shock Of
his loss, the anguish of suspense, had
stricken the red from her cheek, the light
from her sweet blue eyes. For while the
widowed mother sat forlornly at her lonely
hearth, and offered fearful prisons for the
repose of the lost ones soul, Ola's faithful
heart refused to believe her daring young
lover forever wrested from her But as
the days and weeks and months crept by
and fierce gales drove the whirling SHOWS
and heaped them high in the familiar
ways, aud still no token of Nicklas, living
or dead, came back to her from the dark
world of winter and of storms, the little
maid dreoped silently, borne down with
the burden of despairing grief for the bold
hunter whose fate was hidden among the
wild mysteries of the tempest and the sea.
Ola wept piteously, recalling his fond
words at parting, and how he had gaily
reminded her of the promised Easter chap.
let, that blossoms only at that holy season
far up in sunny orevloes of the eternal
icy walls, that beetle in awful sublimity
above the fretful sea.
But now alas though all the cliff were
hung with festal flowers, the strong hand
had forgotten its cunning, the agile foot
its lightness, and never more for her would
there be roses, or sunshine, or gladness in
all the weary world
Kissing the white star in Freyda's fore,
head, Ola arose, and lifting her brimming
bucket with care, sped back to the cottage
and the hungry children waiting for theiI
accustomed draught of warm new milk.
The slow hours crawled away; the peev.
ish babe had moaned itself to sleep on the
weary mothers breast. The children
played noiselessly beside the open hearth,
stone, or crept to their rude couches, and
cuddled for warmth beneath the furry GOV.
erings. Ola, with deft haste, trimmed
the sputtering lamp anew, fed the low fire
and set the house-place in careful order
Then wrapt securely from the biting cold
she stole forth with light steps, to scan the
heavens for tidings of the morning.
Her heart leapt up in great throb Oi
thankfulness as the keen air smote her like
tempered bladel The earth was one
wide wilderness of white and grOtesquG
silence. The wind had fallen, and breathed
in fitful gasps among the sibilant pines
like the painting of strong runner, spent
in the race Brilliant stars in Gordon ant
cluster, and here and there in solitary
splendor, blazed through weird and lumin
GUS haze, that hung in mighty, undulat
ing folds from zenith to horizon. Far of
the ink black sea line, fretted with mys
terious fire, rose and fell in long, harmon
ious curves, behind an ominous wall o.
murky purple, the east glowed duly, like
the rage Of a smouldering couAagration
The shattered snow-cloud, driving south
ward, pointed menaeing, colossal hanC
toward the cleaning west. The wide
dark sOltudes of the northern HeayeT
were dark and solitary no longer. A stu
pendous arch Of glowing, palpitating Grim
son spanned the world from east to west
and drifting films of violet, orange ant
misty rose-pink fed swiftly across tn
heavens, Frightening and paling and fad
ing as they fed
From the unfathomed crystal spaces o
remOtest polar night came troOping fort
the ''merry dancers, 1.-THE, silent and siu
uous as of Ed, the fablsd FyGie that pee
pie the old Morse fairy lore.
Ola searched with longing eyes tn
warming east, above whose jagged rim @
stormy purple brooded haggard bright
ness, like the mornings; then turned
watch the mystic evolutions of the eri'
jewellers.
4 wavy belt of lambent, silvery spler
dor flowed round the cleaning north
tremulous, pulsating with magnetic Iii
and motion, shooting up jets and sprays
intense white light, that swayed and throl
bed, and inter-twinsd, and sank and 70: