The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-08-26
Midsummer-day in Sweden

W ul1o We W0T0 E0StluS dG the hi
| In The shade of the temporary birch
grove, my companion let fall, quite
carelessly and as if by chance, this
sentence: THE younger members
of the community while away the
long twilight with dances around
the richly decked May-po1es." 1t
had a suspicious sound, a Baedeker
rhythm. to it. l couldn't help think.
ing l had heard 1t somewhere be-
fore; but his placid countenance
betrayed no sign, and L charged my
suspicious to oversensitiveness on
the guide-bOOk question, and cred
tied the rolling sentence to
sudden flash of literary
fire. But that sentence proved
to be cur torment, for it began to
ride us the moment it was uttered.
We inquired of the landlord If there
was any twilight festival that night.
He had heard there was TO be. The
boys and girls usually trimmed the
May-pole, and he believed they
danced around it at midnight. For
his part he never sat up all night;
he always turned in at IL o'clock,
summer and winter.
The possibility of pastoral festi-
val at the romantic hour when the
golden hues Of dawn meet and min.
gle with the sunset red was too
tempting for US to resist, and in
stead of experimenting with sleep
we strolled village ward from the
inn at about eleven o'clock. The
sun had disappeared behind the
trees an hour or more before. but
there seemed to be no diminution
of his light. The glare was gone,
not the illuminating power. In the
west a line of red and orange
clouds, recalling the splendOTs of
Venetian sunset. changed slowly
in form, but never lost its brilliancy
of colorIng. A strong diffused light,
casting no shadow, came from the
whole dome of the heavens, giving
an unnatural color to the grass and
to the masses of foliage. The
strangeuess of the effect seemed al
most portentous, as if some great
CONFUSION Of nature were about to
take place. It was like that glow
of late sunset which in other eli
mates is always rare and always
evanesceut. No dew had fallen,
but across the meadows rose thin
mist, floating lightly on the breath
of the evening, drifting into fam
tastic. ghost-like shapes.
Across the valley the distant hill
sides were harmonized by the soft
ness of the light into broad masses
against the sky, but still all details
were visible as the delicate haze of
an afternoon in Indian summer,
There were no signs of n ght in the
village. Doors and windows were
open, and children were playing
arouI d the PROSTATE May pole
lPeTChed on the fences sat rows of
men and boys quietly chatting. We
sat on the fence also, and, in
order to feel more at home,
began TO white little sticks like
some of the mer, AMI tried
to look as careless and contented as
they did. We sat there a half hour
or more, then changed to a fence OF
another shape and sat another half
hour, and still nothing particular
took place. Then we began to think
it was only a kind of open-air
watch party to welcome the mid.
summer sun on St. John's-day. But
while we were meditating a return
to the hotel there was a stir in the
street, and a party of stout girls
appeared upon the scene, bearing
great bundles Of birch boughs, grass
and field flowers, Throwing
these in a fragrant heap upon
the steps Of house, they all set to
work in busy crowd, and in short
time had woven Wreaths and gar.
lands and were decorating the
striped pole, No loud words were
spoken. scarcely laugh broke the
stiffness Of the night. 1t was SOL
emn, almost religious ceremony.
From the red of the sunset sky a
delicate rosy reflection touched the
white sleeves and kerchiefs, and
harmOniZed the harsh colors of the
caps and aprons. Even the crudeIY
painted architecture was modI-
fed into unobtrusive quality of
tone by the soft light. One
by one the busy workers ceased
their labors as the ugly pole grew
into graceful shape, and spread long
arms with trailing Wreaths and
tufts Of flowers. The men watched
on in silence, the tired children
stopped their whispers and sat in
ranks on the curbstone. Now the
cool draught of night only stirred
the leaves at intervals, the
mist settled low upon the meads
oWs, and the weird forms
melted away. A new light
from some mysterious quarter
gradually spread itself over the
landscape, and even while scarcely
visible changed the general tone.
The rosy reflection from the west
lost its delicate quality, faded into
cooler light, then changed to the
faintest tinge of gold. 1t was the
charm of sunset changing to the
beauty of sunrise. Slowly, almost
imperceptlbly, came the transforma-
ton. The glory Of the east riyaled
awhile the splendOr of the west,until
the first rays of the sun shot across
the sky, and it was day again. At
that momen6 the pole was put in its
L Il