Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1891-09-19
The Charivari.

A long, long way from here, away up
north in the land of snow and ice, many,
very many, years ago, reigned mighty
Morse King. He was mighty because
his little handful of subjects knew of no
other king They knew nothing of any
other cline than theirs Their world was
bounded by their little knowledge of it..
1t had only radius of the distance
they might travel in their reindeer sled
ges and return again ere they should
perish from cold.
These people had no books nor papers.
They had language, imperfect to be
sure, yet perfect enough to keep an oral
record of the history of their kings. whom
they believed to be descended from the
gods of the air. They lived among the
rocks, the glaciers and snow fields.
Their language took the character of
their surroundings. 1t was rough and
harsh as the north wind-the breath of
Thor. Thor was the god of the thunder,
of storms. His ice palace was high above
the highest mountain top. He was
feared and worshiped by these people,
All was cold and frozen there except, in
deed, the hearts of the strange people
whose complexion was ike the snow,
whose hair was the color of the pale, cold
sunbeams and whose eyes were the blue
of the sky above. They loved each other
and idolized their king. And, when at
last little daughter was borne to him; a
little princess was lcome to them, great
was their rejoicing. Their poet, who
sang the history of the Morse folk, and
who was next in importance to the king
himself, visited the royal family that he
might tell in bis peculiar rhyme of the
beauty and prospects of this future queen
of the Morse people. Schnoe Flocken, or
Snow Flake, they had called her because
she was like an image in wax, SO white,
SO round, SO perfect. Never before did
the great poet have such beautiful sub.
ject, and never thought the people did be
create such sweet and melodious poetry.
He did his best because his poem was to
be part of the history of his people. It
would be remembered by the old, taught
to the young, and handed down from
generation to generation. So the poet
historian did his best and the people were
delighted. Very discordant it would all
seem to us. Their cultural words. in
which are SO many consonants, do not
flow smooth and free as do the words of
the people in warm sunny chimes, where
the language itself is tempered by warm
sunshine. gentle breezes, and enriched by
the names of beautiful flowers, trees, and
the pleasant songs of birds. So harsh
and discordant is their poetry to rs that
you will smile at comparison made by
great scholar, who had learned to read
these Morse poems after they had been,
in later years, printed in books. This
scholar was at one time farmer boy in
Indiana. He had a liking for langugaaea
He learned many. Among them was the
language OF this Morse people. He
learned to read it that he might translate
some OF their stories But We viii
speak OF him and his work again. ssThe
rythm," said he, els very strange. read
those poems aloud to myself, and can
think ofnothing which the sound more
resembles than the noise Of rolling ffosen
pumpkins from q wagon down . board
over the barn floor" Can yon imaeine