Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1893-01-26


shine Of my lamp, while the night wind
signs without, and across these lean,
chin hands, these palsied, knotted
fingers that tremble like the white
aspen leaves, lies fair braid Of yellow
hair. Long, long it seems since that
braid was cut from the head that grew
1t. Long, long months Of pain and days
Of regretting have passed since that
strand was cut from it's wearer; the
salt sea has dimmed it, time has touched
Its luster, and the dark stain Of blood Is
upon it, yet as I, the monk Ulla,
raise that fair thing again and again to
my lips and press it where naught but
the sign Of the new faith should be
pressed-press it trembling and silently
70 those cold lips-something Of the old
love shoots through my shrunken veins
something of the strong passion that
once nerved them tingles into those
withered fingers that smooth that gleam-
ing toy so tenderly and white mist
rises to my dull eyes, and my head
troops forward, and the little cell seems
wi lening out as wide as life ITSELF and
sad as the sound Of the wind among
pine trees, desolate as the beat of the
HEeless pulse Of the sea upon the rim of
, Ae night comes to my lonely heart the
PHO of long ago.
biI ut was in the time Of my master, Half
, Jd IN the Black, and 1 was Norway jarl
add lived by the white lip of the sea in
Baldersuud. I was young then, I was
scarcely twenty, and had herds and men
and farms all the way up the wild coast
as far up as fair Hitteren, and long
ship lay in the creep by my homestead,
and boar hounds lay on the rushes by my
nglenook, and my bows and spears lay
On the tressels, and hundred jolly fell
lows drank from my flowing horns and
carved my meats each day, and were
proud to call me lord and leader. Three
times as many stocked my yellow har-
vests and filled my barns. And l was
strong and tall and big Of limb, and al
though l was so young had already
been twice abroad and had harried
across the wide sea in distant Fareyiar
and down south to Liodhus. 1 had
slipped the glorious wine of battle, and
watched the red flame of burning thorp
and tower leap up to heaven from my
footsteps. Princes had courted me and
scalds had sung; everything had,
everything that q Lold heart could hope
Tor or strong hand reach-everything
but one; the chair on my left hand still
stood empty at the feast, no bright eyes
welcomed Ulla returning victorious from
a foray, no tall Norway maid tempered
with her presence the rude revelry In
his fathers hall, for Ulla was unwed.
Yet it was not for lack Of fitting
choice, for our maids were straight as
young spruces, supple as the yellow
sedges by the tarns and fair as the
spring flowers of the fields when the
May snow rolls back from them, and
many such might l have had for the
asking. Thoralla there was, for in
stance, whose locks were as yellow as
The ripe hill barley; and INN, whose
sky-blue eyes shone wondrously kindly
On her handsome neighbor when they
met in shady forest path; and Thyri the
" slim, whose mother thought the lands Of
Ulla and their own would we'll match
together, and Thora the smiler and
many another. But 1 was wild and
hayward, and as difficult to net as the
tree blue hawks that sill along the cliff
face in springtime.
Matters were like this when nv
master, King Ha'idan, more easily per-
suaded, had determined to marry the
romely Ragnhild, daughter of Harold
Goldbeard, and, everything having beeu
settled by the ambassadors, one day in
early summer from all the isles and
lords and every river town and noun
tain fiat came troOping the Norway lords
and chiefs to honor the ceremonial and
see the show. By Frigga's self that
was day, when all those cavaliers came
riding down to the plain by the southern
city, and so far as the eye could see the
meadows were aglisten with spear and
cuirass and winged helms, and every
way was blocked with mighty men in
skins and golden armor, strong sons of
pdin with wild blue eyes, keen features,
and yellow hair astream upon their
shoulders and mighty muscles showing
beneath their clinking armlets and
bands of beaten metal. Indeed, that
was day, and could fill here as sit
with nothing but the blank rock wall
before me, hundred pages with the
names and deeds of those who came,
and every name should sound to YOU
IKE that OF giant and princely brother.
and every splendid deed 1 linked to
every name should bring the blush of
pride to your cheek and the pulse Of
pleasure to your kindred hearts-but
the lamp burns low and 1 am no scald.
therefore let those warlike shadows pass