The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1902-01-18

and if l choose to marry again, will
not consult the cousins and aunts, who
would marry every widow to her, hus-
bands brother and thus avoid divi-
sion of the patrimony. l will not sub
init to it. will not marry Hans Frerik,
and if he"
She did not finish her sentence, for
the door softly opened, and "See Seep
called childish voice. As Marie, her
little three-year-old daughter, thrust
her head through the opening, Marya
flew toward her. Selling the child and
lifting. her high in the air, she danced
round and round with her, until the
childs short skirts became inflated and
the little paper ship which she held by
long thread, took it's first voyage upon
the air. Glad shouts proclaimed Marie's
enjoyment of the sport. When released
by her mother, she climbed upon her
grandfather's knee, showed him her
little ship, and begged him to sail out
with her upon the Elbe to Hamburg.
The grandfather fondly stroked the
child's head and promised to build big
ship in which they two would sail away
over the sea, past England to the beau
tiful Odessa, her grandmother'S early
home.
Marya began humming the melan-
choly refrain of simple, rhymeless
ballad, in which Marie's thin, childish
voice soon Joined, for the child already
knew the song.
"a happy heart beats in my breast
But heavy weight upon it lies"
The soft, monotonous voice and the
name, Marya, were all that might give
one clew to the young woman's east
ern origin. But they were sufficient to
cause the islanders to bestow upon her
the name they had formerly given her
mother-"The Stranger" Her GRANDPA
ther greatly disliked her foreign name;
as he considered himself one of the pa
triarchs of the community, he insisted
that the oriental Marya, should, for the
child, be translated into the German
Marie.
The old tower, the home of Maya
and her grandfather, is rude, clumsy
structure, upon the island Neuwerk,
which lies upon the extreme northwest
ern coast of Germany. The islanders
call it The Lighthouse. Built upon
point, which, at ebb tide is connected
with the main island by stretch of sea
marshes, at food tide it stands a lone
sentinel in the midst of the surging sea-
Many and varied have been the services
rendered by this strange old tower
| While for ages it's massive walls have
afforded shelter and hospitality, the
lantern surmounting the structure, with
its two-andthirty lights, intensified by
polished ret1ectors, has been a beacon TO
numberleSS pilots, enabling them to
guide their vessels safely among the
sands that lie at the mouth of the Elbe.
1t has seen generation after genera
ton pass away In the five hundred
years of its history, war, murder and
other deeds of violence, as well as the
destructive force of the sea, have ragged
in and about it, All classes of people
have found shelter beneath it's gray, old
roof; merchant princes, whose sway eX-
tended over the highways Of the sea;
defiant sea-robbers, foes to the COM
merce of the fourishing city of Ham
burg, who here awaited trial and judg-
ment; shipwrecLed sailors, who found
foreign climes, who had now and again
settled upon the island and made their
home in the old tower.
But all that is long past. Even since
the time when Maya, The Stranger, ~
had SO disturbed the peace of the little
community within the bikes, thousand
tides have ebbed and flowed, and scarce
one old woman lives that can tell the
story of her strange deed Here and
there, however, may be found an old
gray-haired sea-dog, who can still re.
call the events of that night. long past
when the guiding star of the lighthouse
disappeared, and the death and destruc'
ton that followed were attributed tc
the frenzied throbbing of one woman'S
heart.
Daylight was fading. From her high
outlook, Marya had watched the great
red disk of the sun sink below the hori
zon. Every evening she did this. Only
after the last quivering rays had van
ished and the dark blue canopy of twi
light overshadowed the murmuring sea
did she recall to mind her household du
ties. Her grandfather prepared to dis
charge the duties of his position, for ole
Peter Eilt was both keeper of the light
house and governor of the island. Lit
tie Marie accompanied him, still beg
ging for more stories of strange land,
beyond the sea, where flowers grow a:
large as the plate from which she at,
her supper.
zone becomes child again with tn,
little darling and would fain conjur(
the sun from the heavens for her. sale
the old man as he assembled the stairs
again to polish the retlectors before the
lamps were lighted Marya seized tn,
little one again and embraced her will
such fierce fondness that Marie strug
gled to free herself and ran screamin;
after her grandfather.
Il am going to get some water,
called Maya after the two as she tool
her waterpails and went down tn
steps. As she emerged from the archct
doorway below, she stood motionles