. St. Nicholas [serial] . OX. 307 As with his wings aslantSails the fierce cormorant,Seeking some rocky haunt, With his prey laden,So toward the open main,Beating to sea again,Through the wild hurricane, Bore I the maiden. Three weeks we westward bore,And when the storm was oer,Cloud-like we saw the shore Stretching to leeward;There for my ladys bowerBuilt I the lofty tower,Which, to this very hour, Stands looking seaward. There we lived many years;Time dried the maidens tears;She had forgot her fears,She was a mother; Death closed her mild blue eyes,Under that tower she lies ;Neer shall the s
. St. Nicholas [serial] . OX. 307 As with his wings aslantSails the fierce cormorant,Seeking some rocky haunt, With his prey laden,So toward the open main,Beating to sea again,Through the wild hurricane, Bore I the maiden. Three weeks we westward bore,And when the storm was oer,Cloud-like we saw the shore Stretching to leeward;There for my ladys bowerBuilt I the lofty tower,Which, to this very hour, Stands looking seaward. There we lived many years;Time dried the maidens tears;She had forgot her fears,She was a mother; Death closed her mild blue eyes,Under that tower she lies ;Neer shall the sun ariseOn such another ! Still grew my bosom then,Still as a stagnant fen !Hateful to me were men. The sunlight hateful !In the vast forest here,Clad in my warlike gear,Fell I upon my spear, O, death was grateful ! Thus, seamed with many scars,Bursting these prison bars,Up to its native stars My soul ascended;There from the flowing bowlDeep drinks the warriors soul,Skoal! to the Northland! Skoal!* —Thus the tale THE OLD TOWER AT NEWPORT. In Scandinavia, Skoal is the customary salutation when drinking a health. 3o8 THE ST. NICHOLAS TREASURE-BOX, [February, A LITTLE more than twenty years before our Americanpoet thus put life into the old ruin at Newport, our firstgreat American prose-writer went over the sea to enjoythe living sights and sounds of old England. In hisSketch-Book, published there in 1S18, Irving not onlymade forever romantic the shores of his native Hudson—for when can Rip Van Winkle11 and The Legend ofSleepy Hollow be forgotten?—but he also made Eng-land itself more interesting to Englishmen and to theworld. He told of familiar things, but always his keeninsight, tender, playful fancy, and exquisite literary skillgave a new value to the scene described. His historiesand more profound works of biography and travelwill interest you in time; we shall content ourselvesfor the present with putting into The Treasure-Boxan extract from The Sketch-Book. To
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