Viking brave on land or sea, Dauntless hero of liberty, While ages hang on bearded clay, Among the great thy name shall sway. Chroniclers shall paint thee in shades resplendent, Thy fame as the pine shall sway independent, Nations shall rise from lethargy old To tune the feats of the Norsemen bold. Suns of the South reflect thy rays, They breathe thy prowess on wild-flying sprays, But their light shall wane with ages to come, The stars of the future shall pale proud Rome. The foam-crest brine thy daring spells, Thy wings have climbed impetuous swells, In tempests wild o'er main afar, Thy only guide the burning star. Iceland and Greenland hast thou found, With valor to thy honor crowned, The Faroes in the salty deep, And others that in the ocean sleep. Thy scepter has on Sicily swayed, Thy brawny arms with Albion played, And Normandy to thy venture shines, With royal courts and eglantines. Beyond the sea maid's unkempt hair, Lay forests rich and jewels rare, Undreamt by kings of fame and power, "For the shore," shouts Leif, "spite storm and shower." _Vinland_ for the Norseman brave, The honor he to his country gave, Born with thee, an unknown strand, America, sweet freedom's land. _From "An Ode to the Land of the Vikings."_--_Stine._ The author does not aim to lift the Scandinavians into an air of ungained merit, he does not aim to clothe them with undeserved encomium, but seeks to paint their dues in a straightforward way, thoughtless of sailing the sea of hyperbole, or entering any strait of unearned exploit. In order, however, to give the reader a clear conception of the spirit, the intrepidity, the characteristic worth of the northern peoples, my pen cannot refrain from plowing into the annals of the past. History is plain and authentic on the subject, and the same chivalric blood ebbs through the veins of the Vikings today as of yore. They have shared and do share the burdens of adventure, discovery and colonzation. They have nurtured their sons and daughters with patriotic zeal, and unfurled to their love the folds of freedom. They have braved the foam-crest waves minus compass and sympathy--stars of night and sun of day guided them over the traceless billows. Their dauntless sails have wafted in sun and storm from shore to shore and woven together distant climes. From the dawn of navigation and soldiery the Scandinavians have evinced skill and dexterity, filled with a whim to roam, see and conquer. They were, perhaps, sometimes rough in their daring expeditions, but always actuated with a will to plant the scepter of liberty and to raise the standard of civilization.