The Squire of Sandal-Side

Squire of Sandal-Side, The

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Title: The Squire of Sandal-Side A Pastoral Romance
Author: Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr

Release Date: July 10, 2005 [eBook #16258]
Language: English
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THE SQUIRE OF SANDAL-SIDE

A Pastoral Romance
by
AMELIA E. BARR
Author of "Jan Vedder's Wife," "A Daughter of Fife," "The Bow of
Orange Ribbon," etc.
New York The A.D. Porter Co. Publishers
1886

CONTENTS.
I. SEAT-SANDAL
II. THE SHEEP-SHEARING
III. JULIUS SANDAL
IV. THUS RUNS THE WORLD AWAY
V. CHARLOTTE
VI. THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS
VII. WOOING AND WEDDING
VIII. THE ENEMY IN THE HOUSEHOLD
IX. ESAU
X. THE NEW SQUIRE
XI. SANDAL AND SANDAL

CHAPTER I.
SEAT-SANDAL.
"This happy breed of men, this little world."
"To know That which before us lies in daily life Is the prime wisdom."
"All that are lovers of virtue ... be quiet, and go a-angling."
There is a mountain called Seat-Sandal, between the Dunmail Raise
and Grisedale Pass; and those who have stood upon its summit know
that Grasmere vale and lake lie at their feet, and that Windermere,
Esthwaite, and Coniston, with many arms of the sea, and a grand
brotherhood of mountains, are all around them. There is also an old
gray manor-house of the same name. It is some miles distant from the
foot of the mountain, snugly sheltered in one of the loveliest valleys
between Coniston and Torver. No one knows when the first stones of
this house were laid. The Sandals were in Sandal-Side when the
white-handed, waxen-faced Edward was building Westminster Abbey,
and William the Norman was laying plans for the crown of England.
Probably they came with those Norsemen who a century earlier made
the Isle of Man their headquarters, and from it, landing on the opposite
coast of Cumberland, settled themselves among valleys and lakes and
mountains of primeval beauty, which must have strongly reminded
them of their native land.
For the prevailing names of this district are all of the Norwegian type,
especially such abounding suffixes and prefixes as seat from "set," a
dwelling; dale from "dal," a valley; fell from "fjeld," a mountain; garth
from "gard," an enclosure; and thwaite, from "thveit," a clearing. It is
certain, also, that, in spite of much Anglo-Saxon admixture, the salt

blood of the roving Viking is still in the Cumberland dalesman.
Centuries of bucolic isolation have not obliterated it. Every now and
then the sea calls some farmer or shepherd, and the restless drop in his
veins gives him no peace till he has found his way over the hills and
fells to the port of Whitehaven, and gone back to the cradling bosom
that rocked his ancestors.
But in the main, this lovely spot was a northern Lotus-land to the
Viking. The great hills shut him in from the sight of the sea. He built
himself a "seat," and enclosed "thwaites" of greater or less extent; and,
forgetting the world in his green paradise, was for centuries almost
forgotten by the world. And if long descent and an ancient family have
any special claim to be held honorable, it is among the Cumberland
"statesmen," or freeholders, it must be looked for in England.
The Sandals have been wise and fortunate owners of the acres which
Lögberg Sandal cleared for his descendants. They have a family
tradition that he came from Iceland in his own galley; and a late
generation has written out portions of a saga,--long orally
transmitted,--which relates the incidents of his voyage. All the Sandals
believe implicitly in its authenticity; and, indeed, though it is full of
fighting, of the plunder of gold and rich raiment, and the carrying off of
fair women, there is nothing improbable in its relations, considering the
people and the time whose story it professes to tell.
Doubtless this very Lögberg Sandal built the central hall of Seat-Sandal.
There were giants in those days; and it must have been the hands of
giants that piled the massive blocks, and eyes accustomed to great
expanses that measured off the large and lofty space. Smaller rooms
have been built above it and around it, and every generation has added
something to its beauty and comfort; but Lögberg's great hall, with its
enormous fireplace, is still the heart of the home.
For