the midnight
sun
They came of a great breed , and their mothers were many ; but the fur-clad denizens of the Northland had this yet to learn . So many an unsung wanderer fought his last and died under the cold fire of the aurora , as did his brothers in burning sands and reeking jungles , and as they shall continue to do till in the fulness of time the destiny of their race be achieved . It was near twelve . Along the northern horizon a rosy glow , fading to the west and deepening to the east , marked the unseen dip of the midnight sun . The gloaming and the dawn were so commingled that there was no night , -- simply a wedding of day with day , a scarcely perceptible blending of two circles of the sun . A kildee timidly chirped good-night ; the full , rich throat of a robin proclaimed good-morrow . From an island on the breast of the Yukon a colony of wild fowl voiced its interminable wrongs , while a loon laughed mockingly back across a still stretch of river .