Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1852-06-03
Interesting TO the Ladies'.
MADAME PFEIFFER IN ICELAND

MADAME PFEIFFER IN ICELAND
From the age of ten years, Madame
Pfeiffer tells us, she had passion for
travelling, and particular desire to vis-
it Iceland. Her desire has been gratifed.
In the year 1945, she left Vienna, unat-
tended as usual, and found her way, af-
ter various perils, to the island of her
hopes. She had formed a high opinion
of the Icelanders from the writings of
travellers, conceiying them to be exempt
from the vices Of European society, and
to abound in all the patriarchal virtues
How far her previous impressions were
confirmed may be learned from the few
facts which We select from the interesting
volume in which she relates her adven-
lures The houses of the higher classes
IN Iceland are arranged precisely IN the
0rdenary style, mahogany furniture, mir
rors, sofas, etc. In the capital she found
SeG P1an0f0teS. The huts of the peasan-
try are, in external appearance, like nat
ural hillocks, ".small, low, made of lava
blocks, filled in with dirt and covered with
grass" Within, they are filthy beyond
possibility of description. The Icelandic
ladies are more stiff and formal towards
strangers than any whom Madame Pfeif-
fer had ever before met, and by no means
inclined to hospitality. Persons of large
fortune and great naturalists) well fur
nished with money and presents) are the
only persons likely to be well received in
Icelandic society. The men are of me-
dunn height, generally very ugly, the wo-
men less so. The peasantry have great
many children, most of whom die in in
fancy, because, instead of being nursed
by their mothers, they are brought up up
on the most unwholesome kinds of food.
There is not a carriage of any description
ton in Iceland, nor road upon which
one could be used. The clergy receive
from ntnety-S5.r cents TO ninety-SlI dollars
per anmatna, in addition to house, few
fields and some cattle, which are furnish
ed by the government. The people suffer
more from heat than cold. When the ther-
mometer is at seventy, no one will work
and in the midst of the harvest they wait
till the evening before they begin the Ia
bors of the day. The women wear nc
ornaments, but all are comfortably clad
Every one can read, and nearly all write
though there is but one school in the isl.
and. The father of the family is usually
the sole instructor of his children. Books
mostly of religious character, are seen
in every house. Their religion is the
Lutheran. The churches are extremely
small, and are used for storing provisions
tools and clothing, and are generally ap-
propriated as night quarters to traveller
Madame Pfeifer usually slept in church
during the whole of her solitary tour
The Icelandic peasantry are lazy to the
last conceivable degree, revoltingly dirty
in their persons and habits, very curious
devoid of all notions of delicacy and pro-
priety, thoroughly selfish and mercenary
" No power on earth can divert an Ice.
lander from his accustomed ways" They
think no scenes in any country can equal
in beauty some of their valleys which
chance to have little green grass and q
few stunted trees. The universal mode
of salutation, at meeting and parting, is a
IOaId kaSS. The peasant kisses the daugh,
ters of the magistrate, and they kiss him
in return. The pastor is also kissed on
Sunday after service, by all his flock
In short, kiss in Iceland is equivalent
to our hand shaking; yet the people are
all honest. There is no prison on the isl,
and there are no criminals, no locks
bolts or bars; though drunkenness is very
common vice The reader will see from
these statements that Madame Pfeiffel
was disappointed in the people of Iceland
She commends their trustworthiness, but
all the other features of their character
excited her disgust.