Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-04-01


/ Phietus Sawyer, of the Sixth Wisconsin
district, was born ut Whiting, Vt. Sept
| %, 1S16,-Rutiand Herald
From the Evening Post.
The Ancient Yinland.
| The recent lecture of Mr. Kingsley has
! brought to the surface once more the sub
ject of the discovery of America by the
| Mortimer. 1t forms proper and inter
esting lecture theme, and it is. therefore.
to be regretted that Mr.. Kingsley has been
misled, on some points of it, by the over
Jealous statements of the, Copenhagen
antiquares. 1t is indeed high time that
! this matter was set right and cleared. once
| for all, of the absurdties which have
been made to cluster around it. The
Newport Windmill,' the Dighton
Rock" the effort to identify the - Hop"
of the lcelander with The modern Mount
Hope and the name of Nauset Beach with
the Icelandic - nesit (the cape, are eX-
crescences for which the simple and hon
est saga men of Iceland are in nowise re-
sponsible The story of the successive
discovery by the Mortimer of Iceland
Greenland and the mainland of North
America. together with the colonization of
the tirst-named countries, as told in the
sagas, is essentially is trustworthy as any
historical narration of the same date. Ii
is confirmed, in the case of Iceland and
Greenland by testimony of the most solid
and irrefragable character. But what is
needed, for various reasons. is Il good crit
Iraf edition of those passages i'll which
the voyages tothe mainland are mentioned,
t,'ited by some unprjudiced Icel;tn,iic
scholar. The AntiquIates Amcrictnp
of the Danish Royal Society of Northcrn
AntiquhrieS, and the other publications.
embracing the comments and surmi,cs ul
Professors Rain ana Finn Magnns>on, are
works Win ii attempt 10 prove far too
much. They have rather hurt than hclprJ
the cause which they avo .tled, since their
untoun,ied statements have either misled
historical writers, or induced them to look
askance at the whole subject of the pre-
Columbian discovery of the western CONT
nent.
The four points indicative to the site of
Ninland which seem to be fairly deducible
from the sagaS ?rc: l. That it aS Il
wooded Land: ?. That it WAS within the
region of growth of the fox-grape: 2.
That the natives We're of the Eskimo race
/. hat the 22d of December was about
seven hours in length. In addition to
these facts II may he considered probable
that the land produced some sort Of wild
grain, that the eder-ducks were found on
it. and that it WIS not many DAYS sail
from western Greenland. All the vov-
ayers agree that it was a district of forests
The name given To il. even without tn.
story of the German Tyrker and his discov-
cry of the grapes, proves that it WAS with
in the vine limit. The appellation beStow-
ii Il, Il.
descriptions of them. leave little doubt rs
to their Eskimo character. The statement
concerning the length of the shortest dly
in the year is So precise Is to be worthy of
credit. But all this points TO the Gulf Of
ST. Lawrence or its vicinity To make it
apply to Rhode Island it i necessary to
invent the theory, rs the Copenhagen com
mentators did. that the E>kimo>, since the
period of the discovery. have been driven
far to the north by the Indian tribes; and
to give, rs they did. an unwarrantable in
terpretation of the old Icelandic method of
reckoning time. With regard to this
:" astronomical evidence" relating to the
shortest day of the winter, Mr.. Gudbrand
Nigfusson, one of the foremost Icelandic
scholars of the present generation. and
editor of Cleashys = lcelandic English
Dictionary, just published by the Univer-
sity of Oxford, says (SHG r0cc cykt. y. 135 y
: The word is also curious from its bearing
upon the discovery of America;' and,
after citing the passage, This passage
refers to the discovery of America; but in
Antiquities Amcricana it is wrongly
explained as denoting the shortest day
nine hours long instead of seven; it follows
that the latitude fixed by the editors is too
far to the south"
1t Is hardly probable that Vinland will
ever be rediscoyered. If Il person thorough
lv familiar with the saWas were to set out
in Il small boat from the site of the ancient
colonies in Greenland. and sail to the
southwcstward, Us Left Eirlksson and the
succeeding voyagers did. he might posi-
bly, arrive ut some interesting results. To
him the meagre decription of the coasts
would perhaps, be suggestive. But the
Icelandic occupancy of the country WAS
not permanent enough to lead Us to expect
any decisive evidence of the locality of
Ninland, i'll the shape of ruins and in
script rs, such us bear mute but indiSput-
able testimony TO the truth of the segas
relating to Greenland. Nevertheless the
fact remains, that Europeans. five hundred
years before Columbus landed i'll the
West Indies, set foot somewhere on the
L.
\ WOMAN WHO SCULPTURES IN But
TER.-Larkin G.. Meade's snow statues are
paraleled out in Arkansas, by the butter
busts modelled by Mrs. Caroline 5. Brooks
of Helena, and if we may trust the reports,
America has Il remarkable artist develop
ing in the person of that excellent house
wife. Mrs. Brooks began to sculpture
II,
her tools being Il common paddle. cedar
sticks. broom straws and camefs hair pen
ellis. In brief time her work became the
marvel of the neighborhood, and one OF
them was exhibited in Memphis and won
much admiration. Her most remarkable
work, The Dreaming Iolanthe," is, the
C0ntnlcrc1dt says, soon to be exhibited
in Cincinnati, her native place. This
lolanthe is the heroine of the pretty dram:
OF" King Rene's Daughter by the Danish
poet Henry Herr; Il blind princess, from
| whom upto her sixteenth year, the knowl
edge of her misfortune has been withheld
Mrs. Brooks presents a bust of the limo
cent and beautiful girl she lies sleeping
and almost gloritied by happy dreams. Ii
is of somewhat les than life-sze, in hipl
relief in the concavity of Il large tin pan
: The head is but slightly turned from IL ful
front view. The butter is almost white
Its translucence gives to the complexion :
richness beyond alabaster, and softnes,
and smoothness that are very striking
The profile is pure Grecian. The hail
ripples back in waves, and the lips are
parted with a heavenly smile. The har
mony of the face is exquisite. The ear i.
quite a marvel of delicate manip lation
In the absence of all technical knowledg,
of art, Mrs. Brooks wrought at the bus
until it realized to her completely the i'm
age in her imagination. and she has sue
ceeded in creating face that may We