The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1874-09-12
Ghin9s Sbroad.
LIFE IN ICELAND.

I
and food. There is no timber; the stone
is bad for building purposes, and one must
not complain Of the absence Of Injuries
where everything comes over thousand
miles of sea. Still, the house need not be
a mere rabbit-burrow, as it mostly is. II
is built Of sods, with few blocks Of basalt
or lava (unmortared, of course forming
the lower part Of some of the chief walls,
is rooted with sods laid over the raffers,
and covered on the top with grass and
weeds, looking, when it stands with hill
behind it, itself so like hillock that you
are in some danger of riding over it, and
finding the horses fore-feet half way down
the smoke.hole before you know where
you are. Inside, it is labyrinth Of low,
dark and narrow passages, with tiny
chambers opening off them, one of which
has perhaps some little furniture-a table,
or board doing duty for a table, a couple
Of stools, and one or two bedsteads, (often
in the hollow of the wall.) There is a
small window, but its frame is fixed so
that it cannot be opened. The air, there
fore, is never changed, and as tho room is
seldom or never cleaned as the chambers
are half full Of dried stock fish, and reek
with variety of other hideous smells, any
one can fancy what the interior Of an
Icelandic farmhouse is like, and can un-
derstand why the first thing to be done on
entering it is to light a pipe and smoke
furiously till the room is in cloud. There
is but one FIRE, and that sorry one, con-
sisting of few smouldering turfs, with
twigs thrown on when blaze is wanted to
make the pot boil it is the central cham
bcr, called the fire-house, (eidhus, and of
course does not substantially warm the rest
of the house but although we shivered
necessarily, the natives do not seem to find
the cold disagreeable. How they got on
in winter, having no furs, we could not
make out for when we suggested that
perhaps they spent all winter under the
eider-down coverlets, which every house
Possesses, they replied that at no time of
the year were they so little in bed. The
furniture and internal appointments gen.
orally are what you might expect in such
rooms but three things no Icelandic farm
wants-books, coffee pot, and portrait
of Jon Sigurdsson, the illustrious leader Of
the patriotic party.
The Icelander is poor to be sure--poor
in the sense of having very little ready
money there is less money in all Iceland
than in many an English country town.
But he is person of some substance and
of eminent respec.ability. He is in no
danger of want; is the owner of horses,
sheep aud oxen-yery likely Of broad lands
which his family has held for centuries.
His pedigree not improbably goes back
further than that of all but three families
in England. He considers himself alto
gether your equal, behaves as such, (though
he now no longer hesitates to receive some
remuneration for his hospitality, } and such,
in fact, he is. Along with certain want
of finish in some Of his personal habits, he
has complete ease and independence Of
manner, and simple courtesy which, as it
flows from this ease, is in no danger Of
being mistaken for servility. He is,
moreover, an educated man, who, if
priest, speaks little Latit, anyhow per-
haps little Danish, has learned pretty
much all that the island has to teach him,
and is certain to be familiar with the
masterpieces of his own ancient literature.
1t is this knowledge of the Sages that has,
more than anything else, given measure
of elevation as well as culture to his mind.
1t has stimulated his Imagination, and
added to his people and country sort of
historical dignity which their position in
the modern world could never entitle them
to. It has also cultivated his taste, given
him turn for reading generally, made
him capable Of taking in ideas. Few are
the houses in Iceland which do not con-
tain library and twice, in spots Of rather
exceptional wrctchedness, 1 found excep-
tionally good ones-once chiefly of legal
and historical treaties, the other an ex-
cellent collection of Sagas and poetry, in
lonely aud miserable hovel at the foot of
Hecla.
Strangest Of all, the old literature has
preserved the language, almost untouched
by the wearing and varying influences Of
time and foreign intercourse. Modern
Icelandic has adopted very few Danish
and Latin words, has dropped few old
grammatical forms, and has introduced
some slightly different modes of constmc-
ton. But, for all practical purposes, it is
the Icelandic of the twelfth century and
differs less from the language which Egil,
son of Skallagrim, spoke when he fought |
against the Scots for King Athelstan in
A. D. 1886, than the English Of Tennyson
differs from that Of Cover, or the French
Of Michelet from Philip of Confines.
Manners are simple in Iceland, as indeed |
in all the Scandinavian countries; and all |
the simpler here because there is really no
distinction Of ranks. Nobody is rich, and
hardly anybody abjectly poor; everybody |
has to work for himself, and works Except, |
to be sure, a few storekeepers in Reykjayik
and at one or two spots on the coast, with
his own hands. There Is no title of re-
spect save Herra to the bishop, and Sira
to priest; not even such title as Mr.. or
Mrs, or Esquire. IL you go to call for a
LIZ. -, 49, =. al. H. - II .f