The Western advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1872-1874, 1874-08-22
1celand's Great Festival.


TIE festival which the people of iso-
lated and barren Iceland were to cclc
bratc Saturday is an event worthy of at
tention from the more busy and social
| nations of the earth. It is their millc-
| nary Of existence; for in 874 A. d. IngolC
sailed tlithcr, with other pagan chiefs of
Norway, to escape the restraints of the
centralized sovereignty built up by Har
OLD, the Fair-haired, and the mighticr in
huenccs OF Christianity encouraged by
st. Olaf, his successor. These Morse VI
kings were thus, however different in ma
turc and tendency, the prototypes Of the
Plymouth pilgrims in that they sought in
exile civil and religious freedom denied
them at home. There, out of the beaten
track of the world, the made Rcpub-
lie; their Althing embodied popular gov
crnmcnt, and their laws first Instituted
trial by jury. For four centuries this
lasted; an age during which great liter
aturc was made, distinguished by epic
poets, philosophers and historians; in
which commerce and exploration gave
the nation fame. Then at last the re-
ligion that 1ngolf and his fellows fled
from sought ard conquered their poster
ity; cnvics anil jcalousics rent the fabric
of liberty, and the government the faith
ClS lCi'CllCO ftSilllSG StlCttHCu IT'S power
over the unrcsisting children. Their lit
craturc died, and their oncc-cherishcd
rights vanished one by one. And 50 since
the dark ages of Europe, which were
their light ages, Iceland has been but il
tradition of history and poetry.
Now dawns a new day; or rather now
a slow dawn bursts into full light
Thirty years ago the spirit of the Ice
landic people was SO well revived that
once again they got their Althing; in ten
years more they gained free trade, and
ono by one, as they wcnt the privileges
of freedom return. Their festival thus
celebrates also a renewed as well as
commentaries a historic national life,
and King Christian of Denmark, the first
! of their sovcrcigns to visit them, comes
with free constitution in his hand for
largcssc to his distant subjects lie finds
| a revived nation in every point; their
culture betokcncd by newspapers and
libraries, and rising men in many walks,
from poetry and criticism to science and
| politics; finds too sense of entity SO
strong that even the shadow of depend
| encc gals and the popular ambition
reaches beyond the concessions of the
| King to an absolute cutting loose from
his dominion.
To US this mil]cnnial festival bears
double interest; republican sympathy
and an intellectual gratitude. Iceland is
a land of marvcls, an abode of poetic
meaning that adhcrcs in the tremendous
throes of nature, and is interpreted in the
| wild and stern inaginations of northern
mythology. From the crowding vol
canoes, the devastating lava, the trcclcss
and desert surface, with scarce patches
of soil and scanty hcrbage for flocks and
| herds, the great rivers, the broad fJords,
| from the whole weird scenery of a land
that fire and frost continually quarrel
over-thcre has come an influence that
nearly all modern literatures have felt;
that nodded all Scandinavian life, in
spired the German thought, and has its
share in English letters to this day. We
owe the Icelanders hearty fellowship
for these things, and, besides, there is
that casual tie of Left Ericson's early
visit to our shores. 1t is we'll that we
were represented at Reykyavik on this
rare fcstal anniversary. 1t is courtesy
that Iceland will perhaps repay to our
now young Republic 900 years hence :;
we trust, at all events, that Bayard Tay-
lor, Mr.. Halsted and Mr. Field will not
fail to invite delegation of her journal
lists and notablcs to our nearing ccnten-
| nial.-SprinQield (Mass.) Republican,.