The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-06-18
ICELANDIC WOMEN.
A visit to Some Ezuuab BILE Ladies' OF Tha
EriEEd Cline.

Visit TO Some Humble Ladies Of That
Erigsd Cline.
Manners are simple in Iceland, as in
deed in all the Scandinavian countries !;
AMI sill the simpler here because there
is really no distinction of rank. There
is no title of respect, save Herra to the
bishop and SRA to a priest not even
such title as Mr.. or Mrs, or esquire.
If you go to call for lady you tap at
the door aud ask if Ingibjorg or Valger-
or is in /; or, if you wish to give her full
name, IngibiOrg Thorvaldsdottir, or
Eiriksdottir. or Bjarnardottir Gas the
case may be), for there is no title Of
politeness to apply. Her name, more
over, is her own name, unchanged from
birth to death; for as there are no sur
names or family names among the lie
landers, but only Christian names, there
is no reason for g wife assuming her
husbands name, and she is Thorvalds-
dittir after her marriage with Guomundr
just as before, while her children are
Guomandisson and Guomundsdottir.
When such q concession is made to the
rights of women, it is a little surpris-
ing to find that she is in any other re-
spect treated as an inferior, not usually
sitting down to table with the men
of the family, but waiting on them, and
dining separately. Otherwise, however,
women seem sufficiently well of, having
full rights of property, and riding
vigorously about the country wherever
they Will and we could not hear that
there was any mt vement for their eman-
cipation, or indeed for social reform of
any kind, though, to be sure, imperfect
knowledge of the language restricted
our inquiries. In one regard, the vo-
rZE T.. Il
pleter equality than their sisters in con-
tinental Europe. They receive exactly
the same education as the men do.
There are no schools in the island nat
urally, as families live mostly a dozen
miles apart; and instruction is there
| fore given by the father to his sons and
daughters alike and together, the priest
| where there is a priest sometimes
/ adding little Latin or Danish. Thus
the girl learns all her parents can teach
her, and is as good an arithmetician,
and as familiar with the Sagas, as her
! brothers. Accomplishments, of course,
are pretty well out of the question
! painting, not only from the difficulty OF
! procuring the materials, but because
there is really nothing to paint dane
ing because you can seldom gather q
sufficiently large panty, and have nc
rooms big enough; instrumental music,
on account of the impossibility Of
transporting piano over rocks and boys
on the back of a pony. Nevertheless,
we found in a remote house Ga good
wooden house, by the wsy), upon the
coast, where we were Hospitality enter.
tanned for day and night, not only G
piano, but several young ladies who
could play excellently on it and 6
gnitar, accompanying themselves tc
songs in four or five languages, the
Swedish, as we thought, the prettiest Of
all. They lived in the most desolatC
spot imaginable-the sea roaring IL
front on long strand inland, a plaiI
of dreary bog, and behind it, miles
away grim shapeless mountains. They
had no neighbOrs within ten or fifteeI
miles, and told us they were often with
out visitor for months together. But
they were as bright and cheerful as pos
slble; and though they did not respond
to the suggestion of a dance, they SANG
and played to two of us all evening
long IN the tiny drawing-room, while
the storm hOwled without and theil
worthy father (who was a sort of gen
erals merchant for that part of the
island) and the lord-lieutenant of the
county, who had dropped in from hi
house thirty or forty miles off, breweC
noble bowls of punch, and held fortI
to our third cOmrade, in a strange mix
ture of tongues, upon the resources O
Iceland, and the prospects of opening
by means of British capital, flourish
ing traze In sulphur.