The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1874-09-10
ICELANDS MILLENNIAln
Buyard Tnylor's Description of the Morse
Islanders Celebration of their Thou
snndth Anniversary.

RoiNayik Letter to y. Y Tribune.
The first of the two days set apart for
the commemorative festivities 0awnea
cloudIoss and splendid. A sharp wind
from the north, before sunrise, blew
away every vcstige Of mist or cloud
SnHfell cleaned like an opal over the
water, and when, at s o'clock, a gun
from the kings frigate gave signal, the
CLEAN and sparkle of the linked flags,
as they ran up to peak and yard'arm
and down to the water, was something
really glorious to behold. On shore
there were signs of gathering and pre-
paratiOn, aud many line of moving
speclls on the far hills showed that the
country people were botimcs On the
way.
The programme Of the day consisted
of commemorative services in the catbe-
draI, banquet in the hall Of the uni
versity, and popular festival on the
hill Of Asturvclli, milo from the town.
The last feature promised to bo the
most attractive, since, after songs and
speeches, there were to be dancing and
RuqelIr0r HyklH-" great flying fires. v
The new constitution, which went iuto
force Yesterday, has not been announced
with any special ceremonies. Copies OF
it have already reached Iceland, the
people were very generally acquainted
with the provisions, and content to ac-
cept it as the beginning of' n reform.
The celebrations here to-day, and on
Friday next at Thingvalla, have there
fore historical rather than political
character.
Six o'clock, and the peoples festival
had commenced on the eastern hill.
We went ashore mt 1870 O'Clock, and
found everything Fastening toward the
cathedral. The open, Grassy square
around the old building was covered
with picturesque groups of people ;
the lake in the rear of the town gilt
tered in the sun, and the high peaks OF
Keylur slept in the blue distance.
Genuine Tcelandic costumes appeared
at last, and original and graceful they
we're, The women wore white helmets
of n curious pattern, the horn curving
over in front, six inches above the head,
the base richly embr idered with gold,
and white veil thrown over all and
floating upon the shoulders. They had
also closely fitting jackets Of dark cloth,
heavily braided with gold or silver, and
broad belts of silver filigree work.
Not more than half dozen OF the men,
in all, wore the old national costume.
II consists of jacket and knee
brooches Of dark gray hOmespun cloth,
stockings of the same cloth, seal skin
shoes, and round hat with the brim
turned mp. The only ornament is a
bow of red ribbon at the knee.
The king and his cortege had Just en-
tered the cathedral as we reached it,
and the foreign naval officers who had
been invited to tho ceremony were
crow1ing with the natives into the low
northern portal. We had been furnish
ed with slips of parchment as admission
| tickets TO seats in the main aisle, and
the sacristan placed us in front, oppo-
site the bishops pulpit. The choir was
singing one OF ten new anthems COM
posed for the occasion; lights were
burning in the chandeliers, on the altar
and between the galley.pillars; wreaths
of heather decorated the walls, choir
and galleries, and there was a glow of
flowers around Thorwaldsen's baptis-
NAL font. The duh red oi the walls and
dark panes of the wooden ceiling har-
monized well with these simple adorn-
ments; the building wore as aspect OF
cheerful solemnity, becoming the occa-
sion. The seats filled rapidly during
the chant, men and women sitting to-
gether as they could find places. Then
the service commenced, after Ancient
Lutheran fashion. In fact it was nearly
an exact repetition of that we had seen
in Thcrshaven, except that the Icelandic
language was nsed. The hymns were
very simply and grandly sung; and the
"Psalm OF Praise" written by Matthias
Jochumsson and composed by Svein-
bjornsson--the first musical work of a