Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1879-12-03
Left Eric'S Discovery of America.

Columbus died without knowing of the
wide spread changes wrought by his dis
cOvery in 1892. But he was not the first
European who visited these shores. Five
centuries before Ericsson, the first Euro
pean, visited New England. There are
traditions that previously the Irish had
come here, and some maintain that the
PhGnicians discovered the Canaries and
then came to Florida; but these claims
may be dismissed as futile The simple
and interesting narratives of the northmen
form conss ent part of Icelandic history.
1t was in the sixth century that an aristo-
cratic republic was formed on that island,
and when the rest of Europe was sunk in
barbarism there literature ilourshed. In
S76 the first settlement was made in
Greenland, and in 9SG Eric the redhared,
who had before been banshed from lee
land, took a colony of settlers TO Ericsfiord
1t was in the year 1000 that Left Eric,
with one ship sailed down the coast of
what is now Labrador and Nova Scotia,
rounded Cape Cod, Of which he gave IN
accurate description, and wintered in
Mount Hope bay. 1t must have been the
Indian summer when he first came there,
and the land seemed so fair that he called
it Vinland. Even the winter seemed mild
and pleasant to these voyagers from the
north, and they did not fail to remark the
long days. Left Eric returned in 1902
In 1907 Carl Lcvna came to the new land
and his son Snorro, born there, was the first
European born on this continent of whom
there is any authentic record. BY these
explorers parts of Massachusetts and
Rhode Island were visited. Here it is
worth remembering that from this Snorro
were descended many famous mortimer,
and of his line were the famous antigua
rian, Magunsson, and the sculptor, Thor
vaisden. The maps depicting these dis
coveries were current in the middle ages,
but they were very incorrect Greenland
was supposed to be a part of Europe and
the American coast likewise. Some even
put down Vnland as adjoining Africa.
We find no traces of permanent settlements
by the Northnen, and they could hardly
have all disappeared, 1t is not strange
that there was no colonization in that
time. There were many practical diff
culties in the way, and the state of Europe
was not such that surplus energy could
be spared. AS we see those times they
are not devoid of promise but 1hen there
was no light. Nowhere were the outlines
of kingdoms or the rights Of crowns dcfin-
ed. The common people were most de-
graded; there was no commerce; famines
were frequent and severe, and even can
nlbalism appears in the history OF those
times. In all lands were anarchy and
misery, and about the year 1000 the day
OF Judgment was looked for. The world
old in sin, was deemed ripe for cestruction
All energy in Europe was devoted to the
arrangement of affairs. The mercantile
spirit had not been developed. Romantic
adventure WAS merely brutal buccaneer-
ing. The fashionable method Of getting
rid Of creditors was not to pay them thirty
cents on dollar, but inveigle them into
your castle and broil them over slow
fire.
The great event of these four centuries
was the crusades, and the ends they uncon-
sclously achieved justified them. They
rid society OF some bad elements in taking
the robber baron off to the wars and kill
ing him. They made way for the 18th
century renaissance. Meantime other
plans had been developing. Afer eight
years trial he managed to carry out his
PIdHo' hccu uOl ItnedISo lne luulllltr
details of Columbus voyage. His heroism
was great. 1t is its position in history,
shown by its results, that gives this voy-
age its grandeur, No voyage now can
ever equal it. That era is closed forever.
But Columbus never knew that lie had
discovered II new continent In 1893 he
reached the mainland of South America
1t is still an open question whether Amer
igo Vespucci had landed on it before. He
did, however, in 1899, and in 1907 he
published an account of his discoveries
1t was still ut that time thought that only
another Indian peninsula had been found,
and it was proposed to name it America
after man, rs Europe and Asia had
been named after women. In this curious
complication of mistakes the names were
given to this continent and its inhabitants
which sill cling 10 them forever.-Irof.
John FISHES Lecture.