Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-04-03

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erumbled almost entirely away
and slipped down into a gorge
/ some distance below. Ayl hs
| will Chamber securely around the shelving
! edge of projecting orag, where the
! shoes of his ancestors in thousand years
I have left essentially 10 trace. You
| learn to trust him at last, and with en-
! tire confidence in his powers and pTu-
/ dence, plunge unhesitatingly into the
! swifteSt, broadest, and deepest stream,
/ or follow the widest, diZZiest, mountain
| path.
! When you reach an unknown river,
/ milky with the e2rth-duSt and iCe-pOw-
/ der of the glaciers, and there is no one
near TO point out the ford, you will send
I the free horses ahead TO discover the
| passage and follow your leader. - 4
disaster may OTertake you similar TO that
which not rarely occurs in q kindred sport
nearer home. But do not believe the
winter ducking ever does q hearty lad
any lasting injury, and where the water
is shallow, what delight there is il
tempting the bending ice? Nor viii the
momsntary and partial immersion in
shallow Icelandio stream have any more
F. serious consequences.
When the time of the hay harvest
comes the ponies leave the stubble-felds
in long file, each tied to the tail of the
one in front, aud supporting a weight
of $50 to 200 pounds of hay. Across the
river they go, unrelieyed of their bur
dens, and halt finally at the baru-dOOr.
There the farmer counts his horses and
estimates thereTrOm his crop.
If you are chatting with HIM,
after a emp of coffee he viii,
perhaps, tell you that his tun,
or home-feld, prouuces hay for so many
horses, giving the number. He means
so many households. L remember ny
ACCOMPLISHMENTS when, looking forth
over narrow and marshy home-field in
the South of Iceland, ] was told that 10
produced hay for 100 horses. Zone
hundred horses!'' I exclaimed. ''Why
a horse certainly must consume one tor
of hay at least in the winter.
Between the bales or hay IS q snug
resting place, ana the little farmers
lad or lass is often seen nesting there,
as the file slowly tolls up the ascent from
the river, or pIOds across fields home
ward.
When a darker presence than the sum-
mer g sun, that warns the cold, damp
earth INTO bouateOus giving, has entered
the farmers home and closed the eyes OF
some member Of the family ere the
mourners leave the house for the distant
church with its euvirou!ug graveyard,
the coffin is fastened upon the back OF
the pony, and in this manner the pony }
master is bone to his last resting place.
The Icelandic lady usually employs 3
side saddle. 1t is a kind of stuffed chair
placed sidewise upon the horse with sun
ports for the back and feet; but not
rarely the good peasant dame. despising
efTeminacy and likewise jolting discOm-
fort, prefers the more natural, the mas
culine attitude, 6nd lowers not 81 Whit
thereby her womanly dignity and de-
cOrum.
AS might be expected the ordinary
pony is very ordinary as regards swift
ness and grace of motion. lie is faith
ful, but not merry. But there are IittlO
fellows that remind one of the brOncOs
of the West. l well recall a ride from
Akreyri southwark a few miles, in the
company OF two Icelandic friendsl
Madam b. had Il squarely built.
spirited little gray horse which
she jestingly invited me to mount. We
had left the town well behind, forded S
river, and an open plain stretched be-
fore Us with a good broad meadow path,
WeaTied by the struggles of my pony,
who was tossing his head up and down
and fretting against the rein, I let him
take his own pace. ! thought for time
l should never be able to CHECK
his headlong career, but that hg
would pass all rivers, deserts
and mountains until he reached thu
North Atlantic. When at last, ara
weary, l held him under control, m,
respect for the Icelandic horse had beer
considerable augmented. Willingly J
yielded him to his fair mistress as soon a.
ever manly pride would admit, and
listened credulously to the tale of hU
proves.
Be it known that q former master, OF
his way out of AkTeyri, came once TO 5
narrow bridge. A horse and rider stand.
ing trenverselY barred the way. Win
one gallant bound the little gray rose ia
air and showed his iron shod hoofs to tint
astouished traveller beneath. Such
horse. as this commands price ranging
from $50 to 25O crowns, and even more
(S42 TO 500. But q very good riding
horse can be purchased for 100 crowns
(S27), while pack horses are worth from
40 crowns SID down.
We are back in Reykiavik again. =
is q clear, crisp August morning. The
summer is already waning, aud the neat
hills are putting on their snow-capsI
There is a hustle and clatter at the ives;
end Of the village street, just beyond the
windmill. From around the corner o!
the one road that leads everywhere Oul
of the capital comes q drove OF bright
eyed ponies of all coIors, roam
predominating All are apparently
in the best of spirits. Down the hill they
rush, jostliHg against each other, most
of them bearing their neighbours
'elbowing" with perfect good humor,
only now and then a spitefuI, snarling
face, turned backwards or sideways,
Perhaps even that is jest. The droveri
direct them toward the wharf. Theirs
is large fat bottomed boat waiting,
and out in the h2rbor a steamer at an,
Choir, with q derrick and suspension
ropes. A dozen or more ponies
are driven on board the boat, and the
roBers bend in unison to the almost
bIadeless oars. Arrived beneath the ship,
the derrick ropes descend, a broad belt is
fastened under the glrth of trembling
country pony and he is soon dancing in
mid-air. Thence TO the narrow coop be-
tween decks, and thence, alas 10 the
mines of England, TO exchange the sun,
the wind and the storms, the rare and
succulent grass and luxuriant flowers