The Red Cloud chief., 1896-11-20

up this month. In fact. 1t Is years
since the little country has had any
thing to equal II. but rs for outside
aid it would take Il series of such
earthquakes to bring them To seek it.
They are peculiarly hardy II eN-
ccedingly intelligent. In fact. cduca-
ton is with them of such Importance
that where distances make II impoS-
siblc for children TO att,nd school the
mountain Is brought to Mohammed;'
In other words. the school, or rather
the itiuerant teacher, comes to them.
Almost every parish, If 1t Is any ais
lance from tn" coast towns. has Il tray
cling pcdagoguc, who, as Il rule. simply
directs the educational work In cach
household, lays out the course of study
and leaves the actual work Of hearing
| lessons and Of calculating problems TO
the parents.
II is n rare treat to go into the home
| of one of these Iceland farmer families
and during the long winter evening
watch the educational work rs 1t pro-
crosses. The parish prics,-lcclanders
have been Lutherans since l5iO-may
perhaps he on his monthly visit, and
| this means not alone consolation for
the soul but n rigid examination of In"
Dung mes in their studies. At the
age of fourteen comes the final cNanl-
nation. aud no child can he confirmed
, until this has been passed.
Education for the farming classes
ends at this point: but for the ambi-
tious there are the high clo III va
rious parts of the country. the school
of philosophy and languages ut Rcyk-
iayik, and for many there * the UNI
vcrslty ut Copenhagen. for no incon,
siderable proportion of the high school
pupils end up their curriculum of stud
les in the Danish capital.
When they return they become the
Il adcrs in the political contests which
are always stirring up this liberty
loving nation. Nominally Iceland Is II
dependency of Denmark, but siEce
1874, when their constitution was re-
stored to them, they have been cL<1y-
Ing almost absolute freedom of Tolit-
zeal action. The Althing, or Iceland
parliament, meets every other year,
and of the entire membership of thirty
six, only six are named 10y the king.
These six comprise just Onc-hllf OF the
upper house, while the Nv cnty-four
mcmbcrs of the lower house are elect
ed directly by the people. The mld'
shedding, or GOV erpOr, Is named Tor
life by the king of Denmark, but only
upon the recommendation of the al
thing. Ills power does not extend 10
the veto, for n majority vote OF both
houses makes II measure a law, unless
of course, 1T be a matter involving q
change IN the constitution, when the
kings veto Is effective.
But in It's literary life Iceland II
many respects vel SURPRISES its 50
called mother country, Its scholars
have transplantcd the classics of nj
nations into their W Nclnacular
Magazines and daily and weekly news
papers have excellent circulations, an
n lcclaud's libraries are becoming tx
J ccedingly massive.
{, To the student of American hlstor!
A., the great library building AT licykja
yik forms IN invaluable aid. In fac'
Iceland was ~coloni2ed by a people 70
whom education took the place of mil
! itary life. Wars We're unknown 4
{ them, and their peaceful inclination
were early accumulated ny an Isolation
q from the great European world. whicl
was essentially condu live to %literar.
, labor. So II Is that almost all the an
, Client Scandinavian manuscripts ar
I,elandlc. %Icclandic archacologists RI
covered for us the great sages of til
! North, the Eddas, the Helms Kringla
I the Sturlungasagn, the N~jalssaga, III
Voluspa and others as interesting.
But, rs above stated, II Is to the stu
& dent of American history that the Iii
erary labors of Icelanders are especial
ly important. There is The story of tn
visit of Columbus To Reykjavik, wher
he learned OF the strange adventure d
one of Lief Ericsson, and then trnvelc
back again to Bristol, thence to Mad
rid, and n few years later to America.
TO the eye Of the traveller lcclan
presents many features OF intcres
' While II borders on the Arabic circl,
the Gulf stream gives its coast a mil
temperature, but In the interior thcr
d ~ little possibility for varied industr!
The low growing grass makes the rail-
y ting Of ponies and sheep remunerativ'
IN fact, Iceland exports 1900 head