The age-herald., 1898-11-24

year. Of course. the shepherds must needs perform manual labor to meet their expen- ditures. They work for the farmers at hay making for laborers' wages. and, in addi- tion, nearly every one of them is black smith.
 The Sabbath scene at an Iceland church is most interesting. little ediiice, con- structed of wood and turf, Is situated per- haps amid the rugged ruins of stream of lava, or at the foot of a mountain cover ed with unmelting snow. Here the people assemble to perform the duties of their religion. A group of male and female peas- ants may be seen gathered about the church awaiting the arrival of their pas tor, all habited in their best attire, their children with them. The arrival of new. conner is welcomed with a kiss of saluta- ton. The pastor makes his appearance among them as freind; he kisses individ- ually every member of his flock, and stoops down to receive the kisses of the little ones who are to grow up under his care. The kind office performed, they all go together into the house of prayer.
 It is the custom In Iceland when a pastor dies to remove the corpse to the church, where 1t remains until the day of inter- ment. The body Is wrapped in madmel and placed on a bench beside the altar until a coffin can be procured. In case the church is at a great distance, the body is conveyed thither on horseback. Tn the winter season
 
 ty, as it takes three or four persons whole day to dig a grave. owing to the depth and severity of the frost. In many places the corpse is placed in the cellar or an outhouse where 1t freezes and is preserved until spring when the burial takes place.
 CLEVER LINGUISTS.
 The Iceandic is justly regarded by philo- logists the standard of the northern dia- lect of the Gothic language. The remote ness of the island and the little intercourse its inhabitants have maintained with the rest of the world have effectually secured the purity and originality of this ancient language; and it is a curious fact that, while our abest antiquaries are often pug zled in endeavoring to decipher phrases and words in writings only few centuries old there is not a servant girl in Iceland who canont read with ease the most ancient documents extant on the Island
 In no country in the world is education so widely diffused. Every child of ten years of age read and write, and 1t is no uncommon thing to meet with peasant who can speak auently ten or dozen lang uages. Inded, one of them, Thorwald, spoke all the languages of Europe and some of the Asiatic tongues.
 One of the first things that arrests the att tention of the traveller is the extent of classical knowledge possessed by the Ice landers He frequently meets men whose occupation as fishermen or farmers pro- claims them as living in extreme poverty who are not only conversant with the clas- sics of antiquity but keenly alive to all their beauties.
 SCHOOLS SCARCE.
 Iceland has, until recently, had but ore school, and that designed only for such as were to fill offices in church and state. Yet education is by no means neglected. You cannot enter a hut without meeting one or more who are capable of sustaining con- versation on topics far beyond the under- standing of people of superior rank in other countries. and often putting to shame trav- elers of liberal education and large advan-