Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-02-08
THE LAND OF FIRE.
Plain Living and High Thinking of -he
icelanders.

Iceland is, as William Morris said,
The Greece Of the North" 1t pro-
duced in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries literature unparalleled
after Rome before the golden age Of
England and France, i'm character
drawing, in passionate dramatic power,
in severe, noble simplicity, in grim
humOr All the characters of the
Sagas live and move today. Every hilI
and hcadland and valley in the island
is full of their presence. The lcelander
Of today knows them by heart. 1t is as
if every Englfshman, from pauper TO
King. knew ShakeSpeare'S historical
plays and could tell them more or less
in his own words. 1t has kept the
rational spirit alive through evi! tlmcS.
Ut has preserved the language almost
untouched by time and foreign inter-
course
Nowhere is the contrast between
man and his surroundings so glaring
as it is in Iceland. Buried in snow and
darkness, deprived of every comfort,
living on rancid butter and dried fish.
drinking sour whey and milk, dressed
like his servants, seeking in 4 little
boat his food, yet Il cultured mind,
possessing an intimate knowledge not
only Of the history of his own country,
but OF Greece and Rome; 4 poet fond
Of throwing OFF SatireS. intellectually
and morally the equal Of his European
guest, considering himself your equal
and refusing to be ordered about by Il
rich Engiishman, owner of several
square miles Of land and hundreds OF
sheep, with pedigree going further
back than that Of his visitor; 4 jack Of
all trades Il blacksmith in his Sinithy,
boat builder and carpenter, an artist in
tiligree work. Il carver in wood. an
eager reader in books, he has univer-
sal education in the degree to which il
is useful for man.
There are no schools in Iceland, yet
every child at - can read. according 70
the parish statistics. In no country in
Europe are 80 many books printed and
sold in proportion To the population.
population Of only 10000, scattered in
many hamletS, has y printing presses,
the earliest being established as far
back as 1880. About one hundred books
annually. fourteen newspapers and
eight periodicals are produced to
satisfy the literary needs Of this little |
Nation.
Yet this literary people still live in !
PASTORAL ard Homeric civilization. |
which is Il modern lesson of healthful- |
ness of human life lived in close con-
tact with the free, wild life Of nature, !
such as would have delighted the heart |
Of Rousseau or Thoreau. AS a proof |
that this life is healthy 1 give the ax-
ample of Il clergyman who died four |
years ago 113 years old, having |
managed to live al his days healthy |
ana happy on $50 t$l5O) 4 year, The |
average stipend in the ICelandic |
Church.
The sheep yield food and clothing |
Their wool is pulled off in the spring, |
carded, spun, woven in hand looms and |
worn undyed. You make shoes of their |
skin and spoons of the horns. Every
opportunity is seized for the telling OK
stories and reciting of poems. Only
the milk ewes are kept at home in the
summer to be milled; the rest of the
sheep are gathered in from the noun
tains in autumn, notice being given az
church from the pulpit
The autumn gatherings, with people
sitting on the walls of the stone en-
closure telling stories, are quite
Homeric. The winter evenings are
spent with each member Of the family
busy at work in the same room; tne
men on their knees shaving the wool
of sheepskins, making ropes and nets
OF hair; the women using spindle and
distan, embroidery, etc, afford a still
better opportunity for stories and puns.
There are even wandering minstrels
who gain their livelihood by reciting
prose or poetry. which they know by
heart, at various farmhouses till they
exhaust their stock.-Natfonal Geogra-
phical Magazine