The Washington herald., 1914-11-08
q GAIN the Vikings have discov-
N cred America, this time coming
not for the joys of wine as on


~ cred America, this time coming
not for the joys Of wine as on
their first trip so many hun
dreds OF years ago but for the absolute
necessities OF ife-to keep their brave
and cheerful population from starvation.
Just the other day there arrived in the
port of New York the good ship Hermod
She came to take back wheat and -four
to the descendants of the Vikings Of Ice
land whom the great European war has
left without a single source of food
supply.
Oddly, as 1t happens, the Hermod ar
rived in America ten centuries almost
TO the year after the first Viking ship,
manned by the stalwart, fearless North
men, plowed its way across the north
ern Atlantic, and discovered America
nearly 500 years before Columbus set
sail
Oddly enough 1t was war that drove
the first Viking ship to America as it was
war that has sent the second nautical
visitor. A thousand years ago Norway
was invaded by a savage conqueror who
--~NS hAAA6S SO uApACdSoAl IOE the
Of that land that many of them emf
grated to Iceland and thence in turn to
Greenland and to America
From some source came tales to the
ancient Icelanders that a land far to
the west of them grew wonderful grapes
which made still more wonderful wine.
1t was when they set out in quest of this
SnIandfd I,.l b.
lea. Unfortunately for them they landed
too far north to find much of anything
but water, rocks and ice and snow.
The bitter disappointment they suf-
fered was put down in one of their
Oldest sagas. 1t says:
When l came these brave men told me
Here the best of drink I'd get;
Now with water pail behold me-
Wine and l are strangers yet.
STOPPING at the spring, I've tasted
All the wine this land affords;
OF its Wanted charms divested,
Poor indeed are its rewards"
But this time the Icelanders were not
disappointed. They quickly sold the
small cargo they brought over and as
quickly filed their hold with food for
their starving population. All that
American merchants could do to assist
them was done. The modern Vikings
themselves even assert that to help them
the American merchants cut their prices
to an extremely low figure. And now
these Industrious sailors have gone back
through the cold north seas, threading
their way through icebergs and frozen
waters to the tight little island that is
eagerly awaiting them.
Iceland isn't so large. Anybody will
admit that. But for its size it is a re-
markable land and. supports a remark
able people. These people have strange
customs, a fascinating history, tragedies
all of their own.
The story Of this island reads like
some fairy tale. 1t reads like one of the
wonderful old sagas of the Vikings, rich
in imagination, powerful in its recitation
of heroic deeds accomplished by men un-
afraid of the sea that has sterRaIly beat
against their coasts.
One Of the wonders of Iceland Is that
Its brave, energetic people, almost shut
on from the civilization Of the fairer and
more southern lands. have kept alive sss
so many centuries their intellectual
glory. They have an uRbreken line of
literary endeavor from their saRas ts
their modern poetry, dramas and neyeIs.
The four famous Ring Of the Niebel-
ungen" operas which Wagner wrete
were based upon an old ieeiandie SAGA,
Sculptors Of Italy and France have
learned lessons from ThorvaldseH, the
Icelander. Modern writers likewise can
learn great many lessons from fee-
landic literature, especially from the
short story writers Of the present day,
The Icelanders sprang from the very
best blood of northern Europe. The
original Norwegians who settled the
island before the year 800 went there
because they didn't find in their own land
the freedom they desired.
Most Of them were mobiles. They took
with them a certain knowledge of the
fine art Of wood carving, Of the art of
building handsomely in stone and of
tbs literature Of their day. Other po-
litical disturbances IN Norway in the
twelfth and thirteeth centuries sent the
very elite of the country to settle in Ice
land. The raw climate did not have the
chilling effect on their minds that il is
said to have on less strong races. Their
civilization fowered as did that of the
Italians.
1t is even said by some scientists that
the energy which is in the French people