Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-05
ICELAND VISITORS TO SEE
LAND REBORN IN 25,YEARS
Millennium Celebration This Year to
Note Emergence From Middle
Ages Into Modern Day.
BY EARL HANSON.

i delegates, will not only mark the
thouSandth anniversary Of the es-
adjustment Of Iceland's Parliament
but 1t will also punctuate the amazing
physical and economic progress that
the Kingdom has made in the last IS
years. 1t will constitute a sort of
chronological monument to a small ma
tons emergency from the middle ages
into our modern day.
1t is q curious fact that, although the
IcelanderS never once in their history
were out Of touch with the intellectual
status and achievements of the rest Of
the world, they fell so far behind in
other ways that Is years ago they
could still be considered slumbering in
the middle ages SO far as living condi-
tions and physical appointments were
concerned
have before me a newspaper article
that was published throughout the
United States in 1SS5-written by nv
father while on a walking trip through
the island of the sagas. 1t gives in part
a description Of "a typical Icelandic
kitchen, Just such as will be found in
houses, good and poor over all the land
few exceptions being the better ones
In the towns and the main difference
being one Of cleanliness
Upon low walls Of alternate LAYERS of
stones and sod rested the irregular roof
constructed of driftwood, lumber, whales
ribs. fiat stones-anything In fact which
would serve to support the thick outer
covering OF growing turf. The floor of
earth was brought out in rude mosaic
by the f1Sh bones and other substances
which had been trodden into it, and
from various other signs it rvaS evident
that the apartment was never swept
In small alcove a slow fire of peat
burned upon heap of stones and the
kettle suspended over it probably con-
tanned mutton and turnips, this being
the season in Iceland when such things
are ripe.
Hole Supplies Ventilation.
"All light was admitted by a small
window at each end of the room and
ventilation was secured by a hole in
the roof, through which some of the
smoke was actually crowded out. Upon
a shelf stood q large collection of the
curiouSly carved wooden bowls with
hinged covers from which the Icelander
eats his porridge of SOUP, while in the
corners and along the sides of the room
was pronliScuous accumulation Of ar
ticles such as bits Of iron, rags. sticks,
pieces Of board and scraps of leather.
These things all came in handy in the
course of the year and it would be poor
economy to throw them away. Upon
ell convenient lodges or projections
rested the brown nat cakes which are
left to accumulate solidity and flavor
before being toasted and eaten"
In 1927 I visited the same farm that
my father described and that had been
exactly as he described it for centuries.
Instead of walking to it, however, as
he did, over miles of narrow bride paths
or riding to it. as he might have done
If he hadn't been "a crazy American"
who preferred to travel on foot in
country where horses were supreme
among methods of locomotion and where
walking was hardly considered genteel,
rode in a truck that carried farm
produce and mail over a modern auto
mobile road.
The old sod and stone farmhouse that
he describe6-crowded. dirty. badly VEN
tilated-had been torn down and in its
place stood a modern two-story con-
crete house that was less picturesque
than its predecessor. but certainly far
more roomy and hygienic.
After the customary greetings were
over and all the numerous questions had
been asked with which the visiting trav-
eler is always plied-questions about the
size of houses in America, the manu-
facture of nails, the price of fish in
my host showed me his radio set.
Receives Weather Reports.
What did he get over it? Music?
Sales talks? Education? No. The Ice
lancic farmer is about as self-sufflcient
as anybody in the world so far as
amusements are concerned. He has his
radio principally for weather reports
that help him to conduct his business,
allow him to plan seed time and har-
vest This particular man and his
friends were interested at the time OF
my visit, in the distance the Arctic ice
was away from the north coast. Eight
cen miles. 20 miles, % mileS-they had
been listening to daily reports and fol-
lowing them as breathlessly as we fol-
low base ball scores.
There was no disorder in the well
scrubbed kitchen and the cooking was
done with imported coal, burned in an
American stove. Except for its new
ness and the absence of any signs of
distinctive architectural style Ucelandic
building traditions were developed
through the use Of native materials and
are hardly applicable to new medium
like cement), the house bore a strong
resemblance to the better class of farm
houses throughout the Western world
In America, Germany, Scandinavia.
What happened on that particular
farm has happened, and is happening.
on hundreds of farms throughout the
land. The old, picturesque. typically Ice
landic form Of homestead is disap-
pearing.
Homes and living conditions have .
habit Of changing everywhere, but sell
dom have we seen such q remarkable
revolution as Is taking place in Iceland
today. For the changes in farmhouses
simply form one item in long hst-one
phenomenon in an endless number OF
changes that are doing away with the
T0a1and that father knew
and introducing the modern Iceland
that this year will celebrate the mil
lennium Of its Parliament.
Control Own Affairs.
The Icelanders have at last obtained
control Of their own affairs. and they
are theoretically setting about to rem
edy the conditions that $50 years ago
almost brought about their extermina-
ton.
A century and a half ago they were
subjects of Denmark and their country
was held In the grip Of a vicious trade
monopoly that practically strangled all
foreign commerce. Lacking imports,
they were thrown on their own re-
sources. and these were pitifully few in
number. They had no timber. no coal,
no metals Of their own. They could flsh
and raise horses, sheep and cows, but
their vegetable products consisted CT
turnips and hay, 10 which later were
added potatoes.
Except in the towns, where houses
we're often built of imported lumber.
their building materials consisted Of sod
and stone whalebone and driftwood.
with an occasional precious plank or
two that had been packed for miles or
pony back The lack of fuel made for
crowding and bad ventilation. Whole
families, servants and all slept in one
small room, every opening to which was
chinked to prevent the escape Of pre-