Life in Dreary Iceland; Romance in America

1878

Life in Dreary Iceland

Men and women, masters and servants, all inhabit the same room, while the cleanliness is not much attended to; but poor as they are, and accustomed to great privations, they set an example of cheerful contentment. The beauty of the young girls is remarkable; their fair hair falls in long plaits, partially covered by a black cloth coil, daintily worn on one side of the head, and finished at the top with a tassel of colored silk run through a silver or steel buckle, which floats on the shoulder. It reminds the traveler of the Greek head-dress, but the blue eyes, with their sweet, benevolent expression, soon recall to his mind their Danish origin. The dress is made of the cloth woven in the country, and on festive days the bodice is gaily adorned with silver braid and velvet, while the belt and sleeves are ornamented with silver devices, beautifully chased and often of great value. On wet and cold days the shawl becomes a useful mantilla, completely enveloping the head, and defending the wearer from the effects of the frequent storms. — Chambers' Journal.


Condensed Romance

1878

Who says that there is no romance in practical America? Who says that the days of chivalry and love-making are gone, and that this is a world of ledgers and blue stockings?

Why, the exchange table shows:

(a) that romance begins early: for a Chicago lad of fourteen eloped, last week, with a sweet little miss of thirteen;

(b) that it gets on fast: for a dashing naval officer proposed to a Washington belle last Tuesday, was accepted on Wednesday and married on Saturday;

(c) that it is numerous: for a woman in Coventry, Conn., swears that, like the good wife in Chaucer's tale, she has had seven husbands, and that they have annoyed her all her life by turning up after she had every reason to suppose that they had been hanged as pirates, or carried off by small-pox;

(d) that it is exceedingly uncertain: for "Clara," of Westfield, Mass., broke the engagement the moment she heard that her betrothed had been bitten by a mad dog, on the ground that it would be unsafe to marry a man who might have the hydrophobia;

(e) that it is never too late for it: for a farmer in Massachusetts, who confessed his seventy-third year, hired his neighbor's son to find a wife for him, insisting that she must be young and pretty, and the agent brought to the venerable widower an engaging lass of seventeen, who, rather than work out for a living, professed her willingness to marry him, and to inherit his money in the sweet by-and-by; but the marriage has cost the old man dear, for, besides the commissions charged by the neighbor's son, he has had to give his daughter, who was the bride's senior by eight years, $10,000 outright before she would consent to leave his roof and allow him to enjoy his honeymoon. — New York Tribune.