| Summary: | Newsletter of the North Dakota School for the Deaf. THE NORTH DAKOTA BANNER whose lair was in the Shetlands and the Orkneys, vyerc jpany Vikings who had sought to vent their spite on Harald, until the latter came with a great host, bearing fire and sword) determined to drive the Vikings from out their island fastnesses. Following his fees into ereek and over cliff, he put them utterly to rout. What was left of them fled to Iceland in the North Atlantic with many an Irish bride. There was, for instance, Auth, daughter of Kettil the Flatnose, the Queen of Olaf the White, King of Dublin, who went with her sister Thorun. Within 60 years from the coming of In-golfr, the population is said to have numbered over 60,000. So much land, however, had been taken by the first comers that an agreement was made by which all late comers could take only as much land as they could encompass by fire in a day. This was done by building a huge fire in the center of the lot, whence the claimant traveled in a circle as far away from the fire as he could see the smoke. During the long winter nights, the nobles were wont to give lengthened feasts in their halls, as their ancestors had done in Scandinavia. As the hours sped by, the Scalds would recount the heroic deeds of their masters. Then were told the deeds of Howard the Halt, the quarrels of the Ere- Dwellers and the stirring scenes of the Water Dale, whilst the Viking related his exploits in distant and fairer lands. With the introduction of Christianity to Iceland came the use of letters and the recording of legend and folk-lore, the idyls and the race’s history, in. rhyme and prose. Thus came into existence the Eddas and Sagas, the earliest writers being mixed Norwegians and Irish. From this virile race; which scorned to bend the knee to Harold, the modern Icelanders are descended. . They are kindly and hospitable to the stranger within their borders, whilst their homes are simple and quaint. Some are old dwelling places of turf and stone with an inclosed mowing patch, the sheep folds, the byre and a small garden for vegetables. The spoken tongue of Iceland is no longer heard in the Norse valleys, but in the Arctic isolation of their island home, the Icelanders have retained it in its ancient purity; and sagas and traditions of the remote past are as familiar as household words to the inhabitants. The Vikings' settlements were all independent of one another, and for some time the only bond of union was furnished by their common religion until finally in 927 A. D. one Ulfijotr was sent to Norway to prepare a code of laws. His constitution provided for a yearly assembly. In time regular territorial divisions appeared, and a system of law very similar to that of Anglo- Saxon England. The country gradually acquired a settled civilization, and the laws became milder. It was then that the kings of Norway began to regard the island ■with a jealous eye, for it was a place of refuge for all their rebellious subjects. But all attempts to conquer Iceland failed until King Haakon in 1262 induced the island to join its fortunes to that of Norway. Until then the history of the island had been main- , ly that of the rivalries of its powerful chiefs. The prosperity of the island, following the union, however, steadily declined. In 1280 Iceland, joined to Norway, came together under the crown of Denmark, by a compact known as the Union of the Three Crowns. After that Iceland's history began to lose its glamour and its special appeal. During the Napoleonic wars, England captured the island, but gave it back to Denmark by the Treaty of Denmark in 1815. For many years constitutional conflicts with Denmark went on, and were amicably settled in 1874 by the granting of Home Rule to Iceland. The government, down to the granting of autonomy, had at its head a minister, appointed by the King of Denmark, resident at Reykjavik, and responsible to the Althing, or the Parliament of the colony, for all acts concerning Iceland. The Althing consisted of 36 members, of whom 30 were elected by the people and six by the crown. It was elected every two years, and was divided into two chambers, of which the upper was composed of electevl and six appointed members, whilst the lower consisted of 24 elected members. The King of Denmark had the nominal right of veto. In 1911 suffrage was extended to women and servants, and the right is now possessed by all competent adults. The revenue of the country is derived almost entirely from customs. Elementary education is well provided for, and the number of illiterates is remarkably small.—Selected. THE RESOURCEFUL BEE. Extraordinary stories about the cleverness of bees and ants are common enough, but most of the exploits recorded can be explained by the power of instinct, which is admittedly strong in these insects. A bit of observation printed in the French- Revue Hebdomadaire, however, seems almost to prove the case for bee reason. Prof. Bonnier writes in that periodical that in July, 1918, he witnessed the following circumstance: A freight train, one car of which had been loaded with coarsely granulated sugar, had been wrecked on the Paris-Lyon rail line near the Biological Laboratory at Fontainebleau, scattering the sugar in a big heap over the ground. Near the place where the accident occurred there were some beehives, and the heap of sugar was soon swarming with bees. But the industrious insects found that the sugar was crystalized in grains too large for them to carry away, and too hard for them to penetrate. What did they do then —give it up? Not at all. Apparently among them, large numbers of the bees proceeded to fly to some watering troughs near by, where they loaded themselves with all the water they could carry. Then they flew to the sugar, upon which they proceeded to deposit the water they carried. Soon they had converted the surface into a syrup, in which the bees now proceeded to roll themselves. When they were well covered with the sticky substance they flew to the hives, where they were relieved of their syrup. Then they flew back to the troughs for more water to wet down more sugar. Prof. Bonnier says that such clouds of bees were engaged in this work that within four hours the space where the sugar had been spilled had been completely cleared of it. In the meantime, sundry human beings had arrived who had the same intention concerning the sugar, but, seeing the white mass blackened by swarms of bees, they kept their distance rather than take a chance of being badly stung.—The Youth's Companion. AFRAID TO GO TO BED. By Mrs. Laura F. Eagleson. My little boy, so full of glee, Looked up inquiringly at me: “Daddy, when you were a little lad Were you afraid to go to bed All by your lonesome little self And never once think of the elf That comes to punish little boys Who have been bad and make a noise, And did you ever once at all See awful things upon the wall?" “Who has been telling you such stuff?" I answered, and my voice was gruff. “Why, t'was a boy called Tommy Green Told me the awful things he’d seen. He said one time a great big bear Came in and took him by the hair And pulled him straight up out of bed, And, oh, it scared him so, he said. And now I like to have a light Kept in my room most all the night." And then I took him upon my knee, Explained to him most carefully, His mamma was an angel bright; Angels watched o’er him by night. And kneeling down beside me there I taught my little boy a prayer; Then looking up the dear child said, “Now, paja, dear, I'm not afraid, Because I know that God will keep Watch over me while I'm asleep." —Selected. IN THE INTERESTS OF SCIENCE. “Ah!” said the old professor to a friend who had called at the laboratory. “I was hoping you'd come in. I want your help.” “Certainly," was the reply. “I shall .be glad to give it. What Can I do?" “This is what's bothering me," continued the old man as he produced a sheet of paper covered with a quantity of white powder. “My tongue has become so vitiated through continually tasting things that I can’t trust it any longer. Just put a little of this on your tongue and tell me what it tastes likes." The friend complied, while the professor gazed intently at him. “Do you notice any effects?" he asked. “No " “Does it bite the tongue?" “No." “It it unpleasant?" “No,” said the other, “but rather bitter." “I thought so," was the reply. “But just what is it?” asked the friend. “I don’t quite know,” said the old man kindly. “That’s what I’m trying to find out. Some one round here has been poisoning horses with it!"—Selected. A plant you can’t kill is the Japanese “Leaf of Life." You can even cut a leaf in half and it will still thrive without light or moisture. A leaf pressed between the covers of a book has been known to throw out roots and grow.—The Ladies’ Home Journal. If poultry raisers will put four or five moth balls in the nest when they set their hens, the chickens will not be troubled with mites. I have found this a successful remedy.— M. B. B., Roanke, Virginia.
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