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December,
THE WESTERN AMERICAN
16
of the farmstead and when Snorre was
married, Gudrid went abroad, making a
pilgrimage to the south, showing her
enthusiasm for travel still prevailed.
It is supposed she ventured as far as
Rome, that she was well received, that
she probably must have talked there of
her ever memorable trans-oceanic voy
age to Vineland and her three years’
residence there.
She-later returned to the home of 'her
son Snorre, who in the meantime had
caused a church to be erected in Iceland.
Gudrid then took the veil and became
a nun, and so she remained the rest of
her days.
To Snorre, many eminent men have
traced their ancestry—bishops, univer
sity professors, governors of Iceland and
ministers of state in Norway and Den
mark. The learned antiquarian, Finn
Magnusson and the celebrated Danish
sculptor, Thorwaldsen, regarded them
selves as thus descended from Snorre
Thorfinnson or we might say from our
heroine, Gudrid. There is even a Snorre
Thorfinnson at the North Dakota agri
culture college, who was named for this
famous man, although I think he claims
no relationship.
Freydis, the second woman of the
story, did not have the brave, womanly
characteristics of Gudrid.
History then goes on to tell of the
expeditions to Vinland under Freydis
and the brothers Helgi and Finnbogi.
The story of the settlement there was
one of strife and jealousy. Following a
quarrel with the brothers, in which the
members of the party of Freydis mur
dered the other colonists, she returned to
Iceland. Freydis cautioned the members
of her party to secrecy about the disap
pearance of the colony and made them
rich gifts to still her conscience, but the
true reports soon reached the ears of her
brothers, Leif and Thorstein Erikson.
They said that they could not punish
their sister, but that they would make
the prophecy, that on account of her mis
deeds, neither she nor her descendants
would ever prosper. And in looking over
the history of Iceland it would seem that
this prophecy came true.
The question has sometimes been
asked, “Why did the knowledge of the
voyages to Vinland so long remain con
fined to the Scandinavian people and
then lapse into oblivion ? Why were
their journeys not followed by those of
other ambitious explorers?”
In the first place, the ignorance of
geography at that time would not give
the people any adequate guage where
with to measure their achievement. In
the second place, lack of instruments for
ocean navigation would make impossible
anything like system. Furthermore, the
Black plague, which raged through Eu
rope with unrelenting fury from 1347 to
1351, reaching also Iceland, Greenland,
and Vinland, served to cut off all com
munication with these countries. It also
left no surplus population for expeditions
to America or elsewhere.
At the same time, Europe was
scene of direst political confusion, so
colonial enterprise could not be encour
aged. Insofar as the attention of the
people was called to any quarter of the
globe outside of the seething turbulence,
it was directed toward Asia.
For us, the important things to re
member are: That women did brave the
seas in the eleventh century and came
over with some of the early explorers;
that they showed wonderful power of
endurance and ambition as travelers.
While some may have inherited the
brutality and superstition of their fore
fathers, others evidenced a beautiful,
kind Christian faith.
From this people, we may have re
ceived some of the monumental works of
early architecture as evidenced by the
remarkable old stone mill at Newport,
Rhode Island, the rock at Dighton, Mass
achusetts, and the skeleton in armor,
though the facts are veiled in obscurity.
From them we possess the first knowl
edge of the American continent; from
them we derive vital energy, our freedom
of thought and strength of speech; final
ly from them we possess a literature
rivaling many another modern nation in
quantity and value.
Let us not forget Leif Erikson, the
first white man who turned the bow of
his ship to the west for the purpose of
finding America. Let us remember his
brother, Thorwald Erikson, the first Eu
ropean and the first Christian who was
buried beneath American sod. Let us
not forget Thorfinn and Gudrid, who es
tablished the first European colony in
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Keep up the Christmas Spirit
Broadway 6081
R. J. P. RASMUSSEN, founder ai
M
senior member of the well knoi
wholesale and retail paint house of Ra
mussen Company, at Second and Tayli
streets, in this city, is a member of tl
party of Portlanders who, on Decemh
10th, left San Francisco on a world toi
with the Cunard liner Laconia. Accon
panied by his daughter, Jennie, who wei
to San Francisco to bid her father Go
speed, he left here on the 6th. The vess
will touch all the leading world ports ai
riving in Naples, Italy, on March 14th. 1
the latter city Mr. Rasmussen will lea'
the steamer for a tour of the Europea
continent, finally to go to the city of 1
birth, Ringsted, in Denmark, where I
will visit with a sister for some tim
He expects to return to his home
Portland, in the good old U. S. A., son
time next June.
Concrete Pipe Company
Culvert Pipe
Irrigation Pipe
Drainage Sewer Pipe
Gravity Water System
Office: 827 Board of Trade Building
Phone Marshall 1632
Factory: 410 River Street
Phone East 4588
EVERYTHING FOR THE OFFICE”
Fifth and Oak Streets
MR. J. P. RASMUSSEN
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Send Greeting Cards
choice assortment
make it easy for
you to select just the
cards you want.
New England, nor their first son, S:
the first man of European blood ’
birthplace was in the New World.
Let us erect a monument to the
people worthy of the race and
cause; let us praise them for their
age; let us applaud them for
zeal; let us respect them for their m
tives, for they were anxious to enlaq
the boundaries of knowledge. Thi
opened to the view a broad region, whe
smilingly hope invites successive gener
tions from the Old World.
Portland
Oregon
.iimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiimiiiimiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiimiiiiiimiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimimimiimim.
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