Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 April 1880 — Our Young Readers. [ARTICLE]

Our Young Readers.

AS ADTEHTUBE OS AN EttG-YAR. Jam lived with his father, Christoph Jansen* his'rood mother, Use. and hie wee sister. Use, her mother's namesake, in a little hot on (he southern ooast of Iceland. - This hut was built of layers of stones, up three or four feet, from the ground, with turf between the layers to keep out the oold. Then above this was a doping roof of wood covered with turf, which, in these long sunny days of June, htvd sprouted up thick with grass, making it resemble a green hillock more than a human dwelling. And, indeed, their only ewe—a present to little Use from her Uncle Gotthard, who lived inland and owned flocks of sheep and cows- would often climb the family mansion and, clinging with her sharp hoofs to thi turf, nibble a breakfast with much contentment. Christoph Jansen was a fishermin, and spent the greater of his time in his boat, setting fishing nets, or gathering in quantities of haddock and cod-fish, and preparing them to dry on the beach. And he constantly had to keep a sharp eye over his game, for if left un watched, the pilfering not unfrequently, would come in large flocks and devour whole “ catches” at once. [

But the business from which the fisherman derived most profit was from his egg-var. And first I must explain to some of you just wbaf an egg-var is. All along the west ooast ol Norway and the southern ooast of Iceland there are numerous Islands, some of them situated at a considerable distance from the main-land, but others within a bowshot of it. These islands are of two kinds, many of them being nothing more than high masses of rock, while others are fiat, or nearly so. The former are called holme , the latter tor. Upon these var the eider-ducks congregate in large numbers for laying eggs and rearing their young; for when nesting on the main-land they are much disturbed by the cunning Arctic fox, who is as great an epicure in his cold, northern haunts as» the red fox in New England. It would not be unreasonable to suppose that his appetite, from the colder climate in which he lives, would be considerably the keener —and the young eiders, or the rich eggs which he deftly cracks with a stroke of his paw, make one of the daintiest meals Reynard can procure. £ Yet Nature teaches the defenseless bird that she can, at least, protect herself against this one of her many enemies by nesting in places impossible for him to reach. The high price set upon the feathers of the eider-duck renders these islands very valuable, and they have been in the possession of Icelandic and Danish families for many generations. More than twenty-five years ago Iceland exported between four and five thousand pounds of eider-down in a single year, and as great care has been taken to promote an increase of the supply, the amount sold has probably more than doubled since then. The true “down” is worth from three to four dollars per pound, and it is said that enough down for a bed coverlet would not weigh more than a pound and a half. The laws of the country are very strict in relation to the ownership of the islands, and the poacher, if caught, is punished with a fine of thirty dollars for the seizure of a single duck. Even aa egg cannot be stolen with impunity. But the var-owners have other poachers to deal with, for whom the law has no terrors—the raven and the great sea-eagle. These birds of prey make sad havoc among the young eiders, in spite of the vigilance used in protecting them—the sometimes even carrying off the old ducks themselves. Christoph Jansen’s var was but a short distance from the main land, and was looked after entirely by the fisherman’s wife and Jan, now eleven years old.

“Now be off, good Jan, for it is getting late,”, said Mother Jansen, as the boy was about to set off to the var one evening early in Jane, “ and be quite sure, my son, not to disturb the old eiders, and do not forget to cat the notches,” she'added. “ Let little Use go, too, mother,” pleaded Jan, who did not like always going alone. “ Ad*, »«,” returned Mrs. Jansen, “Use is bnt a wee thing; she would stumble over the rocks. And have ye forgot the raven that perched on the gable only yesterday P I fear, Jan, he boded us ill!” and she gazed solemnly at the tiny, bine-eyed fairy playing with a string of blown egg-shells, then away across the dancing waves, whither Christoph had been gone since early dawn to fish. “ However,” she added, seeing Jan's disappointment; “thou art a careful boy, my Jan, and, since I must go to the beach to help your father when he comes in, she may go with you. But mind and let nothing befall her; lead her carefully over tbe cliffs.” “ •a/ja/jeg tnlP' (Yes! yes! I.will!) cried the delighted boy; and attired in an eider-skin jacket and scarlet cloth hood, baby Use went laughing and skipping toward where the boat was drawn up on the rocky beach, Jan following, with the basket and big bag on his arm. Lifting little Use into the.boat, Jan rowed across the narrow strip of water separating the island from the mainland.

Tbe son wafc yet high, although it was nearly eight o'clock in the evening, and as they approached the island they floated amid whole flocks of the eider drakes* shinning white hi the sunlight, plunging and flapping, and sending the spray sparkling high in the air. “Now, Use, ’ said Jan, after tying his boat to a stone* “cling to my back and I’ll be your pony,” and climbing -the path that wound over and about the ridge of low lava cliffs which ran through the length es the island* he went galloping across the fiat on the farther side. " ’ Ah! here was a sight fit to set any Yankee boy’s heart flattering! The very ground was covered with dash*, each on its own nest; and it wouldhave been difficult to walk aboot without treading upon their great brown backs; for the birds were very tame and would not stir at Jan’s approach, and w mid even allow him to take the egg. and down from the nests without seeming in the least disturbed. Hitherto, they had given the boy much trouble in laying about in any spot they chose and in places where the eggs frequently were broken, Mid where tbe down was matted and spoiled with the yelks of the broken eggs. To remedy the evil, he had set himself to work before the laying season began, and with good sized stones had built little iuclosures, about a foot and 1 a half square and one foot high, on the southern or most, sheltered part of the Uland. He then had gathered moss

from a bog a little back from the shore, on the mam land, and boating It across to the is.and, had filled these squares half-full with the moss and formed It into shapely nests. The ducks had taken to them wonderfully, though some of the younger and more timid ernes would still crawl far into the crevices between tue rocks, where it was impossible to get the down and eggs without the assistance of a “ hook, F which Jan always carried with him-a pole three or four feet long with a curved iron at the end. The method of obtaining the eggs and down, though profitable, would seem to you very cruel. It is this: After lining her nest with the soft down from x her body, the eider-duck lays from five to seven greenish-brown eggs. No sooner are they laid than she is taken from her nest and its contents confiscated. Again the duck pluoks her down to line the nest anew, and continues laying—this, time not more than two or three eggs. But her peace is soon disturbed, and she is once more left with an empty nest. By this time the down on her own body has become nearly or quite exhausted, and she calls upon her mate to assist, which he does, plucking his breast amidst loud quackipgs at the cruelty and injustice of the whole thing. Now, indeed, the eider must be left to lay the remaining eggs, and pursue her maternal instincts in quiet, for if tiie nest should again be disturbed, it would be abandoned by the discouraged pair for a spot on some other island. Jan went from nest to nest removing the ducks, and filling his basket aha bag, carefully, notching the stake of dwarf birch ( Betula nana ) which was driven down beside each nest to indicate the number of times it had been rifled; for the older ducks begin to lay earlier in the season than the younger ones, and so the owner of the egg-var has to know the history of each nest.' As his load grew heavier and more difficult to carry, he sat little lUe upon a large, flat, lava rock, bidding hep not to get down while he went his rounds to the farther end of the island, where the shyer ducks, disdaining all his attempts to tame them, and lure them to com- , sortable homes, had crept into some large crevices, depositing their eggs and down far beyond the reach of Jan's arm. • • Scarcely had he dragged the eggs out with his hook and laid them m the basket, and staffed the down into the bag—which, though almost as light as air, assumed enormous proportions, and was as elastic as a rubber ball—when suddenly he heard a great outcry from the ducks, and saw them all rise from their nests and go flapping, hissing, and quacking toward the water; beneath which they all plunged in a great tumult, crying and splashing. The next moment a huge sea-eagle, circling low over the island, swooped down toward the red hooded baby on the rock. ~ V ‘ !

Dropping basket and bag, Jan ran toward them, swinging hu hook and shouting wildly. i Clutching the little girTs clothes with his talons, the eagle succeede4in dragging her off the rock, and was now flapping laboriously as if to carry her toward the beach. ..Her piteous cries of “Jan! Oh, Jan!” were muffled by the broad wings of the eagle. As Jan came close up to them, he dashed his hook at the fierce-looking bird, which loosed its hold, and lightly lifting itself a few feet, soared so closely above his head, that Jan could hear its great beak snap close beside Ins ear. Seizing little Use’s arm, the boy made off with her eves the difficult ground, stopping every few steps to beat off the eagle, now wrathfully diving and flapping upon his head, and almost, stunning him with the blows of its powerful wings. ■ J Jan's only thought was for Use. The eagle’s sharp talons‘pierced through his jacket at every swoop, but he staggered bravely, on, hoping to get over the cliffs to the boat ana in sight of home. * ‘ Gone skyndepa, Use! gaae skyndepa P ’ (run faster, Use! run faster!), cried Jan, striving in vain to keep the angry bird at bay with his hook. "Jeg kan ikke, god JanP ’ (I can’t, good Jan), panted the little girl, and Jan hastily lifted her in hi% arms. Contesting every step* he had nearly gained the crest of the ridge when the buffetingß of the savage bird upon his head became so furious and bewildering that Jan was forced to stop. Exhausted, but still brave and determined, he stood Use beside him, and, grasping the hook with both hands, set upon the eagle desperately. " f. - Back and forth he stummed over the rocks, beating at the bird, which, lightly rising and falling, adroitly eluded the attack, till at last, as it swooped down toward him, he gave it a hard blow directly under the left wing. It was effectual. The sharp hook clung fast, and in the sudden, short struggle which followed both boy and bird tumbled to the foot of the cliff on which they had been battling. Poor, brave Jan! He was now, indeed, vanquished as well as his enenljr, and could not reply to Use’s entreaties to come up to her. After a time the child slid down the path to where he lay, and, conscious that something terrible had happened to him, began to pat his face and hands, and call between her sobs, “ Tale lUe, Jan! Tale IlteP' (Speak to Use, Jan! Speak to Use!) It was late when 'Christoph and mother Use returned from the “ drying groudd,” and, not finding the children at the hut, they were filled with alarm. Taking his boat, Christoph hastily set off to the island, and before long he <mme upon them; Use, exhausted with crying, lying asleep on the unconscious boy’s peck. Her yellow locks and white down jacket were stained with the blood from an ugly wound on Jan's head, cut by the sharp lava rocks upon which he had fallen. But Jan did not die. Between mother Use’s careful nursing and the ministrations of the kind old priest, living not far away, he was, after many weeks, able to sit in the now waning sunlight and amuse baby Use; but it was too lat# for the egg-var again that ye»r. ' up* I must not forget to mention that, at Jan’s request, his father carried the skin of the sea-eagle to Reykjavik, where he went to dispose of his year's stock of fish and down, and sold it for seven rix dqllars to an English naturalist at that port. The eagle probably spreads its wings to-day in some London museum.— Mrs. C. A, Stephens, in St. Nicholas. jj. Johm Merchant, of Hyde Park, Pa., wad his sister have been living in the sarneT town and attending the same church Inr the last ten years, and until a few days ago they did not kfiow of each other’s whereabouts. She came [ from England nineteen years ago and he followednineyears later. J /