The Terrors of Wi)iter. 21 



they had a great laugh at his expense. I thought I 

 would try my hand at this, so I made a little sack 

 and tucked it into the corner of a patch, which a big 

 fellow wore upon his pants, the corner being ripped 

 just enough to let the sack slip inside. I had great 

 fun watching him all day, and when night came, he 

 boasted that none of the girls had fooled him that 

 day. "Oh, yes," said one of his companions, " the 

 smallest girl in the house has fooled you badly." 

 He felt pretty cheap when I pointed to the patch, 

 and he found the sack sticking out so that he might 

 have seen it easily. 



Picking up fuel was hard work, and took a great 

 deal of time. They had but little wood, and no coal, 

 so that it was necessary to gather the droppings of 

 animals, and make great piles of this kind of stuff in 

 the summer, so that it would be dry enough to burn 

 in the winter. 



If mice came about the houses and buildings in 

 the fall, the Icelanders would fear a hard winter, and 

 much damage to their sheep; for when the winter 

 grew very severe, and the mice could get nothing 

 else to eat, they would climb upon the sheep's 

 backs, while they were lying close together in the 

 sheds, and would burrow into the wool, back of the 

 shoulder-blades, and cat the flesh, very often causing 

 the death of the poor animals. 



The Icelanders used sheep's milk a great deal, and 

 I liked it. Sheep's milk is richer and sweeter than 

 cow's milk. They used to put up a lot of milk in 



