"But let me go on with my story. It happened one time that some Vikings, as these brave Norse seamen were called, sailed so far into the west that they came to an island they had never seen before. This was Iceland. You have heard the name, haven't you, children?" "Yes, Uncle Sam." "Iceland lies about half-way between Europe and America, but it is much farther north than we are. The Norsemen who came upon it by accident, called it Snowland." "I think that is a pretty name. I wish it were called Snowland, now," said Lucy, half to herself. "Yes, it is a pretty name," said Uncle Sam. Then he went on. "The one who first saw Iceland did not remain there. He went back to Norway. Four years later, another Norseman was driven to the coast of Iceland by a storm. Before he left it, he sailed all around its shores and found it was an island. "When he got home again, he said it was such a pleasant place that another daring Viking decided to go to Iceland to live. He carried seeds for planting and cattle to furnish milk and meat. He stayed there all one winter. It was so cold that the poor cattle died. "When spring came, the Norseman made ready to plant his seeds, but the land was still covered with ice. 'This is not a fit place for anyone to live,' he cried. He once more packed his goods on his ship and sailed for Norway. "That, however, was not the end of the white men's life in Iceland. Ten years after that another band of Norsemen went there and settled. They lived in peace and comfort. Children were born and grew up in that cold island of the north. They were carefully taught by their parents and became wise men and women. This settlement in Iceland lasted for hundreds of years. "You children may wonder why I tell you so much about the Norsemen coming to Iceland, but it is like the first step of a ladder. Perhaps you are getting tired, though, and do not wish to hear any more to-night." "O no, we are not a bit tired, Uncle Sam," said both Lucy and her brother. "Well, then, if Iceland was the first step toward America, Greenland was the second one. "Some of the early settlers in Iceland were driven westward in a storm while they were out sailing. It was then that they first saw the rocky shores of Greenland. "A good many years after this there was a certain man living in Iceland named Eric the Red. He did not get along very well with his neighbors and had many quarrels with them. He said to himself: "'I will seek that land west of us and will make a home for myself there.' "He sailed away from Iceland and was not heard of again for three years. When he came back on a visit, he spoke of the place where he had been living as 'Greenland.' He thought: "'If I give it a good name, others will like to go there and settle.'" "Now I know why it was called Greenland," said Lucy, laughing. "Whenever we sing 'From Greenland's Icy Mountains,' I always wonder about the name. I knew it must be a cold and icy land, because of the words of the hymn."