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[HE Land of Many
I Waters” is the
poetic designation
of their beloved
country most cher
ished by the peo
ple of Finland. .
Mountain ranges i
and forest stretches /I
—bold and verdant IS
.are interspersed with valley l|
■waterways and fragrant |g
meadow'-lands. In summer- ||
time the foam and spray of 11
rushing torrents hang spark- y
ling dewdrops on the golden \
pine-needles whilst the va
porous mists of the marsh
lands wave fairy rainbows
among the russet fruit of
the bronzy hazels. The
greenest of green moss and
the most tender gray stone
wort spread softest carpets
for the feet as with the hand
are plucked the sweetest
wild flowers.
"The Thousand Lakes” of
Finland, placid in the sun-
shine but whipped to fury by autumn storms, re
semble clusters of precious gems cast by benefi
cent deities upon the bosom of Nature. The eye
■delights in the serenity of the panorama till the
ear catches the impressive thunder of the cata
racts and waterfalls. A river-lake-land trip is
an experience at once novel and thrilling. Light
boats, too frail they look, push off boldly Into
the rapids, manned by sturdy young fellows in
red flannel shirts, slouched felt hats and leather
boots far up the thigh, singing snatches of plain
tive folk-lore as their craft clear rock and boul
der daringly. The long wooden paddle thrown
cut behind and the supple oars dash showers of
■crystal water over the traveler. Groups of white
kerchiefed women and bare-legged children toss
■cheery welcome all along the course whilst the
wrafty boatmen take vigorous pulls at the übiqui
tous cigarettes.
Winter brings about a marvelous transforma
tion. True, the rude storms expend their fury,
nupon the rock-bound coast but the deadly bliz
zard tears away Nature’s beauty spots. When
the "Lady of the Snows” has spread her glitter
ing mantle far and wide peace, white and last
ring, reigns everywhere. Ice crystals depend
'from every bough and eave and frost diamonds
sprinkle on the ground. Above all and every
thing the great horizon is flashed with the daz
zling Northern Lights giving promise of life and
• constancy.
Spring, which saw vegetation leap like, magic
out of the melting snows, is swiftly followed by
'brief and brilliant summer, and autumn comes
on apace, ready, so it seems, to be devoured by
the greedy frost king. Seed time and harvest
’hold each other by the hand to resist the grip
of ice. Forest -work ceases, and, the short day
•of winter over, old and young assemble in the
iiomestead’s long common room and together
weave end spin, and read and smoke, and dance
rmd sing. Certainly by sledge and ski and skate
•distances are covered, and happy school children
glide hither and thither, sometimes scurrying
Ihome for fear of wolves.
The Finns came originally from the Altai
■mountains. They took possession, of the “Land
•of Many Waters” away in the seventh century.
The language spoken by the country people has
* similar origin; it is an unique tongue, soft and
sonorous, not unlike modern Italian. The peo
ple of the eastern province, touching upon Rus
sia, exhibit the Mongolian type—thick lips, high
cheek bones and narrow eyes. The inhabitants
of the western province are mostly of Swedish
origin and speak the Swedish language.
The word “Finn” means wizard. Among their
many superstitions is the tradition that a trin
ity of spirits presides over their destiny—“Ukko,”
flbe spirit of the air; “Tapo,” the spirit of the
ffuvest. and "Abte,” the spirit of the lakes. The
in
? ;
mountain-ash is sacred, its ashes, after burning,
are carefully preserved, for when sprinkled on
the ground they descry luck or the reverse in
■wooing.
Land tenure and land service in Finland pre
sent many interesting features. The more salient
points are actual survivals of federal times.
The class of peasant which may be called “la
borer-farmers” consists of men who receive no
wages. They occupy' buildings belonging to the
landowner, which they are required to keep In
repair. The land-owners make grants of seed
and other necessaries, and of certain lands which
the laborer-farmers cultivate for their own bene
fit. They have free access to the forest for fuel
and for lumber for repairs. In return they are
obliged to work for the land-owner with their
own families and horses. On holdings, -where
there is clay, the laborer-farmers are allowed to
make bricks and to earn what they can by sales,
paying so much per cent on their gains to their
landowner.
Many laborer-farmers are quite well off, and,
whilst they retain their status as peasants, their
sons and daughters are sent to excellent schools
and enter government and commercial employ
ments. This class of men must not, however, be
confounded with the “free” peasantry. The lat
ter, although generally poorer, have superior
civil rights and form an estate of the realm with
direct representation in the Finnish parliament.
Finland was first occupied by the Russians in
1809. Alexander I. granted the inhabitants
autonomy under their ancient laws and institu
tions. Recent events have greatly curtailed Fin
nish liberties, but like the patriots the Finns
abide and sing:
“^Tnd of a Thousand Lakes,
Where faith and life are ours.
Past wrongs inspire our powers.
For us the future wakes!”
Like other folk, the Finns rejoice in festivals—
religious and profane. Christmas is the great
est of them all. Ever so long before the eve of
the Nativity the stores are crowded with people
choosing klapps, gifts for family and friends. In
each town and village the snow-covered market
place becomes a pine forest full of Christmas
trees, for every home keeps Christmas thus. If
they do not rejoice in beef and plum pudding
they have their seasonable dishes all the same—
lut fisk, dried cod. soaked In brine and boiled to
a jelly; with it they eat a sort of pease pud
ding. Smoked roast pork follows and then comes
a rice pudding full of almonds —the mord al
monds you get the more happy months you will
have. Plum tarts, served with paste and clotted
cream, form the dessert.
On Christmas Eve each house and cottage ex-
hibits a burning candle in every window; the
peasants’ dwellings are littered With clean straw
and the cattle in their stalls have extra sup
plies of food. A popular observance is to ar
range inverted saucers around the festive board
—one for each gUest—under which are placed
objects bearing significant meanings. Each per
son in turn raises a saucer. May be it has cov
ered a piece of red ribbon —that presages a
wound or some bodily injury; or a coin, riches;
or a key, for a girl the token of her direction
within a twelve-month of some household, for a
boy the entrance on a commercial career; or a
piece of fuel, which fortells death; or a ring for
matrimony, and so forth.
The "Christmas Buck” visits every home In
Finland. He is an old man with long white hair
and beard and heavily clad in fur. He drives
his team of reindeer over mountains and frozen
lakes and enters unannounced each doorway. He
makes a circuit of the family and inquires
whether the children have been good or bad.
Before leaving ha throws down klapps for all.
At Twelfth Night the “Star Boys” make their
appearance. They are five young men in fancy
dress. Three represent the Three Holy Kings of
the Epiphany, one is King Herod, and the last
a goat with hoofs and horns. They enact a
legendary play which has for its finale the death
of Herod, whilst the goat is thrust outside the
door. Wherever they go they collect alms for
poor people who have no Christmas cheer.
After the gayeties of Christmas two months
elapse during which one is able to restore one’s
digestive organs, and then comes Lent. A dis
tinctive Lenten diet is blines and caviar; the
former the large thick pancakes which are eaten
with butter, sour cream and fruit juice. At mid-
Lent a fresh water fish is much esteemed—lake
it is called It is caught in nets sunk through
holes in the ice of rivers and lakes. It is boiled
in milk. On Easter Eve everybody eats hard
boiled eggs.
The first of May is an ancient festival of gen
eral observance, especially by students and
youths. They meet in the public parks of Hel
singfors, the capital, and in country market
places, and there sing old folk-songs to the spirit
of spring. Then they drink deeply of sweet
mead and consume vast quantities of struvor
rich puff-paste tarts—and then they dance ,and
flirt ■with buxom maidens to their hearts' con
tent. Midsummer day is of universal observance
in Finland Birch trees are planted at all the
house doors and twigs of birch are stuck all
over every room. The sun sets in the eve at
eleven o’clock, and rises in the day at two. Dur
ing those three brief hours the young people kin
dle big fires. All are bent on dancing around and
above the blazing embers. They call the fires
kokko, “love’s flame.”
Rye harvest is a very important season. On
the first dky the laborer-farmers, with their
wives and families, foregather at the mansion of
the land-owner. They are divided into squads—
one man. two women and three children. To
each squad is assigned a certain area wherein
the man cuts the crop, the women shock and
the children glean. They work from four in the
morning until eight at night, with intervals for
breakfast and dinner. These meals, together
with the supper at the end of toil, are substan
tial in every sense. They are provided gratis
by the land-owner and are eaten at long tables
placed in front of the mansion, whereat the land
owner and his family serve. After supper all
join in singing the plaintive national song, kale
wala, and then a happy time is passed with
games and dances.
The rye crop, which provides the Finns with
their staff of life, does not dry in ordinary sea
sons in the fields. It is consequently carried to
the rias, or barns, and laid on racks and rafters.
Fires are kindled in each corner and the smoke
permeates the crop, imparting a much-loved and
peculiar flavor. The country people’s diet con
sists chiefly of talkumma, a sort of porridge
made of rye. This is carried, when well set, in
birch bark knapsacks. It is also baked hard and
hung in great round, thin cakes, with holes in
the center, from the ceilings of the houses. Their
favorite beverage is coffee, which they brew to
perfection. Corn-rye brandy is a liquor much
esteemed by all classes and sometimes indulged
in to excess.
The greatest refreshment of the Finns is the
bath; every homestead has a bath-house. It is
their unfailing remedy in sickness. “If bath
and brandy fail,” they say, “then comes death."
In the bath-houses are stone ovens wherein wood
fires are kindled and every orifice is closed.
After the fire has burnt itself out buckets of
water or shovelfuls of snow are dashed upon the
embers and red hot stones. Dense clouds of
steam arise and into them the bathers plunge.
The whole body is switched with birch rods, and
then follow thorough massage and rubbing down
with soap. As the bather quits the bath-house
sousings of cold water or snow are administered;
sometimes a header into deep snow is preferred!
Then for a while to cool they all sit on benches
in the open air, and then they resume their
clothes. During harvest time such baths in com
mon are taken every evening after work is done;
in winter the Saturday night tub suffices. Few
spectacles can be more weird and astounding
for the traveler than, when driving to night quar
ters, he suddenly comes upon the family at bath.
raw
—
TURKEYS READY FOR MARKET
There Never Has Been More Active
Demand for Good Birds Than
at Present —Ways of Killing.
(By T. F. M’GREW.)
After turkeys are grown and ready
for market, quite as much care and
attention should be given to the kill
ing and shipping as to the proper
growing. When these things can not
be done to good advantage, it is bet
ter to sell them alive. Buyers who
are prepared to kill, dress, pack and
,181
White Holland Turkeys.
ship turkeys, and to save the feathers,
should be in position to pay what
th^ are worth alive; and should be
able to handle them at a profit, better
than the grower, who may not be pre
pared to do the work to the best ad
vantage.
So much depends upon marketing
them in the best condltnon that small
growers should either dress and sell
to their home market, or, providing
it can be done at a fair price, sell
alive to someone who makes a busi
ness of handling such stock.
Kill nothing but well-fattened stock.
It seldom pays to send ill-favored
stock into market. Do not give any
food to the turkeys for twenty-four
hours prior to killing. This allows
the crop and entrails to become empty
and avoids much of the danger of
spoiling. Full crops and entrails count
against value; they often taint the
meat and prevent its being kept for
any length of time.
There are two methods of killing
largely used. The most popular is to
suspend the fowl by the shanks, head
down, and cut or stick it in the roof
of the mouth with a knife made espe
cially for this purpose. This severs
the arteries and cuts into the brain,
causing insensibility and a free flow
of blood from the mouth. This is
called “sticking in the roof of the
mouth.”
The other plan is to break the neck
by a quick twist or jerk backward.
When the neck is completely dis
jointed the head is pulled away so as
to form an open space in the neck
in which the blood may settle. This
plan has been but little used, though
the claim is made that when so killed
the fowls will keep longer, because
there is no opening by which the air
can get into the body, as there is
when they are stuck in the roof of the
mouth. This method has been used
more for chickens than for turkeys,
and to use it well requires consider
able practice. The method of behead
ing with an ax or hatchet has been
employed for ages.
RHODE ISLAND RED’S ORIGIN
History of Youngest Breed of Ameri
can Chickens —Considered Excel
lent for All Purposes.
The Rhode Island Reds, although
one of the youngest breeds in the
American class, are growing in popu
larity. The history of the Reds dates
back to about 1854, but it is only of
recent years that the poultry world
acknowledged them as a breed, says
the Farm Journal. At that date, it
is claimed, Red Cochin China cocks
and Red Malay cocks were brought
into sections of Rhode Island and
Massachusetts by sea captains. Later
Rose Comb Brown Leghorn blood was
introduced in some sections, and thus
for 60 years the male bird for the
head of each flock was selected of a
red color and-a vigorous condition.
The breed is conceded to be one
of the best for practical purposes. The
birds are excellent layers of large
Rhode Island Red Male.
brown eggs, and are first-class as ta
ble poultry, being adapted for both
broilers and roasters. The standard
weight is: Cock, 8% pounds; cock
erel, 7% pounds; hen, 6^ pounds; pul
let, 5 pounds. •
Keep Out the Frost.
There should never be frost in the
.hen house.
PARCELS POST
RATE FINDER
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a handsome 3-color map of the United States, 21x21
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Remit by postal money order.
PARCELS POST RATE FINDER CO.,
123 Liberty St. New York City
MONEYi*WmG
A Weteil yun how? •A- ■
O pay beat market prices. TIW
|a Write for references and
H weekly price list.
O- ■. ha BEL A SONS, BRB ■ W 01^
B LOUISVILLE, i£Y. ■_ H D
H Dealers in Furs, Hldca, B| ■ ■ BOT
W o . i. Estab Hiked 18 SU. g Urgfl 1
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Agents Coining Money selling our new pat.
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Samual Fortune,2oß E.llth St.,Richmond,Va.
Fewer flowers for the dead and
more for the living would help some.
As a summer tonic there is no medicine
that quite compares with OXIDINE. It not
only builds up the system, but taken reg
ularly. prevents Malaria. Regular or Taste
less formula at Druggists. Adv.
Shoots First. • •
“That guide shoots nearly every
hunter he takes out.”
“Accidentally?”
“No, he always claims he does it In
self-defense.”
z
DOES YOUR HEAD ACHEF
Try Hicks* CAPUDINE., It’s liquid—pleas
ant io take—effects immediate —good to prevent
Sick Headaches and Nervous Headaches also.
Your money back if not satisfied. 10c., 25c. and
50c. at medicine stores. Adv.
OFTEN THE CASE.
Evelyn—Did you have a good time
at Miss Fussy’s party?
Loraine —No; Mrs. Fussy worked
so hard trying to make her guests feel
at ease that she made everybody un
comfortable.
MADE OLD GENTLEMAN WROTH
Misunderstood Editor’s Use of French
Word, and Trouble Was With
Difficulty Averted.
It was in Indiana, not so very
long ago, that the daughter of an old
White River farmer -was reading the
country newspaper to himself. She
had got to the "Personals,” and read
this:
“Mrs. Willie Morritts, nee Black,
has returned from a visit to her par
ents in Indianapolis.”
"I don’t quite understand that,”
said the old gentleman.
“What don’t you understand?” in
quired the daughter.
“That part about Mrs. Willie Moi>
ritts, nay Black.’ What does ‘nay
Black’ mean?”
“Oh, that’s French, and means she
was born Black.”
“Yes; nee is French for born.”
“Well, it ain’t so!” ejaculated the
old man, jumping up and shaking
his fist. “I knowed her parents, and
they were as white as anybody that
ever lived in Indianny, and I’ll see
that editor about it.” But before he
could get away the daughter ex
plained matters, and the old gentle
man cooled down. —Exchange.
As a summer tonic there is no^ .medicine
that quite compares with OXIDINE. It not
only builds up the system, but taken reg
ularly, prevents Malaria. Regular or Taste
less formula at Druggists. Adv.
Quite Natural.
“What was your experience when
the train was telescoped?”
“I saw stars.”
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/ fit /
