The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1892-09-15

not believe that butter should be cooled with
| ice but there is difference of opinion in this
! regard and a great part OF the butter that Is
/ taken TO ST. Petersburg is kept on ice, and
! throughout Russia ice-houses are to be found
in which the butter is packed down in salt
pickle and covered with ice, and thus kept
throughout the Summer. ] have found good
butter at all the best hotels here in Russia, and
have never tasted better article than that
furnished here at st. Petersburg.
Fin and has but few towns and the people
| live almost altogether in villages. The biggest
city in the country is Helsingfors. which is at
the entrance of the Gulf of Finland, and which
is as dreary a place as can be imagined. 1t
contains about 10000 people, and it has broad
streets, big squares, and a few handsome State
buildings 1t is more Summer resort than
ANYTHING else and it is filled with invalids and
strangers half the year and sleeps during the
other half. 1t is now the Capital of the country,
aud it is here that the Senate sits and that the
officers of the Gar live. 1t is less than 300 miles
from st. Petersburg, and it costs about $40 first
class to go from one place to the other.
Next to Helsingfors the biggest town in Fin
land is Abo which is also on the Gulf and
which has less than 10000 people. There are
in addition to this perhaps seven towns ranging
from 5000 to $4,000, and the whole town popu
iation of the country is less than one-tenth of
pie live in cabins or huts and their diet is
made up of milk potatoes and salt fish. They
eat very little white bread and the bread of the
Finn is usually in the shape of hard biscuits.
and there is baking day about every three
months, when the family cooks enough bread
for the season. After the biscuits are baked
hole is bored through each of them, and they
are strung on strings our farmers sometimes
string dried apples and are hung from the
rafters of the hut until used.
Nearly all of the people drink, and like the
Russians their favorite drink is brandy,
which they take at all hours of the day and
always at dinner and supper.
Speaking of the Government of Finland, the
country is, you know. under the Gar, and the
Gar is the Grand Duke of Finland. He has
not, however, the same authority over it as he
has over the rest of the Russian Empire. and
when the country was ceded to Russia along
about the close of President Jeferson's Admin
istration, it WAS provided that the National
Parliament SHOULD sit four months every year.
This Parliament Is made up of the mobiles, the
clergy, the burghers and the peasants, and it
makes the laws for the Firms. The Gar has,
however, the right to veto any of their acts
and he has the right to propose laws for them
10 pass upon.
The country has its own money system,
though two years ago the Gar provided that
Russian money should be accepted in Finland.
Finland has its own banking system, and it
has what you will not find in Russia, good
system of savings banks, and there are 10000
depositors in the Finnish savings banks. 1t
manages its own schools and it has a number of
high schools, and the women of Finland are
fast taking high place among the women Of
the world. There are many night schools and
Sunday schools at which the higher grades of
learning are taught. and the majority Of the
children of the country receive good education
1t is not at all rare to find Russian who can
not read nor write, but you will seldom find an
unedUcated Finn.
Travelling is not expensive in Finland, and
the best time to go over the country is in the
Summer. There are comparatively few rail-
roads, and the most of the country will have to
be explored in boats or in the two-wheeled |
carts which are common to Finland, and in |
which you can dash down hill on the gallop |
and be in little danger Of injury. The Finnish |
horses are not SO fine looking as those of Rus.
STA, but they are very fast and you can make /
about 10 miles an hour. There is good stage |
system, and it costs you only about four cents q
mile to go over the country by stage.
As TO fishing there is no better fishing land !
in the world, and sleeping accommodations can |
be gotten within a short distance of the best |
trout streams in the country. In some parts of
Finland there is excellent salmon fishing. and |
with the curious costumes, the wild scenery, |
and the delicious air, it would seem to me that |
the American traveller might find quite as
the Switzerland of Russia as in the Switzer-
land of Europe.
There are about 100000 Of these Firms
under the rule of the Gar, and the elements
which are governed by him are as wide apart |