The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1893-01-14
FINLAND And ITS PEOPLE.
SIGHTS AND SCENES IN THE swITzER-
LAND OF RUSSIA.

People-Ilow They Dress What They
Eat-Agricuiturea and Dairy Farming
The Principal Towns.
Writing to the National Tribune about
trip to Finland, Frank q. Carpenter
says: All st. Petersburg goes there in the
summertime, and the land Is known as
theswitEeriand OF the Empire. 1t is land
Of mountains and lakes, and 1t ia almost
impossible to 60 over the country by
land. The Russians call IL the "Land of
the Thousand Lakes" and though Fin
land belongs to Russia, IL is as different
from the rest OF the Empire as Italy is
different from Germany. The'Finlanders
In the northern part of 1t talk Swedish,
and IL Is only In the south and on the
borderso of Russia proper that you are able
to get along with the Russian language.
The people dress more like the Swedes
than they do like the Russians.
The country has long winters and short
summers, and even in the southern part
| of 1t the winter lasts six months, while
in the north the corn is sown and reaped
within six or seven weeks. The Firms of
St. Petersburg are not as fine looking as
those OF the northern part Of the coun-
try. They are drunken and dirty, but
the further You get from st. Petersburg
the better they grow. i am told that in
the northern part OF FINLAND you will
never see drunken man, q cripple, or a
beggar, and that the people are very in
dustrious and very religious.
Let me tell you how they look. The
men are of about medium height. They
have nat faces, high cheek bones, and
their eyes are small and are of q blue or
light-gray color. Their boards, which
they wear long and ragged, are usraily
blonde or red, and their forms are lean
and muscular. They have an honest sort
OF a look about them, and they are more
like the Norwegians which come to
America than like the Russians. They
wear In the summer long, loose wooden
coats, which they tie around the waist
with girdle, and in the winter they use
the shsepskin coat with the fur turned
inward. They are fond of bright colors,
and they usually wear red vests, and
their belts are, when they can afford it,
OF red silk.
The Finland maiden is quite as fond of
dress as her American sister, and the CO.'S
tunes OF the back districts are very
striking. The dresses OF the women are
covered with metal buttons. They wear
q leather strap around the head which is
studded with yellow buttons, and their
fingers are covered with rings. They are
fond OF red chemises and their skirts are
often red. They are, like the men, gen.
orally very muscular. and you will not |
see more althy-looking people any |
where. They die young, however, ard |
they are subject to all sorts Of epidemics.
Among other things, the light is very |
hard on their eyes, and Thousands Of peo-
pie are half blind.
The chief business Of Finland is agri-
cnsrsre, and the barrenness of the coun-
try Is such that they cannot produce !.
more than enough to keep them. Fin
land Is in fact great ledge of granite
rising from six to eight hundred feet
above the sea, and the northern part of
1t almost entirely covered with forests.
1t is in the south that the best farming
goes on, and the people have Agricul-
tural Colleges, and they cultivate the
soil much better than the peasants of
Russia. They have never been serfs, and
they are naturally, / think, of a higher
grade Of intelligence than the Russians.
They are especially skilled in dairy
Iarming and in cattle breeding, and the
Finnish butter is known all over the
world. 1t is as solid as cheese, is made
salt, and is so sweet that you can
'at 1t without bread and enjoy il.
Finland has but few towns, and the
,eople live almost together in villages.
rhe biggest city in the country is Hell
ingfors, which is at the entrance of the
1ulf OF Finland, and which is as dreary a
,iace as can be imagined. II contains
bout $4,000 people, and it has broad
treets, big squares, and a few handsome
tate buildings. 1t is more a summer re-
hat. x,x,t Ia. al. 4
With invalids and strangers half the year
nd sleeps during the other half. 1t is
ow the Capital of the country, and ii is
ere that the Senate sits and that the
fficers of the Gar live. 1t Is less than
DO miles from st. Petersburg, and II
osts about $40 first class to go from one
lace to the other.
Next to Helsingfors the biggest town
n Finland is Abo, which is also on the
Iulf, and which has less than $4,000 peo-
lie. There are in addition to this per-
APPS seven towns ranging from 5000 to
5000, and the whole town population OF
ae country Is less than one tenth Of the
iral population. The bulk of these peo-
le live in cabins or huts and their diet is
ade up OF milk, potatoes and salt fish.
hey eat very little white bread and the
read OF the Finn is usually in the shape
hard biscuits, and there is a baking
~ about every three months, when the
mily cooks enough bread for the season.
fter the BIZ cults are baked hole ia
'red through each of them, and they
e strung on strings as our farmers
metimes string dried apples, and are
ing from the rsiters of the hut until
ed.
Nearly all OF the people drink, and like
o Russians their favorite drink is
andy, which they take at all hours OF
e day and always at dinner and supper.
Travelling is not expensive in Finland,
ID the best time to go over the country
in the sumner. There are compare
rely few railroads, and the most Of the
untry will have to be explored in boats
in the two wheeled carts which are
mmon to Finland, and in which you
dash down hill on the gallop and be
little danger OF injury. The Finish
rses are not so fine looking as those Of
ssia, but they are very fast and you
, make about ten miles an hour. There