The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1896-05-14
a BATH IN FINLAND.
An IMPORTANT AFFAIR THAT TAKES
8 SkA PLACE ONCE A MONTH.

- Public Bashhouss On OLD woman
d xurns on ths Steam. and the whole
vlllAes Populssion IL Cleaned = Thsa
(, Csnss sissts In ths Cold Air.
II you lived in a. cold and uncomfort.
able q country as Finland, IL IL highly
probable that you would never take
bath. Therefore you will appreciate this
remarkable story, which proves the great
virtue and bravery Of the Firms. There
ore Firms no doubt who bathe every day;
but, like the most Of the real heroes Of
this world, they live and die in obscur-
ity, unhonored and unsung
There are, on the other hand, no
Firms who do not take at least one bath
. month. And this is pretty high aver.
age when you consider that for all
France the average is one bath year
for every Frenchman, and in Germany
the average is seven-tenths Of q bath
year for every German, and in England
the average is one-half q bath year for
every Ntglishman. These are thin and
poor averages when compared with the
Finnish average Of 10 baths year o
person.
But it is not the number Of baths that
IL 20 interesting as the Finlandef's meth
Cd Of taking those baths. OF course,
even in such centers Of civilization as
Keitele, the people have long ceased to
be quaint. But take village like Tras-
borg, which is tucked away in an OBJ
scure corner Of the banks Of Ulea Trask,
! and you find the ancient and honorable
Finnish bathing custom in full force.
On the banks Of the lake about
quarter Of mile from the huddle Of
huts called Trasborg you will see q
small log house with no windows and
apparently with no door. All around
the outside Of this queer hut runs q
bench, the back Of which is the wall Of
the hut and the seat a single board sup
ported by uprights.
There is no chimney. There Is box
like sentry shelter at q little distance
from the hut, and it is from this box
that an underground passage leads to
the interior Of the cabin.
On a certain day you will see huge
fire blazing near this cabin, and after
it has been going for several hours you
will observe that the old woman who
has been watching the fire will reach
Z into it with huge pair Of tongs and
I lift out bowlder. The bowlder Is red.
hot.
She will drag this into the box and
20 through the underground passage.
She will lay it finally in the center Of
: the earthen floor Of the cabin, and so
she will go on, dragging redhot bowl
ders out Of the fire and piling them up
in mound In the center Of the cabin
door. When she has brought the Last
Bowlder, she has q large mound, and
the cabin is beginning to warm up.
In q corner Of the cabin stands a
huge barrel Of water. She dips bucket
into the barrel and throws the water on
the mound Of rocks. Steam bursts from
It. When she has thrown on half doz-
en- buckets, the cabin is choked with
steam.
The joyous bathers begin to arrive.
While the old woman has been making
the steam the villagers have been get
ting ready. In every family there has
been grand diEobing.
And now from every hut burst the
inhabitants, clad only in the simple,
tight fitting and innocent garments
with which nature has provided all her
children. The weather is cold, bitter
cold But the hardy Finnish men, wom-
en- and children are not disturbed.
) They leap over the frozen ground,
( shouting with laughter and going at full
speed to keep their blood circulating.
The Firms are far from lovely to look
upon, even when swathed in their win
ter garments of fur. In state Of nature
they would never attract offers from
painters or sculptors seeking models.
But they are 80 frank and 80 cheerful
and 30 happy that one does not mind
their squat bodies, their rolls Of fat,
their coarse and greasy skins. So they
60 bounding to the common bathhouse
Of the village, running races, tripping
: one another. jostling one another aside.
All are in the merriest possible mood.
There is quite scramble at the door
Of the sentry box, as SO many arrive al
the same time. But gradually they dis.
appear until the whole village popula'
tion is lying or sitting about ON the
shelves that line the interior walls OF
the cabin. The mothers have brought
the babies. Not soul is left in the vii.
lage huts. It is deserted village
There are lively times in the bath.
house, as You may imagine. The women
are all on one side, the men ON the 9th.
or, and forms can just be dimly made
out by the dim tallow dip that sheds q
faint, smoky light. The place is full Of
steam, and the temperature is away ur
toward blood heat. Hour after hour the
ingenious Firms lounge or sleep or gos.
sip They stay until they are thoroughly
boiled out and the room begins to gel
chilly.
Then they sit outside the house ON the
bench. They do not mind the freezing
air. They lounge about as II it were
summer time, smoking, drinking, feel
ing clean and light hearted.
Thew do not destroy this pleasure by