The Portland daily press., 1900-09-01

" AhA~SAAP3 A0oE 01l6 Ot14 1udSU5 Yu0 AOAO
was placed upon his couch, with his
arms and other precious belongings about
him, His horses and dogs and other
animals, even a pea fowl, the spoil, proba
bly,, of some southland raid, were slain
and placed about him, his war shields
were hung in their places along the ships
sides his boats broken up, and when all
was done, roof of oaKen logs was built
near him, and then the great grave
which had been dug, and into which the
ship had been lowered, probably by dig
ging under her, was Hlled, and mound
raised over all. What royal burial was
that Of Thousand years agol
The Uombs of the Swedish kings are
quite as impressive. AS you pass along
the dim aisles OF the Riddarholm church
and peer into the chapels on either hand,
you behold in the gloom, the great stone
Golfers covered with emblazoned pals,
which contain Sweden's kings and
queens. Above them silently hang,
mouldy and slowly dropping to pieces,
the flags which they won sin battle with
their many foes. You read as you pass
names which history has made familiar,
and at last stop with awe before the sar.
cophagus of Gustavus Adolphus, that
splendid man. whose name is immortal.
The imprisoned deadl How eloquent
they are AS you turn to pass out you
face dim crypt, and in theEgloom descry
long lines OF collins. They contain the
generals who fought the BATTLES of
Sweden under Gustavus.
"Their swords are rust,
Their bodies dust:
Their souls are with the Lord I trust"
1 should like to have the average
Americans, or even the fairly educated
Americans conception of Finland Are
they more nearly correct than the con-
ceptions OF his own country entertained
by foreigners, whose Ignorance he derides.
Probably he regards Finland and the
Finnish people as being far inferior to
what they really are, Finland is a most
interesting country, with most beautiful
scenery. She IS called the 'Land of a
Thousand Lakes,'' and her people are
destined to play an Important role In the
world future. Helsingfors was a sur
prise to me. Tt contains over 1OO,OO0 in
1 A-e'CAeesAAOO1 ROOOOOoOO
many imposing public buildings, while
its streets are well paved and lighted
with electricity. In fact, it lis far supe-
rior to most cities in Russia. The Finn
ish people are prepossessing in appear
ance, active and energetic, and have not
forgotten that their country was once
a part of Sweden, though they are now
under Russian rule. They still main
tain semblance of freedom, due doubt
less to the fact that they have been able
to resist the entertainments of the Greek
church, for in Finland there are but 90.
600 Greek Catholics to 2,5OO,OOO Luther
ans.
They have diet or parliament com
posed Of the four estates, that is, mobiles,
clergymen, MERCHANTS and others be-
longing to the soscalled middle class. and
peasants or wOrkingmen. The members
of each of these classes have equal rights
and equal voices IN legislation, but all
questions passed upon, have finally to be
approved by the Emperor, who is styled
the Grand Duke of Finland and Is repre-
sented by a governor general. Russia, in
pursuing her policy of assimilation. has
not found FinIanders easy to assimilate.
Thanks to the Lutheran clergy, who
understand the necessity OF education to
preserve the national spirit, it is said
that every Finn, man and woman, who
belongs to the Lutheran church can read
and write. In fact admission to the
church is conditioned upon this degree of
knowledge. There was a young man
wearing the Russian uniform on board
the steamer whom we all supposed was
Russian. As he was heard to speak
English an American stand ing near re-
marked to him pointing to the cathedral
that it was a line church. ''You should
see ours, - was the reply, cit is much
finer. Yours exclaimed the Ameri-
can, u thought that was yours" mot
at all, p" was the response, 81 was never
in 1t though 1 have lived here most
of my life, and viii never set foot in it
while live 'But," said the Ameri-
can, you were educated in the Russian
military school and wear the Russian
uniform" Eyes, but am a Finn all
the same" was the proud reply. Such
spirit as this, and 1t is but an echo of
the popular feeling, means trouble for
Russia one of these days. B.