The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-10-07
PAID A VISIT TO The laps
MISS MAREARISrr KENNEDY TELLS
OF HER EXPERIENCES IN
SCANDINAVIA
Al ONE OF THEIR SERVICES
Nyhat Onc Of Their IxotaS Is Like
Pathetic story of "a Wander
y ing Life-LOnged for
France.

Miss Margaret Kennedy, who made
recent trip through an unfrequented part |
of Sweden. thus describes some of her
experiences in the New York Tribune:
During our stay at Otschon we made a
long and interesting excursion to the
I.apps. and had the rare opportunity of
assisting at one Of their services. which
ere only held two or three times year.
An hours row ana two hours ride
through the forest along a bread and
rushing rive brought US to their little
wooden church. which, with farm or
two, RESTED in a small but fertile valley;
behind this lowered the wild and rocky
field, en- which this tribe of Laps had
their encampment. We put up our po-
Mes in the stables of the "Lapp King,
a rich farmer. so called because of his
kindness and hospitality to the Lapps,
who, in their turn, treated him as their
father and general counsellor.
We amused ourselves til the service
began watching the congregation, as they
appeared over the fields, looking very
bright and pictl;~csQue IN their church
more adorned than is usually the case;
but these people belonged to a very pros
porous tribe possessing many hundred
reindeer The curiously shaped hats OF
the men are scarlet, as a rule; their
waistcoats are thickly braided in vivid
colors, and they have skin tight breeches
made of reindeer skin. The women's
caps are of crimson satin, their hair is
loose and plated in with strings of
cd
tunics stretching to their knees. Red
seems TO be their favorite color; even the
babies wear tight-fitting red caps. and
very sweet they looked as they lay in
their little reindeer skin cradles and We're
rocked by their mothers, who were wait
Ing to take them to be christened when
the service began.
These cradles are made in the shape of
French sabots. laced across with strips
of leather. These are a necessary pre-
caution as the babies are often hung up,
cradles and all, on the branches of the
fir trees when their parents want to be
rid of them. At II o'clock we all went
into church. an ugly, whitewashed, wood
en- little building adorned inside with
grotsque plaster figures and a big eye.
painted in vivid blue. with hideous
black eyelash. 1t appeared out of a sea
of white paint and looked down on US
with an uncanny and fixed stare from
behind the altar. The service was Lut h.
cram, and read in Swedish by a priest
sent all the way from Undersaker. Afte-
the christening of the babies we all went
Into the church yard, where the buria
service was chanted over the graves OF
those who had died IN the last SIX
months. 1t was all rather impressive
somehow, and the little Lapns looked
very much in earnest and joined heartily
IN all the prayers.
After an hour of the service my fathel
and l left, as before returning home Wa
wanted to visit one of their kotas, OF
camps the only one lying at the foo
Of the field. A quarter of an hour
walk brought us to it. In shape rathe
resembling an Indian wigwam, this kota
unlike the usual ones made of reindee
skin was built of turf overlaid witt
branches, with the smoke coming on
of a hole in the roof Crawling through
the narrow opening we found ourselve
In a circular room about twelve feet il
diameter Fir boughs, bundles and sack
strewed the earthen floor, and gu
Lapp woman, told US that no less tina
twenty men, women and children frol
the higher encampment had slept in thi
y limited space the night before to &
+ ready for the next days service. The
generally sleep in their clothes withol
undressing these strange little people
Of furniture of any sort, bed, table {
chair there was not a trace. The on
inmate Of the hut was an old man. VIZ
lay by the smoky fire rocking Grad
on his knee We saw al a glance he VIZ
no Lapp, his bright coal black eye
pointed beard and dark complexion pr
claiming Southern origin. He was.
fact an old French "militaire" and v
were very glad to come across him, as Y
had heard something of him before fro
his wife, an old Lapp woman. who h:
called one day at our farm at Otscho
And so, while the Lapps were still awi
at their devotions, my father and I seat
ourselves on the floor OF the smoky ca
in and listened TO the pathetic little Sto
of Frank Losters wandering life. Spea
ing in his gentle voice, now in Fren
and now in German. the old man told
of his birthplace Marseilles, his Fren
mother and German father. his sold
life in the Crimea. the scars which
still bore on his hand and wrist and
subsequent Imprisonment for year
the Russians. After his liberation
seems to have Joined the French NAY
for he wandered in ships all over
world and learned many languages.
was difficult at times TO follow him.
smoke so softly and was often lost
meditation as he recalled the incidel
of his wandering career. Finally. he n
his fate on the shores of the Baltic,
Iapp woman, whom he married,
with whom he had been living TOT thil
years in this remote far out of the wo
spot Too old and infirm to hunt
reindeer the Lapps treated him as
servant though with this difference, II
never paid him, but in return for
food he did all the cooking and men
work and looked after the babies. Nei
er. being a foreigner, was he EMIT
to the pension which the government
lows to the Lapps after they a Of
certain age
ITS dreary life he said. ''and I
so long to see my dear fatheriand as
before die But that, alas, is impo
BILE" :,
We stayed chatting with him, talk
Of the news of the outer world until
heard the Lapps returning, and
1t was time to be starting home /
old man! I do not think he will
TO bear the cold much longer. He loo
so very weak and infirm. Perhaps
fore the winter is over he will be at
in the tiny churchyard above his "ko
DnDpTD