Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1904-12-28
SING ALL THE WHILE
THE Firms INDULGE IN SONG IN AND
OUT OF SEASON,

OU OF SEASON
-
Ero,, No,, . p...
c,,., 49,,
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In the palatial supper room of the
great hotel in Helsingfors, tie capital
Of Finland-the best hotel in Russia,
for the Firms represent NIL TINT is most
n,,o,.r...,,,., i'm Az, ,,,,,,,,n ,,,
,,,, 80 1T
"
s' su.te.s o's''h
9''i7'Hs' ..ii trained voices they sang
.our p''rt ioih lore song OF me north
land. Never heard l n song SO deeply
melancholy 1t was the music of the
unhappiest OF the enlightened peoples
OF tle earth.
mat was on my first evcilug in Fin
iand. From that time forth through
out stay of four weeks among those
SAD hearted people | listened to their
singing morning, noon ana night al
most cohtihuously. The Germans sing
a great deal, the swedes sing part OF
the time, the Russlans sing most of the
tiihe' Dut the rims as nation actu-
ai!y sing al the time.
FROM noble TO peasant, the men of
fihiahd may be said to form one
ihishty male chorus. From the great
iaay OF the capital city to the lowiy
woman VINO oniias houses With her
OWN hahds On tlle borders OF l-apiand,
lhe women OF remand may be SAID to
coinpr'se one vast chorai society. Inc
acknowledged hhest singing society IN
EUROPE is iideed the iieisingfors male
chorus. II Is composed OF lUo mem
pers. ana from their ranks are recruit
ca the singing teachers of the country.
singing FESTIVALS rs held by the
rims are on scale unequaled IN any
othef country. rive Thousand singers
gatherea one night In the public square
III ueisi'iefors TO serenade Finnish
artlst named Rosenfeld, whose picture
hau peeh awarded nrst prize at the 10
cai salon. IN Il CITY tRt Is Il surprise
u all travellers, near the arctic circle,
many mics from railroad, the city
OF uieaDorg, 2,ooo school children gath
ered In the park In front of the hotel
anu Tor half an hour, FOR the travellers
pene1lt, hlled the air with the music
OF the snow wilderness, with songs
that told OF the vast loneliness of the
country beyond the CITY.
Once In Helsinpfors 10000 voices
Joined in chorus to sing the national
but the singing was by no means tho
harum scarum. co.as-you.pleose sort
but thorouphIv orronized into rour
parts md executed with precision
This incident was described tn mo Inv
the man In whose honor the great Choir
us gathered Said he:
~ was one OF tbe first nersons over
exiled from that nort of tho czors
domain. NV departure from .Helsinr.
fors was the occnsion of n nnblic dom.
onstrotion of surnoss,no solemnitv
Ten thousand nersons gathered ,t the
railway station TO sov roodhv Tho
crowd watched tho Ieoye taking IN nh.
solute silence hut ns the train heran
to move 10000 heads were uncovered
and 10000 voices began singing tbe M.
tional anthem And tb,s scenc wos re.
ne,te,,-u,,th ron.or eincor, ~ .o,,rso
Mt every railroad station nj, tho woy
to the port where / took n steamer for
American
lnese singing fliiiis 40 NOT always
sing their folk lore songs or their pa
triotic anthems. They IRE n deeply re-
ligious people, mostly Lutherans, and
each town has its special choir for
singing nothing but hymns. 1 went to
the largest church In the country to
hear the singing OF choir Of nearly
hundred mnle voices. The grandest
cathedral organ never produced music
of such majesty and power us did that
choir. which included the most Won
derful bass voices IN Russia.
Even the companies of Finnish
guards, though differed by Russians,
sang the Finnish anthem as they
marched past the hotel every morning
on the way to relieve the old guard.
The Russian officers once tried to put
a stop to the singing Of the Finnish
national song by the soldiers, but the
discontent among the men became so
apparent that singing was again per-
mus wherever the FinnS get to2eth-
er they burst into song. When they