Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-21

A certain good American. though born ir
Finland. and as fond of his native land as
all Ffnlanders are. has recently returned
from that far, cold country with story OF
| a notable 400-mile sleigh ride away up to
| the border of Lapland. ride the like OF
which few Americans of any type have ever
taken.
This ride was begun on January %, when
the long intensely cold winter in Finland
| and Lapland was still in full swing. 1t be-
gan at the town of Kemi, next almost
next to the last station on the railroad run
| ming north of Helsingfors. Though born
and brought up in Finland till he was
nearly of age, the man who was about to
take the long sleigh ride had never ventured
SO far north and east as he was now about
to venture. and the entire expedition was
as strange, as novel, to him as 1t would
| have been to you or to me. His chief home
memories were of his university days and
of HelsingfOrS, the capital city, not of the
wide open spaces up Lapland way.
MY destination" he told a few of his
friends who had gathered to greet him the
other evening was kemijarvi, 400 kilo-
meters east and north of Kemi, and so far
along the way to the north pole that
| there is very little sunlight there in the win
ter, and very little of anything else in the
summer.
There were two ways of making the trip
l could get sleigh and a driver and en-
ploy post horses, changing at the post
houses, or l could engage man who owned
both sleigh and horse, and ride in what
would practically be my own conveyance
all the way. This method is called making
the long journey up there. and I chose it
for variety of reasons as being prefer
able to the other.
There was about an hour or so of sun
daily when 1 started. the orb of day show
ing above the far southern horizon, small
and red through the snow-mst at about
noon. The snow was more than four feet
deep on the level. and the weather was bit
ter cold-So cold that zero, Fahrenheit
would be almost warm in comparison-4C
below according to the Celsius thermome-
tiers always used there.
THE sled we used was about nine feet
long. In front the runners were about a
foot apart; at the rear, thirty inches. Thus
it was shaped like a blunt-ended wedge, the
small end going first, of course.
THE stretch Of road between Kemi and
Rovaniemi, one Of the most important
towns through which / was to pass, is
probably the heaviest travelled highway
both summer and winter, in the world. All
the freight and passenger traffic between
Lapland and part of Finland. to and from
Russia, passes over it, there being no rail-
Consequently, that part of my trip was by
no means lonesome one. There was nc
hour of the twenty-four when the road was
deserted and. as every horse and sleigh OF
every sort must carry bells. my ears were
constantly delighted with their tinkling in
every key, sometimes in casual chords and
sometimes in jangling discords, but truly
never with an unpleasant effect.
Il could talk about these bells a whole
week. think, for the melody and the har-
mony of them have got into my ears and
doubt If / shall ever forget them. Each
horse must wear them. one at the top OF
| the high bow over the withers and one or
each side. Sometimes they are so pitched
as to form chord when rung, and some
times they are pitched in unison. The bells
on the mail carriers horses are the largest
and deepest. The mail carriers have the
right of way over all others on the road
and their big sleighs are always heavily
loaded Occasionally a mail carrier will
have two sleighs. the extra one sometimes
In charge of an extra driver, and some
times with the second horse following the
first sleigh without immediate supervision.
X X
More novel than this everlasting bel
tinkling, though, was the manner in which
had to prepare for the journey.
In the first place. l rode lying down from