The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-01

brought to my mind the verses of the | I<alevala.
 l Other tunes the horns are blowing, | Other doors thou nearest iarring, | Other gates thou nearest creakng, | Other voices at the fshlines.
 Resting one foot on the threshold 1 On his sledge the other placing | Forth I go most sadly longing
 l As into the night of autumn
 As on slippery ice in springtime. l When on ice no track remaineth | On its smoothness rests no footprint | Soon he came and we were off For awhile I listened to the merry tintnnabu- 1 lation of the bells upon the douga, the wooded bow which connected the points l of the shafts. and watched the superb movement of the horses. It is claimed that the original intention in employing bells was to frighten off the wolves while others assert that their purpose is to give warning of approach and thus avoid col 1 lisions in the narrow forest paths, but l am inclined to the opinion that they were primarily designed, as were our church bells, to drive away the evil l spirits just as the Neapoitan drivers l of the day ornament their horses har- ness with huge metal covered pyramid. The animals seemed as tireless as birds
 of passage and skinned over the snow as four footed swallows; inueed I might have compared them with harnesseo spirits of the wind had not the harness l been so sparce and the leather thongs so thin that the steeds had the appear ance of running loose or actually fly l ing. The capabilities of the Russian horse are astounding and their charac- | ters strange mixture of docility and fear
 1 When standing at rest they permit 1 their drivers to convert their launches l into couches or headrests and again they are spoken of as "madmen.' They l are equally responsive to endearing cajolery and contemptuous abuse, for i to their capricious drivers they are sometimes little doves" and sometimes "accursed hounds" though the whip is
 not often applied, and with no other ip- centive than the masters voice they | maintain a pace of IA miles the hour for many successive hours.
 l When but one horse is used to I sled the turnout is designated as an "egoist,' but frequently for the mere l sake of appearance a second animal 1 is attached by single trace. He is l termed a 'madman" and his presence seems to inspire the steed between the shafts with wild and greatly accel- erated speed. When third horse Is added the team becomes, as was ours l upon this occasion, troilia, and as l | looked at my flying steeds I was re- minded of the chariot races of the l Romans of old or the speeding horses of mad Jehu coursing the plain of Esdraelon.
 The animal between the shafts of necessity kept his head erect and gazed straight before him, but the side horses galloped in real classical style. turn ing their heads outward as they flew over the frozen snow. It is said that . I l.. h | a short line running from the bit to the harness saddle but such was not the case with my steeds for there was neither line nor saddle and I am satiG- fled that the attitude is assumed half through fear of the whip. and the horse essays to keep his eyes upon the driver. One can scarcely. without experience ing it. imagine the sensation of such strange drive behind such animals at such wild huntsman's pace across q I frozen snow covered sea.
 | Finland is land of lakes and in 1 summer is most beautiful country | for many of the lakes have their shores
 lined with the summer residences of
 the wealthy citizens of St. Petersburg
 and Moscow, but in winter it is drear- mess personified. the abandoned pal
 aces adding to the gloom and deserted
 appearance of the country. We crossed many of these lakes upon the ice to
 save distance and crossed several
 rivers through necessity. I was seized
 with horror of losing my way across
 the trackless plain of ice and the situ- ation became almost appalling. Added
 to this were the frequent lowering,
 hauntingJ spectral outlines and config
 urations Of ships frozen fast in the ice with all sails set vet fnotionless as a
 statue: in fact they seemed as mounds
 of death and yet the rapid speed of my sled caused them to appear as l gliding in opposite direction. My apprehension was, however, soon greatly relieved when learned thai tho course was marked out by poles male fast in the ice and that at stated
 intervals We passed houses Of refuge
 equipped with alarm bells that are rung