The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-12
B| RI H SWITCHES
 USED TO ASSIST IN PERSPI IRAT|ON
Carpenter Describes City 0f 200, ,O00 Where All Stoves
 Are Porcelain
By FRANK G. CARPENTER

gl+trIHer nO1lu OH tHG SlODe Indn any 6ther world capital Its latitude is that of Hudson bay, and it is nearer r-1he north pole than Petrograd, ' Stockholm or Christiania. Neverthe- { less, the climate is pleasant and peo- gpie can live well here all the year round
 @Just how well they live will sur prise you. My hotel is the Ramp. It k tsla building of five stories, facing an 5 aNenue park 400 feet wide, with stone | paVements on either side ahd green { lawns and trees in the center. En- tering, one finds much the same ] nbby as at home, and the dining | rooms are commodious. I am fortu- .9ate in having the bridal suite, t'which is on the second floor over the { entrance. 1t costs me just about S3 ' day and would cost ten times that z in New York. The suite consists of : a parlor, 1GX20, with an alcove at -the left facing the street. The cell ing is 8 feet high and in it's center an electric cut glass chandelier. s.'Fhe floor is of polished oak, with d srose -colored, one-piece rug covering @the whole. and the furniture is of LSak. upholstered in blue brocaded %sattn. The room has two full-length %mirrors. in which I can see every Epnuscle as I go through my gymnas- @tics on arising, and adjoining it is .sa bed room and bath, the latter hav- stng a tub six feet in length, with a kShower overhead.
 EHow They Keep Warm.
 ~ Every morning 1 order fire, for Mthe air is cold about daybreak. The .botel is not heated by furnace, hot @Water or steam, but. like most of .the homes of the city, by great .stoVes burning wood The stove fills sSne corner of the parlor. It is half s1gain as high as my head and has an soVen three feet square, which is the Speight of chair from the floor. The soven has brass doors, and when the ~Eood is put in and lighted, these are esthrown open, and it gives all the ef- kfect of a grate.
 @. The stove is beautiful, and I am Gtold it cost $40O or $500. It is of rpofcela1n of an ivory whiteness with spnk and gold decorations as gor- Sgeous as any dish in your cupboard. ft-does not look out of place, and is really a fine piece of furniture. The wood Is brought in by boy six feet tall but still wearing knee pants. and blonde-haired girl in a white apron. black dress and yellow kid shoes, makes the fire. She tells me to leave the door open until the birch wood has turned to red coals After that it is closed, and the brick walls inside the porcelain will keep the room warm all day. Similar stoves are used throughout Finland, but the cheaper ones are of plain mortar and brick, costing $20 and upwards. If seems strange to think of a citv of 2OO,00O0 people being heated with wood, but this Is so of Helsingfors and of Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, which has 100000 popula ton, and of every city of Finland. Even the government buildings are warmed with wood, and today, upon going into the court yard of the for eign office, found it filled with q pile of birch sticks, containing many nuhdreds Of cords, the fuel supply for the winter.
 Brenkfast In HeIsingfors.
 But the waiter is bringing in breakfast. Sit down with me and see how we suffer in this far north ern city. You must excuse my pa Jamas. Here in Europe one usuallv breakfasts in his room upon rising and he can have his coffee served in bed If he chooses. The meal is about the same in all the great capitals. consisting of what the French call Cafe Complet." roll with some butter and coffee or chocolate as one pleases. l usually order mar .malade or jam and two eggs In ad- dltion. Our Helsingfors breakfast Is brought In on a silver tray with a silver coffee pct and a pitcher that holds half a glass of cream. The cream is excellent and the butter is good. The eggs are free from sus- fS-c4t' ihSy dle eaten rom the l shell. You break off the top of the egg an inch down, and scoop 1t out with a spoon as big as the end Of your thumb. Everything is counted The Paris breakfast has two rolls three balls of butter and coffee. Here sfour slices of white bread, a roll and two pieces of toast. Each of us gets SIX Jumps of sugar, and a thick pat of butter as big around as a dollar. |
 
 Europe since the World War, some or the hotels using paper tray cloths | as well. The breakfast I have de- scribed costs us each 50 cents Walk Through the Streets.
 Let us now. go out on the Espla- @nSdgatan and take a look at the people. It is about neon and the 7 pavement is filled with men and women as well dressed and good looking as those of Washington or Boston. The faces of the people are rosy. They look healthy and hardy, | and beth men and women are we'll developed. The Films are famous for their love of athletic sports. Every school has its physical exercises and at the last Olympic games, the Films came next to our athletes who were the winners.
 The crowd is more polite than that of our cities. There is more hat tip ping and bCwinE and scraping. Sol diers in grey uniforms go by and all salute as they pass. We can see the difference in conditions. The we'll to-do and upper classes wear the same clothes as ours, but the peas- ant women have shawls over their heads in place of bonnets or hats | and their skirts are so short one can see the tops of their boots which often go halfway up the calf. They remind one or the peasant women of Russia and they have the same coarse sunburned faces. Many of them carry knitted bags filled with vegetables. They are servants re- turning from market
 How many caps we see on the street. The school boys wear caps and the school girls as well. The soldiers have military caps, and the officers long gray coats reaching to their high-topped boots. The com mon laborers wear caps, and the farmers have the same headgear and high boots with their trousers tucked n at the top.
 / The street traffic of Helsingfors Is not unlike that of a Russian city. The vehicles are drawn by horses with high bows rising over their collars. There are numerous "dros- kies," and 5only now and then an automobile The roadways are kept clean by women in short skirts, and with handk erchiefs tied round their heads They sweep the dirt into baskets with brooms made of twigs. The City Market.
 Walking down the Esplanadgatan. we soon reach the granite walled harbor filled with ships beth large aSnpOi1l1V with SNifTS