Evening star., 1940-02-18
FINLAND. December a, 1899.

JoA "ASCS AZ OAA VAAO AOV4A Va N<NtOe
ber and of this terrible assault
beginning first on the 29th Of No
vember. I just got letter. from
dear --- and she expressed the
feeling that has pervaded my mind
the whole time and prevented me
from writing to you.
I felt how empty and inadequate
mere words are in a crisis of such
Importance. I have also been feel
ing so numb and sick from sheer
horror that could not discuss the
subject earlier. But now it seems
as If higher Power had taken
charge of me, also, and ripened me
to meet whatsoever fate has in store
for me. It seems to me as If my
people, the whole Finnish nation,
has gone through a wonderful
process which has burnt away all
Stag and purified it to a state of
Immortality. Such heroism, such
love of country, such contempt for
death in behalf of the highest ideals
OF mankind, liberty, religion, de-
mocracy, home and, all that we
deem holy in this defective world,
surely have never been excelled.
For World Humanity
1t seems to me that our boys are
fighting for whole humanity, for all
that is worth something in this
world. In the hospitals thai, are
in IS charge, there are wounded
soldiers who burn with eagerness to
recover as soon as possible IN order
to return to the frontier to face
the cruel enemy again and befree
us from the horrible fate that Is
menacing us. Their heroism is un-
surpassable. Our enemy is men,
tally and physically weak and
cowardly, but there are hordes of
them and they can put masses
| and masses of new men in place
OF the fallen.
We have been getting great pro-
fessions of sympathy and support
from nearly all the countries in
the world during these weeks of
suffering and President Roosevelt
and the Americans have been FORE
most among them Our hearts
have been filled with hope hundreds
of times and We are all waiting not
only for economic help. but also
for active help, especially from
Scandinavia, as we are fighting
not only for our own country, but
in behalf Of them also.
| We have always been the van-
guard of the North For hundreds
of years we have had to face the
same barbarici enemy and they,
who live beyond our western bor-.
der, have been abls to live in peace
and prosperity.
That alternating feeling Of hope
and hopelessne3s i, something ter.
rible. To wait for help and rot to
know for sure while our valiant
men are giving up their lives for
US. t -.-.
Successful in Every Battle.
We have been winning in every
single battle. It is as if the Almighty
had heard our fervent prayers. When
Paasikivi and the other members Of
the commission went to Moscow for
the discussions crowds of people at
the station of Helsinki sang our
hymn, "A mighty fortress is our God,
bulwark never failing; our helper
He amid the flood of mortal ills
prevailing" Now the whole nation
sings it every day and gets strength
and hope from that unfailing source
OF infinite power. Oh, I am sure that
the civilized world will not allow US
to perish!
happened to travel to Helsinki on
the same day when the enemy
came with their planes without any
proclamation of war into our country
to bomb innocent people. Their
cruelty and barbarism are beyond
expression. Many beautiful build
ings were destroyed in that first day,
and the air was black with smoke
and people buried in the flames.
From their planes the enemy shot
down escaping women and children
on the streets below Hundreds of
human lives have been thus de-
stroyed. cannot describe it.
-, - and managed to get
out of Helsinki to find that the same
calamity had happened in - and
In many other places And since
then they have been doing the same
thing after short intervals in differ
ent places, but they have met calm
folk, brave people who are deter
mined to face death rather than
take the yoke of bolshevism. -
had to leave her lovely little home
just as 1t was. (The baby had been
brought here earlier0s IS hus-
band Is lighting somewhere in the
north. -, the little boy, and -
are at -, although the country