Part 17 (2/2)

She pulled out the wooden bed, she thumped the mattress, and at last she went away, we hoped and believed to fetch the sheets. She remained absent for some time, but when she returned it was not with the sheets; it was with what to her mind was far more important, viz., a tin tray on which were arranged _four gla.s.s tumblers and a huge gla.s.s bottle full of fresh water_, which she had been to the bottom of the garden to pump from a deep well!

We often pondered over that water subject, and wondered whether Finns had nightly carousals with the innocent bottle, or whether drinking _aqua pura_ is a part of their religion, as the housemaid had thought sleeping with our heads the wrong way was a part of ours!

Our minds were greatly exercised also as to why the pillows were so hard and often gave forth such a strange smell, but that mystery was one day solved. When driving along a pretty road, we saw ma.s.ses of soft white cotton flower waving in the wind, the silvery sheen catching the sunlight and making it look like fluffy snow. This we were told was _luikku_, the Latin name of which is _Eriophorum angustifolium_. Women were gathering it and packing it into a sack.

”That,” explained our Finnish friend, ”is used for stuffing the pillows and sometimes even beds.”

”Really?” we returned; ”then that is why they are so hard and lumpy.”

”Oh, but there is another plant even less soft than the _luikku_, which is employed for the same purpose. It grows at the water's edge and is a kind of rush.”

This plant turned out to be _ruoko_ (_Phragmites communis_), a common species of water shrub in Finland; after its dark red flowers have turned silvery gray, they look beautiful swaying with the wind, the long reed-like leaves making a pretty swish at the water's edge as they bend.

Going up the ca.n.a.ls it is quite strange to notice how, when the steamer sucks the water from the sides to her screw, the _ruoko_ sways and bows its head down to her, and, as she pa.s.ses on, it lifts its majestic head again, and gently sways down the other side as though to bid the s.h.i.+p farewell.

In the summer months, when things often have to be done in a hurry, getting in the hay or reaping the harvest, for instance, since the moment the weather is propitious and the crop ripe no time must be lost, or a night's frost may prove destructive to all the crops, it is very common to have a _talkko_.

A _talkko_ is a sort of popular amus.e.m.e.nt at which a great deal of work is done. The farmer invites all his friends to help him clear a rye field, for example. They all come in eager haste, and generally have a sort of picnic. Work proceeds much quicker in company than alone, and while they reap with old-fas.h.i.+oned sickles, they chat and laugh and sing their national songs, eat and make merry on small beer, that terrible concoction which we explained before is called _Kalja_, which they drink out of the same spoon, regardless of disease germs.

The corn and rye when cut are put on pine-tree trunks to dry. They saw down the small pines, chop off the branch a foot from the trunk, plant them in a line along the field, and loosely throw their crop over these stumps exposed to the sun and wind; then, after binding by hand, carry them on sledges--summer sledges--to the farmstead, where thras.h.i.+ng, also by hand, completes the business of harvesting.

Farm work is very primitive still in parts of Finland; the small plough, behind which the native plods, guiding it in and out of the stones, which his small st.u.r.dy pony drags, is a long and tedious business.

A _talkko_ relieves labour much; and thus it comes to pa.s.s that, after Jones and party have helped Smith on Monday, Smith and party help Jones on Tuesday; a very socialistic arrangement, like many others in _Suomi_.

From the poor the rich have taken a hint, and where, in England, we have work parties for bazaars, or to make garments for the village clubs, in Finland they have a _talkko_. Especially is this the custom just before Christmas time, when many presents have to be got ready, and all the girl friends a.s.semble and prepare their little gifts for distribution on Christmas Eve. On this night there is much festivity. A tree is lighted even in the poorest homes, and presents are exchanged amid much feasting and merriment.

Christmas comes in the winter, when snow and ice are everywhere; therefore the richer folk drive to their b.a.l.l.s and parties in sledges, rolled up in furs, and big skating-parties are the order of the day.

It is amusing at these gatherings to hear the young people all calling one another by their Christian names, and as some of the real Finnish names are musical and pretty, we give a few of the most usual--

MEN.

Onni Ilmari Yrjo (George) Vaino Armas Aarne Arvo Reijo Esko Heikki (Henry) Urpo Eero (Eric) Mauno (Magnus) Lauri (Laurence) Vilho (William) Toivo Pekka (Peter) Ahti (Kalevala) Sampsa ”

Antero ”

Youko ”

Kullervo ”

Kalervo ”

Untamo ”

Kammo ”

Nyyrikki ”

Osmo ”

Valio Ensi

WOMEN.

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