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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43426 ***
+
+Our Little Finnish Cousin
+
+
+
+
+THE LITTLE COUSIN SERIES
+
+(TRADE MARK)
+
+
+    _Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, each_   $1.10
+
+By LAURA E. RICHARDS, ANNA C. WINLOW, Etc.
+
+
+    =Our Little African Cousin=
+    =Our Little Alaskan Cousin=
+    =Our Little Arabian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Argentine Cousin=
+    =Our Little Armenian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Australian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Austrian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Belgian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Bohemian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Brazilian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Bulgarian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Canadian Cousin of the Great Northwest=
+    =Our Little Canadian Cousin of the Maritime Provinces=
+    =Our Little Chilean Cousin=
+    =Our Little Chinese Cousin=
+    =Our Little Cossack Cousin=
+    =Our Little Cuban Cousin=
+    =Our Little Czecho-Slovak Cousin=
+    =Our Little Danish Cousin=
+    =Our Little Dutch Cousin=
+    =Our Little Egyptian Cousin=
+    =Our Little English Cousin=
+    =Our Little Eskimo Cousin=
+    =Our Little Finnish Cousin=
+    =Our Little French Cousin=
+    =Our Little German Cousin=
+    =Our Little Grecian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Hawaiian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Hindu Cousin=
+    =Our Little Hungarian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Indian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Irish Cousin=
+    =Our Little Italian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Japanese Cousin=
+    =Our Little Jewish Cousin=
+    =Our Little Jugoslav Cousin=
+    =Our Little Korean Cousin=
+    =Our Little Lapp Cousin=
+    =Our Little Lithuanian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Malayan (Brown) Cousin=
+    =Our Little Mexican Cousin=
+    =Our Little Norwegian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Panama Cousin=
+    =Our Little Persian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Philippine Cousin=
+    =Our Little Polish Cousin=
+    =Our Little Porto Rican Cousin=
+    =Our Little Portuguese Cousin=
+    =Our Little Quebec Cousin=
+    =Our Little Roumanian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Russian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Scotch Cousin=
+    =Our Little Servian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Siamese Cousin=
+    =Our Little South African (Boer) Cousin=
+    =Our Little Spanish Cousin=
+    =Our Little Swedish Cousin=
+    =Our Little Swiss Cousin=
+    =Our Little Turkish Cousin=
+    =Our Little Welsh Cousin=
+    =Our Little West Indian Cousin=
+
+
+THE LITTLE COUSINS OF LONG AGO
+
+    =Our Little Athenian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Carthaginian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Celtic Cousin=
+    =Our Little Crusader Cousin=
+    =Our Little Feudal Cousin=
+    =Our Little Frankish Cousin=
+    =Our Little Florentine Cousin=
+    =Our Little Macedonian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Norman Cousin=
+    =Our Little Roman Cousin=
+    =Our Little Saxon Cousin=
+    =Our Little Spartan Cousin=
+    =Our Little Viking Cousin=
+
+    L. C. PAGE & COMPANY (Inc.)
+    53 Beacon Street      Boston, Mass.
+
+[Illustration: "THE REINDEER SUDDENLY SWERVED IN SUCH A WAY THAT JUHANI
+WAS PITCHED OUT." (_See page 40_)]
+
+
+
+
+    Our Little
+    Finnish Cousin
+
+    By
+    Clara Vostrovsky Winlow
+
+    _Author of_
+    "Our Little Roumanian Cousin," "Our Little
+    Bohemian Cousin," "Our Little
+    Bulgarian Cousin."
+
+    _Illustrated by_
+    Harriet O'Brien
+
+    [Illustration]
+
+    Boston
+    The Page Company
+    PUBLISHERS
+
+
+
+
+    _Copyright, 1918_
+    BY THE PAGE COMPANY
+
+    _All rights reserved_
+
+    First Impression, April, 1918
+    Second Impression, July, 1919
+    Third Impression, January, 1930
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+FINLAND is one of the little countries in whose struggles for greater
+freedom the world is interested to-day. It is situated on the northeast
+shore of the Baltic Sea, and is bounded by Russia, Norway and Sweden,
+the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland. A maze of rocks and small,
+pine-covered islands form a ring around the coast. The art of navigating
+between these requires much skill and long apprenticeship, so that it is
+no wonder that Finland, among other things, is noted for her pilots.
+
+"Forest, rock, and water" is the way in which one writer describes
+Finland. This little country, known all over the world for its
+progressive ideas, is thinly inhabited, having only one city, the
+capital Helsingfors, of any size. Over eighty-six per cent. of the
+people are Finnish, twelve per cent. Swedish, and the rest Russians,
+Germans, and Lapps.
+
+Little is known of Finnish history before the twelfth century, when King
+Eric of Sweden invaded the land to Christianize the inhabitants. Swedish
+settlements followed and Finland became a province of Sweden. It
+remained that for six hundred years, during which time there were
+constant conflicts between the Russians and Swedes for the possession of
+Finnish ports.
+
+While Sweden was engaged with Napoleon, the Finns, tired of the
+ceaseless disorder, agreed to union with Russia on condition that they
+be assured a certain independence. This was conceded, Alexander I, then
+Tzar of Russia, taking oath as Grand Duke of Finland and promising to
+observe the religion of the country and all the privileges and rights
+which it had so far enjoyed. This oath was kept more scrupulously than
+by the last two Swedish monarchs, and cordial relations were established
+between Russia and Finland. The Finnish people began to take a more
+prominent part in their own affairs, for up to that time the Swedes had
+had the upper hand everywhere. Alexander boasted with some truth that he
+had created a nation.
+
+In 1863 Tzar Alexander II gave a Representative Constitution to Finland.
+
+In 1899, the present deposed Russian ruler, Nicholas II, was ill-advised
+enough to issue a manifesto suspending the Finnish Constitution.
+Unheeded protests followed, and up to 1904 there is an unenviable record
+of oppression and suppression on the part of Russia.
+
+In November, 1906, however, the Tzar was compelled to make the
+concessions that the nation demanded.
+
+During the present world conflict the Finns have proclaimed in their
+Parliament their right to absolute independence, and their claim is
+sanctioned by the greatest of the European nations, which recognize the
+Republic of Finland.
+
+    C. V. W.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+    CHAPTER                         PAGE
+         PREFACE                      v
+       I A FARM HOME                  1
+      II SUNDAY                      16
+     III THE END OF AUTUMN           23
+      IV LAPLANDERS                  38
+       V SCHOOL                      51
+      VI THE DECEMBER VACATION       67
+     VII CHRISTMAS WEEK              76
+    VIII SUMMER TIME                 91
+
+
+
+
+List of Illustrations
+
+
+                                                               PAGE
+    "THE REINDEER SUDDENLY SWERVED IN SUCH A WAY THAT JUHANI
+          WAS PITCHED OUT" (_See page 40_)            _Frontispiece_
+    "THINGS TASTED SO GOOD OUT OF DOORS"                         18
+    "JUHANI WAS LISTENING TO THE MOST MARVELOUS TALES"           45
+    "WAVING HIS ARMS TO KEEP HIS BALANCE, JUMPED FAR FORWARD"    62
+    "SHE CARRIED OUT A BASKET FILLED WITH CRUMBS AND GRAIN"      76
+    "WOUND COLORED YARN AROUND THE RYE STALKS"                   95
+
+
+
+
+Our Little Finnish Cousin
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+A FARM HOME
+
+
+IT was early autumn in the Finland forest by the lake. Gold glistened
+from the underbrush, from the great beds of bracken, from the shining
+birches, from the paler aspens, and even from the prized rowans and
+juniper trees.
+
+On one side where the forest grew thinner, there was a glimpse of marshy
+land where big whortleberries grew in profusion. Around this marshy spot
+a tiny path led to a succession of fields in some of which were grazing
+cattle, in some, queer tall haystacks, and in two smaller ones, grain
+still uncut.
+
+Two children--a boy and a girl--made their way from the forest toward
+the lake, their hands tightly clasping birchen baskets filled with
+berries that they had succeeded in gathering. Reaching the shore, they
+silently took their places in a small boat moored under a clump of
+trees. Each seized an oar, and began to row with experienced measured
+strokes to the other side.
+
+Both unsmiling faces had the same candid capable air, but that was the
+only resemblance. Ten-year-old Juhani was like his father who belonged
+to the Tavastian type of Finn. He was pale, with high cheek bones, thin
+hair, and a strong chin that seemed to say: "I won't give in! I won't
+give in!" He might have been taken for sulky until you met the look of
+sincere inquiry under his well-formed brows.
+
+Six-year Maja was fairer. She was brown-eyed and brown-haired, like her
+Karelian mother who belonged to the other decided type of Finn. Despite
+the silent gentleness of her face, she looked as if, on occasion, she
+could be high spirited and even gay.
+
+A little crowd was gathered at the landing stage to which they crossed,
+and more persons came hurrying up as a blast was heard from a steamer
+still some distance away on the lake. There were other children like
+themselves with baskets of birch, and women with cakes and cookies and
+farm produce for sale. Some of these were busily knitting while they
+waited to offer their wares. Most prominent among all thus gathered was
+a rather short, sturdy girl, who seemed entirely indifferent to the fact
+that the kerchief tied around her head was not at all becoming. This was
+Hilja, who, although only eighteen, already held the important position
+of pier-master.
+
+At last, amid much commotion, the steamer came up. The passengers
+stepped ashore and bought many of the good things offered. But even
+when all were sold there was no sign of the steamer's departure. The big
+stacks of wood piled on the wharf, that were to serve the steamer for
+fuel, had first to be carried aboard. For this there was help in plenty.
+Men, women, and children were eager to have their services accepted. A
+couple of foreigners grew restless at the delay, but no one else
+betrayed any impatience, having been brought up, no doubt, on the
+Finnish proverb, "God did not create hurry."
+
+The pier-master shouted something when it was all in, and the steamer,
+with many toots, departed. The people scattered until only Juhani and
+Maja remained to watch a heavily laden timber barge go slowly by on its
+way to the coast. Before it passed Juhani had nudged Maja to show her
+the pennies he had earned by carrying wood. With the slightest possible
+twinkle of mischief, Maja at first kept her own fist tightly closed.
+"Oh, show what you have!" Juhani exclaimed somewhat contemptuously, at
+which Maja opened her hand and showed twice as many pennies that her
+sweet face, as well as the nice berries, had brought her.
+
+Juhani showed his surprise by staring and staring until Maja closed her
+hand again, explaining half in apology, "It was from the foreigners,"
+and led the way to their boat.
+
+Again they rowed silently over, anchored their boat in a little cove,
+and then walked rapidly across the fields. Maja began to hum a folk
+song, to which Juhani soon whistled a tune while he kept one hand on a
+sheathed knife, called a _pukko_, hanging from the belt around his
+waist. It was no wonder he was conscious and proud that it hung there.
+When his father had given it to him a few days before, he had said, "You
+are beginning to do man's work, Juhani, and so I think that you deserve
+a man's knife." Nor was it a cheap knife. Its leather sheath was tipped
+with brass and very prettily ornamented with a colored pattern.
+
+Both children were barefoot and both walked with equal unconcern over
+stubble and sharp stones. At the edge of the last field Maja glanced
+inquiringly at her brother and then broke into a run. Juhani did not
+follow her example at first, but, when he did, he easily overtook her
+near a square farmhouse painted a bright red, but with doors and windows
+outlined in white. Against this house, reaching from the ground to the
+black painted roof, was a ladder to be used in case of fire. Up this
+Juhani ran, waving his hand to his sister when at the top.
+
+Near this house were three storehouses, one for food, one for clothes
+and one for implements. Further away were cow houses, and a stable, the
+loft of which was used for storing food in winter, and as a bedroom for
+the maid servants in summer. There was also a small pig sty built of
+granite, a stone of which Finland has so much that it has been said it
+would be possible to rebuild all of London with it and still leave the
+supply apparently undiminished. Neat, strong fences of slanting wood
+enclosed these buildings.
+
+Off by itself was an outbuilding more important in a way than any of
+these, the bath-house, which in Finland is never missing.
+
+An older girl of about fourteen with a blue kerchief on her head was
+drawing water from a well near the kitchen door. As she emptied the
+bucket made of a pine trunk and attached to a long pole weighted at the
+end, she called to Juhani, who had just jumped from the ladder: "Hurry!
+The pastor has come to stay till we go to church to-morrow and he wants
+to ask you some Bible questions."
+
+Without waiting for her, Juhani followed Maja, who had already entered
+the kitchen bright with shining copper, stopping first, however, to wipe
+his feet on a mat made of pine branches laid one above another.
+
+This kitchen led directly into a pleasant living-room, with a tall china
+tiled stove, some chairs, a big sofa, a table, and a carved cupboard.
+Here were several odd beds too, that did not look like beds at all. They
+were beds shut up for the day. At night they would be pulled open. A
+small loom stood in one corner. Strips of home-made carpet were laid on
+the yellow painted floor.
+
+On one wall hung a picture which had lately had a peculiar fascination
+for Maja. It represented Katrine Mansdottir, a beautiful peasant woman
+with a sad romantic history. She lived when Finland was under Swedish
+rule. King Eric the Fourteenth had been captivated by her winsomeness
+when he first saw her selling fruit on the street. He had her taken to
+his castle and educated her like a princess. When she was old enough he
+married her, much to the dissatisfaction of his conservative courtiers.
+Later the King was deposed and cast into prison. Here his wife showed
+her gratitude for all that he had done for her, sharing his imprisonment
+and ministering to him until his death. Then she renounced her crown and
+retired to live among the loyal Finns who loved her for the friendship
+that she had always shown them.
+
+On the most comfortable chair in the room sat the pastor, a man who
+looked so serious that one wondered if he ever smiled. No one who knew
+his duties and responsibilities could wonder at this. Among them were
+visiting the widely scattered members of his parish, comforting them in
+sorrow and distress, helping them with advice when needed. Just outside
+the nearest village, on the other side of the lake, he had a little
+patch of land of his own which he cultivated when he could, to help out
+his slender salary.
+
+The children greeted the pastor like an old friend, and seating
+themselves sedately on chairs opposite him stiffened up in anticipation
+of the questions that he would ask them.
+
+Around four o'clock everything in the room became evening colored, and
+the mother came in and invited all into the kitchen for dinner. There
+was an abundance of simple food,--salt fish, meat and potatoes, hard rye
+bread, mead and coffee, of which latter even little Maja drank her
+share.
+
+The first part of the meal made one think of a Quaker meeting, it was so
+very quiet; but after the mead had been passed around and the coffee
+poured, a sparkle came to the eyes of all, and even the pastor's face
+took on a genial glow as, prompted by kind inquiries, he related some of
+his recent experiences.
+
+"You know poor old Yrjo (George)," he said, "who is now one of my
+people. Well, he's trying to learn to read and write and having a hard
+time doing it. You see, he never had a chance earlier in life, for he
+used to live way up north on the outskirts of Lapland. He is doing all
+this because--well, I guess you can guess why--. Yes, he wants to be
+married, and you know how strict our law is that no pastor shall marry
+men or women unless they know how to read and write. I think he'll
+learn, for he's dogged. He's already built himself a shack on my grounds
+not to waste time in coming and going. When I told him this morning that
+he was making progress he was as delighted as a child."
+
+Then he told of a recent visit to a big dairy farm, of the long low
+buildings with ice chambers here and there. "It was a great pleasure,"
+he said, "to see how neatly everything is kept. All the floors and walls
+are of blue and white tile, and the windows of stained glass--a pretty
+sight. I can't forget the rows of shelves with their big earthenware
+vessels of rich-looking milk and cream. In one room women dressed in
+white were putting up butter for export. I agree with those who think
+that dairying is going to grow in importance here. It certainly seems to
+pay our farmers better than farming."
+
+"I am going to be a dairy man," said Juhani.
+
+"And I am going to a University and be an architect," piped in little
+Maja quite as decidedly.
+
+At this the family laughed, but the pastor remarked seriously, "It's
+well to make plans early. There are many women who are succeeding in
+architecture, little Maja."
+
+"Yes," remarked the mother, "and Maja has an aunt in Helsingfors who is
+among the number."
+
+As it was Saturday night the usual preparations had been made for a
+family bath, and the kindly pastor who was not considered an outsider
+was invited to share in it as a matter of course. Every one seemed to
+look to this bath as a great pleasure. After the pastor had accepted,
+Juhani, with face glowing, ran at once to show the bath whisks that he
+had himself made.
+
+"I made a lot of them in the summer," he explained, "for then the leaves
+are soft."
+
+"Go take them to the bath house and steep them in hot water," said his
+father, "and see that the maids have not forgotten to strew fresh straw
+on the floor."
+
+"May I not get ready first," asked Juhani. And when his father nodded,
+he slipped off his clothes and ran naked to where the bath house stood
+alone not far from the lake.
+
+The little structure was made of pine logs on a foundation of moss and
+stones. The roof was thatched. Over the door the farmer had carved the
+Finnish proverb: "The Church and the Sauna (Bath-house) are holy
+places." Within, on one side, was a stone oven, while opposite this was
+a series of wooden steps to the ceiling. These were covered with straw.
+
+When Juhani entered, an old woman servant was already there poking at
+the big fire. Now and then she threw on water so that it was quite
+steamy when the other members of the family came trooping in. Juhani at
+once seized Maja around the waist, all his shyness evidently left
+outside, and twirled her around until she shouted for him to stop.
+
+It grew hotter and hotter in the room and more and more steamy as the
+different members climbed on the step-like platforms and beat themselves
+with the birch twigs which now gave forth a pleasant fragrance.
+
+Juhani and Maja had also mounted the steps, but every once in a while
+they would jump down and try to whip each other on the back and legs.
+
+When all had perspired enough, they took turns in sitting on a chair
+and letting the old woman give each a quick massage and a wash down with
+cold water. Then oh, what a race there was for the lake, into which all
+plunged with shouts of laughter! Then out again and a race for home.
+Maja somehow got a big start and came in a foot ahead of her brother
+who, when he saw what she was after, almost tumbled over her in his
+eagerness to win.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+SUNDAY
+
+
+PREPARATIONS for going to church next morning were soon made. Some
+things that we should consider unusual were taken, including a big lunch
+and a couple of hammocks. Two row boats carried the party some distance
+down the lake to a much larger boat, called the Church Boat. It was
+already half filled. After a short wait, other peasants arrived, greeted
+their friends soberly and sat down.
+
+The men had on somber-looking suits, with big felt hats and high boots.
+The women's costumes varied, although the majority had on black
+shapeless jackets with a white kerchief crossed under the chin; some,
+however, had on bright bodices, embroidered aprons, and blue or crimson
+kerchiefs. Most of the women carried their prayer-books wrapped in
+white handkerchiefs. When all were seated, the young women, as well as
+the young men, seized hold of the oars and the boat left the pier.
+
+It was a slow journey, stops being made at a few places where people
+stood waiting. It was rather solemn, too; there was no idle chatter; at
+the minister's suggestion, however, hymns were sung.
+
+The Lutheran Church, at which the party at last arrived, was a plain
+building both inside and out. It was built entirely of timber and had a
+separate bell tower. As the people walked in, the women all took their
+places on one side, the men on the other.
+
+The services lasted until three in the afternoon. Maja yawned and almost
+put herself asleep counting the stitches in the woman's jacket in front
+of her. But when it was all over and the people filed out of the
+building, they seemed to leave some of their somberness there. They
+gathered in groups and together departed either for a swim in the lake
+or with hammocks and lunches for a picnic in the silent woods.
+
+[Illustration: "THINGS TASTED SO GOOD OUT OF DOORS"]
+
+Things tasted so good out of doors that Maja and Juhani smiled much at
+each other, although Juhani would always put on a particularly serious
+look afterwards. Then the two swung on one of the hammocks and also on a
+huge swing near the Church. "Come on for a ramble with us in the woods,"
+two passing children of their own age called to them. "Come," said Maja,
+taking hold of Juhani's hand, and away they went over the greenish gray
+mosses through the rosy and pale yellow underbrush. There were bright
+red cranberries here and there with which they filled their pockets as
+they discussed, not church affairs, but wood nymphs, the kind ugly
+_tomtar_ or brownies, and the little gray man in the woods who has a
+fiery tail.
+
+Suddenly Maja stopped, looking so scared that all followed her example.
+"What is it?" asked her brother.
+
+"A brownie!" Maja could hardly make herself heard.
+
+The boys laughed at her as they rushed forward and made a big brown
+squirrel scamper away into the branches of a tree.
+
+"Nevertheless I'd like to believe that there were brownies around,"
+Juhani confessed when the girls had come up. "Do you know that they are
+so kind that on Christmas they bring a gift to every animal that lives
+near?"
+
+The others nodded. "I'd rather see one than a wood nymph," one of them
+declared. "I'd be afraid of her. My! but she must be ugly from behind if
+she's really hollow there as they say. She's apt to do you harm too, if
+you see her from the back."
+
+By this time they had reached a little one-room hut evidently deserted,
+for the door swung on only one hinge. Before they peeked in, Juhani,
+with a curious look on his face, cautioned each to say "Good Day to all
+here" on entering even if they saw no one, for a _Tomty_ might be hidden
+in some corner.
+
+It was a very old type of house. The upper half of the walls were
+stained black. There was a big fire place but no chimney, the smoke
+having evidently been allowed to escape through a hole in the roof.
+
+A long thin piece of resinous wood was still fastened to one wall. This
+was called a _pare_, and when lit served instead of lamp or candle.
+
+There was a small clearing around the house, and half buried in leaves
+near the door was an old-time harrow that had once been formed from a
+bundle of stout fir top branches.
+
+Later they paused to ask for a drink of water at a small two-room
+cottage of unhewn, unpainted wood surrounded by a little pasture but
+with no garden or other sign of cultivation around, nothing but the
+vast impressive forest. A savage-looking dog that looked as if it might
+have been crossed with a fox, snarled at them but was called away by a
+very old woman who explained that she was there alone, her son having
+lately gone to a timber camp. "He'll come back with enough money," she
+added with a trembling voice, "to see us through the winter, which is
+going to be a hard one."
+
+"Why do you say that, Granny?" asked Juhani.
+
+"Couldn't you see it for yourself," the old woman returned rather
+sharply, "by the great number of berries?"
+
+"Are you not lonely here?" Maja inquired with sympathy.
+
+"Aye, lonely," repeated the woman, "but contented too, for have I not
+the forest with me day and night and is it not a part of my very soul?"
+
+A long drawn whistle here made the children realize that the church
+parties were breaking up and that they must make haste to return, so
+thanking the old woman they raced back apparently as fresh as if they
+had not already had a long tramp. Where the forest was thickest it was
+quite dark. "If it gets any darker," said Maja, "we'll have to stop and
+pray to the Twilight Maiden to spin for us a thread of gold to lead us
+safely home."
+
+"There are also others to help us," said Juhani, and half playfully he
+called on all the woodland fairy folk whose names are found in the great
+Finland epic, "The Kalevala": on _Mielikki_, hostess of the forest;
+_Tuometar_, nymph of the bird cherry; _Katejatar_, nymph of the juniper;
+_Pillajatar_, nymph of the mountain ash; _Matka-Teppo_, god of the road;
+_Hongatar_, ruler of the pines; _Sinetar_, that beauteous elf who paints
+the flowers the blue of the sky, and on _Sotka's daughter_ who protects
+wild game from harm.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE END OF AUTUMN
+
+
+THE next day Maja had to stay in the house to help while her mother and
+sister baked, for they were to have a _talko_, that is, neighbors had
+been invited over to help with the last of the harvesting. "Have lots of
+good things to eat," Juhani called as he followed his father out to help
+in one of the fields. Here a number of peasants were driving long poles
+into the ground at regular intervals; to these they fastened eight
+outstretched arms, the ends of which were curved upwards. On these arms
+hay that had been cut with sickles was carefully arranged that it might
+dry.
+
+While this was being done, the grain that had been dried some time
+before was being baked in an outside oven or kiln not far from the hay
+barn, a big long building with a corrugated roof.
+
+This baking makes the Finnish grain in demand for seed in other
+countries, for it drives away the damp and kills all insects that might
+injure the germ.
+
+By evening all the work was finished, and the merry group of peasant men
+and women who had given their help trooped, singing, to the house. A big
+supper awaited them and as they sat down, the men on one side of the
+table, the women on the other, all showed the splendid appetites which
+the work in the fields had given them.
+
+As soon as the supper was over, the floor was cleared, and all joined in
+dancing the national dance, called the _jenka_, during which a warmth of
+feeling was displayed that belied their reputation for being stolid, and
+that no stranger, who might have seen the men and women on their way to
+church the day before, would have believed possible.
+
+After this the weather grew less pleasant; the sky was often dull and
+overcast; cold raw winds began to blow and there was much fog and sleet.
+During this time there was a certain flurry in the farm house, for
+Juhani, young as he was, had gained his father's permission to accompany
+an uncle to a lumber camp some distance to the north.
+
+At the first fall of snow they left. It was a long drive they had, one
+that grew colder after the middle of the day. The air, which was very
+still, had a frostiness to it that nipped Juhani's nose and face. But
+neither he nor his uncle grumbled. The faces of both had a peculiarly
+similar look of patient endurance. It was not until toward evening that
+they came to a rolling swampy country where a big body of woodmen were
+already at work at the rude shelters that were to form the camp. For
+one night a batch of new men had to lie around the camp fire, turning
+one side, then the other to the heat, for there were not enough huts yet
+built.
+
+Juhani was put to work almost at once in picking up chips and doing all
+sorts of odds and ends, for he had only been allowed to go on condition
+that he was willing to make himself useful. Later he was regularly sent
+alone twice a week through the forest to a peasant farm for milk and
+eggs. The coming and going for these took all of a day. Sometimes the
+forest was dark and silent; at other times birds called to him, and wild
+animals, strangely tame, would peep out from the snow-covered brush at
+him.
+
+Once a merry squirrel enticed him into an old overgrown path. He
+continued to follow it even after he had lost track of the squirrel
+until he came to two branches, one of which he decided led in the
+direction of his destination.
+
+After wandering about for an hour and finding that the trees and the
+brush were growing denser and denser he grew somewhat alarmed and tried
+to retrace his steps.
+
+He soon found that this was impossible. Here it occurred to him that if
+he could get to the top of a tree he might have a better idea of where
+he was and what to do. So dropping his pail, he scrambled up the nearest
+willow. This was not high enough to give much of an outlook, and,
+getting down again, he cast longing eyes on a tall fir with no low
+branches.
+
+With difficulty he dragged a small uprooted juniper to it and placing it
+against the trunk, with its help he managed to reach the lowest branch.
+It was then an easy task to climb to the top of the tree.
+
+There was a very fair outlook from the top but no sign of the farmhouse
+for which he was bound. There was one thing comforting however. It was
+that at some distance away something glittered like water.
+
+With a grunt Juhani let himself down and then stood in thought. Only for
+a moment did he allow himself to do this. He was too well aware of the
+shortness of the days to dally. Drawing his _pukko_ (knife) he began to
+hew his way through the thick underbrush, over the springy soil, in the
+direction of what he knew must be the lake.
+
+Now and then fallen tree trunks had to be scaled. Twice his feet caught
+in tangled vines and threw him. Several times he had to take the time to
+climb trees to assure himself that he was going in the right direction.
+And all the time he had the consciousness that night was descending.
+
+It was already dusk when he reached the lake where, to his great relief,
+he recognized the spot by means of a big bowlder as being within half a
+mile of camp.
+
+He saw, however, that in a very few minutes it would be too dark to go
+further. The only thing to do was to wait until the moon rose. So
+gathering together as much of the brush as he could, he started it
+burning and then lay down before it to try to get a little rest.
+
+Despite the fire, which continually had to be replenished, it was very
+cold and he found it necessary to turn constantly first one side, then
+the other towards the flames to be at all comfortable.
+
+At last the fire went out and there was nothing left for Juhani to do
+except sit with his back to the trunk of a nearby tree and wait. When
+the moon came out, it was a very stiff boy who arose and followed
+stumblingly the banks of the lake to camp.
+
+Here he found a group of men with his Uncle in the lead, getting ready
+to start a hunt for him. As soon as he had stammered out his story to
+his Uncle the latter shook him angrily by the shoulder and ordered him
+to bed. "Don't you ever try anything of the kind again; at least not
+while you are on an errand for me," he called after him. And Juhani
+never did.
+
+The boy won the favor of a driver of one of the short sledges on which
+the cut-down trees, rough hewn with axes and with the bark peeled off,
+were drawn, and he sometimes had a ride with him to the lake where men
+stalked the logs on the banks. On these trips, although he said nothing,
+he hardly knew whether he admired most how the driver guided the horses
+over the difficult ground or the intelligence of the alert little
+Finnish horses themselves.
+
+Sometimes, instead of these trips, he had an opportunity to watch the
+actual cutting down of the trees. He would sometimes quiver in sympathy
+as a tree quivered before dashing down against the other trees, perhaps
+remaining suspended a moment, then coming with a crash to the ground
+and raising a flurry of snow.
+
+Once a tree was down it was ready to be cleared of branches and then
+sawed into logs.
+
+In the evening the spring journey of the logs, when they would be
+floated down the lake and out to sea, was often discussed. Juhani
+learned how men with long hooks were stationed at the narrow or rocky
+places on the water to keep the logs from getting blocked. This was
+difficult and often dangerous. Sometimes it led to loss of life.
+
+While on the lake, the logs would be collected and chained together to
+form great rafts. Several of these would be fastened behind each other
+and drawn by a small tug. On these rafts the men would build themselves
+little huts on which they would live, for it is slow work to get the
+logs from the forests to the mills. Indeed it almost always takes one or
+two summers at least.
+
+Sometimes instead of these stories, the men would sing rough songs that
+sounded out there in the wilds more weird and melancholy than they
+really were. Sometimes they discussed the future of Finland. There was
+one fellow among them to whom Juhani loved to listen. He remembered long
+the man's reply to a particularly pessimistic statement. "Our future
+depends on ourselves. Have we not the sea? Does it not stand for power
+and freedom? Shame, I say, on those who do not see it!"
+
+Things in camp went along quietly enough until near the end of the
+season, when two of the men had a fight which might have ended seriously
+had they not been separated in time, for both had drawn their _pukkos_
+(knives).
+
+Before Juhani left for home the driver invited him to come on a trip
+much further east than they were stationed. His uncle consented. It gave
+Juhani an opportunity to see the very primitive and wasteful
+agricultural methods that are still practiced in Finland in
+out-of-the-way places, that of burning down the forest to fertilize the
+land.
+
+They spent the first night with the owner of a place on which this was
+done. He did his best to entertain them well.
+
+After they had had supper the family gathered around the big rude
+fireplace, and while the fire crackled and a drink of some kind was
+passed around the talk drifted to the future prospects of the country.
+Then the peasant proprietor told of the time when the deposed Tzar of
+Russia, Nicholas II, through the Manifesto of February fifteenth, 1899,
+had tried to deprive Finland of most of her independence. "I heard
+through my young son who had just returned from further South, that
+signatures for a petition to the Tzar were being sought. 'They shall not
+lack mine,' I told my wife. It was bitterly cold even for one used to
+severe months of blinding snow, but I put on my skis and made my way
+through the dense forest in the face of a harsh wind, to the nearest
+settlement Here I learned that a messenger gathering signatures had just
+left. Without stopping for food or drink, I followed the direction he
+had taken through a frozen swamp and came up with him just before
+nightfall. And there, with nothing to be seen but snow around us, I
+signed the paper and returned to the settlement while he went on for
+another hour to the neighboring hamlet."
+
+"I know of a case to match that somewhat," said the driver. "After the
+Tzar's Manifesto, a well-to-do farmer, who lived too far away to go to
+Helsingfors, wrote a petition himself to the Tzar, had it signed by the
+family, servants and those nearest, and then forwarded it."
+
+Here the old grandmother, an intelligent looking peasant woman, with a
+brown plaid shawl tightly pinned around her neck, took the lead in the
+conversation, harking back to older times when she had known Elias
+Lönnrot who made the folk songs he gathered into a whole as the great
+Finnish epic, the "Kalevala." This was evidently a favorite subject with
+her. "I was only a young girl," she said, "when he came as a physician
+to Kajana, which is a place of which it was then said there were two
+streets, 'Along one go pigs when it's wet, along the other the
+inhabitants when it's dry.' Lönnrot was a strong fine fellow, very
+gentle. People used to say he would cry if he happened to kill a fly. He
+was rather careless about his clothes. I met him one day just as he was
+starting on one of his searches for folk songs. He was dressed like a
+peasant, with a short pipe in his mouth and a staff in his hand. A small
+flute hung from his button-hole, while a valise and gun were slung on
+his back. After he came back we spoke of nothing for weeks except his
+adventures. In one place he was taken for a tramp and found it
+impossible to secure any sort of vehicle to take him on his way. In
+another village the people thought him a wizard. They wouldn't give him
+any food. He remembered that an eclipse of the sun would take place that
+day. 'I'll make the sun die,' he said, 'if you don't attend to my
+wants.' The people laughed and hooted, but when the sun actually did
+disappear they were badly frightened and begged him on their knees to
+make it come back and brought him all kinds of good things to eat."
+
+"It seems to me," said her son reflectively, "that Lönnrot published
+something else besides the 'Kalevala.'"
+
+"Indeed he did," said the grandmother quickly, proud of her knowledge,
+"why, I've taught you many a verse given in the _Kanteletaar_ (the
+Daughter of the Kantele). It contains about seven hundred ancient songs
+and ballads."
+
+Juhani and the driver were somewhat surprised at hearing all this at
+such a far off place. They would have gladly continued the conversation
+had it not been necessary to retire early to be prepared for the journey
+to the north on the morrow.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+LAPLANDERS
+
+
+A HEAVY snow fell during the night. After they had had breakfast, Juhani
+and the driver found two _pulkas_ (boat shaped sleighs) awaiting them.
+To each of these there was harnessed reindeer of a dark gray color, with
+huge branching antlers. There was only one rein for each of those in the
+_pulkas_ to hold.
+
+"Notice the reindeer's foot," Juhani's companion bade him. "See how
+broad and flexible it is. It is divided, too, and so spreads when it
+touches the snow."
+
+"How can I get the reindeer to stop?" asked Juhani anxiously.
+
+"Well, if you really need to stop and he refuses," replied the driver,
+"all you have to do is to fall out."
+
+Their host wrapped furs around them as each took his place in one of the
+sleds hardly big enough to hold even one person. Then while his wife
+held the deer, the farmer showed Juhani how to wrap the rein properly
+around his wrist. This being managed, the wife let go, and they were
+off.
+
+The country through which they now passed was tiresomely flat and
+covered with small birch and fir trees. After they had gone some
+distance it began to snow in thick cloud-like masses and the wind began
+to blow the snow about as if in violent play. Juhani did very well
+considering that this was his first reindeer ride. He managed to stay in
+the sled even when the reindeer bumped it hard against the trees.
+Fortunately the deep furrows in the road helped steady the sleighs, and
+Juhani began to feel proud of himself when finally the Lapp settlement
+came into view. Whether it was the sight of it or something else, Juhani
+did not know, but just then the reindeer suddenly swerved in such a way
+that Juhani was pitched out. He arose quickly and called to the reindeer
+to stop, but in vain. His companion was far ahead and so, somewhat angry
+and mortified, he made his way as best he could on foot the short
+distance still remaining.
+
+These Lapp settlements in Northern Finland are few in number. It is said
+that there are not more than two thousand Lapps in Finland. The Finnish
+word Lapp or Lappu means Land-End folk. The Lapps use another name for
+themselves; it is Samelats and for their country, Same. Many of the
+Lapps are fishermen, but there are also forest and mountain Lapps.
+
+One wonders how they could get along without the reindeer, which
+furnishes them with milk, meat, and even clothing, besides drawing their
+sledges. Because of these animals the Lapps prefer the open country
+where reindeer moss is plentiful. When it is not found, the spruce tree
+serves as a substitute, and a very extravagant one, for nearly a hundred
+trees are needed yearly for one reindeer.
+
+When Juhani came up, he found the whole village surrounding his friend,
+who laughing, advanced with a muscular, well-proportioned Lapp to him.
+The Lapp shook his hand and assured him gravely that no one thought the
+worse of him for the mishap.
+
+This Lapp was dressed in a loose reindeer costume reaching below the
+knees and fitting closely about the throat. It was adorned with gay
+trimmings of blue and scarlet and yellow. On his feet were soft, pliable
+skin boots.
+
+He led them to the largest hut. Juhani noticed the quarters of frozen
+reindeer meat hanging from the branches of the trees near it and also
+the buckets full of frozen reindeer milk.
+
+When they had entered, they seated themselves on the floor on skins and
+waited while snow was brought in, placed in a kettle over the fire,
+melted, and coffee made. This and food was soon placed before them. The
+latter consisted of reindeer meat, a kind of rye and barley bread, milk
+and a strong oily cheese. It tasted very good to Juhani after his cold
+walk. When he had eaten enough to satisfy himself as well as his
+hospitable hosts, he was shyly invited to join in an outside game with a
+group of dark-skinned children with straight silky brown hair, broad
+flat faces and noses, and very round eyes compared to their elders.
+These children looked like funny little bears, wrapped as they were in
+fur.
+
+Two of the boys carried wooden sticks which they drove into the snow.
+These were made so that a stone could rest on the top. Each child tried
+his best to see how many of these he could knock off with snowballs in a
+given time.
+
+Juhani found himself far behind his little friends. He was not so good a
+shot, and he lacked their quickness in making the balls. But he kept on
+trying.
+
+In the afternoon when it grew too dark and cold to remain longer out of
+doors (it was thirty degrees below zero), two of the children went with
+Juhani into the unventilated hut, and sitting down near the fire took
+out their knives and began to carve. Juhani watched the older of the
+two, a boy about his own age, and soon saw that he was making a running
+reindeer on the handle of a knife. Great was his surprise next morning
+to have this presented him. The mother, in the meantime, had just laid
+down some reindeer intestines that she was making into gloves.
+
+"How many reindeer have you?" Juhani asked the Lapp boy.
+
+"Oh, nearly a thousand," the latter answered carelessly.
+
+"What a number of uses you put them to! I wish you would tell me all of
+them."
+
+[Illustration: "JUHANI WAS LISTENING TO THE MOST MARVELOUS TALES"]
+
+The Lapp boy smiled. "To tell all would take me all day. I will tell you
+a few though. We make butter and cheese from their milk, eat their flesh
+as food, make our beds and tents, of their skins; their tendons give us
+our thread and many of our eating utensils are made out of their
+antlers."
+
+"It must be much trouble to milk the reindeer every day," Juhani
+remarked.
+
+"But we don't milk them every day," the Lapp boy quickly put in. "Only
+about twice a week. Oftener it would certainly be much trouble."
+
+Juhani wanted to know still more. "Since the reindeer are loose, how can
+they find food when the ground is covered with snow several feet deep?"
+he asked.
+
+"They can smell it," returned the Lapp. "They never make a mistake. As
+soon as they smell it, they scrape at the snow with their feet and
+nose until they get to it."
+
+After another meal all gathered still closer to the log fire to listen
+to news of the outside world. For a long time the woodman talked, and
+then, growing tired, he begged the Lapp mother to tell some stories.
+
+This she did in the Finnish language, which, like all the rest of her
+family, she spoke well. Soon Juhani was listening to the most marvelous
+tales, of giants as big as mountains with one enormous eye, of ugly
+witches that fly about like bats at night, and of frightful goblins that
+do much harm. Then, changing her tone, she softly told the story of the
+goddess, _Nyavvinna_, the kindly daughter of the Sun, a being who first
+caught and tamed the reindeer and gave them to the Lapps for their
+comfort and joy.
+
+"Will you tell our fortune?" asked the woodman driver, eying her
+somewhat askance, when she had stopped. She smiled good naturedly at
+him, and going to a rude cabinet took from it a kind of drum by means of
+which she foretold a pleasant return journey on the morrow.
+
+Juhani watched her with simple curiosity; his companion, however, was
+plainly uneasy, and when they were alone for a minute before lying down
+to sleep, he whispered, "Awfully uncanny folks, these Lapps are."
+
+The next morning, too, despite the kindly parting, it was plain to
+Juhani that he was glad to get away. They had another exhilarating ride
+behind the reindeer. It had a delightful tang to it, a trace of
+wildness, to which something, even in Juhani's stolid nature, responded.
+
+When they had left their sleds at the home of their Finnish friends the
+driver grew talkative and told Juhani many stories of other trips to
+Lapland, one the summer before to this same family. He laughed when he
+thought of the children. "They would have had a pleasant time gathering
+berries," he said, "had it not been for the mosquitoes. There were so
+many of these that they had to wear a sort of mosquito net fastened
+around the waist. When they tore these or objected too much, their
+mother rubbed tar all over their hands and faces. My! but they did look
+funny then," and he laughed so heartily that Juhani could not help but
+join him.
+
+The man had many other interesting things to tell, for his experiences
+had been varied. Among other things he explained the old system still in
+use in parts of Finland of getting tar, an important Finnish industry.
+
+"Those are fine tar trees," he said, when they had come to a clump of
+fir and larch. "Nothing better. Do you know how they work the thing?
+Well, the wood, after being cut, is piled high on a big platform that
+slopes from all sides to the center where there is an opening into a vat
+underneath. This pile is covered over with a thick layer of earth and
+grass and then lit from below. It smolders for several days until the
+pile sinks and a flame springs up. When the tar begins to flow it is
+caught in barrels. Shafts are afterwards attached to these barrels and
+they are then drawn by horses to the nearest water and loaded on boats
+for the coast.
+
+"These boats are built to shoot the rapids. There is no iron used in
+them, the fir planks being bound together with wooden fibers. They don't
+weigh much so that they give in to slight shocks. Wood only
+three-fourths of an inch thick separates one from the water. The boats
+are about thirty by three feet, very long and narrow, you see, yet big
+enough to hold about twenty barrels, with high sides to keep out the
+foam.
+
+"I tell you it takes skill and nerve to steer one of these boats. The
+pilots have to have a license. Besides the pilot, the crew generally
+consists of two men or a man and a woman. I wasn't much older than you
+are now when I first went in one. We started at Kajana on the Ulea
+River. My! how the boat did skim along! It seemed as free as a bird. I
+held my breath most of the time. And what a shock it was when it went
+plunk into the rapids which extend many miles! I'll never forget that
+first ride and the peculiar joy I felt at the danger. The last rapids
+are the Pyhakoski or Sacred Rapids. They are twelve miles long, but the
+trip over them took us barely twenty minutes. Here you can see the slope
+of the stream. Every second you go faster. Now you have to avoid a
+whirlpool, now a rock; sometimes both. I thought I'd just go deaf from
+the roar of the waters. When we reached smooth water again I thought I
+really was deaf, the silence was so overpowering."
+
+"What causes the rapids?" asked Juhani.
+
+"It's the enormous bowlders," responded his companion. "The rapids are
+mighty pretty. I've seen our largest waterfall, too. It's in a narrow
+gorge at Imatra and is sixty feet high. How many lakes make it, do you
+think? They say it is a thousand! There are always lots of tourists
+gazing at it and listening to its hissing and sputtering and roaring.
+When you first hear it you think there is a storm brewing. The spray is
+tossed thirty feet into the air and looks like a mass of rainbows."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+SCHOOL
+
+
+SCHOOL opened later that year than usual, to last until June. There was
+to be a vacation of three weeks at Christmas with an occasional week in
+between, as well as on special days.
+
+Two languages were studied by all the children, Finnish and Swedish
+instead of Finnish and Russian as might have been expected from
+Finland's connection with Russia. The teacher told the children that
+there had been a time when all schooling was Swedish, the Finnish tongue
+being considered too uncouth for culture. "Happily," he would always
+add, "that time is past. It was unjust, for eighty-six per cent of the
+inhabitants are Finns. We are now fully awake." All the children had
+manual training, the girls being taught cooking, sewing and darning,
+the boys woodwork and carpentry. The schoolhouse was surrounded by
+trees, and once a week, at least, the teacher talked of the necessity of
+conserving them.
+
+The teacher lived near the school in a furnished house provided by the
+country people. Around it was enough grazing land for a cow. The people
+saw, too, that he always had a sufficient supply of firewood.
+
+When Maja and Juhani reached the schoolhouse on the first day they found
+all the names by which Finland is sometimes known beautifully written on
+the blackboard. There were "Strawberry Land," "The Land of a Thousand
+Lakes," "The Land of a Thousand Heroes," "The Land of a Thousand Isles,"
+"Marsh Land," and "Last Born Daughter of the Sea." "This last name our
+country has earned," the master explained, "because it is in fact still
+rising out of the sea. As for 'Land of a Thousand Lakes' that should
+rather be the 'Land of Many Thousand Lakes.' Let all these names merely
+serve to remind you," he concluded, "of our duty to our country and our
+determination not to give up that freedom to which we feel ourselves
+entitled."
+
+The singing of the Finnish National Hymn followed:
+
+    "Our Land, our Finnish Fatherland!
+     Ring out dear name and sound!
+     No hill nor dale, nor sea-worn strand,
+     Nor lofty mountain whitely grand,
+     There is more precious to be found
+     That this--our fathers' ground."[1]
+
+What Juhani liked best at school that year perhaps, was his connection
+with the School Paper. Every Saturday night the higher grades, beginning
+with the one in which he now was, met at the schoolhouse to consider
+original contributions to it. Both poetry and prose were submitted, and
+also charades and plays. Juhani won some praise for an article entitled
+"What We Owe to the Trees." In this he spoke of the vast number of trees
+in Finland, but particularly of the uses to which they were put. "The
+birch is one of our best friends. I may not wear birch shoes but many
+peasants do. From its twigs we make brooms and bath whisks; from its
+bark, baskets and cups. Its blocks are fed to our locomotives and
+steamboats, and its leaves provide food for our cattle. In time of need,
+when crops fail, we even make bread from its bark."
+
+Once a month came Guest Day and the children worked hard to do
+themselves and the teacher credit, for then the fathers, mothers and
+friends invited had the right to ask the pupils questions. An
+entertainment was always provided; sometimes there were tableaux,
+sometimes a play. These were always followed by refreshments.
+
+This year, at the first of these nights, Juhani was honored by having an
+introductory recitation from the Finnish poet Topelius. A part of it
+is:
+
+    "On the world's farthest peopled strand
+     Fate gave to us a Fatherland,
+     The last where man his foot has set,
+     Daring the North Pole's threat;
+     The last and wildest stretch of earth
+     Where Europe's genius built a hearth;
+     The last and farthest flung outpost
+     'Gainst night and death and frost."
+
+A boy, somewhat younger, followed this with a stirring recitation about
+a thick-headed peasant hero who, with a small troop, was placed to
+defend a bridge. All but five of this troop were killed and the order
+was given to return. The dull peasant leader did not understand and
+remained at his post alone until help came, when he died with a bullet
+in his heart.
+
+Then came the most effective part of the program. A girl, a pupil in one
+of the higher grades, appeared dressed in the traditional dress of a
+certain portion of Finland, consisting of a white loose blouse and
+short full embroidered skirt. There was also a bodice and a colored
+fringed apron. She carried a _kantele_, a stringed instrument whose
+music is of a monotonous and rather melancholy tone. This served as the
+accompaniment to two or three folk songs, which she half sang, half
+recited in a way that brought forth special applause. Coffee and cakes,
+carefully prepared by the members of the Cooking Classes, were then
+served, after which games were played and riddles given. Among the
+latter was Maja's favorite: "What can't speak yet tells the truth?"
+Answer.--Scales.
+
+The next Guest Night was devoted entirely to the "Kalevala," that
+wonderful national epic made up of the folk songs gathered by Elias
+Lönnrot. It began with a tableau in which was seen _Wäinämöinen_, the
+ancient bard of the poem, "renowned for singing and magic"; _Ilmarinen_,
+the children's favorite hero, a wonderful smith; _Kullervo_, the wicked
+shepherd, whose hand was against every man's; the jolly, reckless
+_Lemminkainen_, and _Louhi_, the mistress of Pohjola (the North) and her
+beautiful, much sought after daughter, the Rainbow Maiden. This was
+followed by the reading of a passage describing _Wäinämöinen's_ playing,
+
+    "All the birds that fly in mid-air
+     Fell like snow flakes from the heavens,
+     Flew to hear the minstrel's playing
+     Hear the harp of _Wäinämöinen_."
+
+Then came the description of how the eagle, the swans, the tiny finches
+and the fish, and all within hearing, were affected by the magic harp
+music.
+
+The curtain dropped and rolled up again to show the meeting of
+_Wäinämöinen_ and his envious rival _Youkahainen_, who wishes to fight.
+The tableau changed before the audience into an act in which
+_Wäinämöinen's_ magic singing causes his rival to sink helplessly into
+quicksand, and in which he refuses every ransom _Youkahainen_ offers,
+until it comes to _Youkahainen's_ beauteous sister.
+
+One of the pupils now read the parts from the "Kalevala" describing the
+various tasks that the heroes were called on to perform: the forging of
+the magic _sampo_, a coin, corn, and salt mill which could grind out
+good fortune for whoever had it; the capturing of the elk of Hiisi; the
+bridling of the fire-breathing horse, and others.
+
+Last the teacher himself took the platform to call the attention of the
+audience to the beautiful expressions of mother love scattered
+throughout. He showed how even the wise _Wäinämöinen_ thought first of
+his mother when in distress:
+
+    "If my mother were now breathing
+     She would surely truly tell me
+     How I might best bear this trouble,"
+
+and how the mother love of the hot-headed _Lemminkainen_ rescues him
+from death.
+
+It was not always easy for Juhani and Maja to get to school, yet it was
+rarely that they or any of the other pupils were absent. Often the only
+light they had going and coming was that thrown up by the snow.
+Sometimes, however, the remarkable Northern Lights (the Aurora Borealis)
+helped the sun in its labors. They grew all the sturdier, too, for
+having to face wild weather.
+
+All the pupils came to school on skis, made of long narrow pieces of
+wood with a leather strip in the center through which one merely slipped
+the foot, so that in falling the foot was released. The front end was
+pointed and curved upward. It does not take long to go a good distance
+on skis. Juhani could go seven miles an hour on his. There were always
+rows of skis at the school door, some large, some small, for the proper
+length depends on the height of the individual. To find it one stands
+with arms extended above one's head. The skis must reach from the ground
+to the raised fingertips.
+
+At home one of the older children's duties was to teach a young brother
+or sister how to use skis. It was not unusual to see even three-year old
+babes on them. At five years most of them could be trusted alone. The
+first lesson was one of balance. One foot was placed in advance, the
+knees bent with the body forward. This was followed by making the first
+step.
+
+Sometimes, during vacation days, there were ski races, but these were
+forgotten when in the latter part of November announcement was made of a
+ski jumping contest to be held in the nearest village. The age limit
+kept the smaller boys from all hope of taking part, but they at once
+organized a ski jumping contest of their own. Juhani was the youngest
+admitted even here. "No, I've never tried jumping," he confessed when
+asked, "but I know that I can do it." At the first meeting of the
+schoolboys he had an opportunity to show what he could do. He advanced
+with something like a swagger, made a good jump but landed in a heap
+instead of on his feet. His companions, who knew that there was
+something to learn, all shouted, "The cow cannot climb a hill! The cow
+cannot climb a hill!" which is an old proverb, and means that one cannot
+perform a feat beyond his ability.
+
+Juhani picked himself up, shut his lips tightly together, and tried
+again and again until he could outdistance many of the boys.
+
+When the day of the great contest came everybody who could went to see
+the sport. A strong little platform had been built on the side of a hill
+near the town. From this the contestants were to spring.
+
+There were six competitors. One especially seemed to have won favor
+beforehand, not because he was better looking than the others, for he
+was not, but probably because of the merry good humor in his eyes.
+
+[Illustration: "WAVING HIS ARMS TO KEEP HIS BALANCE, JUMPED FAR
+FORWARD"]
+
+The signal came to start. First came a stalwart, serious-faced youth who
+jumped over sixty feet, landed on his feet, and raced down the hill.
+After him followed three others, all of whom jumped between sixty-five
+and seventy-five feet. The fifth rushed after them, jumping seventy-nine
+feet, but failing to land on his feet. Last came the popular youth. He
+glanced around until he met the gaze of a little old lady in the crowd.
+Then he smiled and waved his hat to her, ran up on the platform, doubled
+up his legs, which he kept close together, and then waving his arms to
+keep his balance, jumped far forward. A shout of applause burst forth as
+he landed on his feet and raced down the hill. This increased still more
+when it was learned that he had out-distanced all the others, his
+jump being over eighty feet.
+
+The last day of the term at school the children had a big Christmas
+tree. It was decorated with Russian and Finnish flags and candles and
+with sweets for all hanging from its branches. There were many visitors,
+for on this day prizes were to be awarded to the most deserving pupils.
+No one knew for certain to whom the chief prizes were to go, but there
+were often clever guesses. In Juhani's Grade, however, a murmur of
+surprise was heard when the name of the winner was announced. An
+unusually shy youth stepped forward awkwardly. Juhani remembered him as
+a poor boy who had entered that term. He remembered also how hard at
+first he had found the studies, then how he improved by degrees until he
+ranked with the best.
+
+The teacher, in making the presentation, dwelt on the virtue of such
+perseverance and then invited the visitors to ask him any questions in
+his late studies that they desired.
+
+Several were eager to do this, much to the lad's embarrassment. But no
+sooner did he begin to answer than the embarrassment vanished, and he
+surprised all present by the clearness of his replies.
+
+At the conclusion the teacher said: "This year we have for good reasons
+departed from our usual custom of presenting some book to be treasured
+by the winner. Instead we present to this deserving pupil a certain
+amount of money with only one stipulation, that he spend it in things
+that will most help him in his future studies."
+
+"What will most help me in my future studies," the pupil responded,
+after some words of thanks, "will be the thought that my mother is more
+comfortable. So I accept this gladly if you have no objection to my
+giving it all at once to her."
+
+The applause of all present showed their consent, and after an enquiring
+look at his teacher he walked up to a poorly-dressed woman who sat at
+the very rear of the room and whose eyes filled with tears as she took
+the money from his hands.
+
+The younger children were not the only ones provided with schooling. In
+the nearest village to Juhani's home an adult school had been recently
+established by a big association called the Society for Popular
+Education. One half of the time each day was devoted to hand work, one
+half to easy conversational lessons in history, literature, science or
+any other study that appealed to the particular group gathered together.
+All social classes were represented in this school. There were sons of
+peasants, servants, shop-keepers. Some of the teachers were paid; others
+volunteered their services to help make life more pleasant and useful
+for their fellowmen. Among the latter was a rich neighbor who had just
+finished a course in one of the big Agriculture Schools of the country
+and was looking forward to having a farm of her own. Another teacher was
+plainly a university student, for she wore the regulation student cap,
+on which a golden lyre was embroidered. Much of the social life of this
+community centered about this school. The people came not only to study
+and learn but also to enjoy as a relief from hard daily work the
+companionship of others.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[1] By the Finnish poet, J. L. Runeberg, from the translation by Anna
+Krook.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE DECEMBER VACATION
+
+
+LONG before the coldest weather came, everything was made ready for a
+six or eight months' winter. The double windows were surrounded by
+cotton wool and gummed paper to keep out the draughts. The open rafters
+of the kitchen now served as a store room. From them hung dried fish,
+smoked pork, and even several weeks' supply of rye bread in large hard
+cakes with a hole in the middle of each.
+
+As soon as the December holidays came, parties at neighboring houses
+followed each other in quick succession. Sometimes these were ski-ing
+parties of school children with the teacher in charge. Sometimes the
+older folks gathered, and sometimes whole families. There was always a
+dinner, and almost always dancing and the playing of games.
+
+One day Juhani's whole family went to the home of a friend who lived
+fully ten miles distant. It was only about nine in the morning when they
+started in two low sleighs. The air was crisp and so still that it did
+not seem to stir, the sky intensely blue, as they hurried over
+snow-covered roads, past many forests, each tree bright in its pearly
+gown; past two farms whose buildings looked strikingly red and bare
+against their white background.
+
+As they neared their destination, a bright-looking boy, accompanied by a
+kind of wolf hound, raced up on his skis to meet them. "You're just in
+time," he shouted when sufficiently near, "to help me make a fox trap.
+An old scamp of a fox has been after our chickens and I mean to get
+him."
+
+"Where are you going to set the trap?" called back Juhani eagerly.
+
+"I'm going to show you," responded the other, and as Juhani dismounted
+from the sleigh, the two made their way to some distance back of the
+barn. Here Juhani's friend had everything ready. First he drove a long
+stake into the ground. This stake was forked at the end with the central
+prong the longest. "Feel the edges," he said to Juhani.
+
+Juhani did so and almost cut his finger. The edges were as sharp as
+knives.
+
+"I don't understand yet," he said, putting his hand up to his mouth,
+"how that can catch a fox."
+
+"Wait," returned his friend, and running to the barn he soon returned
+with bait which he placed at the top.
+
+"The old fellow will jump at that," he explained, "and catch his paw
+between the prongs. You bet it'll hold him fast, too. There are a lot of
+them around," he continued as they made their way to the house, "and
+we're a good deal put out by them. Grandfather says, however, that it
+is nothing to the time when father first moved here. Then there were
+wolves and bears. I'd like to meet a bear. Do you remember the lines:
+
+    'Otso apple of the forest
+     With thy honey paws so curving'?
+
+Grandfather says that they used to use charms to help them when they
+went hunting. Do you know what he likes to talk about better than bear
+hunting? It's seal shooting; perhaps because he did it only once. It
+wasn't here, of course, but on the frozen sea. He says he lay flat on a
+sled in front of which he had fastened a white sail so that the seal
+would take it for a part of the ice around. He pushed the sled with his
+feet, and, when near enough, shot."
+
+"That was when he was a fisherman," conjectured Juhani.
+
+His friend laughed. "Please don't use the past tense in regard to him.
+Why, he's still a fisherman. Only last year he had a fishing adventure
+that would make some people's hair rise. You look as if you didn't
+believe. Come, I'll get him to tell you about it."
+
+They found the old man sitting in a sunny workroom mending a basket. He
+was quite ready to talk. "I don't belong here," he said, "but to the
+east end of the gulf. You say that you want to hear what happened last
+spring. Well, a whole camp of us went out together to fish through the
+ice. That's done every year. We took tents and firewood and food and
+expected to stay a long time. It was all right for a while and we got a
+lot of fish. But the spring thaw came earlier than we expected; we had
+fellows watching, but they were careless, and the first thing we knew
+the ice had cracked and I and one other were carried out to sea on a
+great ice floe. Our companions saw us when we were about twelve yards
+away, but they couldn't do anything for they hadn't any boats. We
+couldn't do anything but let the wind and wave carry us wherever they
+wished. I had a bottle of rum in my pocket and a big hunk of hard bread.
+My companion had nothing but a plug of tobacco. These three things we
+divided and lived on for two days. At last we drifted to firm ice, from
+which, stiff as we were, we managed to make our way to the mainland."
+
+"You don't expect to go this year, do you?" asked Juhani.
+
+"Yes, I do. Right after the holidays. Why shouldn't I?" asked the old
+man sharply. "I wasn't drowned, was I?"
+
+Right here they were fortunately called into the house. When they
+reached it, Juhani at once noticed that it was some one's name day, for
+the doors were prettily decorated with boughs. A big meal awaited them
+indoors, and here Juhani found that the decorations were in honor of
+the mother for her chair was also wreathed. He at once went up to her
+and offered his congratulations, which the other members of his family
+had had a chance to do before.
+
+A long time was spent at the table. When the meal was finished each
+person went up to the host and hostess, shook hands with them and said
+"Tack," thank you.
+
+Juhani's friend next took him for a visit to the farm's carpenter shop,
+where he showed him the posts and gates he was making. "Are you going to
+have the shoemaker come to your place this year?" he asked. "We expect
+him here next week to make us enough shoes to last the year through. The
+tailor isn't coming till January. Two weeks ago we had the harness
+maker; I had to help him, and I tell you, I'm glad the harness is
+mended."
+
+Here he thought of something else with which to entertain his guest.
+"Why, you haven't seen my new toboggan slide. Let's go quick."
+
+They stopped at the barn to get a sled and then had several merry rides
+down a short but steep hill. This was followed by snow-balling and fancy
+ski jumping until time to bid each other good-by.
+
+A few days following this pleasant visit, Juhani, Maja and the older
+sister attended a "Riddle Evening" at the home of a much nearer
+neighbor. Here quite a number of young people were gathered, each trying
+to be called the Master Riddle Guesser. Whoever couldn't answer three
+riddles in succession had to play the fool. He was seated in a chair in
+the middle of the room. One of the girls handed over her embroidered
+apron and it was tied around his waist. Another took off the kerchief
+around her neck and it was put on his head. Still another lent her glass
+beads. A saucer was then held over a candle flame until soot collected
+and with this his face was painted. The jolly company circled around him
+jeering and then forming a procession solemnly escorted him from the
+room and bade him study out the answers that he had not been able to
+guess.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+CHRISTMAS WEEK
+
+
+SEVERAL days before Christmas, the whole farmhouse was scrubbed and
+cleaned, while bread was baked and ale brewed.
+
+[Illustration: "SHE CARRIED OUT A BASKET FILLED WITH CRUMBS AND GRAIN"]
+
+On Christmas Eve little Maja scattered clean straw on all the floors.
+
+"Don't forget the birds," her older sister cautioned her.
+
+"As if I would!" responded Maja. Nodding to Juhani, who stood by the
+door, she carried out a basket filled with crumbs and grain for the wild
+birds and animals. Juhani soon followed her with a sheaf of corn, which
+he placed where it would be sure to attract.
+
+"You haven't forgotten, have you, Juhani," said Maja somewhat
+breathlessly as they stood together, "that they all can speak
+to-night?"
+
+Juhani nodded and was silent for a moment. It always took him some time
+to get stirred up enough to talk. Then he said slowly, "I've put some of
+the food near the door, for 'tis said that if you listen behind it at
+night you'll be able to understand what they say. Don't tell, but I'm
+going to listen. Wouldn't it be hunky if I found out some secret?"
+
+"Oh, then I must listen, too!" exclaimed Maja. But her brother did not
+like the idea.
+
+"We'd be found out sure if you did," he said. "Better let me do it alone
+and I'll tell you about it to-morrow,--before I tell any one else."
+
+Maja reluctantly agreed, and the two went indoors where they separated,
+each to wrap up presents that they had made and to write the name of the
+recipient together with an appropriate verse or sentence on an attached
+paper. These were placed in the front room from which they mysteriously
+disappeared while the family were having their supper of rice porridge
+and _lut fisk_ (stock fish), prepared in a way peculiar to the country.
+
+After supper all seated themselves near the big stove and were very
+still with their eyes on the door. Presently a loud knock came.
+"Welcome! Welcome!" every one shouted.
+
+The door opened and Father Christmas dressed as a Yule Goat entered. He
+carried a basket filled with gifts, and as he took one after another up
+he first read the recipient's name, then the attached verse, some of
+which were so funny that they caused much laughter. No one was left out.
+The servants, who were all present, smiled happily at having been
+remembered so generously, and even the big dog came in for his share
+which was a piece of meat wrapped securely in paper.
+
+When bed time came, the children prepared to go to sleep on straw in
+memory of the Christ Child. Maja looked regretfully after Juhani, who
+had received permission from his mother to have the straw for him
+placed that night on the kitchen floor.
+
+In the morning all rose early, Maja and Juhani running into the front
+room to see "Heaven," a framework hung from the ceiling and made up of
+threads and yarn and straws and decorated with gilt stars. It was lit by
+a candle and seemed very beautiful to both of them, much to the
+satisfaction of the older sister, who had followed them, and whose work
+it was.
+
+Long before six o'clock a visit had been paid to all the farm animals,
+and a supply of food and some dainty given each. Candles were then
+placed in all the windows, and putting on their heavy coats, their caps
+with ear flappers, and their heavy boots, they all piled into sleighs
+and were off to church.
+
+It was very dark much of the way. Indeed it would be fortunate if the
+sun shone for five or six hours before night. They did not mind the
+dark, for they were not alone. From all sides people came, either on
+skis or in sleighs.
+
+After the service there was a race of skis and sleighs homewards over
+the frozen lake in eager anticipation of the Christmas dinner, whose
+chief dish, Maja whispered to Juhani, was to be a big ham. It was not
+until they were home again that she found a chance to corner Juhani by
+himself and demand eagerly: "What did they say?"
+
+Juhani looked curiously at her. "I listened last night," he said slowly,
+"for a long time but I didn't hear any animal or bird speak." Then,
+seeing Maja's disappointed face, he added quickly, "There are other
+things one can do. You know Esko's grandmother. Well, she once saw a
+great assembly of snakes on a hill near Impivaare. She knows all about
+snakes. She says that if you can kill an old adder and eat him just
+before the first cuckoo, ever after that you'll understand the language
+of birds and know all sorts of things."
+
+Maja shuddered. "You wouldn't do that, would you?" she asked
+appealingly.
+
+Juhani looked at her for a moment, and then, unable to withstand the
+temptation to tease her, said, "Why not?" and ran away.
+
+Before New Year's with its special significance came, a guest arrived
+from Helsingfors. It was Juhani and Maja's aunt, a woman who had
+achieved some renown in the Capital as an architect.
+
+They enjoyed her vivid descriptions of how the snow there was daily
+shoveled from the pavements, and how when you step on what remains it
+screams: "A hard winter! A hard winter!"
+
+"We haven't gone in for as much ice yachting as usual," she remarked,
+rather sadly, the children thought. "The times are too unsettled."
+
+"Tell us about the yachting," urged Maja, seeing the look of interest in
+Juhani's face, and knowing his slowness in asking for what he wanted.
+
+"I know nothing more thrilling," the aunt returned, smiling, "than lying
+flat on your stomach on an ice yacht in motion. The yacht may take
+little leaps so that at times it seems to you as if it were about to
+fly. Then you rush madly at something and prepare yourself surely for a
+smash, but just in time the yacht swerves and you are safe to fly some
+more. In a sense you do fly, for when the wind is strong the yacht is
+sometimes lifted high into the air. When it comes down you feel as if
+the world were coming to an end. It would have been fine for ice
+yachting this year, for we had black ice."
+
+"What is that?" asked Maja.
+
+"I know," broke in Juhani unexpectedly. "It is when the ice forms before
+snow falls."
+
+His aunt nodded. "Yes; then the water looks like a mirror and it is
+much smoother than when covered with snow."
+
+"Did you come direct from Helsingfors?" asked Lilja after a pause.
+
+"No," replied the aunt. "I had to go first to Viborg." And she described
+to them the famous Saima Canal, one of the many canals of the country
+which starts from there. It is built of Finnish granite and took eleven
+years to complete. "It goes," she said, "to Saima Lake, called the lake
+of a thousand islands, the most important lake of Finland. This lake is
+about three hundred feet above the sea level, so that the vessels on the
+canal have to be raised by locks. There are at least twenty-eight of
+these. I once saw three steamers on it and they looked as if they were
+walking up stairs. We mustn't forget that this canal is one of the good
+things that we owe to the Russians. It probably would not have been
+constructed but for the interest of Tzar Nicolas I, during whose reign
+it was begun. Viborg seems to be made up of Russian soldiers, which of
+course is no wonder, since it is the nearest town to the Russian
+frontier."
+
+She seemed inclined to say more but evidently thought better of it for
+she changed the conversation. "Some friends with whom I had dinner at
+Viborg told me a story that will interest you. It was regarding a
+relative that they called Pekka (Peter) and who for a while lived in the
+Castle of Olafsborg in the quaint town of Nyslott. It happened in this
+way. He came to Nyslott to attend the Musical Festival held there in the
+summer. The town was crowded and he despaired of getting a bed when he
+ran across an acquaintance to whom he told his troubles.
+
+"'Unfortunately,' said the latter, 'I am a stranger here. I don't know a
+person,--except the watchman who has charge of the Castle.'
+
+"The relative is of a somewhat romantic turn of mind. 'Excellent!' he
+said. 'Just the thing. Let's go over at once and hire a room from the
+watchman.'
+
+"'Do you mean,' said his acquaintance incredulously, 'that you're
+willing to stay in a ruined castle--probably haunted--all night?'
+
+"But the young man was stubborn, and the two secured a boat and rowed
+over to the Castle. Nyslott is built on islands but the castle has one
+of its own. When they landed they found the watchman, who, after some
+hesitation, offered the stranger his own room, which was in a separate
+little building put up for his benefit.
+
+"But Pekka would not have it so. 'I'd rather you'd fix me up something
+in the castle itself.' The watchman thought this a joke and proposed
+that they wander through the building to find a place that would suit.
+
+"So they started. Everything looked very ancient, for the castle dates
+back to 1475. They went through queer passages where the walls were
+sometimes fifteen feet thick, under arches, up winding stairs, down
+again, into cellars and dungeons and ruined chambers. At last they came
+to the Hall of Knights, a long, dimly lighted room. The walls had fallen
+here to enclose partly a little space that was still roofed over.
+
+"'This shall be my lodging place,' declared the young man. 'Are you
+serious?' asked the watchman.
+
+"'I certainly am,' answered Pekka, putting some money in the watchman's
+hand. The watchman thought for a while. 'I shall have to see the
+authorities,' he said at last.
+
+"'I'll wait here,' said Pekka, and wait he did.
+
+"When the guardian of the place returned he was all smiles. 'All right,'
+he said and set to work clearing the space. Then he brought rugs and a
+big fur coat on which the man could sleep.
+
+"The weather was warm and the bed couldn't have been very uncomfortable,
+for Pekka stayed there three nights. He declared afterwards that he
+dreamt wonderful dreams of the time when three races, the Swedes, the
+Russians and the Finns, struggled for the possession of this spot. One
+night he awoke shouting: 'The enemy! the enemy!' and then found that the
+invaders were only some of the many bats, who thought that they had a
+better right than he to this castle home."
+
+Here the aunt brought forth some interesting photographs which she had
+taken at Helsingfors. One was an active scene at the open air market
+when the autumn sailing fleet came to sell winter provisions. It showed
+the peasant carts and the bright stalls covered with white awnings and
+blue umbrellas, the market women in gay attire, the butchers in bright
+pink coats or blouses, and the boats laden with fruit and vegetables,
+kegs of salted fish, and honey. There was also a picture taken earlier
+in the year, showing one of the principal harbors with crafts of every
+shape and size. There were enormous passenger boats, little market boats
+rowed by bare-armed women, small pleasure yachts, big timber ships with
+red brown sails, and a group of white Russian war vessels.
+
+She had pictures, too, in which the older members of the family were
+interested, showing two very distinct styles of architecture to be found
+in Helsingfors. One was of a group of fine modern buildings on a broad
+street called the Myntgatan. They were of gray stone, six or seven
+stories high, dignified and well proportioned, with carefully selected
+classical decorations. In contrast to this, she produced photographs of
+other buildings of decided Finnish individuality. These buildings
+showed great variety, being of rough granite or brick, with tiled roofs,
+unusual balconies and porticos, fantastic plaster decorations, such as a
+group of frogs, a procession of swimming swans, a bunch of carrots and
+turnips, or a savage animal head.
+
+Another group of pictures showed the types of work done by Helsingfors
+women. In one of these a number of women were cleaning the streets,
+using immense brooms for the sweeping. In one, they were washing clothes
+on platforms built out into the sea. In still another, several stood on
+a scaffold, plastering a house, while three others were at work
+constructing a door.
+
+Of all the pictures Maja liked best a view of the statue of Runeberg,
+the national poet, showing how it was decorated with flowers and laurels
+on the anniversary of his birthday. Juhani was attracted more
+particularly to a picture of a magnificent horse harnessed to a sleigh,
+his loins covered with a cloak coming far down to keep out the cold.
+
+The aunt presented these to the children. "Our people are kind to their
+horses," she said to Juhani; then turning to Maja: "On Runeberg's
+birthday not only is his statue in the square decorated, but all houses
+are lit up to show he is remembered, while in every restaurant people
+give festal dinners in his honor."
+
+Then the aunt brought forth something that the children appreciated
+still more than the pictures. It was a sort of cake, especially peculiar
+to Viborg, made in the form of a lover's knot, and it had been baked on
+straw, some of which still stuck to the bottom.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+SUMMER TIME
+
+
+IN April the melting snow and ice showed that spring was on the way. How
+dirty and muddy it was everywhere! Instead of skis, the children had to
+wade to school in well greased boots.
+
+New kinds of festivities took the place of the old. At Easter time eggs
+were painted and the family feasted on _memma_, a dish of boiled
+sweetened malt, eaten with cream and sugar.
+
+On the first of May big swings were erected in the grove near the church
+and there the people gathered from a considerable distance, the children
+to swing and frolic, and their elders to listen to the singing of runes,
+some so ancient that the meaning was no longer plain, or to speeches
+welcoming the return of spring.
+
+"Let's play! Let's play!" the children shouted as if they hadn't also
+played in the winter. Play they did. Sometimes it was "Last Pair Out."
+In this the boys and girls formed pairs and stood behind each other. At
+a signal the last couples separated, each going on different sides of
+the line and trying to unite in front before being caught by the one who
+was "It." They danced "To-day is the First of May" in a double circle,
+and the "Ring Dance" to which they sang:
+
+    My love is like a strawberry,
+      So red and sweet is she:
+    And no one else may swing her round,
+      No one else 'cept me.
+
+There was one little girl who was quite a leader in the games. Perhaps
+the reason was the enthusiastic way in which she played. She seemed to
+have two favorites: "Hide and Seek," in which the children counted out
+to see who was to be "It," and "Wolf." Both boys and girls played the
+latter as they did most of the other games. Juhani was the first to be
+the "Wolf," to the apparent joy of the leader, who took particular
+delight in teasing and escaping from him until he just ran her down and
+caught her.
+
+Maja did not play this. She had found some children younger than herself
+whom she joined in making miniature farms out of stones and sand. The
+first building which she erected was not the dwelling-house but the
+_Sauna_ or bath-house. Then followed the other farm buildings, and last
+the cattle had stones carefully selected for them.
+
+The spring, ushered in with such hearty welcome, went with a surprising
+swiftness, and summer arrived with intense blue skies and floods of
+sunshine and flowers. This was the time of the white nights,--a happy
+holiday time,--when the sun shines for more than eighteen hours at a
+time and for the remainder of the twenty-four leaves generously its
+reflection behind.
+
+[Illustration: "WOUND COLORED YARN AROUND THE RYE STALKS"]
+
+During this springtime weather Maja saw that there were fresh wild
+flowers--pansies, lilies of the valley, lilacs, or wild roses--daily in
+the living-room. She loved the spring particularly for these. "How I
+love the flowers!" she would exclaim enthusiastically to Juhani whenever
+she found a new one.
+
+Juhani would smile slowly, look thoughtfully into the distance, and
+after a pause return: "I like the spring for many things, but best I
+think for the change in the forest." Maja knew that he meant the new
+bits of sunshine everywhere and the new growth of needles that glistened
+so green against the background of the dark pines, and all the new bird
+calls to be heard there.
+
+In June the schools closed, and for a while nothing was talked of but
+the preparations for the great midsummer festival to be held on June
+twenty-fourth, John the Baptist Day.
+
+There seemed no end of things to be done to show gladness. Maja wove
+garlands of flowers, while Juhani and his friends cut down great
+branches of birch trees in the forest, with which to decorate the
+houses. Lilja and her girl friends were also busy. They went to the
+fields and wound colored yarn around the rye stalks, arranging them to
+indicate joy and sorrow, love and hate. Before the grain was harvested
+these marked stalks would be found and the year's fortune foretold
+according to which was highest.
+
+Big bonfires, called _kokko_, were lit on all the highest points, and
+also on rafts on the lake in honor of the Sun. These were kept burning
+for twenty-four hours, for it is considered unlucky for them to go out
+sooner. Around these the people gathered to dance, many of them coming
+from a distance in farm carts trimmed with birch and filled with hay.
+There was a feast, too, of warm soup, cold salmon, and fancy cakes. The
+swings must not be forgotten. Several of them had been erected and not
+merely for the children. On some, young men and women swung together,
+while they sang the beautiful melancholy songs about this beautiful
+fleeting time.
+
+During this season tourists invaded the country districts, some on their
+way to Aavasaksa Hill where the sun can then be seen at midnight,
+shedding gray, faintly luminous rays. Among those who came were many
+Russians of the wealthy and middle classes.
+
+It was not all play. There was much, very much hard work in which the
+children all had their set tasks. Juhani had to drive the cattle through
+the woodlands, assist Lilja with the milking, and help make hay. Maja
+had to gather berries, of which there was a great abundance. It is true
+there were compensations for all these tasks. If children had to gather
+berries, they could also eat big bowls of them with thick cream added,
+at every meal. Some of the berries Maja gathered she sold to passengers
+on the lake steamers. When she intended doing so, she made birch baskets
+for them by stripping off a foot square of bark and bending it into the
+shape of a box without a lid, then sewing the sides with twigs.
+
+She had also to gather sacks full of _luikku_, a soft white cotton
+flower with an odd perfume, to be used for stuffing the family pillows.
+
+Although it was vacation there was one school task that all the children
+had to do or cared to do. It was gathering, pressing, and mounting as
+many as possible of the numerous wild flowers everywhere found in the
+woods and fields. The best presented at the beginning of the school term
+were always put on exhibition.
+
+The only disagreeable part of the warm weather was the annoyance from
+mosquitoes. This made it necessary to light smoldering fires for the
+protection of the cattle who seemed to appreciate the fires, for without
+being driven they would cluster around them. Twigs of juniper were
+burned in the house for the same purpose. It was not always easy to get
+juniper, for it grows only in clay soil and Maja and her friends
+sometimes had a long tramp after it.
+
+Once, remembering the story of the Lapp children, Juhani smeared tar all
+over his face and hands and then teased Maja by threatening to put some
+on her too.
+
+After July, the long magic days grew shorter, and when the days and
+nights were again almost equal, the children found themselves planning
+what they would do when school reopened.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+Selections from L. C. Page & Company's Books for Young People
+
+
+
+
+THE BLUE BONNET SERIES
+
+
+ _Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per volume_   $ 2.00
+ _The seven volumes, boxed as a set_                             14.00
+
+
+=A TEXAS BLUE BONNET=
+
+By CAROLINE E. JACOBS.
+
+
+=BLUE BONNET'S RANCH PARTY=
+
+By CAROLINE E. JACOBS AND EDYTH ELLERBECK READ.
+
+
+=BLUE BONNET IN BOSTON=
+
+By CAROLINE E. JACOBS AND LELA HORN RICHARDS.
+
+
+=BLUE BONNET KEEPS HOUSE=
+
+By CAROLINE E. JACOBS AND LELA HORN RICHARDS.
+
+
+=BLUE BONNET--DÉBUTANTE=
+
+By LELA HORN RICHARDS.
+
+
+=BLUE BONNET OF THE SEVEN STARS=
+
+By LELA HORN RICHARDS.
+
+
+=BLUE BONNET'S FAMILY=
+
+By LELA HORN RICHARDS.
+
+      "Blue Bonnet has the very finest kind of wholesome,
+      honest, lively girlishness and cannot but make friends
+      with every one who meets her through these books about
+      her."--_Chicago Inter-Ocean._
+
+      "Blue Bonnet and her companions are real girls, the
+      kind that one would like to have in one's home."--_New
+      York Sun._
+
+
+
+
+THE HENRIETTA SERIES
+
+By LELA HORN RICHARDS
+
+
+    _Each one volume, 12mo, illustrated_      $1.90
+
+
+=ONLY HENRIETTA=
+
+      "It is an inspiring story of the unfolding of life for
+      a young girl--a story in which there is plenty of
+      action to hold interest and wealth of delicate
+      sympathy and understanding that appeals to the hearts
+      of young and old."--_Pittsburgh Leader._
+
+
+=HENRIETTA'S INHERITANCE=
+
+    "One of the most noteworthy stories for girls issued
+    this season. The life of Henrietta is made very real,
+    and there is enough incident in the narrative to balance
+    the delightful characterization."--_Providence Journal._
+
+
+
+
+STORIES BY I. M. B. OF K.
+
+
+    _Each one volume, 12mo, illustrated_      $1.75
+
+
+=THE YOUNG KNIGHT=
+
+      The clash of broad-sword on buckler, the twanging of
+      bow-strings and the cracking of spears splintered by
+      whirling maces resound through this stirring tale of
+      knightly daring-do.
+
+
+=THE YOUNG CAVALIERS=
+
+      "There have been many scores of books written about
+      the Charles Stuarts of England, but never a merrier
+      and more pathetic one than 'The Young
+      Cavaliers.'"--_Family Herald._
+
+
+=THE KING'S MINSTREL=
+
+      "The interesting situations are numerous, and the
+      spirit of the hero is one of courage, devotion and
+      resource."--_Columbus Dispatch._
+
+      "It is told with spirit and action."--_Buffalo
+      Express._
+
+      "The story will please all those who read it, and will
+      be of particular interest for the boys for whom it was
+      intended. It is a tale of devotion to an ideal of
+      service and as such will appeal to youth."--_Portage
+      Register-Democrat._
+
+      "There is a lofty ideal throughout, some court
+      intrigue, a smattering of the decadence of the old
+      church heads, and a readable story."--_Middletown
+      Press._
+
+
+
+
+THE BOYS' STORY OF THE RAILROAD SERIES
+
+By BURTON E. STEVENSON
+
+    _Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated_,       $1.75
+
+
+=THE YOUNG SECTION-HAND=; OR, THE ADVENTURES OF ALLAN WEST.
+
+"The whole range of section railroading is covered in the
+story."--_Chicago Post._
+
+
+=THE YOUNG TRAIN DISPATCHER=
+
+"A vivacious account of the varied and often hazardous nature of
+railroad life."--_Congregationalist._
+
+
+=THE YOUNG TRAIN MASTER=
+
+"It is a book that can be unreservedly commended to anyone who loves a
+good, wholesome, thrilling, informing yarn."--_Passaic News._
+
+
+=THE YOUNG APPRENTICE=; OR, ALLAN WEST'S CHUM.
+
+"The story is intensely interesting."--_Baltimore Sun._
+
+
+
+THE DAYS OF CHIVALRY SERIES
+
+Of Worth While Classics for Boys and Girls
+
+_Revised and Edited for the Modern Reader_
+
+   _Each large 12mo, illustrated and with a poster
+    jacket in full color_                          $2.00
+
+=THE DAYS OF CHIVALRY= By W. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS.
+
+=THE CHAPLET OF PEARLS= By C. M. YONGE.
+
+=ERLING THE BOLD= By R. M. BALLANTYNE.
+
+=WINNING HIS KNIGHTHOOD=; OR, THE ADVENTURES OF RAOULF DE GYSSAGE.
+
+By H. TURING BRUCE.
+
+"Tales which ring to the clanking of armour, tales of marches and
+counter-marches, tales of wars, but tales which bring peace; a peace and
+contentment in the knowledge that right, even in the darkest times, has
+survived and conquered."--_Portland Evening Express._
+
+
+
+
+BARBARA WINTHROP SERIES
+
+By HELEN KATHERINE BROUGHALL
+
+    _Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated_       $2.00
+
+
+=BARBARA WINTHROP AT BOARDING SCHOOL=
+
+=BARBARA WINTHROP AT CAMP=
+
+=BARBARA WINTHROP: GRADUATE=
+
+=BARBARA WINTHROP ABROAD=
+
+"Full of adventure--initiations, joys, picnics, parties, tragedies,
+vacation and all. Just what girls like, books in which 'dreams come
+true,' entertaining 'gossipy' books overflowing with conversation."--_Salt
+Lake City Deseret News._
+
+"High ideals and a real spirit of fun underlie the stories. They will be
+a decided addition to the bookshelves of the young girl for whom a
+holiday gift is contemplated."--_Los Angeles Saturday Night._
+
+
+DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL SERIES
+
+By MARION AMES TAGGART
+
+    Each large 12mo, cloth, illustrated, per volume,       $1.75
+
+
+=THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL=
+
+      "A charming story of the ups and downs of the life of
+      a dear little maid."--_The Churchman._
+
+
+=SWEET NANCY=: THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL.
+
+      "Just the sort of book to amuse, while its influence
+      cannot but be elevating."--_New York Sun._
+
+
+=NANCY, THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE PARTNER=
+
+      "The story is sweet and fascinating, such as many
+      girls of wholesome tastes will enjoy."--_Springfield
+      Union._
+
+
+=NANCY PORTER'S OPPORTUNITY=
+
+      "Nancy shows throughout that she is a splendid young
+      woman, with plenty of pluck."--_Boston Globe._
+
+
+=NANCY AND THE COGGS TWINS=
+
+      "The story is refreshing."--_New York Sun._
+
+
+
+
+THE PEGGY RAYMOND SERIES
+
+By HARRIET LUMMIS SMITH
+
+    _Each one volume, cloth, decorative, 12mo,
+     illustrated, per volume_                       $1.75
+
+
+=PEGGY RAYMOND'S SUCCESS=; OR, THE GIRLS OF FRIENDLY TERRACE.
+
+      "It is a book that cheers, that inspires to higher
+      thinking; it knits hearts; it unfolds neighborhood
+      plans in a way that makes one tingle to try carrying
+      them out, and most of all it proves that in daily
+      life, threads of wonderful issues are being woven in
+      with what appears the most ordinary of material, but
+      which in the end brings results stranger than the most
+      thrilling fiction."--_Belle Kellogg Towne in The Young
+      People's Weekly, Chicago._
+
+
+=PEGGY RAYMOND'S VACATION=
+
+      "It is a clean, wholesome, hearty story, well told and
+      full of incident. It carries one through experiences
+      that hearten and brighten the day."--_Utica, N. Y.,
+      Observer._
+
+
+=PEGGY RAYMOND'S SCHOOL DAYS=
+
+      "It is a bright, entertaining story, with happy girls,
+      good times, natural development, and a gentle
+      earnestness of general tone."--_The Christian
+      Register, Boston._
+
+
+=PEGGY RAYMOND'S FRIENDLY TERRACE QUARTETTE=
+
+      "The story is told in easy and entertaining style and
+      is a most delightful narrative, especially for young
+      people. It will also make the older readers feel
+      younger, for while reading it they will surely live
+      again in the days of their youth."--_Troy Budget._
+
+
+=PEGGY RAYMOND'S WAY=
+
+      "The author has again produced a story that is replete
+      with wholesome incidents and makes Peggy more lovable
+      than ever as a companion and leader."--_World of
+      Books._
+
+
+
+
+FAMOUS LEADERS SERIES
+
+By CHARLES H. L. JOHNSTON
+
+    _Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per
+     volume_ (_unless otherwise stated_)                  $2.00
+
+
+=FAMOUS CAVALRY LEADERS=
+
+"More of such books should be written, books that acquaint young readers
+with historical personages in a pleasant, informal way."--_New York
+Sun._
+
+
+=FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS=
+
+"Mr. Johnston has done faithful work in this volume, and his relation of
+battles, sieges and struggles of these famous Indians with the whites
+for the possession of America is a worthy addition to United States
+History."--_New York Marine Journal._
+
+
+=FAMOUS SCOUTS=
+
+"It is the kind of a book that will have a great fascination for boys
+and young men."--_New London Day._
+
+
+=FAMOUS PRIVATEERSMEN AND ADVENTURERS OF THE SEA=
+
+"The tales are more than merely interesting; they are entrancing,
+stirring the blood with thrilling force."--_Pittsburgh Post._
+
+
+=FAMOUS FRONTIERSMEN AND HEROES OF THE BORDER=
+
+"The accounts are not only authentic, but distinctly readable, making a
+book of wide appeal to all who love the history of actual
+adventure."--_Cleveland Leader._
+
+
+=FAMOUS DISCOVERERS AND EXPLORERS OF AMERICA=
+
+"The book is an epitome of some of the wildest and bravest adventures of
+which the world has known."--_Brooklyn Daily Eagle._
+
+
+=FAMOUS GENERALS OF THE GREAT WAR=
+
+Who Led the United States and Her Allies to a Glorious Victory.
+
+"The pages of this book have the charm of romance without its unreality.
+The book illuminates, with life-like portraits, the history of the World
+War."--_Rochester Post Express._
+
+
+
+
+=FAMOUS AMERICAN ATHLETES OF TODAY=
+
+    Cloth 12mo, illustrated from specially autographed
+     photographs                                        $2.50
+
+"From Lindy to Bobby Jones, including Helen and Trudy, they are all
+here--and a right fine company they are. We are not acquainted with
+anyone who will not enjoy these fascinating stories of virile
+people."--_Monthly Book Talk._
+
+
+By EDWIN WILDMAN
+
+=THE FOUNDERS OF AMERICA= (Lives of Great Americans from the Revolution
+to the Monroe Doctrine)
+
+=THE BUILDERS OF AMERICA= (Lives of Great Americans from the Monroe
+Doctrine to the Civil War)
+
+
+=FAMOUS LEADERS OF CHARACTER= (Lives of Great Americans from the Civil
+War to Today)
+
+
+=FAMOUS LEADERS OF INDUSTRY.=--First Series
+
+
+=FAMOUS LEADERS OF INDUSTRY.=--Second Series
+
+"These biographies drive home the truth that just as every soldier of
+Napoleon carried a marshal's baton in his knapsack, so every American
+youngster carries potential success under his hat."--_New York World._
+
+
+By CHARLES LEE LEWIS
+
+_Professor, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis_
+
+=FAMOUS AMERICAN NAVAL OFFICERS= With a complete index.
+
+"In connection with the life of John Paul Jones, Stephen Decatur, and
+other famous naval officers, he groups the events of the period in which
+the officer distinguished himself, and combines the whole into a
+colorful and stirring narrative."--_Boston Herald._
+
+
+
+
+STORIES BY EVALEEN STEIN
+
+    _Each one volume, 12mo, illustrated_    $1.65
+
+
+=GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK=
+
+=A LITTLE SHEPHERD OF PROVENCE=
+
+=THE CHRISTMAS PORRINGER=
+
+=THE LITTLE COUNT OF NORMANDY=
+
+=PEPIN: A Tale of Twelfth Night=
+
+=CHILDREN'S STORIES=
+
+=THE CIRCUS DWARF STORIES=
+
+=WHEN FAIRIES WERE FRIENDLY=
+
+
+=TROUBADOUR TALES=
+
+"No works in juvenile fiction contain so many of the elements that stir
+the hearts of children and grown-ups as well as do the stories so
+admirably told by this author."--_Louisville Daily Courier._
+
+"Evaleen Stein's stories are music in prose--they are like pearls on a
+chain of gold--each word seems exactly the right word in the right
+place; the stories sing themselves out, they are so beautifully
+expressed."--_The Lafayette Leader._
+
+
+
+
+MINUTE BOYS SERIES
+
+BY JAMES OTIS AND EDWARD STRATEMEYER
+
+    _Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, fully
+     illustrated, per volume_                         $1.50
+
+
+This series of books for boys needs no recommendation. We venture to say
+that there are few boys of any age in this broad land who do not know
+and love both these authors and their stirring tales.
+
+These books, as shown by their titles, deal with periods in the history
+of the development of our great country which are of exceeding interest
+to every patriotic American boy--and girl. Places and personages of
+historical interest are here presented to the young reader in story
+form, and a great deal of real information is unconsciously gathered.
+
+
+=THE MINUTE BOYS OF PHILADELPHIA=
+
+=THE MINUTE BOYS OF BOSTON=
+
+=THE MINUTE BOYS OF NEW YORK CITY=
+
+=THE MINUTE BOYS OF LONG ISLAND=
+
+=THE MINUTE BOYS OF SOUTH CAROLINA=
+
+=THE MINUTE BOYS OF THE WYOMING VALLEY=
+
+=THE MINUTE BOYS OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY=
+
+=THE MINUTE BOYS OF THE GREEN MOUNTAINS=
+
+=THE MINUTE BOYS OF BUNKER HILL=
+
+=THE MINUTE BOYS OF LEXINGTON=
+
+=THE MINUTE BOYS OF YORKTOWN=
+
+
+
+
+THE YOUNG PIONEER SERIES
+
+BY HARRISON ADAMS
+
+    _Each 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per volume_      $1.65
+
+
+=THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE OHIO=; OR, CLEARING THE WILDERNESS.
+
+
+=THE PIONEER BOYS ON THE GREAT LAKES=; OR, ON THE TRAIL OF THE IROQUOIS.
+
+
+=THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE MISSISSIPPI=; OR, THE HOMESTEAD IN THE
+WILDERNESS.
+
+
+=THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE MISSOURI=; OR, IN THE COUNTRY OF THE SIOUX.
+
+
+=THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE YELLOWSTONE=; OR, LOST IN THE LAND OF WONDERS.
+
+
+=THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE COLUMBIA=; OR, IN THE WILDERNESS OF THE GREAT
+NORTHWEST.
+
+
+=THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE COLORADO=; OR, BRAVING THE PERILS OF THE GRAND
+CANYON COUNTRY.
+
+
+=THE PIONEER BOYS OF KANSAS=; OR, A PRAIRIE HOME IN BUFFALO LAND.
+
+"Such books as these are an admirable means of stimulating among the
+young Americans of to-day interest in the story of their pioneer
+ancestors and the early days of the Republic."--_Boston Globe._
+
+"Not only interesting, but instructive as well and shows the sterling
+type of character which these days of self-reliance and trial
+produced."--_American Tourist, Chicago._
+
+"The stories are full of spirited action and contain much valuable
+historical information. Just the sort of reading a boy will enjoy
+immensely."--_Boston Herald._
+
+
+
+
+HILDEGARDE-MARGARET SERIES
+
+BY LAURA E. RICHARDS
+
+Eleven Volumes
+
+
+The Hildegarde-Margaret Series, beginning with "Queen Hildegarde" and
+ending with "The Merryweathers," make one of the best and most popular
+series of books for girls ever written.
+
+    _Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated,
+     per volume_                                          $1.75
+    _The eleven volumes boxed as a set_                  $19.25
+
+
+LIST OF TITLES
+
+=QUEEN HILDEGARDE=
+
+=HILDEGARDE'S HOLIDAY=
+
+=HILDEGARDE'S HOME=
+
+=HILDEGARDE'S NEIGHBORS=
+
+=HILDEGARDE'S HARVEST=
+
+=THREE MARGARETS=
+
+=MARGARET MONTFORT=
+
+=PEGGY=
+
+=RITA=
+
+=FERNLEY HOUSE=
+
+=THE MERRYWEATHERS=
+
+
+
+
+HONOR BRIGHT SERIES
+
+BY LAURA E. RICHARDS
+
+    _Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated_      $1.75
+
+
+=HONOR BRIGHT=
+
+"This is a story that rings as true and honest as the name of the young
+heroine--Honor--and not only the young girls, but the old ones will find
+much to admire and to commend in the beautiful character of
+Honor."--_Constitution, Atlanta, Ga._
+
+
+=HONOR BRIGHT'S NEW ADVENTURE=
+
+"Girls will love the story and it has plot enough to interest the older
+reader as well."--_St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat._
+
+
+
+
+DELIGHTFUL BOOKS FOR LITTLE FOLKS
+
+By LAURA E. RICHARDS
+
+
+=THREE MINUTE STORIES=
+
+    _Cloth decorative, 12mo, with eight plates in full color
+     and many text illustrations_                             $1.75
+
+"Little ones will understand and delight in the stories and
+poems."--_Indianapolis News._
+
+
+=FIVE MINUTE STORIES=
+
+    _Cloth decorative, square 12mo, illustrated_      $1.75
+
+A charming collection of short stories and clever poems for children.
+
+
+=MORE FIVE MINUTE STORIES=
+
+    _Cloth decorative, square 12mo, illustrated_   $1.75
+
+A noteworthy collection of short stories and poems for children, which
+will prove as popular with mothers as with boys and girls.
+
+
+
+
+THE LITTLE COLONEL BOOKS
+
+(Trade Mark)
+
+
+
+BY ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON
+
+    Each large 12mo, cloth, illustrated, per volume.      $2.00
+
+
+    =THE LITTLE COLONEL STORIES=
+          (Trade Mark)
+
+Being three "Little Colonel" stories in the Cosy Corner Series, "The
+Little Colonel," "Two Little Knights of Kentucky," and "The Giant
+Scissors," in a single volume.
+
+
+    =THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HOUSE PARTY=
+          (Trade Mark)
+
+    =THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HOLIDAYS=
+          (Trade Mark)
+
+    =THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HERO=
+          (Trade Mark)
+
+    =THE LITTLE COLONEL AT BOARDING-SCHOOL=
+          (Trade Mark)
+
+    =THE LITTLE COLONEL IN ARIZONA=
+          (Trade Mark)
+
+    =THE LITTLE COLONEL'S CHRISTMAS VACATION=
+          (Trade Mark)
+
+    =THE LITTLE COLONEL, MAID OF HONOR=
+          (Trade Mark)
+
+    =THE LITTLE COLONEL'S KNIGHT COMES RIDING=
+          (Trade Mark)
+
+    =THE LITTLE COLONEL'S CHUM, MARY WARE=
+          (Trade Mark)
+
+    =MARY WARE IN TEXAS=
+
+    =MARY WARE'S PROMISED LAND=
+
+_These twelve volumes, boxed as a set, $24.00._
+
+
+=THE ROAD OF THE LOVING HEART=
+
+    _Cloth decorative, with special designs and illustrations_   $1.25
+
+In choosing her title, Mrs. Johnston had in mind "The Road of the Loving
+Heart," that famous highway, built by the natives of Hawaii, from their
+settlement to the home of Robert Louis Stevenson, as a memorial of their
+love and respect for the man who lived and labored among them, and whose
+example of a loving heart has never been forgotten. This story of a
+little princess and her faithful pet bear, who finally do discover "The
+Road of the Loving Heart," is a masterpiece of sympathy and
+understanding and beautiful thought.
+
+
+
+
+THE JOHNSTON JEWEL SERIES
+
+    _Each small 16mo, decorative boards, per volume_         $0.75
+
+
+=IN THE DESERT OF WAITING=: THE LEGEND OF CAMELBACK MOUNTAIN.
+
+
+THE THREE WEAVERS: A FAIRY TALE FOR FATHERS AND MOTHERS AS WELL AS FOR
+THEIR DAUGHTERS.
+
+
+=KEEPING TRYST=: A TALE OF KING ARTHUR'S TIME.
+
+
+=THE LEGEND OF THE BLEEDING HEART=
+
+
+=THE RESCUE OF PRINCESS WINSOME=: A FAIRY PLAY FOR OLD AND YOUNG.
+
+
+=THE JESTER'S SWORD=
+
+
+=THE LITTLE COLONEL'S GOOD TIMES BOOK=
+
+    Uniform in size with the Little Colonel Series       $2.50
+    Bound in white kid (morocco) and gold                 6.00
+
+Cover design and decorations by Peter Verberg.
+
+"A mighty attractive volume in which the owner may record the good times
+she has on decorated pages, and under the directions as it were of Annie
+Fellows Johnston."--_Buffalo Express._
+
+
+
+
+THE SANDMAN SERIES
+
+    Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per volume   $1.75
+
+BY WILLIAM J. HOPKINS
+
+
+=THE SANDMAN=: HIS FARM STORIES.
+
+"Mothers and fathers and kind elder sisters who take the little ones to
+bed and rack their brains for stories will find this book a
+treasure."--_Cleveland Leader._
+
+
+=THE SANDMAN=: MORE FARM STORIES.
+
+"Children will call for these stories over and over again."--_Chicago
+Evening Post._
+
+
+=THE SANDMAN=: HIS SHIP STORIES.
+
+"Little ones will understand and delight in the stories and their
+parents will read between the lines and recognize the poetic and
+artistic work of the author."--_Indianapolis News._
+
+
+=THE SANDMAN=: HIS SEA STORIES.
+
+"Once upon a time there was a man who knew little children and the kind
+of stories they liked, so he wrote four books of Sandman's stories, all
+about the farm or the sea, and the brig _Industry_, and this book is one
+of them."--_Canadian Congregationalist._
+
+
+BY JENNY WALLIS
+
+=THE SANDMAN=: HIS SONGS AND RHYMES.
+
+"Here is a fine collection of poems for mothers and friends to use at
+the twilight hour. They are not of the soporific kind especially. They
+are wholesome reading when most wide-awake and of such a soothing and
+delicious flavor that they are welcome when the lights are
+low."--_Christian Intelligencer._
+
+
+BY HELEN I. CASTELLA
+
+=THE SANDMAN=: HIS FAIRY STORIES.
+
+This time the Sandman comes in person, and takes little Joyce, who
+believes in him, to the wonderful land of Nod. There they procure pots
+and pans from the pansy bed, a goose from the gooseberry bush, a chick
+from the chickweed, corn from the cornflower, and eat on a box from the
+boxwood hedge. They have almost as many adventures as Alice in
+Wonderland.
+
+
+By HARRY W. FREES
+
+=THE SANDMAN=: HIS ANIMAL STORIES.
+
+"The simplicity of the stories and the fascinating manner in which they
+are written make them an excellent night-cap for the youngster who is
+easily excited into wakefulness."--_Pittsburgh Leader._
+
+
+=THE SANDMAN=: HIS KITTYCAT STORIES.
+
+"The Sandman is a wonderful fellow. First he told farm stories, then
+ship stories, then sea stories. And now he tells stories about the
+kittens and the fun they had in Kittycat Town. A strange thing about
+these kittens is the ability to talk, work and play like boys and girls,
+and that is why all of the little tots will like the Sandman's
+book."--_Pittsburgh Chronicle Telegraph._
+
+
+=THE SANDMAN=: HIS BUNNY STORIES.
+
+"The whole book is filled with one tale after another and is narrated in
+such a pleasing manner as to reach the heart of every child."--_Common
+Sense, Chicago._
+
+
+=THE SANDMAN=: HIS PUPPY STORIES.
+
+Another volume of Mr. Frees' inimitable stories for tiny tots, this time
+about the "doggie mothers who lived with their puppies" on the other
+side of Kitty-way lane in Animal Land. The illustrations are from
+photographs posed by the author with the same appeal which has
+characterized his previous pictures.
+
+
+By W. S. PHILLIPS
+
+(EL COMANCHO)
+
+
+=THE SANDMAN=: HIS INDIAN STORIES.
+
+The Indian tales for this Celebrated Series of Children's Bedtime
+Stories have been written by a man who has Indian blood, who spent years
+of his life among the Redmen, in one of the tribes of which he is an
+honored member, and who is an expert interpreter of the Indian viewpoint
+and a practised authority on Indians as well as a master teller of
+tales.
+
+
+
+
+THE MARJORY-JOE SERIES
+
+By ALICE E. ALLEN
+
+    _Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated,
+     per volume_                                            $1.50
+
+
+=JOE, THE CIRCUS BOY AND ROSEMARY=
+
+These are two of Miss Allen's earliest and most successful stories,
+combined in a single volume to meet the insistent demands from young
+people for these two particular tales.
+
+
+=THE MARTIE TWINS=: Continuing the Adventures of Joe, the Circus Boy
+
+"The chief charm of the story is that it contains so much of human
+nature. It is so real that it touches the heart strings."--_New York
+Standard._
+
+
+=MARJORY, THE CIRCUS GIRL=
+
+A sequel to "Joe, the Circus Boy," and "The Martie Twins."
+
+
+=MARJORY AT THE WILLOWS=
+
+Continuing the story of Marjory, the Circus Girl.
+
+
+"Miss Allen does not write impossible stories, but delightfully pins her
+little folk right down to this life of ours, in which she ranges
+vigorously and delightfully."--_Boston Ideas._
+
+
+=MARJORY'S HOUSE PARTY=: Or, What Happened at Clover Patch
+
+"Miss Allen certainly knows how to please the children and tells them
+stories that never fail to charm."--_Madison Courier._
+
+
+=MARJORY'S DISCOVERY=
+
+This new addition to the popular MARJORY-JOE SERIES is as lovable and
+original as any of the other creations of this writer of charming
+stories. We get little peeps at the precious twins, at the healthy
+minded Joe and sweet Marjory. There is a bungalow party, which lasts the
+entire summer, in which all of the characters of the previous
+MARJORY-JOE stories participate, and their happy times are delightfully
+depicted.
+
+
+
+
+THE LITTLE COUSIN SERIES
+
+(TRADE MARK)
+
+
+    Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, each       $1.00
+
+By LAURA E. RICHARDS, ANNA C. WINLOW, Etc.
+
+    Our Little African Cousin
+    Our Little Alaskan Cousin
+    Our Little Arabian Cousin
+    Our Little Argentine Cousin
+    Our Little Armenian Cousin
+    Our Little Australian Cousin
+    Our Little Austrian Cousin
+    Our Little Belgian Cousin
+    Our Little Bohemian Cousin
+    Our Little Brazilian Cousin
+    Our Little Bulgarian Cousin
+    Our Little Canadian Cousin of the Great Northwest
+    Our Little Canadian Cousin of the Maritime Provinces
+    Our Little Chilean Cousin
+    Our Little Chinese Cousin
+    Our Little Cossack Cousin
+    Our Little Cuban Cousin
+    Our Little Czecho-Slovak Cousin
+    Our Little Danish Cousin
+    Our Little Dutch Cousin
+    Our Little Egyptian Cousin
+    Our Little English Cousin
+    Our Little Eskimo Cousin
+    Our Little Finnish Cousin
+    Our Little French Cousin
+    Our Little German Cousin
+    Our Little Grecian Cousin
+    Our Little Hawaiian Cousin
+    Our Little Hindu Cousin
+    Our Little Hungarian Cousin
+    Our Little Indian Cousin
+    Our Little Irish Cousin
+    Our Little Italian Cousin
+    Our Little Japanese Cousin
+    Our Little Jewish Cousin
+    Our Little Jugoslav Cousin
+    Our Little Korean Cousin
+    Our Little Lapp Cousin
+    Our Little Lithuanian Cousin
+    Our Little Malayan (Brown) Cousin
+    Our Little Mexican Cousin
+    Our Little Norwegian Cousin
+    Our Little Panama Cousin
+    Our Little Persian Cousin
+    Our Little Philippine Cousin
+    Our Little Polish Cousin
+    Our Little Porto Rican Cousin
+    Our Little Portuguese Cousin
+    Our Little Quebec Cousin
+    Our Little Roumanian Cousin
+    Our Little Russian Cousin
+    Our Little Scotch Cousin
+    Our Little Servian Cousin
+    Our Little Siamese Cousin
+    Our Little South African (Boer) Cousin
+    Our Little Spanish Cousin
+    Our Little Swedish Cousin
+    Our Little Swiss Cousin
+    Our Little Turkish Cousin
+    Our Little Welsh Cousin
+    Our Little West Indian Cousin
+
+
+THE LITTLE COUSINS OF LONG AGO
+
+    Our Little Athenian Cousin
+    Our Little Carthaginian Cousin
+    Our Little Celtic Cousin
+    Our Little Crusader Cousin
+    Our Little Feudal Cousin
+    Our Little Florentine Cousin
+    Our Little Frankish Cousin
+    Our Little Macedonian Cousin
+    Our Little Norman Cousin
+    Our Little Roman Cousin
+    Our Little Saxon Cousin
+    Our Little Spartan Cousin
+    Our Little Viking Cousin
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+First advertising page, price was stamped out and a new price stamped
+in.
+
+Page 44, "it" changed to "is" (ground is covered)
+
+Page 55, "remainded" changed to "remained" (remained at his post)
+
+Page 63, "awkardly" changed to "awkwardly" (stepped forward awkwardly)
+
+Page 89, "anniversity" changed to "anniversary" (anniversary of his
+birthday)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Our Little Finnish Cousin, by 
+Clara Vostrovsky Winlow
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43426 ***