THIS AND THAT ABOUT FINLAND

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 35, 23 February 1940, Page 55

THIS AND THAT ABOUT FINLAND

Passive ITH current stories of the tactics adopted by Czechs against Nazis can be compared this account of hew the clever Finns treated the Russian dictatorship established when Alexander III. attempted to "Russify" Finland last century. It is from "Finland To-day," by Frank Fox (Black): "The Finns met this with a policy of passive resistance. With the prudence that always governs their national pride, they recognised that armed revolt was useless, and ethical scruples kept them from methods of murder with which some weak and oppressed nationalities have opposed tyranny. Officials refused to carry out their duties, Young men took flight when called upon to present themselves for military conscription. Citizens went into exile and appealed to the conscience of Europe. But there were no patriotic murders, nor revolts. Athletes and Aesthetes "Finnish patriotism manifests itself in a way that seems paradoxical and curious until you find the key. I have a friend in New York whose enthusiasms are Beethoven and Baseball. He is equally at home in animated talk of box scores or the scores of symphonies. I always think of him when I go to Finland. The Finns are that way. They are ardent lovers of music, and they are ardent fans for track athletics, particularly long-distance running as typified by the matchless performances of Paavo Nurmi. "An odd combination? Yes, if you like. But both their music and their athletics have a patriotic background. "During the days when Russia was trying to stamp out the Finnish spirit one of the excuses for gathering in

crowds was to attend athletic meetings and during the dark days it was Sibelius who worked passionately for the cause of freedom."-T. R. Ybarra, in the Christian Science. Monitor, Cities of Finland "Inland towns, as well as seaports, have this in common-they are built on water. And that changing surface, be it lake or river, or the sea, combined with an extreme purity of air and light, lends even the dullest industrial centre an enchanting air of grace and distinction. "You can arrive at Helsinki, the capital and by far the largest town, by

land, air, or sea. . . But the sea is the best. As the steamer moves slowly up to the South Harbour, and the great church with its dome and its pillared portico soars airily up behind the market place, and the stately old official buildings framing the quays, it is only Wordsworth, you think, who could describe the White City of the North, This city now doth, like a garment, wear The beauty of the morning; silent, bare, Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie Open unto the fields and to the sky; All bright and glittering inthe smokeless air. -By a London News Cortespondent, The Lapps "There are about three a siieail Lapps in Finnish Lapland, and the number does not appreciably diminish or augment. Those who survive infancy are generally hardy enough to reach old age. Unlike the Swedish or Norwegian Lapps, who are, for the most part, nomadic, and live in tents, all of the Finnish Lapps, with the exception of about a dozen families in the north-west, possess a small house, a potato patch, and a cow, and pursue a homelife tender in its parental and faithful in its marital

expression. Sweet-tempered, kind, intuitive, they are quick to learn and forget. They are highly moral, and if because of storms in winter and because there is no one to milk the cow in summer, they sometimes wait until a child or two has blessed their union before they travel two score miles to church to get married;' they do ultimately get there. And, in any case, they never divorce."-By Agnes Rothery, in "Finland, the New Nation" (Viking Press). The Vital North " Northern civilisation is a flower that blooms late, but when it does bloom it is exquisite and rare, like the flowers which the late northern spring calls forth, It‘ is a fresh, vigorous, unstaled, and challenging civilisation, uncorrupted by wealth or luxury, inspired by the zest for life and action, and kindled by the spirit of adventure.and enterprise. The South is the land of lotus eaters, where one may sink into sweet oblivion. It allures and it enervates. The North is the storehouse of vital energy. Its coel, sweet, tonic air, which has passed through forests and over great waters, invigorates: the body and stimulates the mind. The tired man will go North for his holiday, where are the eternal wellsprings of youth, and strength, and energy.""-A. MacCallum Scott, in "Suomi, .the Land, of. the Finns" (Butterworth),