Through Finland in Carts Part 22

On the plea of deliberate desertion or prolonged absence. If either husband or wife absent himself or herself from home and do not return within a year after, the other party having inserted in the official newspapers of the country an advertis.e.m.e.nt calling on him or her to return, the one who remained at home has the right to sue for a divorce.

Far more marriages are marred by incompatibility of temper than by actual immorality, and, surely, if two people find they have made a mistake, and are irritants instead of sedatives to one another, they should not be left to champ and fret like horses at too severe a bit, for all their long sad lives--to mar one another's happiness, to worry their children, and annoy their friends. Our hideously cruel separation orders merely encourage immorality. Finland shows us an excellent example. The very fact of being able to get free makes folk less inclined to struggle at their chains. If life is intolerable to Mrs.

Jones in Finland, away she goes by herself; at the end of a year Mr.

Jones advertises three times in the paper for his wife or for information that will lead to his knowing her whereabouts; no one responds, and Mr. Jones can sue for and obtain a divorce without any of those scandalous details appearing in the press which are a disgrace to English journalism.

If either husband or wife be sentenced to imprisonment for life.

Besides these cases, which are set forth in the law as sufficient causes for divorce, there are other circ.u.mstances in consequence of which a marriage may be dissolved,--but only by means of direct application to the Emperor and Grand Duke of Finland, who may grant it as a favour. A divorced wife is considered as a widow; she has no more duties toward her husband, and can dispose of her person as well as of her property. A divorced couple may peaceably settle all about the children; but if they cannot do this, the innocent parent is ent.i.tled to take charge of them. Both parents must contribute means for their maintenance and education.

Since 1906, women in Finland have had exactly the same political rights as men. Practically every man and woman over twenty-four years of age may not only vote for Parliament, but is also eligible as a member. At the election of 1907, nineteen women members were returned; this number has fluctuated, however, and in 1912 there are but fourteen women members.

They also have munic.i.p.al rights. Unmarried women, widows, and divorced women, provided they submitted to the necessary conditions, were given the munic.i.p.al vote in 1873. Women are members of School Boards, Poor Law Guardians, and are eligible as members of several other munic.i.p.al and parochial Boards; but they may not be chosen for Town Councils or the corresponding councils in rural parishes. In 1908 the Diet pa.s.sed a new law concerning the munic.i.p.al vote, giving equal rights to men and women, but that law being very Radical had--four years later--not received the sanction of the sovereign.

In the matter of education Finland is most advanced; and the fees all up the scale from folk-schools to the University itself are extremely low.

The folk-schools in 1910 were attended by 188,479 children, which was 6.11 per cent. of the population. The same year there were 2677 female teachers and 2222 male teachers in the folk-schools. Every country Commune has at least one permanent folk-school, but most have several.

There are besides these, ambulatory schools, where teachers visit remote villages and hold cla.s.ses, in order that children may not suffer by being a long distance from a folk-school.

Besides the folk-schools there are secondary schools, most of them leading up to the University. These numbered, in 1912, one hundred and twenty-seven. Seventy-four of them are mixed schools, and twenty-seven for boys only, the other twenty-six being for girls.

Many preparatory schools exist under private auspices, over which there is no State inspection.

The better-cla.s.s children go to the secondary schools, though they are open to all cla.s.ses, the fees being only thirty-two shillings per annum, with a reduction for brothers or sisters, and 20 per cent. of the whole number of pupils are received free of charge. In the private schools the annual fee varies, but rarely rises above ten pounds.

In Helsingfors the salaries for teachers in folk-schools are different for men and women, the latter receiving from 2000 to 3000 marks a year, and the men from 2400 to nearly 4000 marks per annum.

In the country Communes, however, salaries are now the same for men and women; but a teacher with a family dependent on him receives a bonus in addition to the salary, and this applies to men and women equally.

Could anything be better? Truly, a eugenic doctrine in the best sense.

Could we in England not learn one of our many needed lessons in education from Finland on this point? All are ent.i.tled to a pension after thirty years' service.

Beyond the folk-schools are practical continuation cla.s.ses for needlework, cooking, weaving, household work, and book-keeping.

And then, again, there are People's Colleges for both s.e.xes aged about eighteen, for the advancement of culture and knowledge, and to kindle n.o.ble impulses.

One of these People's Colleges was established by a woman for women, and has now obtained a grant from the public funds.

Besides all the foregoing there are normal inst.i.tutes or seminaries for folk-school teachers of both s.e.xes; six of these seminaries are for Finnish folk-school teaching, and two for Swedish ones.

The instruction is free, candidates must be eighteen years of age, and the subjects are:--Biblical history and the Bible, Christianity and moral philosophy, popular psychology, pedagogics and the science of teaching, school-keeping, the mother tongue and the reading of suitable works in it, mathematics, geography, history, the statistics of Finland, natural history, calligraphy, writing of short essays, drawing and modelling, singing and instrumental music, elementary anatomy, physiology, and the care of small children according to the laws of hygiene. To all this long list there are added for female students, instruction in needlework and weaving, housekeeping, and gardening; and for the male, _slojd_, gardening, and fieldwork.

There are also State high schools for girls doing excellent work.

THE AMOUNT OF SALARIES AT THE STATE HIGH SCHOOLS FOR GIRLS.

+-------------------------------+---------+------------+-----------+ No. of Salary-- Salary Lessons Marks increased a Week (Finnish after currency). fifteen years. +-------------------------------+---------+------------+-----------+ Lady Princ.i.p.al (lodgings free of charge) 14 2000 3200 Teachers (female) 20 1800 3000 a.s.sistant Teachers (female)-- Drawing and Calligraphy 10 1000 1600 Singing 7 700 980 Gymnastics 15 1500 2400 "Kollega" (male or female) Senior 22 3800 6200 "Kollega" (male or female) Junior 22 3600 6000 +-------------------------------+---------+------------+-----------+

In _Helsingfors_ and _Wiborg_, where the living is more expensive than in other Finnish towns, the princ.i.p.als and the lady teachers (but not the "kollegas") are in receipt of an addition to their salaries. Thus in _Helsingfors_ a lady princ.i.p.al receives from the beginning 2800 marks, and after fifteen years' service, 4000.

Although this does not sound high remuneration, it must be remembered that salaries and expenses are proportionately low in _Suomi_.

Every woman entering the University must obtain permission from the Chancellor. He always grants it now, though formerly he often refused.

There are, in 1912, 730 women out of a total of 3030 students--that is, 24 per cent.

There is no general annual fee at the University; at matriculation every student pays thirty-six shillings, and there is a small extra charge for the use of the laboratories; and, of course, students needing special instruction in any particular subject pay their professor a separate fee, about a pound per annum. In addition there are small fees for the examinations.

Men and women pay exactly the same, and enter for the same examinations, working side by side. The first woman to take a degree at the University (_bacca laureate_) was _Froken Emma Irene Astrom_ in 1873, when she was appointed professor (_lector_) at one of the seminaries for the education of folk-school teachers.

In 1884 the Finnish Women's a.s.sociation was formed, having obtained permission from the State for their name. Their object is to work for the elevation of their s.e.x, intellectually and morally, and to better women's social and economical position.

Thirty years have seen the formation of many such societies; perhaps the greatest of them is an a.s.sociation called "Martha," similar to our English Mothers' Union. Its purpose is to approach the different cla.s.ses and to heighten the standard of life among the poor by developing the women's ability in housekeeping and educating their children. It is spread all over the country, and has more than a hundred and fifty affiliated a.s.sociations.

As we have already noticed, women follow many occupations which in the British islands are regarded as entirely men's employments--bricklaying, carpentry, paper-hanging, slaughtering, ship-loading, were all to be found in the returns, when I was in the country, under _women's work_.

In public offices they were constantly employed long before women in Britain were recognised as capable of doing clerical work on a large scale; and even now, while our banks are staffed entirely by men, women in Finland are largely employed as clerks in banks as well as in insurance offices. They monopolise the telephone, and are in great request as compositors.

But turning to the more domestic duties of women; the Finns are as thorough in these as in other branches of education. It was at one time rather a fashion for the young ladies of Finland to go over to Sweden and enter what is called a _Hushllskola_, the literal translation of which is a "household school." They are taught cooking, laundry-work, weaving, dressmaking, house-maid's work, everything, in fact, that a woman could possibly want to know if she were left without any servants, or even on a desert island. They are practically instructed how to garden, they are sent marketing, they are taught to fish, and, having landed their prey, how to clean and cook it. In fact, they are fitted to be maids-of-all-work, skilled labourers and sportsmen, at one and the same time.

The full course occupies about eighteen months, and met with such success in Sweden that Finlanders have now organised several _Hushllskola_ in Finland itself.

In 1799 one _Wibeleins_ started a sort of technical education scheme. He printed books to further the weaving trade, gave prizes for spun thread, etc., to encourage the old trade then dying away--for women in the time of _Kalevala_ wove, embroidered, spun, and worked in silver and bronze, at least so say the bards. Indeed, in 1529, _bo_ linen was so famous that it was always used by the King of Sweden, therefore it is not surprising that weaving is still quite a pastime among Finnish ladies, and every cottager knows how to ply her shuttle. Where it has fallen into disuse women go about the country to teach and revive the decaying industry.

It is very sad when old trades disappear in rural districts, for nothing can take their place. No modern factories are started near at hand to employ the folk, and the result is they give up their old occupations and too often do not take to new instead. For instance, the once famous lace of _Raumo_, formerly sent in large quant.i.ties to Sweden and Russia (the thread came from England), was almost a forgotten art; but as with us, care has been taken to restore these old local industries, and _Raumo_ lace-making is now in a most flourishing state.

The many employments open to women do not make the more fortunate forget those in trouble. Nursing the sick is a favourite profession in Finland, the emolument varying from two to six hundred marks per annum, in addition to board, etc.

Ma.s.sage is a very old inst.i.tution, so ancient that every village since the olden times has had at least one rubbing woman, as they call her. In the country they are generally given food in payment, but in towns from twenty-five penni to a mark for the time occupied. So many women do ma.s.sage that really every one seems to know something about it, and one almost feels that ma.s.sage must have originated in _Suomi_. It is certainly a great feature of Finnish life; and in addition to these ma.s.sage women, who work for next to nothing, and who are merely peasant women, there are now everywhere in Finland highly trained ma.s.seuses, or, as they prefer to be called, "sick-gymnasts."

The University maintains courses, lasting for three years, for the training of such "sick-gymnasts," and the pupils are very often ladies from the best families. A qualified "sick-gymnast" often gets a remunerative practice, and may make an annual income of 10,000 marks or more.

The physical development of women is given a high place in the school curriculum in Finland, as was instanced in the Olympic games at Stockholm in 1912, when a group of Finnish girls proved by their suppleness of body and gymnastic proficiency that the traditions of Southern Greece are ably maintained to-day in Finland in the North.

One must not leave the subject of women in _Suomi_ without touching upon their achievements in literature and the sister arts.

The earliest woman writer was _Sarah Wacklin_ (1790-1846), who has left a valuable record of Finnish life in the first years of the nineteenth century. Her successors took up the question of the rights of women, and their emanc.i.p.ation; and the works of _Mrs. Fredrika Runeberg_ (1807-1879) and _Miss Adelaide Ehrnroth_ both set forth the arguments of the cause most strongly, not only in articles and pamphlets, but in novels of a high standard.

Since then many women have entered their names on the roll of the country's literature, and, strangely enough, the two girls I chaperoned through Finland--for, of course, being married I could act as a chaperone--were so inspired by the work of writing and its manifold interests, that both of them took to the pen later, and one is known to-day as _Paul Waineman_, and the other as _Baroness Leonie Aminoff_.

When we went to _Kuopio_ we hoped to meet _Minna Canth_, one of the first Finnish writers in the country, whose powers as a dramatist we had learnt at _Sordavala_. We inquired where she lived, and found that she had a drapery store.

Every one in Finland works in some way, and, all work being considered honourable, the shopkeeper is equal to the n.o.ble.

_Minna Canth's_ husband died some years ago, and being left with a family, she started this store, and certainly, when one realised that she was a woman with children to look after, that she wrote much--which we know takes time--it is perfectly wonderful how she could find energy and leisure to look after her shop. Yet it was so, and the business was in a most flourishing condition.

Finnish lady artists for the first time received international prizes and medals at the great World's Exhibition in Paris in the year 1889.

Of the achievements of Finland's women artists during the last twenty years I must not write in detail, for Finland has forged ahead in art as in other matters. At the time of my first visit, few Finnish women had devoted themselves to sculpture, and only one--_Miss Sigrid af Forselles_--had accomplished really good work. But to-day she no longer stands alone.

Already we see the first generation that benefited by the recognition of the power of women enjoying the prime of early manhood and womanhood; and it is certain that in the enormous upheaval in the old order of things that is going on all over the world, _Suomi_ will hold her own in the forefront of education, for the learning of the mother must prove a valuable a.s.set in moulding the characters of the citizens of the future.