The national air of Finland is Maamme or Vårt Land in Swedish ("Our Land").

The words were written by the famous poet, J. L. Runeburg, in Swedish, which was at that time the language of the upper classes, and translated into Finnish, the music being composed by Frederick Pacius. In Finnish the words are--

MAAMME

Oi maamme, Suomi, synnyinmaa, soi sana kultainen! Ei laaksoa, ei kukkulaa, ei vettä rantaa rakkaampaa, Kuin kotimaa tää pohjainen, maa kallis isien.

On Maamme köyhä, siksi jää jos kultaa kaipaa ken. Sen kyllä vieras hylkäjää, mut meille kallein maa on tää Kans' salojen ja saarien se meist' on kultainen.

Ovatpa meistä rakkahat kohinat koskien, Ikuisten honkain huminat, täht' yömme, kesät kirkkahat Kaikk', kaikki laulain loistaen mi lumes' sydämen.

Täss' auroin, miekoin, miettehin isämme sotivat, Kun päivä piili pilvihin tai loisti onnen paistehin, Täss' Suomen kansan suurimmat he vaivat kokivat.

Ken taistelut ne kaikki voi kertoilla kansan tään, Kun sota laaksoissamme soi ja halla nälän tuskat toi? Sen vert' ei mittaa yksikään ei kärsimystäkään.

Täss' on se veri vuotanut edestä meidänkin, Täss' ilonsa on nauttinut ja tässä huoltain huokaillut Se kansa, jolle muinoisin kuormamme pantihin.

Täss' olla meidän mieluist' on ja kaikki suotuisaa; Vaikk' onni mikä tulkohon, meill' isänmaa on verraton. Mit' oisi maassa armaampaa, mit' oisi kalliimpaa?

Ja tässä' täss' on tämä maa, sen näkee silmämme; Me kättä voimme ojentaa, ja vettä, rantaa osoittaa, Ja sanoa: kas tuoss on se, maa armas isäimme!

Jos loistoon meitä saatettais vaikk' kultapilvihin, Miss' itkien ei huoattais' vaan tähtein riemun sielu sais, Ois tähän kurjaan kotihin halumme kwitenkin.

Totunuden, runon kotimaa, maa tuhatjärvinen, Elomme sulta suojan saa, sä toivojen ja muistoin maa, Ain' ollos onnen vaihdellen, sä vapaa, riemuinen.

Sun kukoistukses' kuorestaan kerrankin puhkeaa; Viel' lempemme saa nousemaan sun toivos, riemus loistossaan, Ja kerran laulus' synnyinmaa, korkeemman kaiun saa.

When the Maamme is sung every one rises, the men take off their hats, and nearly all those present join in the song, their demeanour being most respectful, for a Finn is nothing if not patriotic.

Another very popular air is the following, written by Zachris Topelius, whose fairy tales are now being translated into English--

SINUN MAASI (Finnish)

Laps' Suomen, älä vaihda pois Sun maatas ihanaa! Sill' leipä vieraan karvast 'ois Ja sana karkeaa. Sen taivas, päiv' on loistoton, Sen sydän sulle outo on. Laps' Suomen, älä vaihda pois Sun maatas ihanaa!

Laps' Suomen, kaunis sull' on maa Ja suuri, loistokas. Veet välkkyy, maat sen vihoittaa, Sen rant 'on maineikas. Yö kirkas, päivä lämpöinen Ja taivas tuhattähtinen, Laps' Suomen, kaunis sull 'on maa Ja suuri, loistokas.

Laps' Suomen, armas maasi tää Siis muista ainiaan! Sull 'onnea ja elämää Ej muuall' ollenkaan. Jos minne tiesi olkohon, Niin juures' synnyinmaassas' on Laps' Suomen, armas maasi tää Siis muista ainiaan!

DITT LAND (Swedish)

O barn af Finland, byt ej bort Din ädla fosterjord! En främlings bröd är hårdt och torrt, Och klanglöst är hans ord. Hans sol är blek, hans himmel grå, Hans hjerta kan ej ditt förstå. O barn af Finland, byt ej bort Din ädla fosterjord.

O Finland's barn, ditt land är godt, Ditt land är stort och skönt. Dess jord är grön, dess haf är blått, Dess strand af ära krönt. Dess natt är ljus, dess sol är klar, Dess himmel tusen stjernor bar. O Finland's barn, ditt land är godt, Ditt land är stort och skönt.

Och derför, barn af Finland, minns Ditt ädla fosterland! Ej ro, ej lif, ej lycka finns I fjerran från dess strand. Hvarhelst din väg i verlden går, Din rot är der din vagga står. Och derför, barn af Finland, minns Ditt ädla fosterland!

THY LAND[B] (English)

O child of Finland, wherefore fly Thy noble Fatherland? The stranger's bread is hard and dry, And harsh his speech and hand; His skies are lead, his heart is dead Thy heart to understand. O child of Finland, wherefore fly Thy noble Fatherland?

O Finland's heir, thy land is fair And bright from bound to bound; Her seas serene; no gayer green On tree or lea is found. Her sun's a blaze of golden rays, Her night an eve star-crowned. O Finland's heir, no land more rare Or nobly fair is found.

Then, child of Finland, ne'er forget Thy noble Fatherland; For peace of mind is not to find Upon a stranger's strand. To that bright earth that gave thee birth Thou owest heart and hand. Then fealty swear to Finland fair, Our famous Fatherland.

We dined at several restaurants in Helsingfors; for, in the summer, the Finlanders live entirely out of doors, and they certainly make the most of the fine weather when they have it. Perhaps our brightest dining-place was on the island of Högholmen, to which little steamers ply continually; but as we arrived at the landing-stage when a vessel had just left, we engaged a boat to row us across. It was a typical Finnish boat, pointed at both ends, wide in the middle, and a loving couple sitting side by side rowed us over. They were not young, and they were not beautiful; in fact, they looked so old, so sunburnt, and so wrinkled, that we wondered how many years over a hundred they had completed. But, judging by the way they put their backs into the work, they could not have been as ancient as they appeared.

One of the first words one hears in Finland is straxt, which means "immediately," and we soon found it was in universal use. No order is complete without the word straxt as an addition, and, naturally, the stranger thinks what a remarkably punctual and generally up-to-time sort of people the Finns must be. But the voyager seems born to be disappointed. No Finn ever hurried himself for anybody or anything; the word straxt means, at least, a quarter of an hour, and the visitor may consider himself lucky if that quarter of an hour does not drag itself out to thirty minutes.

A man asks for his bill. Straxt is the reply. He suggests his luggage being fetched downstairs, reminds the landlord that the kärra (little carts) were ordered for noon, now long past.

"Straxt, straxt," is smilingly answered, but the landlord does not move--not he; what is to be gained by being in a hurry? why fidget? an hour hence is quite as good as the present quickly fleeting by. So soothing his conscience by the word straxt, he leisurely goes on with his work, and as "like master, like man," those below him do not hurry either, for which reason most things in Finland are dominated more by chance than ruled by time.

It is annoying, it is often exasperating, but there is a superb calm, or shall we say obstinacy, about the Finnish character that absolutely refuses to be bustled, or hurried, or jostled.

They are a grave, solid people, who understand a joke even less than the Scotch, while such a thing as chaff is absolutely unintelligible to them. Life to the Finns seems a serious matter which can be only undertaken after long thought and much deliberation. They lose much pleasure by their seriousness. They sing continually, but all their music is sad; they dance sometimes, but the native dances are seldom boisterous as in other lands. They read much and think deeply, for unlike the Russians, only 25 per cent. of whom can read, in Finland both rich and poor are wonderfully well educated; but they smile seldom, and look upon jokes and fun as contemptible. Education is one constant enquiry, and knowledge is but an assimilation of replies.

The men and women enjoy great freedom. Educated in the same schools, they are brought up to ignore sex; the young folk can go out for a whole day together, walking or snow-shoeing, skating or sledging, and a chaperon is unheard of; yet in all social gatherings, as an antithesis to this, we find an unexpected restraint. At a party the men all congregate in one room, or at one end of the table, leaving the women desolate, while the young of both sexes look askance at one another, and, in the presence of their elders, never exchange a word, in spite of their boasted freedom. Society is paradoxical.

More than that, by way of discouraging healthy chatter and fun among the young people, the elder folk always monopolise conversation, two persons invariably discussing some particular point, while twenty sit silently round listening--result, that young men and women know little of one another if they only meet in society, and the bon camaraderie supposed to result from the system of mixed education is conspicuous by its absence. Everything is against it. The very chairs are placed round a room in such a way that people must perforce sit in a circle--that dreaded circle which strikes terror into the heart of a British hostess. Even on the balconies an enormous table, with chairs packed closely round it, is constantly in evidence, so that the circle is even to be found there, with the consequence that every one sits and stares at every one else, except the people who may or may not keep up a conversation. The strange part of the whole arrangement is that Finlanders do not understand how prim they really are socially, and talk of their freedom, and their enormous emancipation, as they sit at table, where the greater number of those present never dare venture to say anything, while the young men and women rarely even sit together. They apparently make up for lost time when away from their elders.