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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,