1936 On the Continent

coast.
    The spirit of Finland in summer is that of a holiday camp.
The Finns—Are They Civilised?
    Equally important with the setting of a place we propose to visit is the character of the people who, in a sense, are to be our hosts. Do the Finns resent the presence of strangers in their midst? Are they addicted to running amok, to fleecing the unsuspecting traveller, to begging, baksheesh-hunting? Must one be on one’s guard against mysterious, unguessable taboos? Unfortunately for those who like a spice of adventure in their dealings with foreigners, my countrymen are mostly unromantically unexciting people with Victorian ideas of conduct and decorum—a Quakerish people. The only occasions on which Finns show signs of excitement are international athletic meets and football matches. Then they really cheer when Finland looks like winning, and with almost equal vim when Finland is being beaten, for they pride themselves on their fairness and sincerely believe that it takes a good man to beat a Finn at any sport practised in Finland. At other times—well, on the night before May-Day, the Finnish equivalent of Boat Race Night, when the university students don their white summer caps for the first time that year, undergraduates have been trying for years to place a white cap on the head of the maiden in the fountain symbolising Helsinki rising from the sea, and the police have been equally determined that no such breach of the public order can be permitted and have set a constable to guard the fountain. Until last year, when the Chief of Police, who had perhaps been reading of University rags abroad, astoundingly decided to let the students have their way and withdrew the constable—butkept watch himself from a little distance, lest this unheard-of licence should go too far.
    Strict ideas of public order do not, however, make the Finn gloomy. He applies himself with zest to his amusements, and life on a Finnish bathing beach is as gay as in any other country.
No Fleecing!
    As for fleecing, the authorities help nature by putting temptation as much as possible out of the way of those who sell things or provide services to the public. Hotels are required to display in a prominent position in every room the charge for that room for a night and the cost of an extra bed if the room is used by two persons. All restaurants have the prices of every dish or table d’hôte meal marked on the bills of fare. Fixed prices, marked on the articles sold, have been adopted in all shops except a few ready-made clothing stores which the visitor from abroad is unlikely to patronise. Tipping has been restricted to a minimum, and tips are now expected only in hotels and restaurants, at ladies’ hairdressers and public baths. Many hotels and restaurants have already adopted a fixed service charge on a percentage basis, and the Government proposes to make this system compulsory everywhere where some justification for special service charges exists. Railway porters are allowed to charge two marks (about twopence) for every parcel carried by them, but will not refuse a little extra if the parcel is a heavy trunk. But whatever the service performed by any other railway servant, one simply thanks them and raises one’s hat. The same with policemen and other public servants. Taxi-drivers will not refuse tips, but it is neither customary nor necessary to offer them. The prices of drinks, whether by the bottle, half-bottle or glass, down to a glass of beer, are fixed in every part of Finland by the Alcohol Monopoly Company and must be marked on a wine list.
    Finland was the first country in the world to give women the same suffrage and elective rights as men, and in a country where women act as lawyers, bricklayers, Cabinet Ministers, tram conductors, no woman need fear to travel alone or without male protection. A solitary young woman who strolls the streets at a late hour may, of course,expect offers of company; but even that risk disappears away from the towns.
    The Finns are genuinely hospitable and helpful. Their stiffness in public places is mostly bashfulness and not a real stolidity; writers of humour would not flourish in Finland as they do if the Finns were a phlegmatic race. Knowledge of languages is extremely widespread in Finland, and wherever the traveller goes he will be sure to find someone who understands English; and even if he is reduced to making his wishes known in sign-language he can count on a willingness to understand,