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 noble.
_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 asset in moulding the characters of the citizens of the future.
The bells rang! It was four A.M. when the ship _Concordia_, which had been our home for thirty-six hours, arrived at _Nyslott_, one of the small towns which are sparsely scattered over Finland.
_Nyslott_ is famous for two things: its very modern "bath cure" accompanied by a "kasino"--of which French watering-places need have no jealousy--and, by way of extreme from such modernity, its other attraction is an old ruined castle, built originally in 1475. The castle is the most perfect left in Finland, and its position is certainly the most picturesque, for it stands quite alone on an island of rock, round which the current forms endless whirlpools. It is built with sharp buttresses, and once had five towers, of which, alas, only three remain, but those three are very perfect.