Other monuments were examined, and the party left the church, giving the solemn man--who had not yet spoken a single word--a mark for his services, at which he solemnly bowed as he put the money in his pocket. Crossing the river, Dr. Winstock and Lincoln walked over the rest of the town, which, however, contained nothing worthy of note. There was nothing in the costume of the people to distinguish them, and the shops and houses were hardly different from those in England or America. The streets are paved with cobble stones, and a few droskies may be seen; but the people, who are more intensely Swedish than in the eastern provinces of Finland, do not take kindly to Russian customs and institutions. After the destruction of the university by fire, it was removed to Helsingfors, and the hostility of the province to their new ruler caused the transfer of the seat of government to the same place. The town wears an aspect of desolation in its streets, for very few people are seen in them; and, except on the wharf at the arrival of a steamer there, nothing of the bustle of business is seen. The place has lost much of its former importance.
The students wandered idly through the deserted streets, and it was noticeable that but few of them paid any attention to their surroundings. A group of the seamen sat on the quay above the bridge, apparently engaged in an animated discussion. Though the Finnish women were pulling about in boats on the narrow river, the boys were not interested in their movements. Their conversation did not relate to Finland or the Finns. Scott, the joker, was in the centre of the ring, and did the greater part of the talking, and of course the subject was that which had been introduced at the picnic on the island. Without having any distinct plan in the beginning, Scott had become a leader among the democratic element of the ship. His crude ideas, which had formed themselves into objections to the De Forrest scheme, were now seeking recognition as a plan. He had been laboring very earnestly to defeat the wishes of the cabin "nobs," as he persisted in calling them.
"We can't go for such a fellow as Cantwell," said one of the students. "He is a conceited and overbearing fellow."