Letters from Finland. By Rosalind Travers. (Kagan Paul and Co.
is. 6d. net.)—The epistolary form of travel talk is highly convenient, and perhaps the most satisfactory way of conveying to others the intimate life of a people, but it lacks form and conciseness. We can forgive the fulness of the epistles in con- sideration of the charming and faithful portraits of Finnish types and the sympathetic studies of national character. The Finns and Swedes have the social and political problems of the day. Side by side with the medieval tyranny of the Russian, the Finn has a scarcely loss antiquated form of feudal service. A race that strives to be relieved of both simultaneously ventures much ; but then it has shown that it possesses a power of passive resistance that must excite the envy of the stoutest " resister " in England. But for the Tzar Finland had been a prohibition country, so sternly have its inhabitants taken themselves in hand. They are an interest- ing race, not beautiful, or brilliant, or romantic, but they can dance and they can endure, and possess the secret of nationality which always fascinates those who love a brave people. Those who read "Letters from Finland" will begin to understand the Finns and learn to appreciate their efforts, for it would be impossible to find a more sympathetic and yet. a more thoroughly conscientious critia than the author.
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