Chapter III: Finland and the Agitators

The day which followed the excited meeting of officers and seamen on the island was Sunday, and the agitation of the subject which disturbed the ship's company in a measure ceased. The religious services were held on shore, in the shade of a pleasant grove, and the Bible classes gathered in favored spots chosen by the teachers. After these exercises were finished in the afternoon, a couple of hours were spent upon the island. Little groups gathered together to walk, or to engage in conversation, while single ones, here and there, enjoyed their own thoughts. Cantwell and Scott seated themselves on a rock near the water, and seemed to be talking together very earnestly. On such occasions the brilliant student usually remained alone, not because he was brilliant, but because his shipmates were inclined to shun his companionship. He was really grateful to Scott for the signal service he had rendered him the day before, not in defeating the new plan, for that had not yet been accomplished, but in preventing him from being wholly ignored, and for making him chairman of the meeting. He had sought the present interview himself.

"Of course these proceedings were all directed against me," said Cantwell, after the subject had been introduced.

"No doubt of it," replied Scott, candidly.

"I don't know why my shipmates should be so prejudiced against me."

"Don't you?" asked the joker, rather incredulously.

"I do not; I certainly have not injured them."

"You won't get mad if I tell you--will you?"

"No; surely not," protested Cantwell.

"I'll tell you, then."

"I shall be much obliged to you, if you will."

"I don't know; I'm afraid you won't be," laughed Scott.

"I am sincere; and whatever you say, I shall believe you intend to do me a kindness."

"That's so. The fellows are prejudiced against you because you are selfish, conceited, overbearing, and tyrannical," said Scott, squarely.

"You don't mean all that; you only repeat what you have heard others say."

"I do repeat what I have heard others say, and I'm bound to add that I believe it myself. When you give an order, you do it just as though you were a superior being; as though you were everybody, and I were nobody--that's so."

"I was not aware of it."

"Then you put on airs, even in the cabin, and with your superior. You go in for the breast of the chickens, and drown your coffee with the last gill of milk in the ship."

Cantwell bit his lips, and seemed to be very much annoyed.

"Then you think you know everything, and other fellows nothing. You are willing to give your own opinion, but you won't hear that of others," continued Scott, as bluntly as the case seemed to require.

"Go on; but of course you don't expect me to acknowledge all these charges," replied Cantwell, with one of his most savage sneers.

"Do as you like about that; I was only telling you why the fellows are prejudiced against you. You talk and act superciliously to your ship mates, and they don't like that sort of thing. I don't, for one."

"I am sorry you don't."

"Do you like a fellow that treats you with contempt?"

"Of course not; but that's what my shipmates do to me."

"In self-defence, perhaps, they do. I suppose every fellow has his faults, except me. I don't know that I have any," replied Scott, with one of his telling smiles.

"You don't?"

"No; do you suppose you have any, Mr. Cantwell?"

"I suppose so; but not so many as most of my shipmates, I know."

"Exactly so; you admit the little things, so as to deny the big ones."

"I know I am a better scholar than any other student in the cabin. They all know this, or they would not have raised this breeze."

"Better let others find that out before you discover it yourself. One thing more: the officers say you are no seaman, and they don't want a fellow in command of the ship who don't know his duty. No officer likes to have one above him who knows less than he does about seamanship."

"I don't suppose I know as much about a ship as those students who have been on board two or three years; but I think I am competent to perform my duty, at least with the advice of the principal, in any position."

"I have told you all I know about it."

"And some things that you don't know," added Cantwell, who could not believe that he was such a person as the joker had described.

"Just as you please about that."

"But I wish you to understand that I think you have been very fair and candid; and I am very much obliged to you for your plain speech, however disagreeable it may be to me."

"You are welcome to it," laughed Scott.

"Now, do you think the principal will make the change asked for by the committee?"

"I don't know; but I hope he will."

"You hope so!"

"Yes; and if he does, we will show those cabin nobs that 'fair play is a jewel,'" answered Scott, significantly.

The conversation continued until the students were piped into the boats.

The next morning exercises in seamanship were in order throughout the squadron, for the principal was aware that this element of the course had received but little attention during the month. Every officer and seaman in each vessel was required to perform his duty in getting under way, in making and furling sail, and coming to anchor. Evolutions in reefing, tacking, wearing, scudding, laying to, bending sails, and sending down topmasts, were performed, and each student marked according to his merit. In addition to this, each student was separately examined in problems in seamanship; and his knowledge of the standing and running rigging of a ship, bark, brig, hermaphrodite brig, schooner, and sloop, was tested. This examination was very carefully conducted, and the same questions were put to every boy. The crew were all sent below at the beginning, and four were called up at a time, so that no one could know in advance what the questions were to be. Only the simpler problems were required to be answered at this trial.

The principal, the boatswain, carpenter, and sail-maker, all of whom were thorough practical seamen, were the examiners.

Mr. Lowington and Peaks, the boatswain, were on each side of the mainmast, the carpenter at the foremast, and the sail-maker at the mizzenmast, though each was obliged to take his pupil to the different parts of the ship in the course of the examination. The questions were such as these:--

"Point out the main-topmast stay, the main-topmast back-stay, the weather main clew-garnet, the fore-sheet and fore-tack, with the wind on the port beam.

"What is a pendant, a lift, a horse, a gasket, a jewel-block?

"How would you take in a topsail, wind fresh?

"How would you furl a royal?

"How would you reef a topsail?

"How would you turn out the reefs of a topsail?

"If two vessels are approaching each other, one by the wind, the other going free, what is the rule for each?

"Make a square knot, a timber hitch, a bowling knot, a clove hitch, a short splice."

For the last requirement two bits of rope were given to each student, who was directed to bring in his work to the examiner, with a card on which his name was written attached to it. The knots and hitches were made with a whale line on a handspike. The other questions were answered orally, or by pointing out the part of the rigging indicated. There were twenty questions in the list, and the promptness, as well as the accuracy, of the answers or the work was to be considered in marking the value of them. If a student was obliged to try two or three times before he could make a square knot, or a clove hitch, he was marked lower. If he did what he was required without hesitation, he had five for each question; if not, he was marked lower, for seamen have no time to deliberate. Though the examination was a very simple and easy one, no student obtained above ninety, and several were below fifty. Most of the officers had over seventy. Captain Lincoln had ninety, and Cantwell only fifty-two, though none of them knew the results till the first of the next month. The addition of these marks to the merit roll for the month made some important changes in the relative standing of the students.

"What do you say now?" inquired Scott, when he met Beckwith, after supper.

"I say just the same that I have always said," replied the first master.

"Do you still desire to have the higher officers chosen by ballot?"

"Certainly I do."

"But the fellows all say that Cantwell can't well be captain or first lieutenant when to-day's marks are added in."

"No matter for that; I still think that it is better to vote for the captain and lieutenants."

"Just as you like; but I think you miss it."

"I don't believe I do," answered the first master, walking away.

The results of the examination were not known to the students; but they were speculated over and guessed at very freely. It was generally admitted that Cantwell's chances for either of the first two offices, were lost for the next month; but it was certain that, if he were not thrown off the track, he would be captain in two or three months, when he had brought up his seamanship to the proper standard. Indeed, the agitation had already roused the obnoxious officer to a realizing sense of his own deficiency, and stimulated him to make an earnest effort to acquire the needed knowledge. From that time he used all his spare hours in studying the nautical books in the library. For hours he pored over the large diagrams of a ship, in which the spars, sails, and rigging were explained. The old boatswain appeared to be his best friend, so much were they together; for Peaks delighted to instruct a willing pupil.

On the last day of the month the squadron sailed for Åbo, in Finland. During the week the vessels had remained among the islands; they had been working gradually to the eastward, till it was only a short run to this port. The town is on the Aurajoki River, about three miles from the Gulf of Bothnia. The squadron came to anchor off the mouth of the river, near the village of Boxholm. The steamers and small vessels go up to the town, but large craft are obliged to discharge their cargoes at this place. On a hill which commands the entrance to the river there is a fort, which is also a prison--an ancient structure with the ruins of a watch-tower, which has stood for centuries. Many of the houses on the shore were painted red,--as in the country towns of New England fifty years ago,--and were occupied by fishermen and laborers. The students, who had been in the solitudes of nature for a week, and had hardly seen a living creature, or anything connected with civilized life, were interested in observing every indication of civilization in the vicinity. For the time, even the exciting topic of the change in the "tenure of office" was dropped. Scott, who had been quietly at work ever since the meeting at the picnic, suspended his labors, and made queer comments upon the old castle, the boats, and the people around the ship. Though there was actually a village in sight, it did not entirely remove the impression from the minds of many of the students that they were almost "out of the world," for the oppressive fact that they were in sixty and a half degrees of north latitude was not entirely removed by the fort, the village, and the people.

"All hands, attend lecture!" shouted the boatswain, as his shrill pipe rang through the ship, and was repeated in the two consorts.

"Lecture!" exclaimed Scott. "That's too bad! What does the professor think we are made of? We have been patient and long-suffering in the matter of lectures, and I didn't suppose we were to be dosed with any more till we got to Russia."

"We are in Russia now," replied Laybold.

"Not much, if my soundings are correct. Finland isn't Russia, any more than the Dominion of Canada is Great Britain. It is subject to Russia, but the people here make their own laws, or at least have a finger in the pie, which they don't under the nose of the Czar. Do you see that big fish, Laybold?"

"What fish?" asked the other.

"Why, that one near the shore. He is over five feet long."

Scott pointed at a man who had just taken a small boy on his back, and was wading out to a boat, with a man on each side of him.

"I don't see any fish," added Laybold, straining his eyes as he gazed earnestly in the direction indicated by his companion.

"Don't you? Then you are a little blind in one of your ears. There he goes towards the boat."

"What is it?" asked several others.

"A big fish," replied Scott, demurely.

"I see some men, but no fish," said Laybold.

"There, he has stopped by the boat."

"That isn't a fish; it's a man."

"I tell you it is a fish. Do you think I don't know a fish when I see one."

"Nonsense!" shouted the others. "It's a man."

"I say he is a fish. Don't you see that he has a Finn on his back, and Finns each side of him?" returned Scott.

"You get out!" shouted Jones. "A fellow that will deliberately make a pun isn't fit to live in polite society."

"Then I'm finished for polite society," added Scott; "though I don't see how you know anything about it, for you never were there, or your manners belie you. By the way, did you know that our government had sent over to this country for a fortune-teller, or seer--one of those fellows they used to have in Scotland?"

"What for?" asked Laybold.

"They want to make him secretary of the treasury."

"Why so?" inquired Jones.

"Because they need a financier; for the fellow would certainly be one. There, do you see that French conjunction on the shore? Hear him bark."

"That is a dog," protested Laybold.

"What of it? Isn't it _afin que?_ Well, those are strange people," continued Scott, shaking his head.

"What's the matter with them?"

"Matter? Did you oversee the 'finny tribe' walking about on shore before?"

"You are a monster, Scott," laughed Jones.

"Yes, a sea-monster; and if I were monarch of all I surveyed, I should have plenty of Finns. Do you suppose those women have any nephews and nieces?" asked Scott, still gazing at the group of men, women, and children, who had gathered on the beach to see the squadron.

"Of course they have."

"Then we must go on shore and be introduced to them."

"But we can't speak Finnish."

"In that case we shall be obliged to finish speaking."

"But why should we be introduced to the 'women with nephews and nieces?'"

"Because it is eminently proper and right that American young gentlemen should be acquainted with finance. The boats are coming, and I am like that shed on the beach."

"I don't see it."

"Yes--Finnish shed. Come, tumble down the hatchway," said Scott, as he led the way to the steerage.

Mr. Mapps, the instructor in geography and history, was already at his post, which post was the foremast of the ship, whereon was hung a large map of Finland, drawn by himself on the back side of another map, with black paint and a marking brush; for he had not been able to find a printed one on a large scale. The students from the consorts soon appeared, and a few raps with the professor's pointer procured silence.

"Where are we now, young gentlemen?" he began.

"Here, sir," responded Scott.

"A little more definitely, if you please."

"Eastern hemisphere, sir," added Scott.

"Excellent; but couldn't you venture to come a little nearer to the point."

"Near Åbo, in Finland," said another student.

"Right; but the little ring which you see over the A in the printed name of the town makes the pronunciation as though it were written O-bo. The proper style of the country is the Grand Duchy of Finland; and in his relations to it, the Czar of Russia has been called the Emperor Grand Duke. The Finnish name of the country is _Suomema_, which means 'the region of lakes.' You see, by a glance at the map,--which is rather rudely drawn,--that this is the character of the country, even to a greater degree than in Norway and Sweden. It has the Gulf of Bothnia on the west, and the Gulf of Finland on the south, with Finmark, a province of Norway, on the north, and Russia proper on the east."

"But where is Lapland?" asked a student.

"Lapland is a region which belongs to Russia and Norway, and part of it is included in Finland. The name is not applied to a political division, but to the country of a particular people. Finland has about one hundred and forty thousand square miles of territory; about the size of Montana Territory, more than half as large as Texas, or eighteen times as large as Massachusetts. Its population is about the same as this last state--in round numbers, one million four hundred thousand. A large portion of the country is a desolate region. In the southern part; the soil is good, and in former times Finland was the granary of Sweden; but its agriculture has since declined. Vast forests cover a considerable portion of its territory, and the lumber from them is the principal source of wealth to the people, who are also largely engaged in the fisheries. There are some extensive cotton and iron manufactures. All the principal towns are on the coast, except Tavastehus; but the largest place, Helsingfor, has only sixteen thousand inhabitants.

"Not much is known of the early history of Finland; but the country was governed in tribes by chiefs, or kings. They took to the water very naturally, and became pirates, harassing the Swedes to such a degree, that Eric, their king, sent an expedition to Finland in the twelfth century, where he established Swedish colonies, and introduced Christianity. One of the colonies was planted here in Åbo, where the first Christian church in the country was built. From this time the Swedes and Finns blended, and the history of Finland was merged in that of Sweden. Birger Jarl built Tavastehus, and confirmed the conquest. But Russia coveted this desolate region, and first conquered Wyborg, its most eastern province, and the Finns fought with Sweden in the various wars with her powerful neighbor. The people suffered terribly from these wars, and from famine. From 1692 to 1696, sixty thousand perished from famine in the province of Åbo alone. In the wars of Charles XII., thousands of Finns were sacrificed, and five regiments of them were killed or captured during the march into the Ukraine, and in the battle of Pultowa. After this battle, in 1709, in which Charles XII. was totally defeated, the Russians invaded the whole of Finland, and held it until 1721, when, with the exception of Wyborg, it was restored to Sweden.

"In 1741 the Swedes made an attempt to recover what they had lost, but utterly failed. Again, in 1788, Gustavus III., commanding the Swedish army in person, tried to regain the ancient province of Wyborg; but a conspiracy at home compelled him to return, and the favorable opportunity was lost. In 1790 the king renewed the attack by sea, and his fleet of thirty-eight vessels was blockaded at Wyborg by a Russian squadron of fifty-one ships. The Swedes cut their way out of the trap, but with the loss of fifteen ships. The fleet, reduced by these heavy losses, was again attacked by the Russians in overwhelming force; but the result was a glorious victory for the Swedes, in which their enemy lost fifty-three vessels and four thousand men. This event ended the war for the time, and a treaty honorable to the Swedes was signed. In 1808 Finland was again invaded by the Russians, without even the formality of a declaration of war. The Swedes were unprepared for the contest, and slowly retired to the north, fighting several battles, and gaining some unimportant victories, but were completely overwhelmed in the battle of Orawais. By the treaty which followed, all of Finland and the Aland Islands were ceded to Russia.

"By a special grant of Alexander I., graciously renewed by his successors, Finland retains her ancient constitution, which provides for a national parliament. The right to legislate and impose taxes upon the people is nominally in this body, but is really exercised by a senate appointed by the Emperor Grand Duke. The executive power is in the hands of a governor general, who represents the sovereign. The people still retain their national customs and language, and when you go on shore this afternoon, you will find very little that is Russian. The money is in marks and pennies, with the decimal system; and Russian paper is not current in Finland. A mark is worth about twenty cents of our money, and four of them make one ruble, the gold value of which is eighty cents. The currency of Russia in actual circulation is all paper, so that the value of the ruble is reduced about twenty per cent. Finland also has a paper currency, which is of depreciated value, as is the case in all countries where gold and silver are not in actual use."

The professor finished his lecture, and the students were about to separate, when the stroke of the bell called them to order again, and Mr. Lowington stepped upon the platform. The officers and seamen were all attention in an instant, for it was expected that he would say something upon the exciting subject which had been so thoroughly discussed in all the vessels of the squadron.

"Young gentlemen," the principal began, "I have something to say to you concerning the application which has been made to me to make certain of the offices of the squadron elective. I have not the slightest objection to the plan, if the elections can be fairly and honorably conducted. I have considered the plan in substance, which has been presented to me several times, and I like it, though in its practical workings I think that grave objections will be developed. By the present plan, one with very little experience and very little seamanship may reach the highest offices, especially, as will sometimes happen, when the nautical branch of the institution receives less attention in any one month than the scholastic. By the plan you propose, you may elect the least worthy of the officers to the rank of captain. Votes may be bought and sold, and electioneering excitements carried to excess. The plan in use has worked very well, and I am not aware that any injustice has ever been worked by it. It has always happened that the best and most reliable students have attained the highest places; though I must acknowledge that it may not always happen so. For a change, I am willing to try your plan."

A demonstration of applause greeted this announcement, but it came mainly from the officers.

"But I wish to say, that though I have considered substantially the same plan several times, I should not now introduce it if you had not asked for it. The present is certainly the fairest plan, for it places all upon an absolute equality, and under it every officer is indebted entirely to his own merit for his position, and not at all to the favor of his instructors or his friends among the ship's company. A change, therefore, is more properly inaugurated by you than by me.

"I am informed by the committee that the vote was not unanimous, and one member of the committee did not choose to appear with the delegation."

"He was notified of the meeting of the committee," said De Forrest.

"I was notified," replied Scott; "but the meeting of the committee was held in the after cabin, which I am not permitted to enter."

The opposition applauded till the snap of the bell silenced them.

"This does not look exactly like fair play, especially as Scott is supposed to represent the opposition to the change."

"He was notified of the time when the committee would wait upon you, sir, in the main cabin, but he declined to attend," answered De Forrest.

"If there was a preliminary meeting of the committee, he ought not to have been excluded from it," added Mr. Lowington. "Your proceedings must be revised, and the opposition must be heard."

"Mr. Lowington, as a member of the committee, I withdraw all opposition," interposed Scott.

"I do not know that you are authorized to do so," replied the principal; "but I am very glad to see this spirit of accommodation on your part."

"I don't think the new plan is so fair as the old one; but I wish to have a fair trial of it. The new method was got up by the nobs in the cabin--"

"The what?" inquired the principal, with a smile.

"The nobs, sir."

"If by an accident, or by any extra exertion on your part, you were elected to an office in the cabin, would you be a nob?"

"Yes, sir."

"Though you do not seem to use the word in an offensive sense, I prefer some other form of expression. You say that the plan was devised by the cabin officers."

"Yes, sir."

"But we consulted the seamen, and they agreed to the plan before the meeting. It would have been a unanimous vote if Scott had not got up an opposition just for the sake of a joke," said De Forrest, rather bitterly.

"I opposed the thing in my own way, and I never agreed to it; but we all consent to it now."

"Does any one object to it?" asked Mr. Lowington.

Cantwell looked at Scott, but the latter shook his head.

"If there is any objection, I desire to hear it now."

No one offered any objection.

"There being no opposition, with the understanding on my part that unanimous consent is given to the plan, I will adopt it--"

Violent applause on the part of the officers and others interrupted the principal, which was silenced by a stroke of the bell.

"I will adopt it with an amendment," added Mr. Lowington. "I will explain the amendment. By the new plan, the offices of commodore, captain, and lieutenant are made elective within certain limits. The commodore must be elected from the three captains; the captain must be chosen from the cabin officers of the vessel to which he belongs. Now suppose, for example, that one of the lieutenants for next month, relying upon his popularity among his shipmates for his position the following month, neglects his studies; what check have we upon him?"

There was no answer, for this case has not occurred to the agitators.

"Suppose the captain of this ship--but I grant in the beginning that this is not a supposable case--should utterly fail in his duty so far as study is concerned; you elect him captain or commodore, while the present rule would send him back into the steerage. The amendment I propose will correct this defect in your plan. It consists of two sections," continued the principal, as he proceeded to read from a paper in his hand. "1. No captain shall be eligible to the office of commodore whose merit-rank is below No. 6 in the Young America, or below No. 5 in the Josephine, or Tritonia. 2. No officer shall be eligible to the office of captain or lieutenant whose merit-rank is below No. 16 in the ship, or below No. 9 in the other vessels. Are you satisfied with the amendment?"

"We are," replied the students.

"Then the merit-roll will be read and the elections take place to-morrow, on the first day of the month," continued the principal. "We will now go up to Åbo."

The students applauded, and left the steerage. The boatswains piped all hands into the boats, and in half an hour the squadron of barges and cutters were pulling in single file up the narrow river.