NOTES ON TKAVEL 263 



included Swedish, French and either German or English, 

 the youth of Finland had their work cut out for them so 

 far as modern languages were concerned. The first day 

 at Helsingfors was spent with Baron and Baroness 

 Ramsay at 'their home, Monksnaes, about five miles 

 from the town. The baroness was English by birth, 

 though her life had been spent entirely in Russia and 

 Finland, and she greatly enjoyed talks in her native 

 tongue, though when her husband was present French 

 was always used. This visit was repeated several times, 

 and there the Ramsays met the children and grand- 

 children of their hosts, who were all equally kind and 

 ready to welcome their " cousins " from overseas. 

 Baron Ramsay, the head of the Ramsay family, was a 

 striking-looking man, an unmistakable soldier and a 

 figure in history. He was Commander-in-Chief of the 

 Finnish army till about three years before, when, with- 

 out a word of warning, orders came from Russia that the 

 entire army was to be disbanded at once. Some weeks 

 before this the rules had been called in on some slight- 

 pretext, so resistance, even if thought of, was impossible. 

 It was a heavy blow. The army and its efficiency had 

 been the chief aim of General Ramsay's life and he felt 

 it sorely, but with wonderful pluck and determination 

 he and the other officers set themselves to confront new 

 conditions, and, by establishing new industries and 

 developing old ones, to find employment for the soldiers 

 now thrown on their own resources. Russia's idea had 

 been that the soldiers would now join Russian regiments, 



