LIFE HISTORY 1919 Part II

More Past-times

A new era in our swimming had started. I guess my brothers and other friends gained courage to begin swimming too once I got started. We often spent all day long at the outdoor swimming hall [left: Kumpula outdoor smimming pool] and our swimming skills improved to the point that we started trying out the diving board and knew that we were skilled enough to be able to get back to the stairs at least from there. Naturally we became too wild, as boys of that age often do, and started horsing around on the diving tower as well. We got away with the first few times, but one day as we were playing around on the first level (which was about 8 meters high) one of the supervisors began to climb up the stairs and threatened to throw us down from there. There was nothing else to do but jump off before the caught up to us. It was a new experience for me and it became our favorite past time. We went to play up on the tower like we belonged there and as soon as a supervisor climbed up to throw us off we would let him get almost catch us and then jump off. Pretty soon they realized that they didn’t need to throw us off and that we were fully capable of getting down by ourselves. That same summer I learned how to dive head first – "Swan Dive" - and became pretty good at it.[rt. Showing off his diving form at Kumpula pool in 1984, age 75]. But eight meters was as high as I ever climbed on the tower. That was the only summer when I practiced diving. This was the summer of 1919. The next several summers all the brothers spent in Tohmajärvi.

We had other past times too, and fishing was one of them. It was in the days when everything was homemade. Father helped assemble my first fishing pole. I think I even had a real fish hook too, though I can’t recall for sure. Usually we fished from the dock at the north end of Hernesaarikatu, and our daily catch mostly consisted of ruffs and minnows – the occasional perch would be mixed in once in a while. Our catch was never anything to brag about, but they were fish nevertheless, and got us started fishing.

These were the days when I started whittling boats out of bark and eventually out of real wood. I fashioned the masts and the sails myself, and braided side-railings out of rope, so I was very proud of my schooner. One beautiful summer day I was at the Jätkäsaari pier. Ships from foreign countries were always docked there and all kinds of tempting fragrances hung in the air – spices and fruits, etc. Passenger ships bound for Germany were docked there too: white and handsome, the ship Borekin was docked there as well; I can’t recall the number, but it may have been III. The sea gave off a strong fragrance of salt and seaweed and created in me a yearning for those wonderful faraway places which the ships always encountered along the way on their travels. New York was ever the golden city – I usually pictured it as a very warm place where the asphalt on the streets was so hot in the summer that it would burn the bottoms of your feet. And all those tall buildings and crowds of people – it had to truly be a fairytale land.

I watched the ships and savored the breeze, clutching my little ship tucked safely under my arm. A certain gentleman was watching the ships as well and had a little girl with him who was about my age. To me she looked like an angel, and I must have stood there staring at her. The girl glanced at me, glanced at the little boat tucked under my arm – and wrinkled her little nose at me. This little girl no longer seemed so angelic. But that moment has stayed so fresh in my mind that I can vividly recall all of those feelings. I can’t recapture a picture of the little girl other than that she was dressed in some type of white outfit. But I can vividly recall the warmth of the sun, the light sparkling on the summer waves and then the strong fragrance of the ocean.

Every so often we were able to go with Father on trips to the islands. The ferries were small and shallow, and the furnace was set down in a depression in the middle of the boat. It was always such warm and sheltered place even when it was windy that I was usually stationed somewhere near to it. And then on one occasion Father took us with him to go berry picking somewhere west of Helsinki. I can’t recall anymore how we traveled there, but the trip so stayed with me that I wrote an essay about it in the second form of the lyceum. I had spent so many summers in Karjala that their dialect had become part of me. I recall how Mr. Berg felt that my use of the Karjala dialect was faulty and he corrected my linguistic errors into the proper form, and this lesson has stayed with me so forcefully that I never again wrote using the Karjala dialect. But this incident has preserved the berry picking trip in my memory.

Prayers and Bible Reading

In high school as well as in elementary school we always said a morning prayer, so the format for praying has always stayed with me. And in high school where we poor kids were served a noon meal we always said a blessing on the food before eating and a prayer of thanksgiving at the end of the meal. The prayers weren’t anything elaborate but they served their purpose. The blessing on the food was as follows: “Bless, O Lord, our meal and be with us always. Amen.” And the thanksgiving prayer: “Thanks, O Lord, for our meal. Amen.” Short and powerful, and to the point. Mr. Dahlberg was very religious, as I recall, and so was Mr. Kalarvo. Every day we had a Bible lesson so it awakened out interest in religion very early on.

I read the Bible through as soon as I was able to read – I would have been around 8 or 9 years old. There were a lot of things in the Old Testament that were beyond the comprehension of a child, but I read it anyway. It was the only book, the Bible that is, which we had in our home other than our school books. I had read the Bible three times before I turned 15.

I Discover the Public Library and the Joy of Reading

It may have happened at an even earlier age because later on I discovered the public library which I often visited several times a week. At the Rikhardinkatu Library [left] we were allowed to borrow just one novel and one non-fiction book at a time. It was two kilometers to the library so it took up quite a bit of time during the week if one went there to return and take out books several times a week The distance was only a couple of kilometers, it’s true, but you couldn’t do that too often. That’s why I tried to find the thickest books on the book list and made my own list of them according to which I asked for books. In those days they didn’t have free shelves where you could go find books on your own, but instead you had to tell the librarian which book you wanted and he would go find it for you. On my list was for instance Hansen’s “Across Greenland on Skis,” which I dutifully read from cover to cover. In high school then on one occasion Mr. Korvenkontio asked who had read this book and I was the only one who raised his hand. He was rather surprised and asked me if I hadn’t found it rather dull, and I had to admit having read books that were much more captivating. It was after all, a daily journal, where most entries were started off by recording the weather conditions: cloud cover, wind direction and velocity, temperature, whether the snow conditions were wet or dry, and so forth. It was probably about 700 pages or more, but there is no way to check on it.

In any case, reading became my escape route from the drabness of everyday life into a brighter sphere and the world of imagination. In recall Mother Selma every once in a while remarking that, "There that boy is reading again, and doesn’t hear or see a thing." I totally tuned out to the world around me while reading. One day while we lived at Tokankatu Mother brought me back to reality. We had a table in the middle of the room and I was leaning against one of the corners reading another book, oblivious to my surroundings. Mother gave me a little nudge and said, "Why don’t you go outside for a change rather than always spending your time with your nose buried in a book." The book went clattering on the table and I was quickly startled into reality. Well, Mother was a very perceptive parent and knew that spending time outdoors would do this bookworm a world of good!

But reading continued to be a passion for me. Around that time I got my hands on a book about the Trojan Wars and found it the most interesting reading. The result was that we made ourselves wooden sword and spears, and turned the bottoms of velour hat boxes into shields. This seems to have been before Father had remarried, so I was probably about 10 years old. We made up a lot of games based around the tales of Troy. During that same time period I was able to borrow—I know it didn’t come from the library – the History of Rome. It consisted of about 10 volumes, but I can’t recall if I borrowed these from some friends. It was fascinating reading, and from then on I have always enjoyed reading about Rome and its history. Latin has always held an interest for me, but up to this point I haven’t done anything about it. Wonder if I should?

Business Ventures

It was probably the first fall after the war that we boys started wanting to earn some money, and the easiest way of course was to sell newspapers. We went to the Työmies book publishers located in the basement of Työväentalo on what is now called Passivuorenkatu. There anyone at all could purchase newspapers at a predetermined discount. Father had given us a shiny silver mark coin and, since we didn’t know the first thing about the whole business, our friend Hono came to our rescue. He took our coin and bought us some newspapers – took some of them for himself which made some of the older boys say that he shouldn’t rob little kids that way. But Hono was a hardnosed wheeler dealer and couldn’t care less about what anyone else said or thought. Well, we couldn’t even peddle the newspapers Hono had left us with, so we ended up bringing home a big stack of unsold papers, and didn’t have anywhere close to a mark to show for our endeavors. So that was the end of our business venture.

One of our other business ventures that comes to mind was selling Christmas cards. One Christmas Eve will forever remain with me because it was chilly with icy rain coming down. My feet were soaked because there were holes in the bottoms of my shoes. I was somewhere near the corner of Fredrikinkatu and Erikinkatu and recall going into a stationary store to sell my cards. The shop lady took pity on me and, from the goodness of her heart, bought one card even though she herself was in the business of selling the very same cards. It didn’t even dawn on me. In those days it was popular to have cards with Alpine scenes with russet skies and the landscape sprinkled with realistic looking snow.

Translated from the original Finnish: Marja-Leena Tolvanen-Rogers

LIFE HISTORY 1919

1919

The Cool Crowd or the “Stadi Gang” Years

     After the war it became fashionable for older boys and adults too who were considered part of the “cool” crowd, to wear velvet trousers which were tight at the hips and widened out in the legs to where the wide bottoms totally covered the shoes. The velvet had to dark blue, and these trousers were a sign that you belonged to a group or gang. Fights between rival gangs were also in fashion, but we didn’t participate in those — we just heard about them.

We also learned to speak the Helsinki slang spoken by these gangs, a type of “pig Latin,” and I can still remember quite a lot of it even though I can’t always recall what it means. For instance, “Tshiikaa tshakia kun paasaa pulisena,” meant, “Look at the way that guy is walking” — how’s that? Well, it’s not going to hurt anything if I can’t remember this slang anymore. It seems evident, however, that among today’s youth in Helsinki there still are remnants of this slang in the way they speak. There have also been several books published — childhood remembrances — where this language is used as would be expected. It would be fun to read some of them.

Learning to Sing

    I can remember one song from those days, but it may be a Scout song. I don’t think there is any translation available for it because it’s kind of a group song — such as sung by Scouts. So I’m going to write it down so that others can see it also. Perhaps someone else will remember this song better, or at least the meaning of it:

Ging, gang, gulivili veissan, gulivili veissan, gulivili veissan goo,

(Repeat),

Iila iila jaava, iila jaava malagoi, iila iila jaava, iila jaava malagoi.

Jim jam jassa gili gili massa, jim jam jaa, jim jam joo.

(Repeat)

Iila iila jaava, iila jaava malagoi, iila iila jaava, iila jaava malagoi, etc.

I think Mother taught me a lot of these songs once upon a time — I’m not sure if she taught them intentionally, but they have certainly stayed with me — the words as well as the melodies.

Someone told me — perhaps it was Mother — that when I was small I sang the following: Lännen lannalla lutkottaa, lutkottaa . . . . I can’t remember the tune to it, but “Vienan Rannalla” [On the Viena Shores] was Mother’s favorite song and so I learned it by heart.

Discovering the Movies

    I already mentioned earlier that we yearned to go to the movies in those days. At the end of Punavuorikatu on Frederickkatu there was a movie theater, but I can’t recall the name right now. Then on Iso Roobertinkatu there was the Casino, and on the corner of Erottankatu was located Lyyra 3. They usually played serials such as, “The Man in Black, A Voice on the Phone,” which was about an invisible man. It consisted of a person taking some kind of potion after which he threw on a cloak which then made this person invisible. Another movie was “Captain Nemo.” [rt. Captain Nemo, 20,00 Leagues Under the Sea. Silent]They all had one thing in common, which was that little boys had to use a lot of brain power to figure out how to get the money to attend these dens of delight. We didn’t succeed all the time no matter how hard we tried, so they had to either stay away or try to sneak into the movies through the back door. There was one time when I also tried this and was successful. The theater was at the Casino, and it was the only time I succeeded in getting in the show that way. I think Veikko and Manne Seitola were with me on this occasion.

    Veikko became very skilled at these types of capers, but since he was very independent by nature I knew very little about his escapades. In about 1919 we had a renter living with us, and the man often would leave his wallet on the table. Of course he started wondering why he had less money than he should to have had. The rest of us wondered where Veikko was getting all of his spending money. He explained to us that he had found where Jori Tirkkonen had his money stash, and we believed it without question. It was quite alright to steal from the rich — it was like an article of faith in those days. We didn’t question this line of reasoning which shows how little good sense we had, but what we lacked in common sense we made up in imagination. Well, the truth finally came out when our renter took up the matter with Father and the guilty party was finally apprehended. I can’t recall what the final outcome was.

Early Singing Career

It was about that same period of time that we learned to sing Tatu Pekkarinen’s [rt.] songs with the combined voice power of all three brothers. At the movies you see, it was still the custom that the entre act was some live production and it seems that Tatu sang at several of the theaters. That’s where we boys picked it up, the words and the melodies. I believe Veikko was the best out of the three of us, but he probably had a chance to attend the theater more often. We had quite a large repertoire: “Renk Jussi Returns from the Wars” was one song that has stayed in memory, and I probably could still sing it all the way through. What the others were, I can’t recall at the moment, but if I could get hold of a list of his songs, I’m sure they would quickly come back to me.

     We were often called on to sing at different functions, and it didn’t even have to be a special event if we had visitors over to our home. We sang in Tohmajärvi and Värtsilä. [rt. Värtsilä Lutheran Church]. My aunts in Värtsilä, Joosefiina [Tolvanen] Nousianen and Vilhelmiina [Tolvanen] Laasonen, were both born again Christians and belonged to the White party, so they couldn’t ask us to sing for them in the presence of other people. But one day we went berry picking and there they asked us to perform for them. I said that the songs might not be really suitable for their ears, because in one of the songs there were some swear words. It was that “Renk Jussi” song where there was some swearing, but it was very innocent: “… there the sky and hell gaped open….” So it’s no wonder this song has stayed in my memory! But this happened during our holidays, and I will talk about our holidays separately.

Adventures in Swimming

     I don’t think we went on any holidays yet in 1919, because that was the year when I learned how to swim. We usually played at the swimming pool in Ursini, and there we had a lot of fun because we were allowed to splash around to our hearts content in the shallow pool. But of course then we had to pay, and earnings were pretty unpredictable in those days between all of us. There were, of course, other beaches. There were the cliffs at Ursini which were so smooth and at other times very warm from the summer sun, so it was really a great place to sun ourselves there. And there was nothing to keep us from going further: we ventured all the way to Ruoholahti where there were actual sandy beaches, and the water was still very clean in those days and not polluted from raw sewage as it was in later years.

We also went to Vantaa! It was a very long way for kids our age to travel, especially since we didn’t have any money for the trolley car. But in spite of it all we went there — it was an actual trip. We had to travel through the whole city including Soornainen, Vallila and Vanhakaupunki (Old Town), but we were able to find our way there, but we ended up on a beach on wrong side of the river. Well, we found a quick remedy to the situation because our friend Hono had with him a lifesaver tube, and with the aid of the tube he transported each of us across the river to the other side. When my turn came, however, things turned a bit dangerous.

     We had already crossed the river and were close to the other shore when the lifesaver tube for some reason tipped over and I fell in the river. I wasn’t able to swim a stroke and got into a real panic, so I grabbed Hono around the throat so tightly that he too started to sink and gulp in water, and started to panic as well. When I realized that he wasn’t going to be of any help I abandoned him and started thrashing toward the shore on my own power. The distance was only a few yards — the beach had been washed away, but the shore was only a few feet above the surface of the water — so it wasn’t much of a feat for a frightened little boy to reach dry land. And that’s when I started gaining the confidence that I could swim.

    The shore of the Vantaa River is still etched on my mind, however, and I can clearly recall the feelings I experienced at that moment. I recall my panic and how tightly I squeezed Hono around the neck. His skin was moist and warm – it was a summer day. And I can still remember the panic I caused, squeezing him around the neck so tightly so that he was no longer able to keep his head above the surface of the water. His eyes, very close to my own, were round as circles and literally popping out of his head. I guess those eyes were the reason why I finally let go of him. He was actually a very good swimmer, because he had received the Expert Swimmer diploma at the Ursini Swimming Hall. But then he was a few years older than the rest of us. 

Translated from the original Finnish: Marja-Leena Tolvanen-Rogers

LIFE HISTORY 1918 Part II

1918 Part II

After mother' death we always had a maid or someone to look after us, of one sort or another. The first one was Riikka, who was a young woman about 25 years of age.She had brown eyes and was cross-eyed, and she really “looked after us” while Father was gone. I’ve previously related that we had to find our own food most of the time — that’s my recollection — I’m not quite certain about it. Veikko and I were inevitably shoved out into the street early each morning. One day for some reason we came back sooner than usual — I think it was bitterly cold outside and our malnourished little bodies just couldn’t stand up to the freezing weather. So we came back home to sit next to the warm stove. There was a feast going on: Riikka herself and Voitto were eating rice gruel boiled in milk! I guess Veikko and I remembered better days, and there wasn’t even a spoonful left over for us. That’s when I really lost my temper. So the next time Father came home from the frontlines, he took Riikka and me aside for a little talk. And this lad gave Father the unvarnished truth about how Veikko and I had been treated. Riikka left the same day.

Riikka was keeping company with some Red Guard soldier whose name I can’t recall right at the moment. He was one of those lucky ones who got to travel by ship to Estonia and apparently took Riikka with him. Mother’s sister by the name of Margareta, whom I remember as a real beauty, also left with someone for Russia where she apparently died of smallpox a few years later in 1922. The other sister, Tilda, was with us for a few weeks, but she too disappeared without a word — probably went back home. She wrote to us in later years from Pieksämäki. I’m making note of this, because I will have to return to that letter later on.

Our next caretaker was “Mummo” [Old Woman].” She was a bleary-eyed old crone with no nose, a crude mouth, and crude habits. But you can get used to anything. She had her own fantasies and entertainments. It was winter and the room was of course never warm enough. Veikko and I slept on the floor with no mattress underneath us. It took a lot of squirming around on the cold floor before we warmed up enough to go to sleep. And, just as animals do, in the same way children cling tightly to each other to keep warm — and so did we. I will never forget the night when Mummo stared crossly at us lying there on the floor, ripped off the blanket that covered us and wheezed: “Sleeping together just like a married couple.” I yelled at her to put the blanket back on. That’s the sort of caretakers we had! — Fortunately we didn’t have the foggiest understanding regarding the fantasies in her warped mind. We were just wretched little orphans, cold and hungry, who were seeking safety, warmth and love from each other. But the world would like to destroy innocence right from the start.

It seems Mummo started taking care of us right after Father was taken prisoner. We weren’t fancy free ourselves for many days after Father’s arrest for the authorities came and took us to the Salvation Army children’s shelter on Pengerkatu in the suburb of Kallio. We were joined by a fourth boy whose name I can’t recall. The four of us were permanent residents. Well, at least we were fed — not enough of course as far as we were concerned— but regularly. Salted herring was served nearly every day, and it was food which we’d never had in our lives at home.

We were always hungry. A block away from the shelter, if you went along Kaikutie and then across on Hämeentie [in those days it was called Eastern Viertotie], was located the Haapaniemi playground where we were sent to play early each Sunday morning before breakfast. We played of course, but food was our main focus. That’s why one of us was always on guard duty — laying on the grass on one’s stomach watching the window of the children’s shelter from where one of the ladies would give us a signal to come to breakfast by waving her white apron. And we didn’t have to be called twice — our legs fairly flew up Kaikukuja, through the front door and to the second level. The ladies were often rather put out because we were always so hungry — our hunger didn’t seem to diminish in spite of their best efforts. In August when the new potatoes ripened we were each given 3-4 large potatoes which vanished in a flash. Our stomachs were like basketballs, our legs spindly and our arms like sticks. One sees pictures of children like this in countries where famine is a daily way of life.

I got a bit ahead of myself, because we had several experiences before we got to August. All four of us permanent shelter kids got impetigo in the spring — probably through contact with the kids who were there only during the day. But we were the ones who got it. White coverings out of linen were sewn for our hands and we had to keep these on all day. These kept us from scratching our sores until they bled, and I guess it was some kind of preventive measure as well to keep the other children from catching the condition. Finally we were smeared with coal tar from head to foot and it was left on our skin for a day or two, then following this treatment we were taken to the sauna. The sores came off in no time flat, but we bore scars from our experience for a long time afterward. And if the truth we told, I still have several scars from it around my nose very similar to those one would get from having small pox.

For the summer we were sent to a vacation home near Hämeenlinna. It’s true we received a lot of fresh air and sunshine, but it was still pretty slim pickings in the food department which was the same everywhere. The main meals consisted of porridge and soup. The porridge had a lot of potatoes among the grain, but every other day the potatoes were just potato skins. This was true for the soup also, which was made from salted horse meat. The meat was so salty that we didn’t even try to eat it. So was the broth. The only thing that was edible was the potatoes. And every other day it was potato skins. It kept us alive — but you can be sure that our hunger never went away. When we got back to Pengerkatu it was new potato season, as I mentioned previously.

Then in the fall Father was released from prison, or rather from prison camp — he was as thin as a skeleton but otherwise healthy. He came to fetch us as soon as he was able and we went back to our former small room on Tokankatu. Our regular routine started again. The children went back to school — everyone was advanced a grade, and so I started in the First Level of the Upper Form (3rd Grade) at Tokankatu Elementary School. Our teacher was Pekka Kalervo — a great man — a bachelor. I can’t recall receiving any kind of report card from elementary school, and if I did get one it was handed in as part of my registration at my new school. It would have been interesting - to see what my progress was in elementary school. I can’t recall if I ever studied at home, or if we had homework at all.

I was thin and small in stature — even after four years when I graduated from elementary school I was the third shortest in line. The shortest one was Kunnari — I can’t recall his first name, and the second shortest was Topi Piironen, who lived at the top of the hill on Pursimieskatu and was my good friend. Manne Seitola was placed in a different class but like me was also in the First Level. We didn’t get to see each other much at school, but we were inseparable after school.

We started receiving clothing through the school: a wool jacket and woolen knickers, and also some wooden shoes. The wooden shoes had leather uppers just as in regular leather boots, but came with thick wooden soles. What a clatter there was in the halls at school since there were a lot us who were on government assistance. — The wooden shoes were warm in the winter, but one had to be careful when wearing them because they had no give to them at all. One day then I slipped on the stone stairs to the school’s bathroom and sprained my ankle very badly. But it wasn’t the only time because my ankles were very weak.

I even received a pair of skates somewhere along the way, but nothing came of my attempts at skating because my ankles wouldn’t hold me up at all. I guess I would have eventually mastered the skill, but there didn’t seem to be that many opportunities for skating. While we lived on Tokankatu we used to go to the canal at Hietalahti Harbor which was a great place for skating during the time the first clear ice appeared. We had to go to the other side of the canal where the farmers’ market was located. On that side there were wooden stairs which went down to the water, and the islanders had an easy time docking up their boats and the public had free access. Here the dock wasn’t two meters above the water level as it was on our side. But this skating period didn’t come for several years.

So this was our winter clothing, but in the summer things were a little different. In those days we didn’t need any shoes in the summer, but later the fashion was running shoes with long black socks which were kept in place with elastic bands placed right above the knees. I think this style was picked up from the women’s fashions — it was bit hard on the circulation at times. The boys wore light trousers and shirts which were made out of a grey cotton material in the Russian peasant style.

I think it was already during the first grade when, in addition to my regular school, I was required to go to the Työtupa (Work House). As I recall it was located north of Factory Park on Laivurinkatu. Or it may have been just a bit west of this which would have placed it on Fredrikinkatu. The trolley went past it so it should be a sure landmark, or have the tracks been pulled up by now since there is no trace of them on the map? Well — be that as it may — I learned how to sew and how to fix the soles on shoes. I sewed myself a shirt — that I remember clearly. But whose boot soles did I fix? That I don’t recall. I was wearing running shoes in those days, so the soles that needed repair weren’t mine. Well, at least I learned something during my time at that place.

In the fall of 1918 I developed two boils which just would not heal. There were truly huge — where in the world would I have picked them up? It’s true that I had a weakened constitution, but on the other hand there were so many rotting animal carcasses around, and most of them were not buried very well, so these may have spread infections as well. Be that as it may, Father tried to open the boils up with his straight razor. It wasn’t successful of course because they were deeply imbedded, and Father just didn’t have the heart to cut into them very deeply. There was no other remedy but to go to the Surgery Clinic and the cysts were history. The doctor sliced twice into my right arm, and the puss just oozed out. — Now you have to remember that I was only nine years old at the time, and I was alone on this visit and had to explain my condition myself. No anaesthetic or numbing was used in those days — the doctor just sliced away with his scalpel. The blade was only about an inch long, but when a little lad like that is taking stock of the coming procedure he can get a bit apprehensive. The other boil was on the right side of my neck —of course I wasn’t able to see it for myself — but I was so terrified that I said to the surgeon, "Cut just once!" And he didn’t need to slice twice. I still bear the scars. But I got rid of the boils once and for all.

How to record this next item on paper so that it would be clear, and so that it would be possible to follow the line of reasoning which resulted in the next incident? During the year of the Rebellion I had become used to obtaining my own food and often this was accomplished by resorting to begging. This had schooled me to be a good actor, because one had to learn now to whine artfully enough to soften someone’s heart. I had of course become so good at it that it seemed a shame to waste such a talent. One thing led to another and I began begging quite regularly. I usually hung around the Kaivopuisto side of town because the belief was that it was inhabited by more affluent people. Rich people usually didn’t give anything, but the poor folks always seemed to have a bit of bread or something else to spare — sometimes even a copper penny which could be used for the movies. That woolen jacket came in really handy because, when the bottom of the breast pocket ripped out, lots of room was created between the flannel lining and the actual jacket in which to stuff all sorts of things.

The times were better but, as I said before, we were always hungry. The famine had left hollow spaces in the growing bodies of little boys which weren’t very easy to fill. On the other hand, begging had become a profession for me and I wasn’t old enough yet to really do anything else. I assume that some of my school friends, one and then another, spotted me on these excursions and for this reason I changed my route closer to the center of town. This didn’t prove very successful, but one had to give it a try. However, on my very first try I happened to ring the doorbell at the home of Ernst Lampen. He was a bachelor who taught Finnish grammar at the Normal School, but I didn’t know that at the time. I recited to him the usual litany which I had memorized, and he started to ask me all sorts of questions. The first one was how old I was, to which I gave the expected answer. Then he asked me where I went to school. Suddenly I had a mental block and couldn’t remember my name or the name of my teacher. I started getting really afraid that he would call the authorities and I would be sent to a reform school, or some other place on that order. I was, therefore, unable to come up with any intelligent answers. He got tired of asking me further questions, and finally gave me a three-penny coin as I was leaving. Whereupon this little boy scooted home as fast as his legs would carry him, and from then on I never again went out to harass people. When I think about this in retrospect, I’m sure that some older boy had coached Veikko and me, as well as other boys in our housing complex, to say the right things that would win people over. I guess you could call it the "Tokankatu acting school!"

Translated from the original Finnish: Marja-Leena Tolvanen-Rogers