you do now; you must learn
to be lavish of kindly words.

"New habits you must acquire and forget the old ones; you must leave
behind you the friendship of your sister, and be satisfied with the
friendship of your sister-in-law; you must learn to make humble reverence,
to bow low, to be generous in kindly words.

"If the old man in the corner be to you even like a wolf, if the old woman
in her corner be to you even as a she-bear in the house, if the
brother-in-law be to you even as a serpent upon the threshold, if the
sister-in-law be to you even as a sharp nail, none the less you must show
them each and all exactly the same respect and the same obedience that you
have been accustomed to display to your father, to display to your mother,
under the roof of your childhood home."

Then follows a really terrible list of the duties that she must perform
every day from early morning until late at night; to mention them all
would take too long. I quote only a few, enough to show that the position
of a Finnish wife was by no means an easy one.

"So soon as the cock crows in the morning you must be quick to rise; you
must keep your ears awake to hear the cry of the cock. And if there be no
cock, or the cock does not crow, then let the moon be as a cock for you,
let the constellation of the great Bear tell you when it is time to rise.
Then you must quickly make the fire, skilfully removing the ashes, without
sprinkling them upon the floor. Then quickly go to the stable, clean the
stable, take food to the cattle, feed all the animals on the farm. For
already the cow of your mother-in-law will be lowing for food; the horse
of your father-in-law will be whinnying; the milch cow of your
sister-in-law will be straining at her tether; the calf of your
brother-in-law will be bleating; for all will be waiting for her whose
duty it is to give them hay, whose duty it is to give them food."

Like instructions are given about feeding the younger animals and the
fowls and the little pigs. But she must not forget the children of the
house at the same time:

"When you have fed the animals and cleaned the stables come back quickly,
quickly as a snow-storm. For in the chamber the little child has awakened
and has begun to cry in his cradle. He cannot speak, poor little one; he
cannot tell you, if he be hungry or if he be cold, or if anything
extraordinary has happened to him, before someone that he knows has come
to care for him, before he