Dickensin toimituksia

Syksyssä on hyviäkin puolia, seuraamani ulkomaalaiset historiaradio-ohjelmat ovat aloittaneet kautensa. BBC:n Making Historyn ensimmäisestä jaksosta kuulin, että Dickensin aikanaan toimittamaa lehteä on digitoitu ja parhaillaan vapaaehtoisten toimesta oikoluetaan. Pelkästään koneluetustakin tekstistä voi kokemukseni mukaan olla iloa, joten ei kun hakuja tekemään. Tuloksia:

Household Words 5.5.1854 sisältää pikkuartikkelin Poetry of Finland. Samassa lehdessä 29.9.1855 runo Ghost-Music, joka sijoittuu Suomeen lähelle paikkaa "Rupes Nova". Artikkeli Finnish Mythology löytyy 27.3.1858 julkaistusta numerosta.

Lehdessä All the Year Around kerrottiin 15.8.1863 Viron rannikon merihirviöstä ja Suomi oli salakuljettajien tavaroiden lähde. Saman lehden numerossa 22.4.1865 otsikon Antlers alla todetaan

And for their height, since I came into England, I have read Dr. Schrcederas, his chemical dispensatory, translated into English by Dr. Rowland, where he writes, 'that when he lived in Finland under Gustavus Horn, he saw an elke that was killed and presented to Gustavus his mother, seventeen spans high.

All the Year Around 17.10.1863 sisälsi artikkelin Eatable ghosts, joka käsitteli Viron rannikon ruotsalaista väestöä, nimeltään tässä "Eibo-folk". Suomalaiset esiintyvät tekstissä taikojina:

The Finns are born conjurors, which certainly does not seem to be the case with the Eibo-folk ; and hence it is but natural that in the legends of the latter, magical victories over the plague are ascribed to their more astute neighbours. A Finnish servant-girl at Kertell contrived to lock up the plague in an empty stable, but a stupid slut would sleep in the stall in spite of all warnings, and not only perished herself, but let loose the malady. So large a space as a stable was not required, for on another occasion the same Finnish girl bored a hole in the door-post, into which she thrust the pestilence, and then stopped up the aperture with a peg of juniper, which kept the prisoner fast for seven years, seven months, and seven days.

Kertomusta Oolannin sodasta Hangon kohdalla löytyy lehdestä Household Word Narrative vuonna 1855, myös toiseen otteeseen. Sodan suomalaisia vankeja esiintyy myös edellisen vuoden lehdessä:

The officers are stout-built, powerful men, but the soldiers have that thin lathy appearance which is seen in our workhouses and prisons. There was not a single robust looking man among them, and their hard, spare forms contrasted strangely with those of our well-fed sailors. The prisoners brought by the Termagant are for the most part young men, and have little about them of that military air and carriage which the nations of the west inseparably associate with the profession of arms. They were scantily clad, having no undercoats. The stripes indicating grades of ranks or good conduct, instead of being upon the arm, are on the lapel ; the number of the regiment is marked upon the band of the forage caps, but not in metal, and facings seem used as in other European services. One half of the prisoners belonged to a Russian corps, and wore red facings ; the other were Finnish Chasseurs, and had blue facings. During the voyage they held entirely aloof from each other, the Finlanders disclaiming the idea of being considered Russians, and the Russians probably equally jealous of being confounded with the Finlanders.