WHEN FATHER BROUGHT HOME THE LAMP

BY

JUHANI AHO


When father bought the lamp, or a little before that, he said to
mother:

"Hark ye, mother--oughtn't we to buy us a lamp?"

"A lamp? What sort of a lamp?"

"What! Don't you know that the storekeeper who lives in the market
town has brought from St. Petersburg lamps that actually burn
better than ten PAREA? [Footnote: A pare (pr. payray; Swed.,
perta; Ger., pergei) is a resinous pine chip, or splinter, used
instead of torch or candle to light the poorer houses in Finland.] They've
already got a lamp of the sort at the parsonage."

"Oh, yes! Isn't it one of those things which shines in the middle
of the room so that we can see to read in every corner, just as if
it was broad daylight?"

"That's just it. There's oil that burns in it, and you only have
to light it of an evening, and it burns on without going out till
the next morning."