Stories

Alfred’s father thought that school makes children lazy and snobbish. In Alfred’s childhood, there was a primary school in Räyrinki, but he was not allowed to go there and had to attend an ambulatory school, just like his siblings. As a teenager, Alfred held a long coffee strike with his brother. The money he saved was to be used by one of the two brothers to secretly apply for the folk high school in Ilmajoki. Alfred applied and was admitted, but the situation was contradictory. His father stated: “If you leave now, there’s no coming back!” Out on the fields, Alfred agonised whether to continue ploughing or go to school.  The lady of the neighbouring farm encouraged him: “Well, you certainly have done a lot of ploughing by now!” That was the beginning of Alfred’s studies, which were not financially easy. The head of the folk high school, for example, supported Alfred by giving him his old trousers. Sometimes there was not even enough food. At the final stage of his upper secondary studies, Alfred participated in the Finnish Civil War on the side of the Whites. Nevertheless, because of his hard work and persistence, his success in studies continued so that he finally graduated as a Master of Arts in spring 1923. (Alaspää 1994, 439–443)