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diff --git a/18165.txt b/18165.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1174991 --- /dev/null +++ b/18165.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10326 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Russian Rambles, by Isabel F. Hapgood + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Russian Rambles + +Author: Isabel F. Hapgood + +Release Date: April 13, 2006 [EBook #18165] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUSSIAN RAMBLES *** + + + + +Produced by James Rusk (jrusk@excite.com) + + + + +RUSSIAN RAMBLES + +BY + +ISABEL F. HAPGOOD + +AUTHOR OF "THE EPIC SONGS OF RUSSIA" + +BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 1895 + + + + +TO RUSSIA AND MY RUSSIAN FRIENDS + +I DEDICATE THESE NOTES OF MY SOJOURN WITH THEM. THEY MAY REST ASSURED +THAT, THOUGH MANY OF MY MOST CHERISHED EXPERIENCES ARE NOT RECORDED IN +THESE PAGES, THEY REMAIN UNFORGOTTEN, DEEPLY IMPRINTED ON MY HEART. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The innumerable questions which have been put to me since my return to +America have called to my attention the fact that, in spite of all that +has been written about Russia, the common incidents of everyday life are +not known, or are known so imperfectly that any statement of them is a +travesty. I may cite, as an example, a book published within the past +two years, and much praised in America by the indiscriminating as a +truthful picture of life. The whole story hung upon the great musical +talent of the youthful hero. The hero skated to church through the +streets, gazed down the long aisle where the worshipers were assembled +(presumably in pews), ascended to the organ gallery, sang an impromptu +solo with trills and embellishments, was taken in hand by the enraptured +organist who had played there for thirty years, and developed into a +great composer. Omitting a mass of other absurdities scattered through +the book, I will criticise this crucial point. There are no organs or +organists in Russia; there are no pews, or aisles, or galleries for the +choir, and there are never any trills or embellishments in the church +music. A boy could skate to church in New York more readily than in +Moscow, where such a thing was never seen, and where they are not +educated up to roller skates. Lastly, as the church specified, St. +Vasily, consists of a nest of small churches connected by narrow, +labyrinthine corridors, and is approached from the street up two flights +of low-ceiled stairs, it is an impossibility that the boy should have +viewed the "aisle" and assembled congregation from his skates at the +door. That is a fair specimen of the distortions of facts which I am +constantly encountering. + +It has seemed to me that there is room for a book which shall impart an +idea of a few of the ordinary conditions of life and of the characters +of the inhabitants, illustrated by apposite anecdotes from my personal +experience. For this purpose, a collection of detached pictures is +better than a continuous narrative of travel. + +I am told that I must abuse Russia, if I wish to be popular in America. +Why, is more than I or my Russian friends can understand. Perhaps it +arises from the peculiar fact that people find it more interesting to +hear bad things of their neighbors than good, and the person who +furnishes startling tales is considered better company than the humdrum +truth-teller or the charitably disposed. + +The truth is, that people too frequently go to Russia with the +deliberate expectation and intention of seeing queer things. That they +do frequently contrive to see queer things, I admit. Countess X. Z., who +in appearance and command of the language could not have been +distinguished from an Englishwoman, related to me a pertinent anecdote +when we were discussing this subject. She chanced to travel from St. +Petersburg to Moscow in a compartment of the railway carriage with two +Americans. The latter told her that they had been much shocked to meet a +peasant on the Nevsky Prospekt, holding in his hand a live chicken, from +which he was taking occasional bites, feathers and all. That they saw +nothing of the sort is positive; but what they did see which could have +been so ingeniously distorted was more than the combined powers of the +countess and myself were equal to guessing. + +The general idea of foreign visitors seems to be that they shall find +the Russia of the seventeenth century. I am sure that the Russia of Ivan +the Terrible's time, a century earlier, would precisely meet their +views. They find the reality decidedly tame in comparison, and feel +bound to supply the missing spice. A trip to the heart of Africa would, +I am convinced, approach much nearer to the ideal of "adventure" +generally cherished. The traveler to Africa and to Russia is equally +bound to narrate marvels of his "experiences" and of the customs of the +natives. + +But, in order to do justice to any foreign country, the traveler must +see people and customs not with the eyes of his body only, but with the +eyes of his heart, if he would really understand them. Above all things, +he must not deliberately buckle on blinders. Of no country is this axiom +more true than of Russia. A man who would see Russia clearly must strip +himself of all preconceived prejudices of religion, race, and language, +and study the people from their own point of view. If he goes about +repeating Napoleon I.'s famous saying, "Scratch a Russian and you will +find a Tatar," he will simply betray his own ignorance of history and +facts. + +In order to understand matters, a knowledge of the language is +indispensable in any country. Naturally, very few possess this knowledge +in Russia, where it is most indispensable of all. There are guides, but +they are a lottery at best: Russians who know very little English, +English who know very little Russian, or Germans who are impartially +ignorant of both, and earn their fees by relating fables about the +imperial family and things in general, when they are not candidly +saying, "I don't know." I saw more or less of that in the case of other +people's guides; I had none of my own, though they came to me and begged +the privilege of taking me about gratuitously if I would recommend them. +I heard of it from Russians. An ideal cicerone, one of the attendants in +the Moscow Historical Museum, complained to me on this subject, and +rewarded me for sparing him the infliction by getting permission to take +us to rooms which were not open to the public, where the director +himself did the honors for us. Sometimes travelers dispense with the +guides, as well as with a knowledge of the language, but if they have a +talent for pronouncing what are called, I believe, "snap judgments," +that does not prevent their fulfilling, on their return home, their +tacitly implied duty of uttering in print a final verdict on everything +from soup to government. + +If the traveler be unusually lucky, he may make acquaintance on a +steamer with a Russian who can talk English, and who can and will give +him authentic information. These three conditions are not always united +in one person. Moreover, a stranger cannot judge whether his Russian is +a representative man or not, what is his position in the social +hierarchy, and what are his opportunities for knowing whereof he speaks. +"Do you suppose that God, who knows all things, does not know our table +of ranks?" asks an arrogant General in one of the old Russian comedies. +I have no doubt that the Lord does know that remarkable Jacob's ladder +which conducts to the heaven of high public place and the good things of +life, and whose every rung is labeled with some appetizing title and +privilege. But a newly arrived foreigner cannot know it, or the +traditions of the three greater, distinct classes into which the people +are divided. + +Russians have become so used to hearing and reading remarkable +statements about themselves that they only smile indulgently at each +fresh specimen of ill-will or ignorance. They keep themselves posted on +what is said of them, and frequently quote choice passages for the +amusement of foreigners who know better, but never when they would be +forced to condescend to explanation. Alexander Dumas, Senior, once wrote +a book on Russia, which is a fruitful source of hilarity in that country +yet, and a fair sample of such performances. To quote but one +illustration,--he described halting to rest under the shade of a great +_kliukva_ tree. The _kliukva_ is the tiny Russian cranberry, +and grows accordingly. Another French author quite recently contributed +an item of information which Russians have adopted as a characteristic +bit of ignorance and erected into a standard jest. He asserted that +every village in Russia has its own gallows, on which it hangs its own +criminals off-hand. As the death penalty is practically abolished in +Russia, except for high treason, which is not tried in villages, the +Russians are at a loss to explain what the writer can have mistaken for +a gallows. There are two "guesses" current as to his meaning: the two +uprights and cross-beam of the village swing; or the upright, surmounted +by a cross-board, on which is inscribed the number of inhabitants in the +village. Most people favor the former theory, but consider it a pity +that he has not distinctly pointed to the latter by stating that the +figures there inscribed represent the number of persons hanged. That +would have rendered the tale bloodthirsty, interesting, absolutely +perfect,--from a foreign point of view. + +I have not attempted to analyze the "complicated" national character. +Indeed, I am not sure that it is complicated. Russians of all classes, +from the peasant up, possess a naturally simple, sympathetic disposition +and manner, as a rule, tinged with a friendly warmth whose influence is +felt as soon as one crosses the frontier. Shall I be believed if I say +that I found it in custom-house officers and gendarmes? For the rest, +characters vary quite as much as they do elsewhere. It is a question of +individuals, in character and morals, and it is dangerous to indulge in +generalizations. My one generalization is that they are, as a nation, +too long-suffering and lenient in certain directions, that they allow +too much personal independence in certain things. + +If I succeed in dispelling some of the absurd ideas which are now +current about Russia, I shall be content. If I win a little +comprehension and kindly sympathy for them, I shall be more than +content. + +ISABEL F. HAPGOOD. New York, January 1, 1895. + + + + +CONTENTS + +I. PASSPORTS, POLICE, AND POST-OFFICE IN RUSSIA. + +II. THE NEVSKY PROSPEKT + +III. MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE RUSSIAN CENSOR + +IV. BARGAINING IN RUSSIA + +V. EXPERIENCES + +VI. A RUSSIAN SUMMER RESORT + +VII. A STROLL IN MOSCOW WITH COUNT TOLSTOY + +VIII. COUNT TOLSTOY AT HOME + +IX. A RUSSIAN HOLY CITY + +X. A JOURNEY ON THE VOLGA + +XI. THE RUSSIAN KUMYS CURE + +XII. MOSCOW MEMORIES + +XIII. THE NIZHNI-NOVGOROD FAIR AND THE VOLGA + + + + +RUSSIAN RAMBLES. + + + + +I. + +PASSPORTS, POLICE, AND POST-OFFICE IN RUSSIA. + + +We imported into Russia, untaxed, undiscovered by the custom-house +officials, a goodly stock of misadvice, misinformation, apprehensions, +and prejudices, like most foreigners, albeit we were unusually well +informed, and confident that we were correctly posted on the grand +outlines of Russian life, at least. We were forced to begin very +promptly the involuntary process of getting rid of them. Our anxiety +began in Berlin. We visited the Russian consul-general there to get our +passports _vised_. He said, "You should have got the signature of the +American consul. Do that, and return here." + +At that moment, the door leading from his office to his drawing-room +opened, and his wife made her appearance on the threshold, with the +emphatic query, "_When_ are you coming?" + +"Immediately, my dear," he replied. "Just wait a moment, until I get rid +of these Americans." + +Then he decided to rid himself of us for good. "I will assume the +responsibility for you," he said, affixed his signature on the spot, to +spare himself a second visit, and, collecting his fees, bowed us out. I +suppose he argued that we should have known the ropes and attended to +all details accurately, in order to ward off suspicion, had we been +suspicious characters. How could he know that the Americans understood +Russian, and that this plain act of "getting rid" of us would weigh on +our minds all the way to the Russian frontier? + +At Wirballen the police evoked a throb of gratitude from our relieved +hearts. No one seemed to suspect that the American government owned a +consul in Berlin who could write his name on our huge parchments, which +contrasted so strongly with the compact little documents from other +lands. + +"Which are your passports?" asked the tall gendarme who guarded the door +of the restaurant, as we passed out to take our seats in the Russian +train. + +"The biggest," I replied, without mentioning names, and he handed them +over with a grin. No fuss over passports or custom-house, though we had +carefully provided cause! This was beginning badly, and we were +disappointed at our tame experience. + +On our arrival in St. Petersburg, we were not even asked for our +passports. Curiosity became restless within us. Was there some sinister +motive in this neglect, after the harrowing tales we had heard from a +woman lecturer, and read in books which had actually got themselves +printed, about gendarmes forcing themselves into people's rooms while +they were dressing, demanding their passports, and setting a guard at +their doors; after which, gendarmes in disguises (which they were clever +enough to penetrate) followed them all over the country? Why was it thus +with them, and not with us? The _why_ ripened gradually. We inquired if +the passports were not wanted. + +"No; if you intend to remain only a few days, it is not worth while to +register them," was the startling reply; and those wretched, unwieldy +parchments remained in our possession, even after we had announced that +we did not meditate departing for some time. I hesitate to set down the +whole truth about the anxiety they cost us for a while. How many +innocent officers, in crack regiments (as we discovered when we learned +the uniforms), in search of a breakfast or a dinner, did we not take for +the police upon our tracks, in search of those concealed documents! Our +excitement was ministered to by the Tatar waiters, who, not having +knowledge of our nationality, mistook us for English people, and wrecked +our nerves by making our tea as strong and black as beer, with a view to +large "tea-money" for this delicate attention to our insular tastes. + +If no one wanted those documents, what were _we_ to do with them? Wear +them as breastplates (folded), or as garments (full size)? No pocket of +any sex would tolerate them, and we had been given to understand by +veracious (?) travelers that it was as much as our lives were worth to +be separated from them for a single moment. At the end of a week we +forced the hotel to take charge of them. They were registered, and +immediately thrown back on our hands. Then we built lean-tos on our +petticoats to hold them, and carried them about until they looked aged +and crumpled and almost frayed, like ancestral parchments. We even slept +with them under our pillows. At last we also were nearly worn out, and +we tossed those Sindbad passports into a drawer, then into a trunk. +There they remained for three months; and when they were demanded, we +had to undertake a serious search, so completely had their existence and +whereabouts been lost to our lightened spirits. In the mean time we had +grasped the elementary fact that they would be required only on a change +of domicile. By dint of experience we learned various other facts, which +I may as well summarize at once. + +The legal price of registration is twenty kopeks (about ten cents), the +value of the stamp. But hotel and lodging-house keepers never set it +down in one's bill at less than double that amount. It often rises to +four or five times the legal charge, according to the elegance of the +rooms which one occupies, and also according to the daring of the +landlord. In one house in Moscow, they even tried to make us pay again +on leaving. We refused, and as we already had possession of the +passports, which, they pretended, required a second registry, they could +do nothing. This abuse of overcharging for passport registration on the +part of landlords seems to have been general. It became so serious that +the Argus-eyed prefect of St. Petersburg, General Gresser (now +deceased), issued an order that no more than the law allowed should be +exacted from lodgers. I presume, however, that all persons who could not +read Russian, or who did not chance to notice this regulation, continued +to contribute to the pockets of landlords, since human nature is very +much alike everywhere, in certain professions. I had no occasion to test +the point personally, as the law was issued just previous to my +departure from the country. + +The passport law seems to be interpreted by each man for himself in +other respects, also. In some places, we found that we could stay +overnight quite informally; at others, our passports were required. Once +we spent an entire month incognito. At Kazan, our balcony commanded a +full view of the police department of registry, directly opposite. The +landlord sniffed disdainfully at the mention of our passports, and I am +sure that we should not have been asked for them at all, had not one of +the officials, who chanced to be less wilted by the intense heat than +his fellows,--they had been gazing lazily at us, singly and in +battalions, in the intervals of their rigorous idleness, for the last +four and twenty hours,--suddenly taken a languid interest in us about +one hour before our departure. The landlord said he was "simply +ridiculous." On another occasion, a waiter in a hotel recognized the +Russians who were with us as neighbors of his former master in the days +of serfdom. He suggested that he would arrange not to have our passports +called for at all, since they might be kept overtime, and our departure +would thus be delayed, and we be incommoded. Only one of our friends had +even taken the trouble to bring a "document;" but the whole party spent +three days under the protection of this ex-serf. Of course, we bespoke +his attendance for ourselves, and remembered that little circumstance in +his "tea-money." This practice of detaining passports arbitrarily, from +which the ex-serf was protecting us, prevails in some localities, +judging from the uproar about it in the Russian newspapers. It is +contrary to the law, and can be resisted by travelers who have time, +courage, and determination. It appears to be a device of the landlords +at watering places and summer resorts generally, who desire to detain +guests. I doubt whether the police have anything to do with it. What we +paid the ex-serf for was, practically, protection against his employer. + +Our one experience of this device was coupled with a good deal of +amusement, and initiated us into some of the laws of the Russian +post-office as well. To begin my story intelligibly, I must premise that +no Russian could ever pronounce or spell our name correctly unaided. A +worse name to put on a Russian official document, with its _H_ and its +double _o_, never was invented! There is no letter _h_ in the Russian +alphabet, and it is customary to supply the deficiency with the letter +_g_, leaving the utterer to his fate as to which of the two legitimate +sounds--the foreign or the native--he is to produce. It affords a +test of cultivation parallel to that involved in giving a man a knife +and fork with a piece of pie, and observing which he uses. That is the +American shibboleth. Lomonosoff, the famous founder of Russian literary +language in the last century, wrote a long rhymed strophe, containing a +mass of words in which the _g_ occurs legitimately and illegitimately, +and wound up by wailing out the query, "Who can emerge from the crucial +test of pronouncing all these correctly, unimpeached?" That is the +Russian shibboleth. + +As a result of this peculiarity, our passports came back from each trip +to the police office indorsed with a brand-new version of our name. We +figured under Gepgud, Gapgod, Gabgot, and a number of other disguises, +all because they persisted in spelling by the eye, and would not accept +my perfect phonetic version. The same process applied to the English +name Wylie has resulted in the manufacture of Villie. And the pleasant +jest of it all was that we never troubled ourselves to sort our +passports, because, although there existed not the slightest family +resemblance even between my mother and myself, we looked exactly alike +in those veracious mirrors. This explained to our dull comprehension how +the stories of people using stolen passports could be true. However, the +Russians were not to blame for this particular absurdity. It was the +fault of the officials in America. + +On the occasion to which I refer, we had gone out of St. Petersburg, and +had left a written order for the post-office authorities to forward our +mail to our new address. The bank officials, who should certainly have +known better, had said that this would be sufficient, and had even +prepared the form, on their stamped paper, for our signature. Ten days +elapsed; no letters came. Then the form was returned, with orders to get +our signatures certified to by the chief of police or the police captain +of our district! When we recovered from our momentary vexation, we +perceived that this was an excellent safeguard. I set out for the house +of the chief of police. + +His orderly said he was not at home, but would be there at eleven +o'clock. I took a little look into the church,--my infallible receipt +for employing spare moments profitably, which has taught me many things. +At eleven o'clock the chief was still "not at home." I decided that this +was in an "official" sense only, when I caught sight of a woman +surveying me cautiously through the crack of the opposite door to the +antechamber. I immediately jumped to the conclusion that a woman calling +upon a chief of police was regarded as a suspicious character; and +rightly, after various shooting incidents in St. Petersburg. My +suspicions were confirmed by my memory of the fact that I had been told +that the prefect of St. Petersburg was "not at home" in business hours, +though his gray lambskin cap--the only one in town--was lying before +me at the time. But I also recollected that when I had made use of that +cap as a desk, on which to write my request, to the horror of the +orderly, and had gone home, the prefect had sent a gendarme to do what I +wanted. Accordingly, I told this orderly my business in a loud, clear +voice. The crack of the door widened as I proceeded, and at my last word +I was invited into the chief's study by the orderly, who had been +signaled to. + +The chief turned out to be a polished and amiable baron, with a German +name, who was eager to render any service, but who had never come into +collision with that post-office regulation before. I remarked that I +regretted not being able to certify to ourselves with our passports, as +they had not been returned to us. He declared that the passports were +quite unnecessary as a means of identification; my word was sufficient. +But he flew into a rage over the detention of the passports. That +something decidedly vigorous took place over those papers, and that the +landlord of our hotel was to blame, it was easy enough to gather from +the meek air and the apologies with which they were handed to us, a +couple of hours later. The chief dispatched his orderly on the spot with +my post-office petition. During the man's absence, the chief brought in +and introduced to me his wife, his children, and his dogs, and showed me +over his house and garden. We were on very good terms by the time the +orderly returned with the signature of the prefect (who had never seen +us) certifying to our signatures, on faith. The baron sealed the +petition for me with his biggest coat of arms, and posted it, and the +letters came promptly and regularly. Thereafter, for the space of our +four months' stay in the place, the baron and I saluted when we met. We +even exchanged "shakehands," as foreigners call the operation, and the +compliments of the day, in church, when the baron escorted royalty. I +think he was a Lutheran, and went to that church when etiquette did not +require his presence at the Russian services, where I was always to be +found. + +As, during those four months, I obtained several very special privileges +which required the prefect's signature,--as foreigners were by no +means common residents there,--and as I had become so well known by +sight to most of the police force of the town that they saluted me when +I passed, and their dogs wagged their tails at me and begged for a +caress, I imagined that I was properly introduced to the authorities, +and that they could lay hands upon me at any moment when the necessity +for so doing should become apparent. Nevertheless, one friend, having +applied to the police for my address, spent two whole days in finding +me, at haphazard. After a residence of three months, other friends +appealed in vain to the police; then obtained from the prefect, who had +certified to us, the information that no such persons lived in the town, +the only foreigners there being two sisters named Genrut! With this +lucid clue our friends cleverly found us. Those who understand Russian +script will be able to unravel the process by which we were thus +disguised and lost. We had been lost before that in St. Petersburg, and +we recognized the situation, with variations, at a glance. There is no +such thing as a real practical directory in Russian cities. When one's +passport is _vised_ by the police, the name and information therein set +forth are copied on a large sheet of paper, and this document takes its +place among many thousand others, on the thick wire files of the Address +Office. I went there once. That was enough in every way. It lingers in +my mind as the darkest, dirtiest, worst-ventilated, most depressing +place I saw in Russia. + +If one wishes to obtain the address of any person, he goes or sends to +this Address Office, fills out a blank, for which he pays a couple of +kopeks, and, after patient waiting for the over-busy officials to search +the big files, he receives a written reply, with which he must content +himself. The difficulty, in general, about this system lies here: one +must know the exact Christian name, patronymic, and surname of the +person wanted, and how to spell them correctly (according to police +lights). One must also know the exact occupation of the person, if he be +not a noble living on his income, without business or official position. +Otherwise, the attempt to find any one is a harder task than finding the +proverbial needle in a haystack. A person who had been asked to call +upon us, and who afterward became a valued friend, tried three times in +vain to find us by this means, and was informed that we did not exist. +This was owing to some eccentricity in the official spelling of our +name. An application to the American Legation, as a desperate final +resort, served the purpose at last. The same thing happened when the +telegraph messenger tried to find us, to deliver an important cablegram. +Still, in spite of this experience, I always regarded my passport as an +important means of protection. In case of accident, one could be traced +by it. A traveler's passport once registered at the police office, the +landlord or lodging-house keeper is responsible for the life of his +guest. If the landlord have any bandit propensities, this serves as a +check upon them, since he is bound to produce the person, or to say what +has become of him. In the same way, when one is traveling by imperial +post carriage, the postilion must deliver his passenger safe and sound +at the next post station, or be promptly arrested. The passport serves +here as a sort of waybill for the human freight. When a foreigner's +passport is registered for the first time, he receives permission to +remain six months in the country. At the expiration of that period, on +formal application, a fresh permit is issued, which must be paid for, +and which covers one year. This takes the form of a special document, +attached to the foreign passport with cord and sealing-wax; and attached +to it, in turn, is a penalty for cutting the cord or tampering with the +official seal. These acts must be done by the proper officials. I +thought it might be interesting to attend to securing this special +permit myself instead of sending the _dvornik_ (the yard porter), whose +duties comprise as many odds and ends as those of the prime minister of +an empire. + +At the office I was questioned concerning my religion and my occupation, +which had not been inquired into previously. The question about religion +was a mere formality, as they care nothing for one's creed. I stated, in +reply to the last question, that I was merely "a traveler." + +"Don't say that; it's too expensive," returned the official, in a +friendly way. + +"To whom? How?" I asked. + +"To you, of course. A traveler, as a person of leisure, pays a huge +tax." + +"Call me a literary person, then, if you like." + +"That's not an occupation!" (Observe the delicate, unconscious sarcasm +of this rejoinder! As a matter of fact, the Russian idea of literary men +is that they all hold some government or other appointment, on the +committee of censorship, for example,--some ratable position. Upon +this they can depend for a livelihood, aside from the product of their +brains; which is practical, and affords a firm foundation upon which to +execute caprices.) + +He suggested various things which I was not, and I declined to accept +his suggestions. We got it settled at last, though he shook his head +over my extravagant obstinacy in paying two dollars, when I might have +got off with half the sum and a lie. He imparted a good deal of amusing +information as to the manner in which people deliberately evade the +passport tax with false statements; for example, governesses, who would +scorn to be treated as nurses, get themselves described as _bonnes_ to +save money. I have no doubt that the authorities amiably assist them by +friendly suggestions, as in my own case; only I decline to sail under +false colors, by the authority of my own government or any other; so his +amiability was wasted so far as I was concerned. + +It would seem to the ordinary reader that the police would be able to +lay hands on a man, when he was wanted, with tolerable promptness and +accuracy, after all the details which the law requires in these "address +tickets," as the local passports are called, had been duly furnished. +But I remember one case among several which impressed me as instructive +and amusing. The newspapers told the tale, which ran somewhat as +follows: A wealthy woman of position, residing in one of the best +quarters of St. Petersburg, hired a prepossessing young lackey as one of +her large staff of domestics. Shortly after his advent, many articles of +value began to disappear. Finally, suspicion having turned on this +lackey, he also disappeared, and the police undertook to find him. It +then became apparent that the fellow had used a false passport and +address, and was not to be found where he was inscribed. He caused an +exciting chase. This ended in the discovery of a regular robbers' nest, +where a large number of false passports were captured, the prepossessing +lackey and his friends having abandoned them in their attempt to escape. +The papers were also constantly remarking on the use made by peasant men +of their passports. The wife is inscribed on the husband's "document," +separate passports for wives being, as a rule, difficult of attainment +in the lower classes. The peasants are thus able, and often willing, to +control their wives' places of residence and movements, and preserve +entire liberty of action for themselves, since their consent is required +for the separate passport, or for the wives' movements on the common +passport. In such cases the passport does become an instrument of +oppression, from either the Occidental or the Oriental point of view. + +As for the stories told by travelers of officious meddling by the police +on their arrival in Russia, and of their footsteps being dogged, I have +recently been favored with some light on that subject. I believe the +tales, with reservations, since some perfectly innocent and truthful +friends of mine related to me their own similar experience. A man, who +seemed to their inexperienced eyes to be a police officer, told them +that the authorities thought three weeks, one in Petersburg and two +elsewhere, would be amply sufficient for their travels in Russia. They +had a high-priced French courier, who pretended to know a little +Russian. Perhaps he did know enough for his own purposes. He told them +that they were watched constantly, and translated for the officer. But +he did not tell them that they already had permission to remain in the +country for the customary six months. I made them get out their +passports, and showed them the official stamp and signature to that +effect. This clever courier afterward stole from them, in Warsaw, a +quantity of diamonds which he had helped them to purchase in Moscow, and +of whose existence and whereabouts in their trunks no one but himself +was aware. This helped me to an explanation. It is invariably the +couriers or guides, I find, who tell travelers these alarming tales, and +neglect to inform them of their rights. It certainly looks very much as +if some confederate of theirs impersonates a police official, and as if +they misinterpret. The stories of spies forever in attendance seem to be +manufactured for the purpose of extorting handsome gratuities from their +victims for their "protection," and for the purpose of frightening the +latter out of the country before their own ignorance is discovered. As I +never employed the guides, I never had any trouble with the police, +either genuine or manufactured. I visited the police stations whenever I +could make an excuse; and when I wished to know when and where the +Emperor was to be seen, I asked a policeman or a gendarme. He always +told me the exact truth unhesitatingly, and pointed out the best +position. It was refreshing after the German police, who put one through +the Inquisition as to one's self and one's ancestors as soon as one +arrives, and who prove themselves lineal descendants of Ananias or Baron +Munchausen when a traveler asks for information. + +When we wished to leave the country, I again usurped the _dvornik's_ +duties, and paid another visit to the passport office, to inspect its +workings. Our Russian passports were clipped out, and little books were +given us, which constituted our permission to leave Russia at any time +within the next three months, by any route we pleased, without further +ceremony. These booklets contained information relating to the tax +imposed on Russians for absenting themselves from their country for +various periods, the custom-house regulations which forbid the entry, +duty free, of more than one fur cloak, cap, and muff to each person, +etc., since these books form return passports for Russians, though we +surrendered ours at the frontier. As the hotel clerk or porter attends +to all passport details, few foreigners see the inside of the office, or +hear the catechisms which are conducted there, as I did. It is vulgar, +it smacks of commercial life, to go one's self. Apathy and lack of +interest can always be relied upon to brand one as aristocratic. In this +case, however, as in many others, I considered myself repaid for +following Poor Richard's advice: "If you want a thing done, do it +yourself; if not, send!" + +To sum up the passport question: If his passport is in order, the +traveler need never entertain the slightest apprehension for a single +moment, despite sensational tales to the contrary, and it will serve as +a safeguard. If, for any good reason, his passport cannot be put in +order, the traveler will do well to keep out of Russia, or any other +country which requires such documents. In truth, although we do not +require them in this country, America would be better off if all people +who cannot undergo a passport scrutiny, and a German, not a Russian, +passport examination, were excluded from it. + +I have mentioned the post-office in connection with our passports. +Subsequently, I had several entertaining interviews with the police and +others on that point. One Sunday afternoon, in Moscow, we went to the +police station of our quarter to get our change-of-address petition to +the post-office authorities signed. There was nothing of interest about +the shabby building or the rooms, on this occasion. The single officer +on duty informed us that he was empowered to attend only to cases of +drunkenness, breaches of the peace, and the like. We must return on +Monday, he declared. + +"No," said I. "Why make us waste all that time in beautiful Moscow? Here +are our passports to identify us. Will you please to tell the captain, +as soon as he arrives to-morrow morning, that we are genuine, and +request him to sign this petition and post it?" + +The officer courteously declined to look at the passports, said that my +word was sufficient, and accepted my commission. Then, rising, drawing +himself up, with the heels of his high wrinkled boots in regulation +contact, and the scarlet pipings of his baggy green trousers and tight +coat bristling with martial etiquette, he made me a profound bow, hand +on heart, and said: "Madam, accept the thanks of Russia for the high +honor you have done her in learning her difficult language!" + +I accepted Russia's thanks with due pomp, and hastened into the street. +That small, low-roofed station house seemed to be getting too contracted +to contain all of us and etiquette. + +Again, upon another occasion, also in Moscow, it struck us that it would +be a happy idea and a clever economy of time to get ourselves certified +to before our departure, instead of after our arrival in St. Petersburg. +Accordingly, we betook ourselves, in a violent snowstorm, to the police +station inside the walls of the old city, as we had changed our hotel, +and that was now our quarter. + +A vision of cells; of unconfined prisoners tranquilly executing hasty +repairs on their clothing, with twine or something similar, in the +anteroom; of a complete police hierarchy, running through all the +gradations of pattern in gold and silver embroidery to the plain uniform +of the roundsman, gladdened our sight while we waited. A gorgeous +silver-laced official finally certified our identity, as usual without +other proof than our statement, and, clapping a five-kopek stamp on our +paper, bowed us out. I had never seen a stamp on such a document before, +and had never been asked to pay anything; but I restrained my natural +eagerness to reimburse the government and ask questions, with the idea +that it might have been a purely mechanical action on the part of the +officer, and in the hope of developments. They came. A couple of hours +later, a messenger entered our room at the hotel, without knocking, in +Russian lower-class style, and demanded thirty kopeks for the signature. +I offered to pay for the stamp on the spot, and supply the remaining +twenty-five kopeks when furnished with an adequate reason therefor. + +"Is the captain's signature worth so much?" I asked. + +"That is very little," was the answer. + +"So it is. Is the captain's signature worth so little? Tell me why." + +He could not, or would not. + +I made him wait while I wrote a petition to the police. The burden of it +was: "Why? I was born an American and curious; not too curious, but just +curious enough to be interested in the ethnographical and psychological +problems of foreign lands. Why the twenty-five kopeks? It is plainly too +little or too much. Why?" + +The messenger accepted the five kopeks for the stamp, and set out to +deliver the document. But he returned after a moment, and said that he +would intrust the five kopeks to my safe-keeping until he brought the +answer to my document,--which he had had just sufficient time to read, +by the way. That was the last I ever heard of him or of it, and I was +forced to conclude that some thirsty soul had been in quest of +"tea-money" for _vodka_. I am still in debt to the Russian government +for five kopeks. + +The last time I arrived in Petersburg, I tried a new plan. Instead of +making a trip of a couple of miles to get the signature of our police +captain, or sending the petition at the languid convenience of the +overworked _dvornik_, I went to the general post-office, which was close +by, and made a personal request that my mail matter be delivered at my +new address. The proper official, whom I found after a search through +most of the building, during which I observed their methods, declared +that my request was illegal, and ordered me to go for the customary +signature. But by this time I had learned that the mere threat to make +Russian officials inspect my passport was productive of much the same +effect as drawing a pistol on them would have had. It was not in the +least necessary to have the document with me; going through the motions +was easier, and quite as good. Every man of them flushed up, and +repelled the suggestion as a sort of personal insult; but they +invariably came to terms on the spot. Accordingly, I tried it here. + +This particular man, when I pretended to draw my "open sesame" spell +from my pocket, instantly dropped his official air, asked me to write my +name, with quite a human, friendly manner, and then remarked, with a +very every-day laugh, "That is sufficient. I have seen so much of it on +your previous petitions that I can swear to it myself much better than +the police captain could." + +As an offset to my anecdotes about our being lost through inability to +riddle out our name on the part of the police, I must relate an instance +where the post-office displayed remarkable powers of divination. One day +I received an official notification from the post-office that there was +a misdirected parcel for me from Moscow, lying in the proper office,-- +would I please to call for it? I called. The address on the parcel was +"Madame Argot," I was informed, but I must get myself certified to +before I could receive it. + +"But how am I to do that? I am not Madame Argot. Are you sure the parcel +is for me?" + +"Perfectly. It's your affair to get the certificate." + +I went to the police station, one which I had not visited before, and +stated the case. + +"Go home and send the _dvornik_, as is proper," replied the captain +loftily. + +I argued the matter, after my usual fashion, and at last he affixed his +signature to my document, with the encouraging remark: "Well, even with +this you won't get that parcel, because the name is not yours." + +"Trust me for that," I retorted. "As they are clever enough to know that +it is for me, they will be clever enough to give it to me, or I will +persuade them that they are." + +Back I went to the post-office. I had never been in that department +previously, I may mention. Then I was shown a box, and asked if I +expected it, and from whom it came. I asserted utter ignorance; but, as +I took it in my hand, I heard a rattling, and it suddenly flashed across +my mind that it might be the proofs of some photographs which the Moscow +artist had "hurried" through in one month. The amiable post-office +"blindman," who had riddled out the address, was quite willing to give +me the parcel without further ado, but I said:-- + +"Open it, and you will soon see whether it really belongs to me." + +After much protestation he did so, and then we exchanged lavish +compliments,--he on the capital likenesses and the skill of the +artist; I on the stupidity of the man who could evolve Argot out of my +legibly engraved visiting-card, and on the cleverness of the man who +could translate that name back into its original form. + +The most prominent instance of minute thoughtfulness and care on the +part of the post-office officials which came under my notice occurred in +the depths of the country. I sent a letter with a ten-kopek stamp on it +to the post town, twelve versts distant. Foreign postage had been raised +from seven to ten kopeks, and stamps, in a new design, of the latter +denomination (hitherto non-existent) had been in use for about four +months. The country postmaster, who had seen nothing but the old issues, +carefully removed my stamp and sent it back to me, replacing it with a +seven-kopek stamp and a three-kopek stamp. I felt, for a moment, as +though I had been both highly complimented and gently rebuked for my +remarkable skill in counterfeiting! + +As a parallel case, I may add that there were plenty of intelligent +people in New York city and elsewhere who were not aware that the United +States still issued three-cent stamps, or who could tell the color of +them, until the Columbian set appeared to attract their attention. + + + + +II. + +THE NEVSKY PROSPEKT. + + +The Nevsky Prospekt! + +From the time when, as children, we first encounter the words, in +geographical compilations disguised as books of travel, what visions do +they not summon up! Visions of the realm of the Frost King and of his +Regent, the White Tzar, as fantastic as any of those narrated of tropic +climes by Scheherezade, and with which we are far more familiar than we +are with the history of our native land. + +When we attain to the reality of our visions, in point of locality at +least, we find a definite starting-point ready to our hand, where +veracious legend and more veracious history are satisfactorily blended. +It is at the eastern extremity of the famous broad avenue,--which is +the meaning of Prospekt. Here, on the bank of the Neva, tradition +alleges that Alexander, Prince of Novgorod, won his great battle--and, +incidentally, his surname of Nevsky and his post of patron saint of +Russia--over the united forces of the Swedes and oppressive Knights of +the Teutonic Order, in the year 1240. + +Nearly five hundred years later, the spot was occupied by Rhitiowa, one +of the forty Finnish villages scattered over the present site of St. +Petersburg, as designated by the maps of the Swedes, whom Peter the +Great--practically Russia's second patron saint--expelled anew when +he captured their thriving commercial town, on the shore of the Neva, +directly opposite, now known as Malaya Okhta, possessed of extensive +foreign trade, and of a church older than the capital, which recently +celebrated its two-hundredth anniversary. + +It was in 1710 that Peter I. named the place "Victory," in honor of +Prince-Saint Alexander Nevsky's conquest, and commanded the erection of +a Lavra, or first-class monastery, the seat of a Metropolitan and of a +theological seminary. By 1716 the monastery was completed, in wood, as +engravings of that day show us, but in a very different form from the +complex of stone buildings of the present day. Its principal facade, +with extensive, stiffly arranged gardens, faced upon the river,--the +only means of communication in that town, planted on a bog, threaded +with marshy streams, being by boat. In fact, for a long time horses were +so scarce in the infant capital, where reindeer were used in sledges +even as late as the end of the last century, that no one was permitted +to come to Court, during Peter the Great's reign, otherwise than by +water. Necessity and the enforced cultivation of aquatic habits in his +inland subjects, which the enterprising Emperor had so much at heart, +combined to counsel this regulation. + +The bones of Prince Alexander were brought to St. Petersburg, from their +resting-place in the Vladimir Government, in 1724, Peter the Great +occupying his favorite post as pilot and steersman in the saint's state +barge, and they now repose in the monastery cathedral, under a canopy, +and in a tomb of silver, 3600 pounds in weight, given by Peter's +daughter, the devout Empress Elizabeth. In the cemetery surrounding the +cathedral, under the fragrant firs and birches, with the blue Neva +rippling far below, lie many of the men who have contributed to the +advancement of their country in literature, art, and science, during the +last two centuries. + +Of all the historical memories connected with this monastery none is +more curious than that relating to the second funeral of Peter III. He +had been buried by his wife, in 1762, with much simplicity, in one of +the many churches of the Lavra, which contains the family tombs and +monuments not only of members of the imperial family, but of the noble +families most illustrious in the eighteenth century. When Paul I. came +to the throne, in 1796, his first care was to give his long-deceased +father a more fitting burial. The body was exhumed. Surrounded by his +court, Pavel Petrovitch took the imperial crown from the altar, placed +it on his own head, then laid it reverently on his father's coffin. When +Peter III. was transferred immediately afterward, with magnificent +ceremonial, to the Winter Palace, there to lie in state by the side of +his wife, Katherine II., and to accompany her to his proper +resting-place among the sovereigns of Russia, in the cathedral of the +Peter-Paul fortress, Count Alexei Grigorevitch Orloff was appointed, +with fine irony, to carry the crown before his former master, whom he +had betrayed, and in the necessity for whose first funeral he had played +the part of Fate. It was with considerable difficulty that he was hunted +up, while Emperor and pageant waited, in the obscure corner where he was +sobbing and weeping; and with still greater difficulty was he finally +persuaded to perform the task assigned to him in the procession. + +Outside the vast monastery, which, like most Russian monasteries, +resembles a fortress, though, unlike most of them, it has never served +as such, the scene is almost rural. Pigeons, those symbols of the Holy +Ghost, inviolable in Russia, attack with impunity the grain bags in the +acres of storehouses opposite, pick holes, and eat their fill +undisturbed. + +From this spot to the slight curve in the Prospekt, at the Znamenskaya +Square, a distance of about a mile, where the Moscow railway station is +situated, and where the train of steam tram-cars is superseded by less +terrifying horse-cars, the whole aspect of the avenue is that of a +provincial town, in the character of the people and the buildings, even +to the favorite crushed strawberry and azure washes, and green iron +roofs on the countrified shops. Here and there, not very far away, a +log-house may even be espied. + +During the next three quarters of a mile the houses and shops are more +city-like, and, being newer than those beyond, are more ornamented as to +the stucco of their windows and doors. Here, as elsewhere in this +stoneless land, with rare exceptions, the buildings are of brick or +rubble, stuccoed and washed, generally in light yellow, with walls three +feet or more apart, warmly filled in, and ventilated through the +hermetically sealed windows by ample panes in the centre of the sashes, +or by apertures in the string-courses between stories, which open into +each room. Shops below, apartments above, this is the nearly invariable +rule. + +It is only when we reach the Anitchkoff Bridge, with its graceful +railing of sea-horses, adorned with four colossal bronze groups of +horse-tamers, from the hand of the Russian sculptor, Baron Klodt, that +the really characteristic part of the Nevsky begins. + +It is difficult to believe that fifty years ago this spot was the end of +the Petersburg world. But at that epoch the Nevsky was decorated with +rows of fine large trees, which have now disappeared to the last twig. +The Fontanka River, or canal, over which we stand, offers the best of +the many illustrations of the manner in which Peter the Great, with his +ardent love of water and Dutch ways, and his worthy successors have +turned natural disadvantages into advantages and objects of beauty. The +Fontanka was the largest of the numerous marshy rivers in that Arctic +bog selected by Peter I. for his new capital, which have been deepened, +widened, faced with cut granite walls, and utilized as means of cheap +communication between distant parts of the city, and as relief channels +for the inundating waves of the Gulf of Finland, which rise, more or +less, every year, from August to November, at the behest of the +southwest gale. That this last precaution is not superfluous is shown by +the iron flood-mark set into the wall of the Anitchkoff Palace, on the +southern shore of the Fontanka, as on so many other public buildings in +the city, with "1824" appended,--the date of one celebrated and +disastrous inundation which attained in some places the height of +thirteen feet and seven inches. This particular river derived its name +from the fact that it was trained to carry water and feed the fountains +in Peter the Great's favorite Summer Garden, of which only one now +remains. + +At the close of the last century, and even later, persons out of favor +at Court, or nobles who had committed misdemeanors, were banished to the +southern shores of the Fontanka, as to a foreign land. Among the +amusements at the _datchas_,--the wooden country houses,--in the +wilder recesses of the vast parks which studded both shores, the chase +after wild animals, and from bandits, played a prominent part. + +The stretch which we have traversed on our way from the monastery, and +which is punctuated at the corner of the canal and the Prospekt by the +pleasing brick and granite palace of the Emperor's brother, Grand Duke +Sergiei Alexandrovitch, which formerly belonged to Prince +Byeloselsky-Byelozersky, was the suburb belonging to Lieutenant-Colonel +Anitchkoff, who built the first bridge, of wood, in 1715. As late as the +reign of Alexander I., all persons entering the town were required to +inscribe their names in the register kept at the barrier placed at this +bridge. Some roguish fellows having conspired to cast ridicule on this +custom, by writing absurd names, the guards were instructed to make an +example of the next jester whose name should strike them as suspicious. +Fate willed that the imperial comptroller, Baltazar Baltazarovitch +Kampenhausen, with his Russianized German name, should fall a victim to +this order, and he was detained until his fantastic cognomen, so harsh +to Slavic ears, could be investigated. + +By day or by night, in winter or summer, it is a pure delight to stand +on the Anitchkoff Bridge and survey the scene on either hand. If we gaze +to the north toward what is one of the oldest parts settled on the +rivulet-riddled so-called "mainland," in this Northern Venice, we see +the long, plain facade of the Katherine Institute for the education of +the daughters of officers, originally built by Peter the Great for his +daughter Anna, as the "Italian Palace," but used only for the palace +servants, until it was built over and converted to its present purpose. +Beyond, we catch a glimpse of the yellow wings of Count Scheremetieff's +ancient house and its great iron railing, behind which, in a spacious +courtyard, after the Moscow fashion so rare in thrifty Petersburg, the +main building lies invisible to us. If we look to the south, we find the +long ochre mass of the Anitchkoff Palace, facing on the Nevsky, upon the +right shore; on the left, beyond the palace of Sergiei Alexandrovitch, +the branch of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, in old Russian style, with +highly colored saints and heads of seraphim on the outer walls; and a +perspective of light, stuccoed building,--dwellings, markets, +churches,--until the eye halts with pleasure on the distant blue dome +of the Troitzky cathedral, studded with golden stars. Indeed, it is +difficult to discover a vista in St. Petersburg which does not charm us +with a glimpse of one or more of these cross-crowned domes, floating, +bubble-like, in the pale azure of the sky. Though they are far from +being as beautiful in form or coloring as those of Moscow, they satisfy +us at the moment. + +If it is on a winter night that we take up our stand here, we may catch +a distant glimpse of the numerous "skating-gardens," laid out upon the +ice cleared on the snowy surface of the canal. The ice-hills will be +black with forms flitting swiftly down the shining roads on sledges or +skates, illuminated by the electric light; a band will be braying +blithely, regardless of the piercing cold, and the skaters will dance +on, in their fancy-dress ball or prize races, or otherwise, clad so +thinly as to amaze the shivering foreigner as he hugs his furs. + +By day the teamsters stand upon the quay, with rough aprons over their +ballet-skirted sheepskin coats, waiting for a job. If we hire one of +them, we shall find that they all belong to the ancient Russian Artel, +or Labor Union, which prevents competition beyond a certain point. When +the price has been fixed, after due and inevitable chaffering, one +_lomovoi_ grasps his shapeless cap by its worn edge of fur, bites a +kopek, and drops it in. Each of the other men contributes a marked +copper likewise, and we are invited to draw lots, in full view, to +determine which of them shall have the job. The master of the Artel sees +to it that there is fair play on both sides. If an unruly member +presumes to intervene with a lower bid, with the object of monopolizing +the job out of turn, he is promptly squelched, and, though his bid may +be allowed to stand, the man whose kopek we have drawn must do the work. +The winner chee-ee-eeps to his little horse, whose shaggy mane has been +tangled by the loving hand of the _domovoi_ (house-sprite) and hangs to +his knees. The patient beast, which, like all Russian horses, is never +covered, no matter how severe the weather may be, or how hot he may be +from exercise, rouses himself from his real or simulated slumber, and +takes up the burden of life again, handicapped by the huge wooden arch, +gayly painted in flowers and initials, which joins his shafts, and does +stout service despite his sorry aspect. + +But the early summer is the season when the Fontanka is to be seen in +its most characteristic state. The brilliant blue water sparkles under +the hot sun, or adds one more tint to the exquisite hues which make of +the sky one vast, gleaming fire-opal on those marvelous "white nights" +when darkness never descends to a depth beyond the point where it leaves +all objects with natural forms and colors, and only spiritualizes them +with the gentle vagueness of a translucent veil. Small steamers, manned +by wooden-faced, blond Finns, connect the unfashionable suburban +quarters, lying near the canal's entrance into the Neva on the west, +with the fashionable Court quarter on the northern quays at its other +entrance into the Neva, seven versts away. They dart about like +sea-gulls, picking their path, not unfraught with serious danger, among +the obstructions. The obstructions are many: washing-house boats (it is +a good old unexploded theory in Petersburg that clothes are clean only +when rinsed in running water, even though our eyes and noses inform us, +unaided by chart, where the drainage goes); little flotillas of dingy +flat-boats, anchored around the "Fish-Gardens," and containing the +latter's stock in trade, where persons of taste pick their second +dinner-course out of the flopping inmates of a temporary scoop-net; +huge, unwieldy, wood barks, put together with wooden pegs, and steered +with long, clumsy rudders, which the poor peasants have painfully poled +--tramp, tramp, tramp, along the sides--through four hundred miles of +tortuous waterways from that province of the former haughty republic, +"Lord Novgorod the Great," where Prince Rurik ruled and laid the +foundations of the present imperial empire, and whence came Prince-Saint +Alexander, to win his surname of Nevsky, as we have seen, at the spot +where his monastery stands, a couple of miles, at most, away. + +The boatmen, who have trundled all day long their quaint little barrows +over the narrow iron rails into the spacious inner courtyards of the +houses on the quay, and have piled up their wood for winter fuel, or +loaded it into the carts for less accessible buildings, now sit on the +stern of their barks, over their coarse food,--sour black bread, +boiled buckwheat groats, and salted cucumbers,--doffing their hats and +crossing themselves reverently before and after their simple meal, and +chatting until the red glow of sunset in the north flickers up to the +zenith in waves of sea-green, lilac, and amber, and descends again in +the north, at the pearl pink of dawn. Sleep is a lost art with these +men, as with all classes of people, during those nerve-destroying "white +nights." When all the silvery satin of the birch logs has been removed +from their capacious holds, these primitive barks will be unpegged, and +the cheap "bark-wood," riddled with holes as by a _mitrailleuse_, will +be used for poor structures on the outskirts of the town. + +On the upper shore of this river, second only to the Neva in its +perennial fascination, and facing on the Prospekt, stands the Anitchkoff +Palace, on the site of a former lumber-yard, which was purchased by the +Empress Elizabeth, when she commissioned her favorite architect, +Rastrelli, to erect for Count Razumovsky a palace in that rococo style +which he used in so many palaces and churches during her reign and that +of Katherine II.,--the rococo style being, by the way, quite the most +unsuited discoverable for Russian churches. + +Count Alexei Grigorevitch Razumovsky was the Empress Elizabeth's +husband, the uneducated but handsome son of a plain Kazak from Little +Russia, who attracted the attention of Elizaveta Petrovna as his sweet +voice rang out in the imperial choir, at mass, in her palace church. +When the palace was completed, in 1757, it did not differ materially +from its present appearance, as a painting in the Winter Palace shows, +except that its colonnade, now inclosed for the Imperial Chancellery and +offices, then abutted directly on the Fontanka. It has had a very varied +ownership, with some curious features in that connection which remind +one of a gigantic game of ball between Katherine II. and Prince +Potemkin. Count Razumovsky did not live in it until after the Empress +Elizabeth's death, in 1762. After his own death, his brother sold it to +the state, and Katherine II. presented it to Prince Potemkin, who +promptly resold it to a wealthy merchant-contractor in the commissariat +department of the army, who in turn sold it to Katherine II., who gave +it once more to Potemkin. The prince never lived here, but gave +sumptuous garden parties in the vast park, which is now in great part +built over, and sold it back to the state again in 1794. It was first +occupied by royalty in 1809, when the Emperor Alexander I. settled his +sister here, with her first husband,--that Prince of Oldenburg whose +territory in Germany Napoleon I. so summarily annexed a few years later, +thereby converting the Oldenburgs permanently into Russian princes. + +The Grand Duke Heir Nicholas used it from 1819 until he ascended the +throne, in 1825, and since that time it has been considered the palace +of the heir to the throne. But the present Emperor has continued to +occupy it since his accession, preferring its simplicity to the +magnificence of the Winter Palace. + +The high walls, of that reddish-yellow hue, like the palace itself, +which is usually devoted to government buildings in Russia, continue the +line of offices along the Prospekt, and surround wooded gardens, where +the Emperor and his family coast, skate, and enjoy their winter +pleasures, invisible to the eyes of passers-by. + +These woods and walls also form the eastern boundary of the Alexandra +Square, in whose centre rises Mikeshin and Opekushin's fine colossal +bronze statue of Katherine II., crowned, sceptred, in imperial robes, +and with the men who made her reign illustrious grouped about her feet. +Among these representatives of the army, navy, literature, science, art, +there is one woman,--that dashing Princess Elizaveta Romanovna +Dashkoff, who helped Katherine to her throne. As Empress, Katherine +appointed her to be first president of the newly founded Academy of +Sciences, but afterward withdrew her favor, and condemned her to both +polite and impolite exile,--because of her services, the princess +hints, in her celebrated and very lively "Memoirs." + +In the Alexandra Theatre, for Russian and German drama, which rears its +new (1828) Corinthian peristyle and its bronze quadriga behind the great +Empress, forming the background of the Square, two of the Empress's +dramas still hold the stage, on occasion. For this busy and energetic +woman not only edited and published a newspaper, the greater part of +which she wrote with her own hand, but composed numerous comedies and +comic operas, where the moral, though sufficiently obvious all the way +through, one would have thought, in the good old style is neatly labeled +at the end. These were acted first in the private theatres of the +various palaces, by the dames and cavaliers of the Court, after which +professional actors presented them to the public in the ordinary +theatres. + +It is in vain that we scrutinize the chubby-cheeked countenance of the +bronze Prince Potemkin, at Katherine II.'s feet, to discover the secret +of the charm which made the imperial lady who towers above him force +upon him so often the ground upon which they both now stand. He stares +stolidly at the Prospekt, ignoring not only the Theatre, but the vast +structures containing the Direction of Theatres and Prisons, the +Censor's Office, Theatrical School, and other government offices in the +background; the new building for shops and apartments, where ancient +Russian forms have been adapted to modern street purposes; and even the +wonderfully rich Imperial Public Library, begun in 1794, to contain the +books brought from Warsaw, with its Corinthian peristyle interspersed +with bronze statues of ancient sages, on the garden side,--all of +which stand upon the scene of his former garden parties, as the name of +the avenue beyond the plain end of the Library on the Prospekt--Great +Garden Street--reminds us. Not far away is the site of the tunnel dug +under the Prospekt by the revolutionists, which, however, was +fortunately discovered in time to prevent the destruction of one of the +fairest parts of the city, and its most valuable buildings. With the +next block we enter upon the liveliest, the most characteristic portion +of the Nevsky Prospekt, in that scant fraction over a mile which is left +to us above the Anitchkoff Bridge. + +Here stands the vast bazaar known as the _Gostinny Dvor_,--"Guests' +Court,"--a name which dates from the epoch when a wealthy merchant +engaged in foreign trade, and owning his own ships, was distinguished +from the lesser sort by the title of "Guest," which we find in the +ancient epic songs of Russia. Its frontage of seven hundred feet on the +Prospekt, and one thousand and fifty on Great Garden and the next +parallel street, prepare us to believe that it may really contain more +than five hundred shops in the two stories, the lower surrounded by a +vaulted arcade supporting an open gallery, which is invaluable for +decorative purposes at Easter and on imperial festival days. Erected in +1735, very much in its present shape, the one common throughout the +country, on what had been an impassable morass a short time before, and +where the ground still quakes at dawn, it may not contain the largest +and best shops in town, and its merchants certainly are not "guests" in +the ancient acceptation of the word; but we may claim, nevertheless, +that it presents a compendium of most purchasable articles extant, from +_samovari_, furs, and military goods, to books, sacred images, and +Moscow imitations of Parisian novelties at remarkably low prices, as +well as the originals. + +The nooks and spaces of the arcade, especially at the corners and +centre, are occupied by booths of cheap wares. The sacred image, +indispensable to a Russian shop, is painted on the vaulted ceiling; the +shrine lamp flickers in the open air, thus serving many aproned, +homespun and sheepskin clad dealers. The throng of promenaders here is +always varied and interesting. The practiced eye distinguishes infinite +shades of difference in wealth, social standing, and other conditions. +The lady in the velvet _shuba_, lined with sable or black fox, her soft +velvet cap edged with costly otter, her head wrapped in a fleecy knitted +shawl of goat's-down from the steppes of Orenburg, or pointed hood-- +the _bashlyk_--of woven goat's-down from the Caucasus, has driven +hither in her sledge or carriage, and has alighted to gratify the +curiosity of her sons. We know at a glance whether the lads belong in +the aristocratic Pages' Corps, on Great Garden Street, hard by, in the +University, the Law School, the Lyceum, or the Gymnasium, and we can +make a shrewd guess at their future professions by their faces as well +as by their uniforms. The lady who comes to meet us in sleeved pelisse, +wadded with eider-down, and the one in a short jacket have arrived, and +must return, on foot; they could not drive far in the open air, so +thinly clad. + +At Christmas-tide there is a great augmentation in the queer "Vyazemsky" +and other cakes, the peasant laces, sweet Vyborg cracknels, fruit +pastils, and other popular goods, on which these petty open-air dealers +appear to thrive, both in health and purse. The spacious area between +the bazaar and the sidewalk of the Nevsky is filled with +Christmas-trees, beautifully unadorned, or ruined with misplaced +gaudiness, brought in, in the majority of cases, by Finns from the +surrounding country. Again, in the week preceding Palm Sunday, the +_Verbnaya Yarmaraka_, or Pussy Willow Fair, takes place here. Nominally, +it is held for the purpose of providing the public with twigs of that +aesthetic plant (the only one which shows a vestige of life at that +season), which are used as palms, from the Emperor's palace to the +poorest church in the land. In reality, it is a most amusing fair for +toys and cheap goods suitable for Easter eggs; gay paper roses, +wherewith to adorn the Easter cake; and that combination of sour and +sweet cream and other forbidden delicacies, the _paskha_, with which the +long, severe fast is to be broken, after midnight matins on Easter. Here +are plump little red Finland parrots, green and red finches, and other +song-birds, which kindly people buy and set free, after a pretty custom. +The board and canvas booths, the sites for which are drawn by lot by +soldiers' widows, and sold or used as suits their convenience, are +locked at night by dropping the canvas flap, and are never guarded; +while the hint that thefts may be committed, or that watching is +necessary, is repelled with indignation by the stall-keepers. + +There is always a popular toy of the hour. One year it consisted of +highly colored, beautifully made bottle-imps, which were loudly cried as +_Amerikanskiya zhiteli_,--inhabitants of America. We inquired the +reason for their name. + +"They are made in the exact image of the Americans," explained the +peasant vendor, offering a pale blue imp, with a long, red tongue and a +phenomenal tail, for our admiration. + +"We are inhabitants of America. Is the likeness very strong?" we asked. + +The crowd tittered softly; the man looked frightened; but finding that +no dire fate threatened, he was soon vociferating again, with a roguish +grin:-- + +"_Kupiti, kupi-i-iti! Prevoskhodniya Amerikanskiya zhiteli! Sa-a-miya +nastoyashtschiya!_"--Buy, buy, splendid natives of America! the most +genuine sort! + +Far behind this Gostinny Dvor extends a complex mass of other curious +"courts" and markets, all worthy of a visit for the popular types which +they afford of the lower classes. Among them all none is more steadily +and diversely interesting, at all seasons of the year, than the +_Syennaya Ploshtschad_,--the Haymarket,--so called from its use in +days long gone by. Here, in the Fish Market, is the great repository for +the frozen food which is so necessary in a land where the church exacts +a sum total of over four months' fasting out of the twelve. Here the +fish lie piled like cordwood, or overflow from casks, for economical +buyers. Merchants' wives, with heads enveloped in colored kerchiefs, in +the olden style, well tucked in at the neck of their _salopi_, or +sleeved fur coats, prowl in search of bargains. Here sit the fishermen +from the distant Murman coast, from Arkhangel, with weather-beaten but +intelligent faces, in their quaint skull-caps of reindeer hide, and +baggy, shapeless garments of mysterious skins, presiding over the wares +which they have risked their lives to catch in the stormy Arctic seas, +during the long days of the brief summer-time; codfish dried and curled +into gray unrecognizableness; yellow caviar which resists the teeth like +tiny balls of gutta-percha,--not the delicious gray "pearl" caviar of +the sturgeon,--and other marine food which is never seen on the rich +man's table. + +But we must return to the Nevsky Prospekt. Nestling at the foot of the +City Hall, at the entrance of the broad street between it and the +Gostinny Dvor, on the Nevsky, stands a tiny chapel, which is as thriving +as the bazaar, in its own way, and as striking a compendium of some +features in Russian architecture and life. Outside hangs a large image +of the "Saviour-not-made-with-hands,"--the Russian name for the sacred +imprint on St. Veronica's handkerchief,--which is the most popular of +all the representations of Christ in _ikoni_. Before it burns the usual +"unquenchable lamp," filled with the obligatory pure olive-oil. Beneath +it stands a table bearing a large bowl of consecrated water. On hot +summer days the thirsty wayfarer takes a sip, using the ancient Russian +_kovsh_, or short-handled ladle, which lies beside it, crosses himself, +and drops a small offering on the dish piled with copper coins near by, +making change for himself if he has not the exact sum which he wishes to +give. + +Inside, many _ikoni_ decorate the walls. The pale flames of their +shrine-lamps are supplemented by masses of candles in the huge standing +candlesticks of silver. A black-robed monk from the monastery is +engaged, almost without cessation, in intoning prayers of various sorts, +before one or another of the images. The little chapel is thronged; +there is barely room for respectfully flourished crosses, such as the +peasant loves, often only for the more circumscribed sign current among +the upper classes, and none at all for the favorite "ground reverences." +The approach to the door is lined with two files of monks and nuns: +monks in high _klobuki_, like rimless chimney-pot hats, draped with +black woolen veils, which are always becoming; _tchernitzi_, or lay +sisters, from distant convents, in similar headgear, in caps flat or +pointed like the small end of a watermelon, and with ears protected by +black woolen shawls ungracefully pinned. Serviceable man's boots do more +than peep out from beneath the short, rusty-black skirts. Each monk and +nun holds a small pad of threadbare black velvet, whereon a cross of +tarnished gold braid, and a stray copper or two, by way of bait, explain +the eleemosynary significance of the bearers' "broad" crosses, dizzy +"reverences to the girdle," and muttered entreaty, of which we catch +only: "_Khristi Radi_"--For Christ's sake. + +People of all classes turn in here for a moment of prayer, to "place a +candle" to some saint, for the health, in body or soul, of friend or +relative: the workman, his tools on his back in a coarse linen kit; the +bearded _muzhik_ from the country, clad in his sheepskin _tulup_, wool +inward, the soiled yellow leather outside set off by a gay sash; ladies, +officers, civilians,--the stream never ceases. + +The only striking feature about the next building of importance, the +_Gradskaya Duma_, or City Hall, is the lofty tower, upon whose balcony, +high in air, guards pace incessantly, on the watch for fires. By day +they telegraph the locality of disaster to the fire department by means +of black balls and white boards, in fixed combinations; by night, with +colored lanterns. Each section of the city has a signal-tower of this +sort, and the engine-house is close at hand. Gradskaya Duma means, +literally, city thought, and the profundity of the meditations sometimes +indulged in in this building, otherwise not remarkable, may be inferred +from the fact discovered a few years ago, that many honored members of +the Duma (which also signifies the Council of City Fathers), whose names +still stood on the roll, were dead, though they continued to vote and +exercise their other civic functions with exemplary regularity! + +Naturally, in a city which lies on a level with the southern point of +Greenland, the most characteristic season to select for our observations +of the life is winter. + +The Prospekt wakes late. It has been up nearly all night, and there is +but little inducement to early rising when the sun itself sets such a +fashion as nine o'clock for its appearance on the horizon, like a pewter +disk, with a well-defined hard rim, when he makes his appearance at all. +If we take the Prospekt at different hours, we may gain a fairly +comprehensive view of many Russian ways and people, cosmopolitan as the +city is. + +At half-past seven in the morning, the horse-cars, which have been +resting since ten o'clock in the evening, make a start, running always +in groups of three, stopping only at turnouts. The _dvorniki_ retire +from the entrance to the courtyards, where they have been sleeping all +night with one eye open, wrapped in their sheepskin coats. A few shabby +_izvostchiks_ make their appearance somewhat later, in company with +small schoolboys, in their soldierly uniforms, knapsacks of books on +back, and convoyed by servants. Earliest of all are the closed carriages +of officials, evidently the most lofty in grade, since it was decided, +two or three years ago, by one of this class, that his subordinates +could not reasonably be expected to arrive at business before ten or +eleven o'clock after they had sat up until daylight over their +indispensable club _vint_--which is Russian whist. + +Boots (_muzhiki_) in scarlet cotton blouses, and full trousers of black +velveteen, tucked into tall wrinkled boots, dart about to bakery and +dairy shop, preparing for their masters' morning "tea." Venders of +newspapers congregate at certain spots, and charge for their wares in +inverse ratio to the experience of their customers; for regular +subscribers receive their papers through the post-office, and, if we are +in such unseemly haste as to care for the news before the ten o'clock +delivery--or the eleven o'clock, if the postman has not found it +convenient otherwise--we must buy on the street, though we live but +half a block from the newspaper office, which opens at ten. By noon, +every one is awake. The restaurants are full of breakfasters, and +Dominique's, which chances to stand on the most crowded stretch of the +street, on the sunny north side beloved of promenaders, is dense with +officers, cigarette smoke, and characteristic national viands +judiciously mingled with those of foreign lands. + +Mass is over, and a funeral passes down the Nevsky Prospekt, on its way +to the fashionable Alexander Nevsky monastery or Novo-Dyevitche convent +cemeteries. The deceased may have been a minister of state, or a great +officer of the Court, or a military man who is accompanied by warlike +pageant. The choir chants a dirge. The priests, clad in vestments of +black velvet and silver, seem to find their long thick hair sufficient +protection to their bare heads. The professional mutes, with their +silver-trimmed black baldrics and cocked hats, appear to have plucked up +the street lanterns by their roots to serve as candles, out of respect +to the deceased's greatness, and to illustrate how the city has been +cast into darkness by the withdrawal of the light of his countenance. +The dead man's orders and decorations are borne in imposing state, on +velvet cushions, before the gorgeous funeral car, where the pall, of +cloth of gold, which will be made into a priest's vestment once the +funeral is over, droops low among artistic wreaths and palms, of natural +flowers, or beautifully executed in silver. Behind come the mourners on +foot, a few women, many men, a Grand Duke or two among them, it may be; +the carriages follow; the devout of the lower classes, catching sight of +the train, cross themselves broadly, mutter a prayer, and find time to +turn from their own affairs and follow for a little way, out of respect +to the stranger corpse. More touching are the funerals which pass up the +Prospekt on their way to the unfashionable cemetery across the Neva, on +Vasily Ostroff; a tiny pink coffin resting on the knees of the bereaved +parents in a sledge, or borne by a couple of bareheaded men, with one or +two mourners walking slowly behind. + +From noon onward, the scene on the Prospekt increases constantly in +vivacity. The sidewalks are crowded, especially on Sundays and holidays, +with a dense and varied throng, of so many nationalities and types that +it is a valuable lesson in ethnography to sort them, and that a secret +uttered is absolutely safe in no tongue,--unless, possibly, it be that +of Patagonia. But the universal language of the eye conquers all +difficulties, even for the remarkably fair Tatar women, whose national +garb includes only the baldest and gauziest apology for the obligatory +veil. + +The plain facades of the older buildings on this part of the Prospekt, +which are but three or four stories in height,--elevators are rare +luxuries in Petersburg, and few buildings exceed five stories,--are +adorned, here and there, with gayly-colored pictorial representations of +the wares for sale within. But little variety in architecture is +furnished by the inconspicuous Armenian, and the uncharacteristic Dutch +Reformed and Lutheran churches which break the severe line of this +"Tolerance Street," as it has been called. Most fascinating of all the +shops are those of the furriers and goldsmiths, with their surprises and +fresh lessons for foreigners; the treasures of Caucasian and Asian art +in the Eastern bazaars; the "Colonial wares" establishments, with their +delicious game cheeses, and odd _studena_ (fishes in jelly), their +pineapples at five and ten dollars, their tiny oysters from the Black +Sea at twelve and a half cents apiece. + +Enthralling as are the shop windows, the crowd on the sidewalk is more +enthralling still. There are Kazaks, dragoons, cadets of the military +schools, students, so varied, though their gay uniforms are hidden by +their coats, that their heads resemble a bed of verbenas in the sun. +There are officers of every sort: officers with rough gray overcoats and +round lambskin caps; officers in large, flat, peaked caps, and +smooth-surfaced voluminous cape-coats, wadded with eider-down and lined +with gray silk, which trail on their spurs, and with collars of costly +beaver or striped American raccoon, and long sleeves forever dangling +unused. A snippet of orange and black ribbon worn in the buttonhole +shows us that the wearer belongs to the much-coveted military Order of +St. George. There are civilians in black cape-coats of the military +pattern, topped off with cold, uncomfortable, but fashionable chimneypot +hats, or, more sensibly, with high caps of beaver. + +It is curious to observe how many opinions exist as to the weather. The +officers leave their ears unprotected; a passing troop of soldiers-- +fine, large, hardy fellows--wear the strip of black woolen over their +ears, but leave their _bashlyks_ hanging unused on their backs, with +tabs tacked neatly under shoulder-straps and belts, for use on the +Balkans or some other really cold spot. Most of the ladies, on foot or +in sledges, wear bashlyks or Orenburg shawls, over wadded fur caps, well +pulled down to the brows. We may be sure that the pretty woman who +trusts to her bonnet only has also neglected to put on the necessary +warm galoshes, and that when she reaches home, sympathizing friends will +rub her vain little ears, feet, and brow with spirits of wine, to rescue +her from the results of her folly. Only officers and soldiers possess +the secret of going about in simple leather boots, or protected merely +by a pair of stiff, slapping leather galoshes, accommodated to the +spurs. + +For some mysterious reason, the picturesque nurses, with their +pearl-embroidered, diadem-shaped caps, like the _kokoshniki_ of the +Empress and Court ladies, their silver-trimmed petticoats and jackets +patterned after the ancient Russian "soul-warmers," and made of pink or +blue cashmere, never have any children in their charge in winter. +Indeed, if we were to go by the evidence offered by the Nevsky Prospekt, +especially in cold weather, we should assert that there are no children +in the city, and that the nurses are used as "sheep-dogs" by ladies long +past the dangerous bloom of youth and beauty. + +The more fashionable people are driving, however, and that portion of +the one hundred and fourteen feet of the Prospekt's width which is +devoted to the roadway is, if possible, even more varied and +entertaining in its kaleidoscopic features than the sidewalks. It is +admirably kept at all seasons. With the exception of the cobblestone +roadbed for the tramway in the centre, it is laid with hexagonal wooden +blocks, well spiked together and tarred, resting upon tarred beams and +planks, and forming a pavement which is both elastic and fairly +resistant to the volcanic action of the frost. The snow is maintained at +such a level that, while sledging is perfect, the closed carriages which +are used for evening entertainments, calls, and shopping are never +incommoded. Street sweepers, in red cotton blouses and clean white linen +aprons, sweep on calmly in the icy chill. The police, with their +_bashlyks_ wrapped round their heads in a manner peculiar to themselves, +stand always in the middle of the street and regulate the traffic. + +We will hire an _izvostchik_ and join the throng. The process is simple; +it consists in setting ourselves up at auction on the curbstone, among +the numerous cabbies waiting for a job, and knocking ourselves down to +the lowest bidder. If our Vanka (Johnny, the generic name for cabby) +drives too slowly, obviously with the object of loitering away our +money, a policeman will give him a hint to whip up, or we may effect the +desired result by threatening to speak to the next guardian of the +peace. If Vanka attempts to intrude upon the privileges of the private +carriages, for whom is reserved the space next the tramway track and the +row of high, silvered posts which bear aloft the electric lights, a +sharp "_Beregis!_" (Look out for yourself!) will be heard from the first +fashionable coachman who is impeded in his swift career, and he will be +called to order promptly by the police. Ladies may not, unfortunately, +drive in the smartest of the public carriages, but must content +themselves with something more modest and more shabby. But Vanka is +usually good-natured, patient, and quite unconscious of his shabbiness, +at least in the light of a grievance or as affecting his dignity. It was +one of these shabby, but democratic and self-possessed fellows who +furnished us with a fine illustration of the peasant qualities. We +encountered one of the Emperor's cousins on his way to his regimental +barracks; the Grand Duke mistook us for acquaintances, and saluted. Our +_izvostchik_ returned the greeting. + +"Was that Vasily Dmitrich?" we asked in Russian form. + +"Yes, madam." + +"Whom was he saluting?" + +"Us," replied the man, with imperturbable gravity. Very different from +our poor fellow, who remembers his duties to the saints and churches, +and salutes Kazan Cathedral, as we pass, with cross and bared head, is +the fashionable coachman, who sees nothing but his horses. Our man's +cylindrical cap of imitation fur is old, his summer _armyak_ of blue +cloth fits, as best it may, over his lean form and his sheepskin +_tulup_, and is girt with a cheap cotton sash. + +The head of the fashionable coachman is crowned with a becoming +gold-laced cap, in the shape of the ace of diamonds, well stuffed with +down, and made of scarlet, sky-blue, sea-green, or other hue of velvet. +His fur-lined armyak, reaching to his feet,--through whose silver +buttons under the left arm he is bursting, with pads for fashion or with +good living,--is secured about his portly waist by a silken girdle +glowing with roses and butterflies. His legs are too fat to enter the +sledge,--that is to say, if his master truly respects his own dignity, +--and his feet are accommodated in iron stirrups outside. He leans well +back, with arms outstretched to accord with the racing speed at which he +drives. In the tiny sledge--the smaller it is, the more stylish, in +inverse ratio to the coachman, who is expected to be as broad as it is +--sits a lady hugging her crimson velvet _shuba_ lined with curled +white Thibetan goat, or feathery black fox fur, close about her ears. An +officer holds her firmly with one arm around the waist, a very necessary +precaution at all seasons, with the fast driving, where drozhkies and +sledges are utterly devoid of back or side rail. The spans of huge +Orloff stallions, black or dappled gray, display their full beauty of +form in the harnesses of slender straps and silver chains; their +beautiful eyes are unconcealed by blinders. They are covered with a +coarse-meshed woolen net fastened to the winged dashboard, black, +crimson, purple, or blue, which trails in the snow in company with their +tails and the heavy tassels of the fur-edged cloth robe. The horses, the +wide-spreading reddish beard of the coachman, parted in the middle like +a well-worn whisk broom, the hair, eyelashes, and furs of the occupants +of the sledge, all are frosted with rime until each filament seems to +have been turned into silver wire. + +There is an alarm of fire somewhere. A section of the fire department +passes, that imposing but amusing procession of hand-engine, three +water-barrels, pennons, and fine horses trained in the _haute ecole_, +which does splendid work with apparently inadequate means. An officer in +gray lambskin cap flashes by, drawn by a pair of fine trotters. "_Vot on +sam!_" mutters our _izvostchik_,--There he is himself! It is General +Gresser*, the prefect of the capital, who maintains perfect order, and +demonstrates the possibilities of keeping streets always clean in an +impossible climate. The pounding of those huge trotters' hoofs is so +absolutely distinctive--as distinctive as the unique gray cap--that +we can recognize it as they pass, cry like the _izvostchik_, "_Vot on +sam!_" and fly to the window with the certainty that it will be "he +himself." + +* Since the above was written, this able officer and very efficient +prefect has died. + +Court carriages with lackeys in crimson and gold, ambassadors' sledges +with cock-plumed chasseurs and cockaded coachmen, the latter wearing +their chevrons on their backs; rude wooden sledges, whose sides are made +of knotted ropes, filled with superfluous snow; grand ducal _troikas_ +with clinking harnesses studded with metal plaques and flying tassels, +the outer horses coquetting, as usual, beside the staid trot of the +shaft-horse,--all mingle in the endless procession which flows on up +the Nevsky Prospekt through the Bolshaya Morskaya,--Great Sea +Street,--and out upon the Neva quays, and back again, to see and be +seen, until long after the sun has set on the short days, at six minutes +to three. A plain sledge approaches. The officer who occupies it is +dressed like an ordinary general, and there are thousands of generals! +As he drives quietly along, police and sentries give him the salute of +the ordinary general; so do those who recognize him by his face or his +Kazak orderly. It is the Emperor out for his afternoon exercise. If we +meet him near the gate of the Anitchkoff Palace, we may find him sitting +placidly beside us, while our sledge and other sledges in the line are +stopped for a moment to allow him to enter. + +Here is another sledge, also differing in no respect from the equipages +of other people, save that the lackey on the low knife-board behind +wears a peculiar livery of dark green, pale blue, and gold (or with +white in place of the green at Easter-tide). The lady whose large dark +eyes are visible between her sable cap and the superb black fox shawl of +her crimson velvet cloak is the Empress. The lady beside her is one of +her ladies-in-waiting. Attendants, guards, are absolutely lacking, as in +the case of the Emperor. + +Here, indeed, is the place to enjoy winter. The dry, feathery snow +descends, but no one heeds it. We turn up our coat collars and drive on. +Umbrellas are unknown abominations. The permanent marquises, of light +iron-work, which are attached to most of the entrances, are serviceable +only to those who use closed carriages, and in the rainy autumn. + +Just opposite the centre of this thronged promenade, well set back from +the street, stands the Cathedral of the Kazan Virgin. Outside, on the +quay of the tortuous Katherine Canal, made a navigable water-way under +the second Katherine, but lacking, through its narrowness, the +picturesque features of the Fontanka, flocks of pigeons are fed daily +from the adjoining grain shops. In the curve of the great colonnade, +copied, like the exterior of the church itself, from that of St. Peter +at Rome, bronze statues, heroic in size, of generals Kutuzoff and +Barclay de Tolly, by the Russian sculptor Orlovsky, stand on guard. + +Hither the Emperor and Empress come "to salute the Virgin," on their +safe return from a journey. Hither are brought imperial brides in +gorgeous state procession--when they are of the Greek faith--on +their way to the altar in the Winter Palace. We can never step into this +temple without finding some deeply interesting and characteristically +Russian event in progress. After we have run the inevitable gauntlet of +monks, nuns, and other beggars at the entrance, we may happen upon a +baptism, just beyond, the naked, new-born infant sputtering gently after +his thrice-repeated dip in the candle-decked font, with the priest's +hand covering his eyes, ears, mouth, and nostrils, and now undergoing +the ceremony of anointment or confirmation. Or we may come upon a bridal +couple, in front of the solid silver balustrade; or the exquisite +liturgy, exquisitely chanted by the fine choir in their vestments of +scarlet, blue, and silver, with the seraphic wings upon their shoulders, +and intoned, with a finish of art unknown in other lands, by priests +robed in rich brocade. Or it may be that a popular sermon by a +well-known orator has attracted a throng of listeners among the lofty +pillars of gray Finland granite, hung with battle-flags and the keys of +conquered towns. What we shall assuredly find is votaries ascending the +steps to salute with devotion the benignant brown-faced Byzantine Virgin +and Christ-Child, incrusted with superb jewels, or kneeling in "ground +reverences," with brow laid to the marble pavement, before the +_ikonostas_, or rood-screen, of solid silver. Our Lady of Kazan has been +the most popular of wonder-working Virgins ever since she was brought +from Kazan to Moscow, in 1579, and transported to Petersburg, in 1721 +(although her present cathedral dates only from 1811), and the scene +here on Easter-night is second only to that at St. Isaac's when the +porticoes are thronged by the lower classes waiting to have their flower +and candle decked cakes and cream blessed at the close of the Easter +matins. + +One of the few individual dwelling-houses which linger on the Nevsky +Prospekt, and which presents us with a fine specimen of the rococo style +which Rastrelli so persistently served up at the close of the eighteenth +century, is that of the Counts Stroganoff, at the lower quay of the +Moika. The Moika (literally, Washing) River is the last of the +semicircular, concentric canals which intersect the Nevsky and its two +radiating companion Prospekts, and impart to that portion of the city +which is situated on the (comparative) mainland a resemblance to an +outspread fan, whose palm-piece is formed by the Admiralty on the Neva +quay. + +The stately pile, and the pompous air of the big, gold-laced Swiss +lounging at the entrance on the Nevsky, remind us that the Stroganoff +family has been a power in Russian history since the middle of the +sixteenth century. + +It was a mere handful of their Kazaks, led by Yermak Timofeevitch, who +conquered Siberia, in 1581, under Ivan the Terrible, while engaged in +repelling the incursions of the Tatars and wild Siberian tribes on the +fortified towns which the Stroganoffs had been authorized to erect on +the vast territory at the western foot of the Ural Mountains, conveyed +to them by the ancient Tzars. Later on, when Alexei Mikhailovitch, the +father of Peter the Great, established a new code, grading punishments +and fines by classes, the highest money tax assessed for insult and +injury was fifty rubles; but the Stroganoffs were empowered to exact one +hundred rubles. + +Opposite the Stroganoff house, on the upper Moika quay, rises the large, +reddish-yellow Club of the Nobility, representing still another fashion +in architecture, which was very popular during the last century for +palaces and grand mansions,--the Corinthian peristyle upon a solid, +lofty basement. It is not an old building, but was probably copied from +the palace of the Empress Elizabeth, which stood on this spot. Elizaveta +Petrovna, though she used this palace a great deal, had a habit of +sleeping in a different place each night, the precise spot being never +known beforehand. This practice is attributed, by some Russian +historians, to her custom of turning night into day. She went to the +theatre, for example, at eleven o'clock, and any courtier who failed to +attend her was fined fifty rubles. It was here that the populace +assembled to hurrah for Elizaveta Petrovna, on December 6, 1741, when +she returned with little Ivan VI. in her arms from the Winter Palace, +where she had made captive his father and his mother, the regent Anna +Leopoldina. It may have been the recollection of the ease with which she +had surprised indolent Anna Leopoldina in her bed-chamber which caused +her to be so uncertain in her own movements, in view of the fact that +there were persons so ill-advised as to wish the restoration of the +slothful German regent and her infant son, disastrous as that would have +been to the country. + +We must do the Russians who occupy the building at the present day the +justice to state that they uphold religiously the nocturnal tradition +thus established by Elizaveta Petrovna, and even improve upon it. From +six o'clock in the evening onward, the long windows of the club, on the +_bel etage_, blaze with light. The occasional temporary obscurations +produced by the steam from relays of _samovari_ do not interfere +materially with the neighbors' view of the card-parties and the final +exchange of big bundles of bank-bills, which takes place at five o'clock +or later the next morning. Even if players and bills were duly shielded +from observation, the _mauvais quart d'heure_ would be accurately +revealed by the sudden rush for the sledges, which have been hanging in +a swarm about the door, according to the usual convenient custom of +Vanka, wherever lighted windows suggest possible patrons. Poor, +hard-worked Vanka slumbers all night on his box, with one eye open, or +falls prone in death-like exhaustion over the dashboard upon his +sleeping horse, while his cap lies on the snow, and his shaggy head is +bared to the bitter blasts. + +Later on, the chief of police lived here, and the adjoining bridge, +which had hitherto been known as the Green Bridge, had its name changed +to the Police Bridge, which rather puzzling appellation it still bears. + +A couple of blocks beyond this corner of the Nevsky, the Moika and the +Grand Morskaya, the Nevsky Prospekt ends at the Alexander Garden, backed +by the Admiralty and the Neva, after having passed in its course through +all grades of society, from the monks at the extreme limit, peasant +huts,--or something very like them, on the outskirts,--artistic and +literary circles in the Peski quarter (the Sands), well-to-do merchants +and nobles, officials and wealthy courtiers, until now we have reached +the culminating point, where the Admiralty, Imperial Palace, and War +Office complete the national group begun at the church. + +When, in 1704, Peter the Great founded his beloved Admiralty, as the +first building on the mainland then designed for such purposes as this, +and not for residence, it was simply a shipyard, open to the Neva, and +inclosed on three sides by low wooden structures, surrounded by +stone-faced earthworks, moats, and palisades. Hither Peter was wont to +come of a morning, after having routed his ministers out of bed to hold +privy council at three and four o'clock, to superintend the work and to +lend a hand himself. The first stone buildings were erected in 1726, +after his death. In the early years of the present century, Alexander I. +rebuilt this stately and graceful edifice, after the plans of the +Russian architect Zakharoff, who created the beautiful tower adorned +with Russian sculptures, crowned by a golden spire, in the centre of the +immense facade, fourteen hundred feet long, which forms a feature +inseparable from the vista of the Prospekt for the greater part of its +length, to the turn at the Znamenskaya Square. On this spire, at the +present day, flags and lanterns warn the inhabitants of low-lying +districts in the capital of the rate at which the water is rising during +inundations. In case of serious danger, the flags are reinforced by +signal guns from the fortress. But in Peter I.'s day, these flags and +guns bore exactly the opposite meaning to the unhappy nobles whom the +energetic Emperor was trying to train into rough-weather sailors. To +their trembling imaginations these signal orders to assemble for a +practice sail signified, "Come out and be drowned!" since they were +obliged to embark in the crafts too generously given to them by Peter, +and cruise about until their leader (who delighted in a storm) saw fit +to return. There is a story of one unhappy wight, who was honored by the +presence aboard his craft of a very distinguished and very seasick +Persian, making his first acquaintance with the pleasures of yachting, +and who spent three days without food, tacking between Petersburg and +Kronstadt, in the vain endeavor to effect a landing during rough +weather. + +When the present Admiralty was built, a broad and shady boulevard was +organized on the site of the old glacis and covered way, and later +still, when the break in the quay was filled in, and the shipbuilding +transferred to the New Admiralty a little farther down the river, the +boulevard was enlarged into the New Alexander Garden, one of the finest +squares in Europe. It soon became the fashionable promenade, and the +centre of popular life as well, by virtue of the merry-makings which +took place. Here, during the Carnival of 1836, the temporary cheap +theatre of boards was burned, at the cost of one hundred and twenty-six +lives and many injured persons, which resulted in these dangerous +_balagani_ and other holiday amusements being removed to the spacious +parade-ground known as the Empress's Meadow. + +If we pass round the Admiralty to the Neva, we shall find its frozen +surface teeming with life. Sledge roads have been laid out on it, marked +with evergreen bushes, over which a _yamtschik_ will drive us with his +_troika_ fleet as the wind, to Kronstadt, twenty miles away. Plank +walks, fringed with street lanterns, have been prepared for pedestrians. +Broad ice paths have been cleared, whereon the winter ferry-boats ply, +--green garden-chairs, holding one or more persons, furnished with warm +lap-robes, and propelled by stout _muzhiks_ on skates, who will +transport us from shore to shore for the absurdly small sum of less than +a cent apiece, though a ride with the reindeer (now a strange sight in +the capital), at the Laplanders' encampment, costs much more. + +It is hard to tear ourselves from the charms of the river, with its +fishing, ice-cutting, and many other interesting sights always in +progress. But of all the scenes, that which we may witness on Epiphany +Day--the "Jordan," or Blessing of the Waters, in commemoration of +Christ's baptism in the Jordan--is the most curious and typically +Russian. + +After mass, celebrated by the Metropolitan, in the cathedral of the +Winter Palace, whose enormous reddish-ochre mass we perceive rising +above the frost-jeweled trees of the Alexander Garden, to our right as +we stand at the head of the Nevsky Prospekt, the Emperor, his heir, his +brothers, uncles, and other great personages emerge in procession upon +the quay. Opposite the Jordan door of the palace a scarlet, gold, and +blue pavilion, also called the "Jordan," has been erected over the ice. +Thither the procession moves, headed by the Metropolitan and the richly +vestured clergy, their mitres gleaming with gems, bearing crosses and +church banners, and the imperial choir, clad in crimson and gold, +chanting as they go. The Empress and her ladies, clad in full Court +costume at midday, look on from the palace windows. After brief prayers +in the pavilion, all standing with bared heads, the Metropolitan dips +the great gold cross in the rushing waters of the Neva, through a hole +prepared in the thick, opalescent, green ice, and the guns on the +opposite shore thunder out a salute. The pontoon Palace Bridge, the +quays on both sides of the river, all the streets and squares for a long +distance round about, are densely thronged; and, as the guns announce +the consecration, every head is bared, every right hand in the mass, +thousands strong, is raised to execute repeated signs of the cross on +brow and breast. + +From our post at the head of the Prospekt we behold not the ceremony +itself but the framework of a great national picture, the great Palace +Square, whereon twenty thousand troops can manoeuvre, and in whose +centre rises the greatest monolith of modern times, the shaft of red +Finland granite, eighty-four feet in height, crowned with a +cross-bearing angel, the monument to Alexander I. There stand the +Guards' Corps, and the huge building of the General Staff, containing +the Ministries of Finance and of Foreign Affairs, and many things +besides, originally erected by Katherine II. to mask the rears of the +houses at the end of the Nevsky, and rebuilt under Nicholas I., sweeping +in a magnificent semicircle opposite the Winter Palace. Regiments +restrain the zeal of the crowd to obtain the few posts of vantage from +which the consecration of the waters is visible, and keep open a lane +for the carriages of royalty, diplomats, and invited guests. They form +part of the pageant, like the Empress's cream-colored carriage and the +white horses and scarlet liveries of the Metropolitan. The crowd is +devout and silent, as Russian crowds always are, except when they see +the Emperor after he has escaped a danger, when they become vociferous +with an animation which is far more significant than it is in more noisy +lands. The ceremony over, the throngs melt away rapidly and silently; +pedestrians, Finnish ice-sledges, traffic in general, resume their +rights on the palace sidewalks and the square, and after a state +breakfast the Emperor drives quietly home, unguarded, to his Anitchkoff +Palace. + +If we glance to our left, and slightly to our rear, as we stand thus +facing the Neva and the Admiralty, we see the Prefecture and the +Ministry of War, the latter once the mansion of a grandee in the last +century; and, rising above the latter, we catch a glimpse of the upper +gallery, and great gold-plated, un-Russian dome, of St. Isaac's +Cathedral, which is visible for twenty miles down the Gulf of Finland. +The granite pillars glow in the frosty air with the bloom of a Delaware +grape. We forgive St. Isaac for the non-Russian character of the modern +ecclesiastical glories of which it is the exponent, as we listen eagerly +to the soft, rich, boom-boom-bo-o-om of the great bourdon, embroidered +with silver melody by the multitude of smaller bells chiming nearly all +day long with a truly orthodox sweetness unknown to the Western world, +and which, to-day, are more elaborately beautiful than usual, in honor +of the great festival. We appreciate to the full the wailing cry of the +prisoner, in the ancient epic songs of the land: "He was cut off from +the light of the fair, red sun, from the sound of sweet church-bells." + +On the great Palace Square another characteristic sight is to be seen on +the nights of Court balls, which follow the Jordan, when the blaze of +electric light from the rock-crystal chandeliers, big as haystacks, +within the state apartments, is supplemented by the fires in the heater +and on the snow outside, round which the waiting coachmen warm +themselves, with Rembrandtesque effects of _chiaro-oscuro_ second only +to the picturesqueness of _dvorniki_ in their nondescript caps and +shaggy coats, who cluster round blazing fagots in less aristocratic +quarters when the thermometer descends below zero. + +When spring comes with the magical suddenness which characterizes +Northern lands, the gardens, quays, and the Nevsky Prospekt still +preserve their charms for a space, and are thronged far into the night +with promenaders, who gaze at the imperial crowns, stars, monograms, and +other devices temporarily applied to the street lanterns, and the fairy +flames on the low curb-posts (whereat no horse, though unblinded, ever +shies), with which man attempts, on the numerous royal festival days of +early summer, to rival the illumination of the indescribably beautiful +tints of river and sky. But the peasant-_izvostchik_ goes off to the +country to till his little patch of land, aided by the shaggy little +farm-horse, which has been consorting on the Prospekt with thoroughbred +trotters all winter, and helping him to eke out his cash income, scanty +at the best of times; or he emigrates to a summer resort, scorning our +insinuation that he is so unfashionable as to remain in town. The +deserted Prospekt is torn up for repairs. The merchants, especially the +goldsmiths, complain that it would be true economy for them to close +their shops. The annual troops of foreign travelers arrive, view the +lovely islands of the Neva delta, catch a glimpse of the summer cities +in the vicinity, and dream, ah, vain dream! that they have also really +beheld the Nevsky Prospekt, the great avenue of the realm of the Frost +King and the White Tzar!* + +* From _Scribner's Magazine_, by permission. + + + + +III. + +MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE RUSSIAN CENSOR. + + +In spite of the advantage which I enjoyed in a preliminary knowledge of +the Russian language and literature, I was imbued with various false +ideas, the origin of which it is not necessary to trace on this +occasion. I freed myself from some of them; among others, from my theory +as to the working of the censorship in the case of foreign literature. +My theory was the one commonly held by Americans, and, as I found to my +surprise, by not a few Russians, viz., that books and periodicals which +have been wholly or in part condemned by the censor are to be procured +only in a mutilated condition, or by surreptitious means, or not at all. +That this is not the case I acquired ample proof through my personal +experience. + +The first thing that an American does on his arrival in St. Petersburg +is to scan the foreign newspapers in the hotels eagerly for traces of +the censor's blot,--_le masque noir_, "caviare,"--his idea being +that at least one half of the page will be thus veiled from sight. But +specimens are not always, or even very often, to be procured with ease. +In fact, the demand exceeds the supply sometimes, if I may judge from my +own observations and from the pressing applications for these +curiosities which I received from disappointed seekers. The finest of +these black diamonds may generally be found in the inventive news +columns of the London dailies and in the flippant paragraphs of "Punch." + +Like the rest of the world, I was on the lookout for the censor's work +from the day of my arrival, but it was a long time before my search was +rewarded by anything except a caricature of the censor himself in +"Kladderadatsch." That it was left unmasked was my first proof that that +gentleman, individually and collectively, was not deficient in a sense +of humor. The sketch represented a disheveled scribe seated three +quarters submerged in a bottle of ink, from the half-open cover of which +his quill pen projected like a signal of distress. This was accompanied +by an inscription to the effect that as the Russian censor had blacked +so many other people, he might now sit in the black for a while himself. +Perhaps the censor thought that remarks of that sort came with peculiar +grace from martinet-ruled Berlin. About this time I received a copy of +the "Century," containing--or rather, not containing--the first +article in the prohibited series by Mr. Kennan. I made no remonstrance, +but mentioned the fact, as an item of interest, to the sender, who +forthwith dispatched the article in an envelope. The envelope being +small, the plump package had the appearance of containing a couple of +pairs of gloves, or other dutiable merchandise. Probably that was the +reason why the authorities cut open one end. Finding that it was merely +innocent printed matter, they gave it to me on the very day of its +arrival in St. Petersburg, and thirteen days from the date of posting in +New York. I know that it was my duty to get excited over this incident, +as did a foreign (that is, a non-Russian) acquaintance of mine, when he +received an envelope of similar plump aspect containing a bulky +Christmas card, which was delivered decorated with five very frank and +huge official seals, after having been opened for contraband goods. I +did not feel aggrieved, however, and, being deficient in that Mother Eve +quality which attributes vast importance to whatever is forbidden, I +suggested that nothing more which was obnoxious to the Russian +government should be sent to me. + +But when a foreigner offered the magazine to me regularly, unmutilated, +I did not refuse it. When a Russian volunteered to furnish me with it, +later on, I read it. When I saw summaries of the prohibited articles in +the Russian press, I looked them over to see whether they were well +done. When I saw another copy of the "Century," with other American +magazines, at the house of a second Russian, I did not shut my eyes to +the fact, neither did I close my ears when I was told that divers +instructors of youth in Petersburg, Moscow, and elsewhere were in +regular receipt of it, on the principle which is said to govern good men +away from home, viz., that in order to preach effectively against evil +one must make personal acquaintance with it. I was also told at the +English Bookstore that they had seven or eight copies of the magazine, +which had been subscribed for through them, lying at the censor's office +awaiting proper action on the part of the subscribers. What that action +was I did not ask at the time, in my embarrassment of riches. It will be +perceived that when we add the copies received by officials, and those +given to the members of the Diplomatic Corps who desired it, there was +no real dearth of the "Century" at any time. + +About this time, also, I had occasion to hunt up a package of +miscellaneous newspapers, which had lingered as such parcels are apt to +linger in all post-offices. In pursuance of my preconceived notions, I +jumped to the conclusion that the censor had them, regardless of the +contingency that they might have been lost out of Russia. I called to +ask for the papers. The official whom I found explained, with native +Russian courtesy, that I had come to the wrong place, that office being +devoted to foreign matter in book form; but that, in all probability, +the papers had become separated from their wrapper in the newspaper +department (which was heedless) when they had been opened for +examination, and hence it had been impossible to deliver them. Still, +they might have been detained for some good reason, and he would +endeavor to find some record of them. + +While he was gone, my eyes fell upon his account-book, which lay open +before me. It constituted a sort of literary book-keeping. The entries +showed what books had been received, what had been forbidden, what was +to be erased, whose property had been manipulated, and, most interesting +of all, which forbidden books had been issued by permission, and to +whom. Among these I read the titles of works by Stepniak, and of various +works on Nihilism, all of which must certainly have come within the +category of utterly proscribed literature, and not of that which is +promptly forwarded to its address after a more or less liberal +sprinkling of "caviare." As I am not in the habit of reading private +records on the sly, even when thus tempted, I informed the official on +his return of my action, and asked a question or two. + +"Do you really let people have these forbidden books?" "Certainly," was +his half-surprised, half-indignant reply. "And what can one have?" +"Anything," said he, "only we must, of course, have some knowledge of +the person. What would you like?" + +I could only express my regret that I felt no craving for any prohibited +literature at that moment, but I told him that I would endeavor to +cultivate a taste in that direction to oblige him; and I suggested that, +as his knowledge of me was confined to the last ten minutes, I did not +quite understand how he could pass judgment as to what mental and moral +food was suited to my constitution, and as to the use I might make of +it. He laughed amiably, and said: "_Nitchevo_,--that's all right; you +may have whatever you please." I never had occasion to avail myself of +the offer, but I know that Russians who are well posted do so, although +I also know that many Russians are not aware of their privileges in this +direction. It is customary to require from Russians who receive +literature of this sort a promise that they will let no other person see +it,--an engagement which is as religiously observed as might be +expected, as the authorities are doubtless aware. + +I did not pursue my search for the missing papers. I had allowed so much +time to elapse that I perceived the uselessness of further action; they +were evidently lost, and it mattered little as to the manner. Shortly +afterwards I received the first of my only two specimens of censorial +"caviare." It was on a political cartoon in a New York comic paper. I +sent it back to America for identification of the picture, and it was +lost between New York and Boston; which reconciled me to the possible +carelessness of the Russian post-office in the case of the newspapers +just cited. + +My next experience was with Count Lyeff N. Tolstoy's work entitled +"Life." This was not allowed to be printed in book form, although nearly +the whole of it subsequently appeared in installments, as "extracts," in +a weekly journal. I received the manuscript as a registered mail packet. +The author was anxious that my translation should be submitted in the +proof-sheets to a philosophical friend of his in Petersburg, who read +English, in order that the latter might see if I had caught the sense of +the somewhat abstract and complicated propositions. It became a problem +how those proof-sheets were to reach me safely and promptly. The problem +was solved by having them directed outright to the censor's office, +whence they were delivered to me; and, as there proved to be nothing to +alter, they speedily returned to America as a registered parcel. My own +opinion now is that they would not have reached me a whit less safely or +promptly had they been addressed straight to me. The bound volumes of my +translation were so addressed later on, and I do not think that they +were even opened at the office, the law to the contrary notwithstanding. +All this time I had been receiving a New York weekly paper with very +little delay and no mutilation. But at this juncture an amiable friend +subscribed in my name for the "Century," and I determined to make a +personal trial of the workings of the censorship in as strong a case as +I could have found had I deliberately desired to invent a test case. I +may as well remark here that "the censor" is not the hard-worked, +omnivorous reader of mountains of print and manuscript which the words +represent to the mind of the ordinary foreigner. The work of auditing +literature, so to speak, is subdivided among such a host of men that +office hours are brief, much of the foreign reading, at least, is done +at home, and the lucky members of the committee keep themselves +agreeably posted upon matters in general while enjoying the fruits of +office. + +The censor's waiting-room was well patronized on my arrival. An official +who was holding a consultation with one of the visitors inquired my +business. I stated it briefly, and shortly afterwards he retired into an +adjoining room, which formed the beginning of a vista of apartments and +officials. While I waited, a couple of men were attended to so near me +that I heard their business. It consisted in obtaining official +permission to print the bills and programmes of a musical and variety +entertainment. To this end they had brought not only the list of +performers and proposed selections, but also the pictures for +advertisement, and the music which was to be given. As the rare traveler +who can read Russian is already aware, the programme of every public +performance bears the printed authorization of the censor, as a matter +of course, quite as much as does a book. It is an easy way of +controlling the character of assemblages, the value of which can hardly +be disputed even by those prejudiced persons who insist upon seeing in +this Russian proceeding something more arbitrary than the ordinary city +license which is required for performances elsewhere, or the Lord +Chancellor's license which is required in England. In Russia, as +elsewhere, an ounce of prevention is worth fully a pound of cure. This, +by the way, is the only form in which a foreigner is likely to come in +contact with the domestic censure in Russia, unless he should wish to +insert an advertisement in a newspaper, or issue printed invitations to +a gathering at his house, or send news telegrams. In these cases he may +be obliged to submit to delay in the appearance of his advertisement, or +requested to go to the elegance and expense of engraved invitations, or +to detain his telegram for a day or two. Such things are not unknown in +Germany. + +Just as these gentlemen had paid their fee, and resigned their documents +to the official who had charge of their case, another official issued +from the inner room, approached me, requested me to sign my name in a +huge ledger, and, that being done, thrust into my hands a bulky +manuscript and departed. The manuscript had a taking title, but I did +not pause to examine it. Penetrating the inner sanctum, I brought out +the official and endeavored to return the packet. He refused to take it, +--it was legally mine. This contest lasted for several minutes, until I +saw a literary-looking man enter from the anteroom and look rather +wildly at us. Evidently this was the owner, and, elevating the +manuscript, I inquired if it were his. He hastened to my assistance and +proved his rights. But as erasures do not look well in account-books, +and as my name already occupied the space allotted to that particular +parcel, he was not requested to sign for it, and I believe that I am +still legally qualified to read, perform, or publish--whatever it was +--that talented production. + +A dapper little gentleman, with a dry, authoritative air, then emerged +and assumed charge of me. I explained my desire to receive, uncensured, +a journal which was prohibited. + +"Certainly," said he, without inquiring how I knew the facts. "Just +write down your application and sign it." + +"I don't know the form," I answered. + +He seemed surprised at my ignorance of such an every-day detail, but +fetched paper and dictated a petition, which I wrote down and signed. +When we reached the point where the name of the publication was to be +inserted, he paused to ask: "How many would you like?" + +"How many copies of the 'Century'? Only one," said I. + +"No, no; how many periodical publications would you like?" + +"How many can I have on this petition?" I retorted in Yankee fashion. + +"As many as you please. Do you want four--six--eight? Write in the +names legibly." + +I gasped, but told him that I was not grasping; I preferred to devote my +time to Russian publications while in Russia, and that I would only add +the name of the weekly which I was already receiving, merely with the +object of expediting its delivery a little. The document was then +furnished with the regulation eighty-kopek stamp (worth at that time +about thirty-seven cents), and the business was concluded. As I was in +summer quarters out of town, and it was not convenient for me to call in +person and inquire whether permission had been granted, another stamp +was added to insure the answer being sent to me. The license arrived in +a few days, and the magazine began to come promptly, unopened. I was not +even asked not to show it to other people. I may state here that, while +I never circulated any of the numerous prohibited books and manuscripts +which came into my possession during my stay in Russia, I never +concealed them. I showed the "Century" occasionally to personal friends +of the class who could have had it themselves had they taken any +permanent interest in the matter; but it is certain that they kept their +own counsel and mine in all respects. + +Everything proceeded satisfactorily until I went to Moscow to stay for a +time. It did not occur to me to inform the censor of my move, and the +result was that the first number of the magazine which I received there +was as fine a "specimen" as heart could desire. The line on the +title-page which referred to the obnoxious article had been scratched +out; the body of the article had been cut out; the small concluding +portion at the top of a page had been artistically "caviared." Of +course, the article ending upon the back of the first page extracted had +been spoiled. On this occasion I was angry, not at the mutilation as +such, but at the breach of faith. I sat down, while my wrath was still +hot, and indited a letter to the head censor in Petersburg. I do not +recollect the exact terms of that letter, but I know I told him that he +had no right to cut the book after granting me leave to receive it +intact, without first sending me word that he had changed his mind, and +giving valid reasons therefor; that the course he had adopted was +injudicious in the extreme, since it was calculated to arouse curiosity +instead of allaying it, and that it would be much better policy to +ignore the matter. I concluded by requesting him to restore the missing +article, if he had preserved it, and if he had not, to send at once to +London (that being nearer than New York) and order me a fresh copy of +the magazine at his expense. + +A month elapsed, no answer came; but at the end of the month another +mutilated "Century" arrived. This time I waited two or three days in the +hope of inventing an epistle which should be more forcible--if such a +thing were possible--than my last, and yet calm. The letter was half +written when an official envelope made its appearance from Petersburg, +containing cut pages and an apologetic explanation to the effect that +the Moscow censor, through an oversight, had not been duly instructed in +his duty toward me. A single glance showed me that the inclosed sheets +belonged to the number just received, not to the preceding number. I +drove immediately to the Moscow office and demanded the censor. "You can +tell me what you want with him," said the ante-room Cerberus. "Send me +the censor," said I. After further repetition, he retired and sent in a +man who requested me to state my business. "You are not the censor," I +said, after a glance at him. "Send him out, or I will go to him." Then +they decided that I was a connoisseur in censors, and the proper +official made his appearance, accompanied by an interpreter, on the +strength of the foreign name upon my card. Convinced that the latter +would not understand English well, like many Russians who can talk the +language fluently enough, I declined his services, produced my documents +from the Petersburg censor, and demanded restitution of the other +confiscated article. I obtained it, being allowed my pick from a neatly +labeled package of contraband goods. That scratched, cut, caviared +magazine is now in my possession, with the restored sheets and the +censor's apology appended. It is my proof to unbelievers that the +Russian censor is not so black as he is painted. + +As we shook hands with this Moscow official, after a friendly chat, I +asked him if he would be a little obtuse arithmetically as to the old +and new style of reckoning, and let me have my January "Century" if it +arrived before my departure for Petersburg, as my license expired +January 1. He smilingly agreed to do so. I also called on the Moscow +book censor, to find some books. The courtesy and readiness to oblige me +on the part of the officials had been so great, that I felt aggrieved +upon this occasion when this censor requested me to return on the +regular business day, and declined to overhaul his whole department for +me on the spot. I did return on the proper day, and watched operations +while due search was being made for my missing property. It reached me a +few days later, unopened, the delay having occurred at my banker's, not +in the post-office or censor's department. + +On my return to Petersburg, my first visit was to the censor's office, +where I copied my original petition, signed it, and dismissed the matter +from my mind until my February "Century" reached me with one article +missing and two articles spoiled. I paid another visit to the office, +and was informed that my petition for a renewal of permission had not +been granted. + +"Why didn't you send me word earlier?" I asked. + +"We were not bound to do so without the extra stamp," replied my dapper +official. + +"But why has my application been refused?" + +"Too many people are seeing that journal; some one must be refused." + +"Nonsense," said I. "And if it is really so, _I_ am not the proper +person to be rejected. It will hurt some of these Russian subscribers +more than it will me, because it is only a question of _when_ I shall +read it, not of whether I shall read it at all. I wonder that so many +demoralizing things do not affect the officials. However, that is not +the point; pray keep for your own use anything which you regard as +deleterious to me. I am obliged to you for your consideration. But you +have no right to spoil three or four articles; and by a proper use of +scissors and caviare that can easily be avoided. In any case, it will be +much better to give me the book unmutilated." + +The official and the occupants of the reception-room seemed to find my +view very humorous; but he declared that he had no power in the matter. + +"Very well," said I, taking a seat. "I will see the censor. + +"I am the censor," he replied. + +"Oh, no. I happen to be aware that the head censor is expected in a few +minutes, and I will wait." + +My (apparently) intimate knowledge of the ways of censors again won the +day. The chief actually was expected, and I was granted the first +audience. I explained matters and repeated my arguments. He sent for the +assistant. + +"Why was not this application granted?" he asked impressively. + +"We don't know, your Excellency," was the meek and not very consistent +reply. + +"You may go," said his Excellency. Then he turned graciously to me. "You +will receive it." + +"Uncut?" + +"Yes." + +"But will they let me have it?" + +"Will--they--let--you--have--it--when--I--say--so?" he +retorted with tremendous dignity. + +Then I knew that I should have no further trouble, and I was right. I +received no written permission, but the magazine was never interfered +with again. Thus it will be seen that one practically registers +periodicals wholesale, at a wonderfully favorable discount. + +During the whole of my stay in Russia I received many books unread, +apparently even unopened to see whether they belonged on the free list. +In one case, at least, volumes which were posted before the official +date of publication reached me by the next city delivery after the +letter announcing their dispatch. Books which were addressed to me at +the Legation, to assure delivery when my exact address was unknown or +when my movements were uncertain, were, in every case but one, sent to +me direct from the post-office. I have no reason to suppose that I was +unusually favored in any way. I used no "influence," I mentioned no +influential names, though I had the right to do so. + +An incident which procured for me the pleasure of an interview with the +chief censor for newspapers and so forth will illustrate some of the +erroneous ideas entertained by strangers. I desired to send to some +friends in Russia a year's subscription each of a certain American +magazine, which sometimes justly receives a sprinkling of caviare for +its folly, but which is not on the black list, and is fairly well known +in Petersburg. After some delay I heard from home that the publishers +had consulted the United States postal officials, and had been informed +that "_no_ periodical literature could be sent to Russia, this being +strictly prohibited." I took the letter to the newspaper censor, who +found it amusingly and amazingly stupid. He explained that the only +thing which is absolutely prohibited is Russian text printed outside of +Russia, which would never be delivered. He did not explain the reason, +but I knew that he referred to the socialistic, nihilistic, and other +proscribed works which are published in Geneva or Leipzig. Daily foreign +newspapers can be received regularly only by persons who are duly +authorized. Permission cannot be granted to receive occasional packages +of miscellaneous contents, the reason for this regulation being very +clear. And _all_ books must be examined if new, or treated according to +the place assigned them on the lists if they have already had a verdict +pronounced upon them. I may add, in this connection, that I had the +magazines I wished subscribed for under another name, to avoid the +indelicacy of contradicting my fellow-countrymen. They were then +forwarded direct to the Russian addresses, where they were duly and +regularly received. Whether they were mutilated, I do not know. They +certainly need not have been, had the recipients taken the trouble to +obtain permission as I did, if they were aware of the possibility. It is +probable that I could have obtained permission for them, had I not been +pressed for time. + +I once asked a member of the censorship committee on foreign books on +what principle of selection he proceeded. He said that disrespect to the +Emperor and the Greek Church was officially prohibited; that he admitted +everything which did not err too grossly in that direction, and, in +fact, _everything_ except French novels of the modern realistic school. +He drew the line at these, as pernicious to both men and women. He asked +me if I had read a certain new book which was on the proscribed list. I +said that I had, and in the course of the discussion which ensued, I +rose to fetch the volume in question from the table behind him to verify +a passage. (This occurred during a friendly call.) I recollected, +however, that that copy had not entered the country by post, and that, +consequently, the name of the owner therein inscribed would not be found +on the list of authorized readers any more than my own. I am sure, +however, that nothing would have happened if he had seen it, and he must +have understood my movement. My business dealings were wholly with +strangers. + +It seems to be necessary, although it ought not to be so, to remind +American readers that Russia is not the only land where the censorship +exists, to a greater or less extent. Even in the United States, which is +popularly regarded as the land of unlicensed license in a literary +sense,--even in the Boston Public Library, which is admitted to be a +model of good sense and wide liberality,--all books are not bought or +issued indiscriminately to all readers, irrespective of age and so +forth. The necessity for making special application may, in some cases, +whet curiosity, but it also, undoubtedly, acts as a check upon unhealthy +tastes, even when the book may be publicly purchased. I have heard +Russians who did not wholly agree with their own censorship assert, +nevertheless, that a strict censure was better than the total absence of +it, apparently, in America, the utterances of whose press are regarded +by foreigners in general as decidedly startling.* + +* From _The Nation_ + + + + +IV. + +BARGAINING IN RUSSIA. + + +In Russia one is expected to bargain and haggle over the price of +everything, beginning with hotel accommodations, no matter how +obtrusively large may be the type of the sign "_Prix Fixe_" or how +strenuous may be the assertions that the bottom price is that first +named. If one's nerves be too weak to play at this game of continental +poker, he will probably share our fate, of which we were politely +apprised by a word at our departure from a hotel where we had lived for +three months--after due bargaining--at their price. "If you come +back, you may have the corresponding apartments on the floor below [the +_bel etage_] for the same price." In view of the fact that there was no +elevator, it will be perceived that we had been paying from one third to +one half too much, which was reassuring as to the prospect for the +future, when we should decide to return! + +If there be a detestable relic of barbarism, it is this custom of +bargaining over every breath one draws in life. It creates a sort of +incessant internal seething, which is very wearing to the temper and +destructive of pleasure in traveling. One feels that he must chaffer +desperately in the dark, or pay the sum demanded and be regarded as a +goose fit for further plucking. So he forces himself to chaffer, tries +to conceal his abhorrence of the practice and his inexperience, and +ends, generally, by being cheated and considered a grass-green idiot +into the bargain, which is not soothing to the spirit of the average +man. When I mention it in this connection I do not mean to be understood +as confining my remarks exclusively to Russia; the opportunities for +being shorn to the quick are unsurpassed all over the continent, and +"one price" America's house is too vitreous to permit of her throwing +many stones at foreign lands. Only, in America, the custom is now +happily so obsolete in the ordinary transactions of daily life that one +is astonished when he hears, occasionally, a woman from the country ask +a clerk in a city shop, "Is that the least you'll take? I'll give you so +much for these goods." In Russia, the surprise would be on the other +side. + +The next time I had occasion to hire quarters in a hotel for a sojourn +of any length I resorted to stratagem, by way of giving myself an object +lesson. I looked at the rooms, haggled them down, on principle, to what +seemed to me really the very lowest notch of price; I was utterly worn +out before this was accomplished. I even flattered myself that I had +done nearly as well as a native could have done, and was satisfied. But +I sternly carried out my experiment. I did not close the bargain. I +asked Princess----to try her experienced hand. Result, she secured the +best accommodations in the house for less than half the rate at which I +had been so proud of obtaining inferior quarters! When we moved in, the +landlord was surprised, but he grasped the point of the transaction, and +seemed to regard it as a pleasant jest against him, and to respect us +the more for having outwitted him. The Princess apologized for having +made such bad terms for us, and meant it! I suspect that that was a very +fair sample of the comparative terms obtained by natives and outsiders +in all bargains. + +It is one of those things at which one smiles or fumes, according to the +force of the instinct for justice with which he has been blessed--or +cursed--by nature. Nothing, unless it be a healthy, athletic +conscience, is so wofully destructive of all happiness and comfort in +this life as a keen sense of justice! + +There are, it is true, persons in Russia who scorn to bargain as much as +did the girl of the merchant class in one of Ostrovsky's famous +comedies, who was so generous as to blush with shame for the people whom +she heard trying to beat down exorbitant prices in the shops, or whom +she saw taking their change. The merchant's motto is, "A thing is worth +all that can be got for it." Consequently, it never occurs to him that +even competition is a reason for being rational. One striking case of +this in my own experience was provided by a hardware merchant, in whose +shop I sought a spirit lamp. The lamps he showed me were not of the sort +I wished, and the price struck me as exorbitant, although I was not +informed as to that particular subject. I offered these suggestions to +the fat merchant in a mild manner, and added that I would look elsewhere +before deciding upon his wares. + +"You will find none elsewhere," roared the merchant--previously soft +spoken as the proverbial sucking dove--through his bushy beard, in a +voice which would have done credit to the proto-deacon of a cathedral. +"And not one kopek will I abate of my just price, _yay Bogu!_ [God is my +witness!] They cost me that sum; I am actually making you a present of +them out of my profound respect for you, _sudarynya!_ [He had called me +Madame before that, but now he lowered my social rank to that of a +merchant's wife, out of revenge.] And you will be pleased not to come +back if you don't find a lamp to suit your peculiar taste, for I will +not sell to you. I won't have people coming here and looking at things +and then not buying!" + +It was obviously my turn to retort, but I let the merchant have the last +word--temporarily. In ten minutes another shopkeeper offered me lamps +of identical quality and pattern at one half his price, and I purchased +one, such as I wished, of a different design for a small sum extra. I +may have been cheated, but, under the circumstances, I was satisfied. + +Will it be believed? Bushybeard was lying in wait for me at the door, +ready to receive me, wreathed in smiles which I can describe only by the +detestable adjective "affable," as I took pains to pass his +establishment on my way back. Then the spirit of mischief entered into +me. I reciprocated his smiles and said: "Ivan Baburin, at shop No. 8, +round the corner, has dozens of lamps such as you deal in, for half the +price of yours. You might be able to get them even cheaper, if you know +how to haggle well. But I'm afraid you don't, for you seem to have been +horribly cheated in your last trade, when you bought your present stock +at the price you mentioned. How could any one have the conscience to rob +an honest, innocent man like you so dreadfully?" + +He looked dazed, and the last time I cast a furtive glance behind me he +had not recovered sufficiently to dash after me and overwhelm me with +protestations of his uprightness, _yay Bogu!_ and other lingual +cascades. + +From the zest with which I have beheld a shopman and a customer waste +half an hour chaffering an article up and down five kopeks (two and a +half cents or less), I am convinced that they enjoy the excitement of +it, and that time is cheap enough with them to allow them to indulge in +this exhilarating practice. + +What is the remedy for this state of things? How are foreigners, who +pride themselves on never giving more than the value of an article, to +protect themselves? There is no remedy, I should say. One must haggle, +haggle, haggle, and submit. Guides are useless and worse, as they +probably share in the shopkeeper's profit, and so raise prices. +Recommendations of shops from guides or hotels are to be disregarded. +Not that they are worthless,--quite the reverse; only their value does +not accrue to the stranger, but to the other parties. It may well be, as +veteran travelers affirm, that one is compelled to contribute to this +mutual benefit association in any case; but there is a sort of +satisfaction after all in imagining that one is a free and independent +being, and going to destruction in his own way, unguided, while he gets +a little amusement out of his own shearing. + +Any one who really likes bargaining will get his fill in Russia, every +time he sets foot out of doors, if he wishes merely to take a ride. +There are days, it is true, when all the cabmen in town seem to have +entered into a league and agreed to demand a ruble for a drive of half a +dozen blocks; and again, though rarely, they will offer to carry one +miles for one fifth of that sum, which is equally unreasonable in the +other direction. In either case one has his bargaining sport, at one end +of the journey or the other. I find among my notes an illustration of +this operation, which, however, falls far short of a conversation which +I once overheard between a lower-class official and an _izvostchik_, who +could not come to terms. It ended in the uniformed official exclaiming: +"You ask too much. I'll use my own horses," raising a large foot, and +waving it gently at the cabmen. + +"Home-made!" (literally, "self-grown") retorted one _izvostchik_. The +rival bidders for custom shrieked with laughter at his wit, the official +fled, and I tried in vain--wonderful to relate--to get the attention +of the group and offer them a fresh opportunity for discussion by trying +to hire one of them. + +My note-book furnishes the following: "If anybody wants a merry +_izvostchik_, with a stylish flourishing red beard, I can supply him. I +do not own the man at present, but he has announced his firm intention +of accompanying me to America. I asked him how he would get along +without knowing the language? + +"'I'd serve you forever!' said he. + + "'How could I send you on an errand?' said I. + +"'I'd serve you forever!' said he. + +"That was the answer to every objection on my part. He and a +black-haired _izvostchik_ have a fight for my custom nearly every time I +go out. Fighting for custom--in words--is the regular thing, but the +way these men do it convulses with laughter everybody within hearing, +which is at least half a block. It is the fashion here to take an +interest in chafferings with cabmen and in other street scenes. + +"'She's to ride with me!' shouts one. '_Barynya_, I drove you to Vasily +Island one day, you remember!' 'She's going with me; you get out!' yells +the other. 'She drove on the Nevsky with me long before she ever saw +you; didn't you, _barynya_? and the Liteinaya,' and so on till he has +enumerated more streets than I have ever heard of. 'And we're old, old +friends, aren't we, barynya? And look at my be-e-autiful horse!' + +"'Your horse looks like a soiled and faded glove,' I retort, 'and I +won't have you fight over me. Settle it between yourselves,' and I walk +off or take another man, neither proceeding being favorably regarded. If +any one will rid me of Redbeard I will sell him for his passage-money to +America. I am also open to offers for Blackbeard, as he has announced +his intention of lying in wait for me at the door every day, as a cat +sits before a mouse's hole." Vanka (the generic name for all +_izvostchiki_) gets about four dollars or four dollars and a half a +month from his employer, when he does not own his equipage. In return he +is obliged to hand in about a dollar and a quarter a day on ordinary +occasions, a dollar and a half on the days preceding great festivals, +and two dollars and a half on festival days. If he does not contrive to +extract the necessary amount from his fares, his employer extracts it +from his wages, in the shape of a fine. The men told me this. As there +are no fixed rates in the great cities, a bargain must be struck every +time, which begins by the man demanding twice or thrice the proper +price, and ends in your paying it if you are not familiar with accepted +standards and distances, and in selling yourself at open-air auction to +the lowest bidder, acting as your own auctioneer, in case you are +conversant with matters in general. + +Foreigners can also study the bargaining process at its best--or worst +--in the purchase of furs. The Neva freezes over, as a rule, about the +middle of November, and snow comes to stay, after occasional light +flurries in September and October, a little later. Sometimes, however, +the river closes as early as the end of September, or as late as within +a few days of Christmas. Or the rain, which begins in October, continues +at intervals into the month of January. The price of food goes up, +frozen provisions for the poorer classes spoil, and more suffering and +illness ensue than when the normal Arctic winter prevails. In spite of +the cold, one is far more comfortable than in warmer climes. The "stone" +houses are built with double walls, three or four feet apart, of brick +or rubble covered with mastic. The space between the walls is filled in, +and, in the newer buildings, apertures with ventilators near the +ceilings take the place of movable panes in the double windows. The +space between the windows is filled with a deep layer of sand, in which +are set small tubes of salt to keep the glass clear, and a layer of +snowy cotton wadding on top makes a warm and appropriate finish. The +lower classes like to decorate their wadding with dried grasses, colored +paper, and brilliant odds and ends, in a sort of toy-garden arrangement. +The cracks of the windows are filled with putty or some other solid +composition, over which are pasted broad strips of coarse white linen. +The India rubber and other plants which seem so inappropriately placed, +in view of the brief and scant winter light, in reality serve two +purposes--that of decoration and that of keeping people at a +respectful distance from the windows, because the cold and wind pass +through the glass in dangerous volume. + +Carpets are rare. Inlaid wooden floors, with or without rugs, are the +rule. Birch wood is, practically, the exclusive material for heating. +Coal from South Russia is too expensive in St. Petersburg; and imported +coal is of the lignite order, and far from satisfactory even for use in +the open grates, which are often used for beauty and to supplement the +stoves. + +In the olden times, the beautifully colored and ornamented tile stoves +were built with a "stove bench," also of tiles, near the floor, on which +people could sleep. Nowadays, only peasants sleep on the stove, and they +literally sleep on top of the huge, mud-plastered stone oven, close to +the ceiling. In dwellings other than peasant huts, what is known as the +"German stove" is in use. Each stove is built through the wall to heat +two rooms, or a room and corridor. The yard porter brings up ten or +twelve birch logs, of moderate girth, peels off a little bark to use as +kindling, and in ten minutes there is a roaring fire. The door is left +open, and the two draught covers from the flues--which resemble the +covers of a range in shape and size--are taken out until the wood is +reduced to glowing coals, which no longer emit blue flames. Then the +door is closed, the flue plates are replaced, and the stove radiates +heat for twenty-four hours, forty-eight hours, or longer, according to +the weather and the taste of the persons concerned,--Russian rooms not +being kept nearly so hot as American rooms. + +In this soft, delightful, and healthy heat, heavy underclothing is a +misery. Very few Russians wear anything but linen, and foreigners who +have been used to wear flannels generally are forced to abandon them in +Russia. Hence the necessity for wrapping up warmly when one goes out. + +Whatever the caprices of the weather, during the winter, according to +the almanac, furs are required, especially by foreigners, from the +middle of October or earlier until May. People who come from Southern +climes, with the memory of the warm sun still lingering in their veins, +endure their first Russian winter better than the winters which follow, +provided their rashness, especially during the treacherous spring or +autumn, does not kill them off promptly. Therefore, the wise foreigner +who arrives in autumn sallies forth at once in quest of furs. He will +get plenty of bargaining and experience thrown in. + +First of all, he finds that he must reconstruct his ideas about furs. If +he be an American, his first discovery is that his favorite sealskin is +out of the race entirely. No Russian would pay the price which is given +for sealskin in return for such a "cold fur," nor would he wear it on +the outside for display, while it would be too tender to use as a +lining. Sealskin is good only for a short jacket between seasons for +walking, and if one sets out on foot in that garb she must return on +foot; she would be running a serious risk if she took a carriage or +sledge. All furs are used for linings; in short, by thus reversing +nature's arrangement, one obtains the natural effect, and wears the fur +next his skin, as the original owner of the pelt did. Squirrel is a +"cold," cheap fur, used by laundresses and the like, while mink, also +reckoned as a "cold" fur, though more expensive, is used by men only, as +is the pretty mottled skin obtained by piecing together sable paws. The +cheapest of the "downy" furs, which are the proper sort for the climate, +is the brown goat, that constantly reminds its owner of the economy +practiced, by its weight and characteristic strong smell, though it has +the merit of being very warm. Next come the various grades of red fox +fur,--those abundantly furnished with hair,--where the red is pale +and small in area, and the gray patches are large and dark, being the +best. The _kuni_, which was the unit of currency in olden days, and was +used by royalty, is the next in value, and is costly if dark, and with a +tough, light-weight skin, which is an essential item of consideration +for the necessary large cloaks. Sables, rich and dark, are worn, like +the _kuni_, by any one who can afford them,--court dames, cavaliers, +archbishops, and merchants, or their wives and daughters,--while the +climax of beauty and luxury is attained in the black fox fur, soft and +delicate as feathers, warm as a July day. The silky, curly white Tibetan +goat, and the thick, straight white fur of the _psetz_, make beautiful +evening wraps for women, under velvets of delicate hues, and are used by +day also, though they are attended by the inconvenience of requiring +frequent cleaning. Cloth or velvet is the proper covering for all furs, +and the colors worn for driving are often gay or light. A layer of +wadding between the fur and the covering adds warmth, and makes the +circular mantle called a _rotonda_ set properly. These sleeveless +circular cloaks are not fit for anything but driving, however, although +they are lapped across the breast and held firmly in place by the +crossed arms,--a weary task, since they fall open at every breeze +when the wearer is on foot,--but they possess the advantage over a +cloak with sleeves that they can be held high around the ears and head +at will. The most inveterate "shopper" would be satisfied with the +amount of running about and bargaining which can be got out of buying a +fur cloak and a cap! + +The national cap has a soft velvet crown, surrounded by a broad band of +sable or otter, is always in fashion, and lasts forever. People who like +variety buy each year a new cap, made of black Persian lambskin, which +resembles in shape that worn by the Kazaks, though the shape is modified +every year by the thrifty shopkeepers. + +The possibilities for self delusion, and delusion from the other +quarter, as to price and quality of these fur articles, is simply +enormous. I remember the amusing tags fastened to every cloak in the +shop of a certain fashionable furrier in Moscow, where "asking price" +and "selling price" were plainly indicated. By dint of inquiry I found +that "paying price" was considerably below "selling price." Moscow is +the place, by the way, to see the coats intended for "really cold +weather" journeys, made of bear skin and of reindeer skin, impervious to +cold, lined with downy Siberian rat or other skins, which one does not +see in Petersburg shops. + +The furs and the Russians' sensible manner of dressing in general, which +I have described, have much to do with their comfort and freedom from +colds. No Russian enters a room, theatre, or public hall at any season +of the year with his cloak and overshoes, and no well-trained servant +would allow an ignorant foreigner to trifle with his health by so doing. +Even the foreign churches are provided with cloak-rooms and attendants. +And the Russian churches? On grand occasions, when space is railed off +for officials or favored guests, cloak-racks and attendants are provided +near the door for the privileged ones, who must display their uniforms +and gowns as a matter of state etiquette. The women find the light shawl +--which they wear under their fur to preserve the gown from hairs, to +shield the chest, and for precisely such emergencies--sufficient +protection. On ordinary occasions, people who do not keep a lackey to +hold their cloaks just inside the entrance have an opportunity to +practice Russian endurance, and unless the crowd is very dense, the +large and lofty space renders it quite possible, though the churches are +heated, to retain the fur cloak; but it is not healthy, and not always +comfortable. It would not be possible to provide cloak-rooms and +attendants for the thousands upon thousands who attend church service on +Sundays and holidays. With the foreign churches, whose attendance is +limited comparatively, it is a different matter. + +One difficulty about foreigners visiting Russia in winter is, that those +who come for a short visit are rarely willing to go to the expense of +the requisite furs. In general, they are so reckless of their health as +to inspire horror in any one who is acquainted with the treacherous +climate. I remember a couple of Americans, who resisted all +remonstrances because they were on their way to a warmer clime, and went +about when the thermometer was twenty-five to thirty degrees below zero +Reaumur, in light, unwadded mantles, reaching only to the waist line, +and with loose sleeves. A Russian remarked of them: "They might have +shown some respect for the climate, and have put on flannel compresses, +or a mustard plaster at least!" Naturally, an illness was the result. If +such people would try to bargain for the very handsome and stylish +coffins which they would consider in keeping with their dignity, they +would come to the conclusion that furs would prove cheaper and less +troublesome. But furs or coffins, necessaries or luxuries, everything +must be bargained for in Holy Russia, and with the American affection +for the national game of poker, that should not constitute an objection +to the country. Only non-card-players will mind such a trifle as bluff.* + +* Reprinted, in part, from _Lippincott's Magazine_. + + + + +V. + +EXPERIENCES. + + +So much has been said about the habits of the late Emperor Alexander +III. in his capital, that a brief statement of them will not be out of +place, especially as I had one or two experiences, in addition to the +ordinary opportunities afforded by a long visit and knowledge of the +language and manners of the people. + +When the Emperor was in St. Petersburg, he drove about freely every day +like a private person. He was never escorted or attended by guards. In +place of a lackey a Kazak orderly sat beside the coachman. The orderlies +of no other military men wore the Kazak uniform. Any one acquainted with +this fact, or with the Emperor's face, could recognize him as he passed. +There was no other sign; even the soldiers, policemen, and gendarmes +gave him the same salute which they gave to every general. At Peterhoff, +in summer, he often drove, equally unescorted, to listen to the music in +the palace park, which was open to all the public. + +On occasions of state or ceremony, such as a royal wedding or the +arrival of the Shah of Persia, troops lined the route of the procession, +as part of the show, and to keep the quiet but vigorously surging masses +of spectators in order; just as the police keep order on St. Patrick's +Day in New York, or as the militia kept order and made part of the show +during the land naval parade at the Columbian festivities in New York. +On such occasions the practice as to allowing spectators on balconies, +windows, and roofs varied. For example, during the Emperor's recent +funeral procession in Moscow, roofs, balconies, open windows, and every +point of vantage were occupied by spectators. In St. Petersburg, the +public was forbidden to occupy roofs, balconies, lamp-posts, or +railings, and it was ordered that all windows should be shut, though, as +usual, no restriction was placed on benches, stools, and other aids to a +view. A few days later, when the Emperor Nicholas II. drove from his +wedding in the Winter Palace to the Anitchkoff Palace, roofs, balconies, +and open windows were crowded with spectators. I saw the Emperor +Alexander III. from an open balcony, and behind closed windows. + +On the regular festivals and festivities, such as St. George's Day, New +Year's Day, the Epiphany (the "Jordan," or Blessing of the Neva), the +state balls, Easter, and so forth, every one knew where to look for the +Emperor, and at what hour. The official notifications in the morning +papers, informing members of the Court at what hour and place to present +themselves, furnished a good guide to the Emperor's movements for any +one who did not already know. On such days the approaches to the Winter +Palace were kept open for the guests as they arrived; the crowd was +always enormous, especially at the "Jordan." But as soon as royalties +and guests had arrived, and, on the "Jordan" day, as soon as the Neva +had been blessed, ordinary traffic was resumed on sidewalks of the +Winter Palace (those of the Anitchkoff Palace, where the Emperor lived, +were never cut off from public use), on streets, and Palace Square. +Royalties and guests departed quietly at their pleasure. + +I was driving down the Nevsky Prospekt on the afternoon of New Year's +Day, 1889, when, just at the gate of the Anitchkoff Palace, a policeman +raised his hand, and my sledge and the whole line behind me halted. I +looked round to see the reason, and beheld the Emperor and Empress +sitting beside me in the semi-state cream-colored carriage, painted with +a big coat of arms, its black hood studded with golden doubleheaded +eagles, which the present Emperor used on his wedding day. A coachman, +postilion, and footman constituted the sole "guard," while the late +prefect, General Gresser, in an open calash a quarter of a mile behind, +constituted the "armed escort." They were on the roadway next to the +horse-car track, which is reserved for private equipages, and had to +cross the lines of public sledges next to the sidewalk. On other +occasions, such as launches of ironclad war vessels, the expected +presence of the Emperor and Empress was announced in the newspapers. It +was easy enough to calculate the route and the hour, if one wished to +see them. I frequently made such calculations, in town and country, and, +stranger though I was, I never made a mistake. When cabinet ministers or +high functionaries of the Court died, the Emperor and Empress attended +one of the services before the funeral, and the funeral. Thousands of +people calculated the hour, and the best spot to see them with absolute +accuracy. At one such funeral, just after rumors of a fresh "plot" had +been rife, I saw the great crowd surge up with a cheer towards the +Emperor's carriage, though the Russians are very quiet in public. The +police who were guarding the route of the procession stood still and +smiled approvingly. + +But sometimes the streets through which the Emperor Alexander III. was +to pass were temporarily forbidden to the public; such as the annual +mass and parade of the regiments of the Guards in their great +riding-schools, and a few more. I know just how that device worked, +because I put it to the proof twice, with amusing results. + +The first time it was in this wise: There exists in St. Petersburg a +Ladies' Artistic Circle, which meets once a week all winter, to draw +from models. Social standing as well as artistic talent is requisite in +members of this society, to which two or three Grand Duchesses have +belonged, or do belong. The product of their weekly work, added to gifts +from each member, is exhibited, sold, and raffled for each spring, the +proceeds being devoted to helping needy artists by purchasing for them +canvas, paints, and so forth, to clothing and educating their children, +or aiding them in a dozen different ways, such as paying house-rent, +doctor's bills, pensions, and so forth, to the amount of a great many +thousand dollars every year. When I was in Petersburg, the exhibitions +took place in the ballroom and drawing-room of one grand ducal palace, +while the home and weekly meetings were in the palace of the Grand +Duchess Ekaterina Mikhailovna, now dead. An amiable poet, Yakoff +Petrovitch, invited me to attend one of these meetings,--a number of +men being honorary members, though the women manage everything +themselves,--but illness prevented my accompanying him on the evening +appointed for our visit. He told me, therefore, to keep my invitation +card. Three months elapsed before circumstances permitted me to use it. + +One evening, on my way from an informal call of farewell on a friend who +was about to set out for the Crimea, I ordered my _izvostchik_ to drive +me to the Michael Palace. We were still at some distance from the palace +when a policeman spoke to the _izvostchik_, who drove on instead of +turning that corner, as he had been on the point of doing. + +"Why don't you go on up that street?" I asked. + +"Impossible! Probably the _Hosudar_ [Emperor] is coming," answered +cabby. + +"Whither is he going?" + +"We don't know," replied cabby, in true Russian style. + +"But I mean to go to that palace, all the same," said I. + +"Of course," said cabby tranquilly, turning up the next parallel street, +which brought us out on the square close to the palace. + +As we drove into the courtyard I was surprised to see that it was filled +with carriages, that the plumed chasseurs of ambassadors and footmen in +court liveries were flitting to and fro, and that the great flight of +steps leading to the grand entrance was dotted thickly with officers and +gendarmes, exactly as though an imperial birthday _Te Deum_ at St. +Isaac's Cathedral were in progress, and twenty or twenty-five thousand +people must be kept in order. + +"Well!" I said to myself, "this appears to be a very elegant sort of +sketch-club, with evening dress and all the society appurtenances. What +did Yakoff Petrovitch mean by telling me that a plain street gown was +the proper thing to wear? This enforced 'simplification' is rather +trying to the feminine nerves; but I will not beat a retreat!" + +I paid and dismissed my _izvostchik_,--a poor, shabby fellow, such as +Fate invariably allotted to me,--walked in, gave my furs and galoshes +to the handsome, big head Swiss in imperial scarlet and gold livery, and +started past the throng of servants, to the grand staircase, which +ascended invitingly at the other side of the vast hall. Unfortunately, +that instinct with whose possession women are sometimes reproached +prompted me to turn back, just as I had reached the first step, and +question the Swiss. + +"In what room shall I find the Ladies' Artistic Circle?" + +"It does not meet to-night, madame," he answered. "Her Imperial Highness +has guests." + +"But I thought the Circle met every Wednesday night from November to +May." + +"It does, usually, madame; to-night is an exception. You will find the +ladies here next week." + +"Then please to give me my _shuba_ and galoshes, and call a sledge." + +The Swiss gave the order for a sledge to one of the palace servants +standing by, and put on my galoshes and cloak. But the big square was +deserted, the ubiquitous _izvostchik_ was absent, for once, it appeared, +and after waiting a few minutes at the grand entrance, I repeated my +request to an officer of gendarmes. He touched his cap, said: +"_Slushaiu's_" (I obey, madame), and set in action a series of shouts of +"_Izvostchik! izvo-o-o-o-stchik!_" It ended in the dispatch of a +messenger to a neighboring street, and--at last--the appearance of a +sledge, visibly shabby of course, even in the dark,--my luck had not +deserted me. + +I could have walked home, as it was very close at hand, in much less +time than it took to get the sledge, be placed therein, and buttoned +fast under the robe by the gendarme officer: but my heart had quailed a +little, I confess, when it looked for a while as if I should be +compelled to do it and pass that array of carriages and lackeys afoot. I +was glad enough to be able to spend double fare on the man (because I +had not bargained in advance), in the support of my little dignity and +false pride. + +As I drove out of one gate, a kind of quiet tumult arose at the other. +On comparing notes, two days later, as to the hour, with a friend who +had been at the palace that night (by invitation, not in my way), I +found that the Emperor and Empress had driven up to attend these Lenten +_Tableaux Vivants_, in which several members of the imperial family +figured, just as I had got out of the way. + +This was one of the very few occasions when I found any street reserved +temporarily for the Emperor, who usually drives like a private citizen. +I have never been able to understand, however, what good such +reservation does, if undertaken as a protective measure (as hasty +travelers are fond of asserting), when a person can head off the +Emperor, reach the goal by a parallel street, and then walk into a +small, select imperial party unknown, uninvited, unhindered, as I +evidently could have done and almost did, woolen gown, bonnet, and all, +barred solely by my own question to the Swiss at the last moment. + +That the full significance of my semi-adventure may be comprehended, +with all its irregularity, let me explain that my manner of arrival was +as unsuitable--as suspicious, if you like--as it well could be. I +had no business to drive up to a palace, in a common sledge hired on the +street, on such an occasion. I had no business to be riding alone in an +open sledge at night. Officers from the regiments of the Guards may, +from economy, use such public open sledges (there are no covered sledges +in town) to attend a reception at the Winter Palace, or a funeral mass +at a church where the Emperor and Empress are present. I have seen that +done. But they are careful to alight at a distance and approach the +august edifice on their own noble, uniformed legs. But a woman-- +without a uniform to consecrate her daring--! + +However, closed carriages do not stand at random on the street in St. +Petersburg, any more than they do elsewhere, and cannot often be had +either quickly or easily, besides being expensive. + +Nevertheless, neither then nor at any other time did I ever encounter +the slightest disrespect from police, gendarmes, servants (those severe +and often impertinent judges of one's attire and equipage), nor from +their masters,--not even on this critical occasion when I so patently, +flagrantly transgressed all the proprieties, yet was not interfered with +by word or glance, but was permitted to discover my error for myself, or +plunge headlong, unwarned, into the Duchess's party, regardless of my +unsuitable costume. + +On the following Wednesday, I drove to the palace again in the same +style of equipage, and the same gown, which proved to be perfectly +proper, as Mr. Y. P. had told me, and was greeted with a courteous and +amiable smile by the head Swiss, who had the air of taking me under his +special protection, as he conducted me in person, not by deputy, to the +quarters of the Circle. + +I had another illustrative experience with closed streets. In February +come the two grand reviews of the Guards, stationed in Petersburg, +Peterhoff, and Tzarskoe Selo, on the Palace Place. They are fine +spectacles, but only for those who have access to a window overlooking +the scene, as all the streets leading to the Place are blockaded by the +gendarmerie, to obviate the disturbance of traffic. On one of these +occasions, I inadvertently selected the route which the Emperor was to +use. I was stopped by mounted gendarmes. I told them that it was too far +to walk, with my heavy furs and shoes, and they allowed me to proceed. A +block further on, officers of higher grade in the gendarmerie rode up to +me and again declared that it was impossible for me to go on; but they +yielded, as did still higher officers, at two or three advanced posts. I +believe that it was not intended that I should walk along that street +either; I certainly had it all to myself. I know now how royalty feels +when carefully coddled, and prefer to have my fellow-creatures about me. +I alighted, at last, with the polite assistance of a gendarme officer, +at the very spot where the Emperor afterward alighted from his sledge +and mounted his horse. At that time I was living in an extremely +fashionable quarter of the city, where every one was supposed to keep +his own carriage. The result was that the _izvostchiki_ never expected +custom from any one except the servants of the wealthy, and none but the +shabbiest sledges in town ever waited there for engagements. +Accordingly, my turnout was very shabby, and the gendarmes could not +have been impressed with respect by it. On the other hand, had I used +the best style of public equipage, the likatchi, the kind which consists +of an elegant little sledge, a fine horse, and a spruce, well-fed, +well-dressed driver, it is probable that they would not have let me pass +at all. Ladies are not permitted, by etiquette, to patronize these +_likatchi_, alone, and no man will take his wife or a woman whom he +respects to drive in one. Had I foreseen that there would be any +occasion for inspiring respect by my equipage, I would have gone to the +trouble and expense of hiring a closed carriage, a thing which I did as +rarely as possible, because nothing could be seen through the frozen +window, because they seemed much colder than the open sledges, and had +no advantage except style, and that of protecting one from the wind, +which I did not mind. + + + + +VI. + +A RUSSIAN SUMMER RESORT. + + +The spring was late and cold. I wore my fur-lined cloak (_shuba_) and +wrapped up my ears, by Russian advice as well as by inclination, until +late in May. But we were told that the summer heat would catch us +suddenly, and that St. Petersburg would become malodorous and unhealthy. +It was necessary, owing to circumstances, to find a healthy residence +for the summer, which should not be too far removed from the capital. +With a few exceptions, all the environs of St. Petersburg are damp. +Unless one goes as far as Gatschina, or into the part of Finland +adjacent to the city, Tzarskoe Selo presents the only dry locality. In +the Finnish summer colonies, one must, perforce, keep house, for lack of +hotels. In Tzarskoe, as in Peterhoff, villa life is the only variety +recognized by polite society; but there we had--or seemed to have-- +the choice between that and hotels. We decided in favor of Tzarskoe, as +it is called in familiar conversation. As one approaches the imperial +village, it rises like a green oasis from the plain. It is hedged in, +like a true Russian village, but with trees and bushes well trained +instead of with a wattled fence. + +During the reign of Alexander II., this inland village was the favorite +Court resort; not Peterhoff, on the Gulf of Finland, as at present. It +is situated sixteen miles from St. Petersburg, on the line of the first +railway built in Russia, which to this day extends only a couple of +miles beyond,--for lack of the necessity of farther extension, it is +just to add. It stands on land which is not perceptibly higher than St. +Petersburg, and it took a great deal of demonstration before an Empress +of the last century could be made to believe that it was, in reality, on +a level with the top of the lofty Admiralty spire, and that she must +continue her tiresome trips to and fro in her coach, in the +impossibility of constructing a canal which would enable her to sail in +comfort. Tzarskoe Selo, "Imperial Village:" well as the name fits the +place, it is thought to have been corrupted from _saari_, the Finnish +word for "farm," as a farm occupied the site when Peter the Great +pitched upon it for one of his numerous summer resorts. He first +enlarged the farmhouse, then built one of his simple wooden palaces, and +a greenhouse for Katherine I. Eventually he erected a small part of the +present Old Palace. It was at the dedication of the church here, +celebrated in floods of liquor (after a fashion not unfamiliar in the +annals of New England in earlier days), that Peter I. contracted the +illness which, aggravated by a similar drinking-bout elsewhere +immediately afterward, and a cold caused by a wetting while he was +engaged in rescuing some people from drowning, carried him to his grave +very promptly. His successors enlarged and beautified the place, which +first became famous during the reign of Katherine II. At the present +day, its broad macadamized streets are lighted by electricity; its +_Gostinny Dvor_ (bazaar) is like that of a provincial city; many of its +sidewalks, after the same provincial pattern, have made people prefer +the middle of the street for their promenades. Naturally, only the lower +classes were expected to walk when the Court resided there. + +Before making acquaintance with the famous palaces and parks, we +undertook to settle ourselves for the time being, at least. It appeared +that "furnished" villas are so called in Tzarskoe, as elsewhere, because +they require to be almost completely furnished by the occupant on a +foundation of bare bones of furniture, consisting of a few bedsteads and +tables. This was not convenient for travelers; neither did we wish to +commit ourselves for the whole season to the cares of housekeeping, lest +a change of air should be ordered suddenly; so we determined to try to +live in another way. + +Boarding-houses are as scarce here as in St. Petersburg, the whole town +boasting but one,--advertised as a wonderful rarity,--which was very +badly situated. There were plenty of _traktiri_, or low-class +eating-houses, some of which had "numbers for arrivers"--that is to +say, rooms for guests--added to their gaudy signs. These were not to +be thought of. But we had been told of an establishment which rejoiced +in the proud title of _gostinnitza_, "hotel," in city fashion. It looked +fairly good, and there we took up our abode, after due and inevitable +chaffering. This hotel was kept, over shops, on the first and part of +the second floor of a building which had originally been destined for +apartments. Its only recommendation was that it was situated near a very +desirable gate into the Imperial Park. + +Our experience there was sufficient to slake all curiosity as to Russian +summer resort hotels, or country hotels in provincial towns, since that +was its character; though it had, besides, some hindrances which were +peculiar, I hope, to itself. The usual clean, large dining-room, with +the polished floor, table decorated with plants, and lace curtains, was +irresistibly attractive, especially to wedding parties of shopkeepers, +who danced twelve hours at a stretch, and to breakfast parties after +funerals, whose guests made rather more uproar on afternoons than did +those of the wedding balls in the evening, as they sang the customary +doleful chants, and then warmed up to the occasion with bottled +consolation. The establishment being shorthanded for waiters, these +entertainments interfered seriously with our meals, which we took in +private; and we were often forced to go hungry until long after the +hour, because there was so much to eat in the house! + +Our first experience of the place was characteristic. The waiter, who +was also "boots," chambermaid, and clerk, on occasion, distributed two +sheets, two pillows, one blanket, and one "cold" (cotton) coverlet +between the two beds, and considered that ample, as no doubt it was +according to some lights and according to the almanac, though the +weather resembled November just then, and I saw snow a few days later. +Having succeeded in getting this rectified, after some discussion, I +asked for towels. + +"There is one," answered Mikhei (Micah), with his most fascinating +smile. + +The towel was very small, and was intended to serve for two persons! +Eventually it did not; and we earned the name of being altogether too +fastidious. The washstand had a tank of water attached to the top, which +we pumped into the basin with a foot-treadle, after we became skillful, +holding our hands under the stream the while. The basin had no stopper. +"Running water is cleaner to wash in," was the serious explanation. Some +other barbarian who had used that washstand before us must also have +differed from that commonly accepted Russian opinion: when we plugged up +the hole with a cork, and it disappeared, and we fished it out of the +still clogged pipe, we found that six others had preceded it. It took a +champagne cork and a cord to conquer the orifice. + +Among our vulgar experiences at this place were--fleas. I remonstrated +with Mikhei, our typical waiter from the government of Yaroslavl, which +furnishes restaurant _garcons_ in hordes as a regular industry. Mikhei +replied airily:-- + +"_Nitchevo!_ It is nothing! You will soon learn to like them so much +that you cannot do without them." + +I take the liberty of doubting whether even Russians ever reach that +last state of mind, in a lifetime of endurance. Two rooms beyond us, in +the same corridor, lodged a tall, thin, gray-haired Russian merchant, +who was nearly a typical Yankee in appearance. Every morning, at four +o'clock, when the fleas were at their worst and roused us regularly (the +"close season" for mortals, in Russia, is between five and six A. M.), +we heard this man emerge from his room, and shake, separately and +violently, the four pieces of his bedclothing into the corridor; not out +of the window, as he should have done. So much for the modern native +taste. It is recorded that the beauties of the last century, in St. +Petersburg, always wore on their bosoms silver "flea-catchers" attached +to a ribbon. These traps consisted of small tubes pierced with a great +number of tiny holes, closed at the bottom, open at the top, and each +containing a slender shaft smeared with honey or some other sticky +substance. So much for the ancient native taste. + +Again, we had a disagreement with Mikhei on the subject of the roast +beef. More than once it was brought in having a peculiar +blackish-crimson hue and stringy grain, with a sweetish flavor, and an +odor which was singular but not tainted, and which required imperatively +that either we or it should vacate the room instantly. Mikhei stuck +firmly to his assertion that it was a prime cut from a first-class ox. +We discovered the truth later on, in Moscow, when we entered a Tatar +horse-butcher's shop--ornamented with the picture of a horse, as the +law requires--out of curiosity, to inquire prices. We recognized the +smell and other characteristics of our Tzarskoe Selo "roast ox" at a +glance and a sniff, and remained only long enough to learn that the best +cuts cost two and a half cents a pound. Afterward we went a block about +to avoid passing that shop. The explanation of the affair was simple +enough. In our hotel there was a _traktir_, run by our landlord, tucked +away in a rear corner of the ground floor, and opening on what Thackeray +would have called a "tight but elegant" little garden, for summer use. +It was thronged from morning till night with Tatar old-clothes men and +soldiers from the garrison, for whom it was the rendezvous. The horse +beef had been provided for the Tatars, who considered it a special +dainty, and had been palmed off upon us because it was cheap. + +I may dismiss the subject of the genial Mikhei here, with the remark +that we met him the following summer at the Samson Inn, in Peterhoff, +where he served our breakfast with an affectionate solicitude which +somewhat alarmed us for his sobriety. He was very much injured in +appearance by long hair thrown back in artistic fashion, and a livid +gash which scored one side of his face down to his still unbrushed +teeth, and nearly to his unwashed shirt, narrowly missing one eye, and +suggested possibilities of fight in him which, luckily for our peace of +mind, we had not suspected the previous season. + +Our chambermaid at first, at the Tzarskoe hostelry, was a lad fourteen +years of age, who dusted in the most wonderfully conscientious way +without being asked, like a veteran trained housekeeper. We supposed +that male chambermaids were the fashion, judging from the offices which +we had seen our St. Petersburg hotel "boots" perform, and we said +nothing. A Russian friend who came to call on us, however, was shocked, +and, without our knowledge, gave the landlord a lecture on the subject, +the first intimation of which was conveyed to us by the appearance of a +maid who had been engaged "expressly for the service of our high +nobilities;" price, five rubles a month (two dollars and a half; she +chanced to live in the attic lodgings), which they did not pay her, and +which we gladly gave her. Her conversation alone was worth three times +the money. Our "boots" in St. Petersburg got but four rubles a month, +out of which he was obliged to clothe himself, and furnish the brushes, +wax, and blacking for the boots; and he had not had a single day's +holiday in four years, when we made his acquaintance. I won his eternal +devotion by "placing a candle" vicariously to the Saviour for him on +Christmas Day, and added one for myself, to harmonize with the brotherly +spirit of the season. + +Andrei, the boy, never wholly recovered from the grief and resentment +caused by being thus supplanted, and the imputation cast upon his powers +of caring for us. He got even with us on at least two occasions, for the +offense of which we were innocent. Once he told a fashionable visitor of +ours that we dined daily in the _traktir_, with the Tatar clothes +peddlers and the soldiers of the garrison, with the deliberate intention +of shocking her. I suppose it soothed his feelings for having to serve +our food in our own room. Again, being ordered to "place the _samovar_" +he withdrew to his chamber, the former kitchen of the apartment, and +went to sleep on the cold range, which was his bed, where he was +discovered after we had starved patiently for an hour and a half. + +Andrei's supplanter was named Katiusha, but her angular charms +corresponded so precisely with those of the character in "The Mikado" +that we referred to her habitually as Katisha. She had been a serf, a +member of the serf aristocracy, which consisted of the house servants, +and had served always as maid or nurse. She was now struggling on as a +seamstress. Her sewing was wonderfully bad, and she found great +difficulty in bringing up her two children, who demanded fashionable +"European" clothing, and in eking out the starvation wages of her +husband, a superannuated restaurant waiter, also a former serf, and +belonging, like herself, to the class which received personal liberty, +but no land, at the emancipation. Her view of the emancipation was not +entirely favorable. In fact, all the ex-serfs with whom I talked +retained a soft spot in their hearts for the comforts and +irresponsibility of the good old days of serfdom. + +Katiusha could neither read nor write, but her naturally acute powers of +observation, unconsciously trained by constant contact with her former +owners, were of very creditable quality. She possessed a genuine talent +for expressing herself neatly. For example, in describing a concert to +which she had been taken, she praised the soprano singer's voice with +much discrimination, winding up with, "It was--how shall I say it?-- +round--as round--as round as--a cartwheel!" + +Her great delight consisted in being sent by me to purchase eggs and +fruit at the market, or in accompanying me to carry them home, when I +went myself to enjoy the scene and her methods. In her I was able to +study Russian bargaining tactics in their finest flower. She would +haggle for half an hour over a quarter of a cent on very small +purchases, and then would carry whatever she bought into one of the +neighboring shops to be reweighed. To my surprise, the good-natured +venders seemed never to take offense at this significant act; and she +never discovered any dishonesty. When wearied out by this sort of thing, +I took charge of the proceedings, that I might escape from her agonized +groans and grimaces at my extravagance. After choking down her emotion +in gulps all the way home, she would at last clasp her hands, and moan +in a wheedling voice:-- + +"Please, _barynya_,* how much did you pay that robber?" + +* Mistress. + +"Two kopeks* apiece for the eggs. They are fine, large, and fresh, as +you see. Twenty kopeks a pound for the strawberries, also of the first +quality." + +* About one cent. + +Then would follow a scene which never varied, even if my indiscretion +had been confined to raspberries at five cents a pound, or currants at a +cent less. She would wring her hands, long and fleshless as fan handles, +and, her great green eyes phosphorescent with distress above her hollow +cheeks and projecting bones, she would cry:-- + +"Oh, _barynya_, they have cheated you, cheated you shamefully! You must +let me protect you." + +"Come, don't you think it is worth a few kopeks to be called 'a pearl,' +'a diamond,' 'an emerald'?" + +"Is _that_ all they called you?" she inquired, with a disdainful sniff. + +"No; they said that I was 'a real general-ess.' They knew their +business, you see. And they said '_madame_' instead of '_sudarynya_.'* +Was there any other title which they could have bestowed on me for the +money?" + +*_Sudarynya_ is the genuine Russian word for "madam," but, like +_spasibo_, "thank you," it is used only by the lower classes. Many +merchants who know no French except _madame_ use it as a delicate +compliment to the patron's social position. + +She confessed, with a pitying sigh, that there was not, but returned to +her plaint over the sinfully wasted kopeks. Once I offered her some +"tea-money" in the shape of a basket of raspberries, which she wished to +preserve and drink in her tea, with the privilege of purchasing them +herself. As an experiment to determine whether bargaining is the outcome +of thrift and economy alone, or a distinct pleasure in itself, it was a +success. I followed her from vender to vender, and waited with exemplary +patience while she scrutinized their wares and beat down prices with +feverish eagerness, despite the fact that she was not to pay the bill. I +put an end to the matter when she tried to persuade a pretty peasant +girl, who had walked eight miles, to accept less than four cents a pound +for superb berries. I think it really spoiled my gift to her that I +insisted on making the girl happy with five cents a pound. After that I +was not surprised to find Russian merchants catering to the taste of +their customers by refusing to adopt the one-price system. + +It was vulgar to go to market, of course. Even the great mastiff who +acted as yard dog at the bazaar made me aware of that fact. He always +greeted me politely, like a host, when he met me in the court at market +hours. But nothing could induce him even to look at me when he met me +outside. I tried to explain to him that my motives were scientific, not +economical, and I introduced Katiusha to him as the family bargainer and +scapegoat for his scorn. He declined to relent. After that I understood +that there was nothing for it but to shoulder the responsibility myself, +and I never attempted to palliate my unpardonable conduct in the eyes of +the servants of my friends whom I occasionally encountered there. + +The market was held in the inner courtyard of the _Gostinny Dvor_, near +the chapel, which always occupies a conspicuous position in such places. +While the shops under the arcade, facing on the street, sold everything, +from "gallantry wares" (dry goods and small wares) to nails, the inner +booths were all devoted to edibles. On the rubble pavement of the court +squatted peasants from the villages for many versts round about, both +Russian and Finnish, hedged in by their wares, vegetables, flowers, +fruit, and live poultry. The Russians exhibited no beautiful costumes; +their proximity to the capital had done away with all that. At first I +was inexperienced, and went unprovided with receptacles for my +marketing. The market women looked up in surprise. + +"What, have you no kerchief?" they asked, as though I were a peasant or +petty merchant's wife, and could remove the typical piece of gayly +colored cloth from my head or neck. When I objected to transporting eggs +and berries in my only resource, my handkerchief, they reluctantly +produced scraps of dirty newspaper, or of ledgers scrawled over with +queer accounts. I soon grew wise, and hoarded up the splint strawberry +baskets provided by the male venders, which are put to multifarious uses +in Russia. + +After being asked for a kerchief in the markets, and a sheet when I went +to get my fur cloak from its summer storage at a fashionable city shop, +and after making divers notes on journeys, I was obliged to conclude +that the ancient merchant fashion in Russia had been to seize the +nearest fabric at hand,--the sheet from the bed, the cloth from the +table,--and use it as a traveling trunk. + +The Finns at the market were not to be mistaken for Russians. Their +features were wooden; their expression was far less intelligent than +that of the Russians. The women were addicted to wonderful patterns in +aprons and silver ornaments, and wore, under a white head kerchief, a +stiff glazed white circlet which seemed to wear away their blond hair. +These women arrived regularly every morning, before five o'clock, at the +shops of the baker and the grocer opposite our windows. The shops opened +at that hour, after having kept open until eleven o'clock at night, or +later. After refreshing themselves with a roll and a bunch of young +onions, of which the green tops appeared to be the most relished, the +women made their town toilet by lowering the very much reefed skirt of +their single garment, drawing on footless stockings, and donning shoes. +At ten o'clock, or even earlier, they came back to fill the sacks of +coarse white linen, borne over their shoulders, with necessaries for +their households, purchased with the proceeds of their sales, and to +reverse their toilet operations, preparatory to the long tramp homeward. +I sometimes caught them buying articles which seemed extravagant +luxuries, all things considered, such as raisins. One of their +specialties was the sale of lilies of the valley, which grow wild in the +Russian forests. Their peculiar little trot-trot, and the indescribable +semi-tones and quarter-tones in which they cried, "_Land-dy-y-y-shee!_" +were unmistakably Finnish at any distance. + +The scene at the market was always entertaining. Tzarskoe is surrounded +by market gardens, where vegetables and fruits are raised in highly +manured and excessively hilled-up beds. It sends tons of its products to +the capital as well as to the local market. Everything was cheap and +delicious. Eggs were dear when they reached a cent and a half apiece. +Strawberries, huge and luscious, were dear at ten cents a pound, since +in warm seasons they cost but five. Another berry, sister to the +strawberry, but differing from it utterly in taste, was the _klubnika_, +of which there were two varieties, the white and the bluish-red, both +delicious in their peculiar flavor, but less decorative in size and +aspect than the strawberry. + +The native cherries, small and sour, make excellent preserves, with a +spicy flavor, which are much liked by Russians in their tea. The only +objection to this use of them is that both tea and cherries are spoiled. +Raspberries, plums, gooseberries, and currants were plentiful and cheap. +A vegetable delicacy of high order, according to Katiusha, who +introduced it to my notice, was a sort of radish with an extremely fine, +hard grain, and biting qualities much developed, which attains enormous +size, and is eaten in thin slices, salted and buttered. I presented the +solitary specimen which I bought, a ninepin in proportions, to the +grateful Katiusha. It was beyond my appreciation. + +Pears do not thrive so far north, but in good years apples of fine sorts +are raised, to a certain extent, in the vicinity of St. Petersburg. +Really good specimens, however, come from Poland, the lower Volga, +Little Russia, and other distant points, which renders them always +rather dear. We saw few in our village that were worth buying, as the +season was phenomenally cold, and a month or three weeks late, so that +we got our strawberries in August, and our linden blossoms in September. +Apples, plums, grapes, and honey are not eaten--in theory--until after +they have been blessed at the feast of the Transfiguration, on August 18 +(N. S.),--a very good scheme for giving them time to ripen fully for +health. Before that day, however, hucksters bearing trays of honey on +their heads are eagerly welcomed, and the peasant's special dainty-- +fresh cucumbers thickly coated with honey--is indulged in unblessed. +Honey is not so plentiful that one can afford to fling away a premature +chance! + +When the mushroom season came in, the market assumed an aspect of +half-subdued brilliancy with the many sombre and high-colored varieties +of that fungus. The poorer people indulge in numerous kinds which the +rich do not eat, and they furnish precious sustenance during fasts, when +so many viands are forbidden by the Russian Church and by poverty. One +of the really odd sights, during the fast of Saints Peter and Paul (the +first half of July), was that of people walking along the streets with +bunches of pea-vines, from which they were plucking the peas, and eating +them, pods and all, quite raw. It seemed a very summary and wasteful way +of gathering them. This fashion of eating vegetables raw was imported, +along with the liturgy, from the hot lands where the Eastern Church +first flourished, and where raw food was suitable. These traditions, and +probably also the economy of fuel, cause it to be still persisted in, in +a climate to which it is wholly unsuited. Near Tzarskoe I found one +variety of pea growing to the altitude of nearly seven feet, and +producing pods seven inches long and three wide. The stalks of the +double poppies in the same garden were six and seven feet high, and the +flowers were the size of peonies, while the pods of the single poppies +were nine inches in circumference. + +One of the great festivals of the Russian Church is Whitsunday, the +seventh Sunday after Easter; but it is called Trinity Sunday, and the +next day is "the Day of Spirits," or Pentecost. On this Pentecost Day a +curious sight was formerly to be seen in St. Petersburg. Mothers +belonging to the merchant class arrayed their marriageable daughters in +their best attire; hung about their necks not only all the jewels which +formed a part of their dowries, but also, it is said, the silver ladles, +forks, and spoons; and took them to the Summer Garden, to be inspected +and proposed for by the young men. + +But the place where this spectacle can be seen in the most charming way +is Tzarskoe Selo. We were favored with superb weather on both the festal +days. On Sunday morning every one went to church, as usual. The small +church behind the Lyceum, where Pushkin was educated, with its +un-Russian spire, ranks as a Court church; that in the Old Palace across +the way being opened only on special occasions, now that the Court is +not in residence. Outside, the choir sat under the golden rain of acacia +blossoms and the hedge of fragrant lilacs until the last moment, the +sunshine throwing into relief their gold-laced black cloth vestments and +crimson belts. They were singers from one of the regiments stationed in +town, and crimson was the regimental color. The church is accessible to +all classes, and it was crowded. As at Easter, every one was clad in +white or light colors, even those who were in mourning having donned the +bluish-gray which serves them for festive garb. In place of the Easter +candle, each held a bouquet of flowers. In the corners of the church +stood young birch-trees, with their satin bark and feathery foliage, and +boughs of the same decked the walls. There is a law now which forbids +this annual destruction of young trees at Pentecost, but the practice +continues, and the tradition is that one must shed as many tears for his +sins as there are dewdrops on the birch bough which he carries, if he +has no flowers. Peasant women in clean cotton gowns elbowed members of +the Court in silks; fat merchants, with well-greased, odorous hair and +boots, in hot, long-skirted blue cloth coats, stood side by side with +shabby invalid soldiers or smartly uniformed officers. Tiny peasant +children seated themselves on the floor when their little legs refused +further service, and imitated diligently all the low reverences and +signs of the cross made by their parents. Those of larger growth stood +with the preternatural repose and dignity of the adult Russian peasant, +and followed the liturgy independently. One little girl of seven, +self-possessed and serenely unconscious, slipped through the crowd to +the large image of the Virgin near the altar, grasped the breast-high +guard-rail, and kissed the holy picture in the middle of her agile +vault. When some members of the imperial family arrived, the crowd +pressed together still more closely, to make a narrow passage to the +small space reserved for them opposite the choir. After the ever +beautiful liturgy, finely expressed special prayers were offered, during +which the priest also carried flowers. + +Another church service on the following day--a day when public offices +are closed and business ceases--completed the religious duties of the +festival. In the afternoon, the whole town began to flock to the +Imperial Park surrounding the Old Palace,--people of the upper circles +included,--the latter from motives of curiosity, of course. Three +bands of the Guards furnished the music. On the great terrace, shaded by +oak-trees hardly beyond the bronze-pink stage of their leafage, played +the hussars. Near the breakfast gallery, with its bronze statues of +Hercules and Flora, which the common people call "Adam and Eve" (the +Ariadne on Naxos, in a neighboring grotto, is popularly believed to be +"a girl of seven years, who was bitten by a snake while roaming the +Russian primeval forest, and died"), were the cuirassiers. The +_stryelki_ (sharpshooters) were stationed near the lake, the central +point for meetings and promenades during the lovely "white nights;" +where boats of every sort, from a sail-boat or a Chinese sampan to an +Astrakhan fishing-boat or a snowshoe skiff, are furnished gratis all +summer, with a sailor of the Guard to row them, if desired. Round and +round and round, unweariedly, paced the girls. They were bareheaded and +in slippered feet, as usual, but had abandoned the favorite ulster, +which too often accompanies extremities thus unclad, to display their +gayest gowns. The young men gazed with intense interest. Here and there +a young fellow in "European clothes" was to be seen conversing with the +more conservative young merchants, who retained the wrinkled boots +confining full trousers, the shirt worn outside the trousers, the cloth +vest, and the blue cloth long coat of traditional cut. + +It was like a scene from the theatre. Across the lake, dotted with +boating parties, stretched lawns planted with trees chosen for their +variety of foliage, from the silver willow to the darkest evergreens, +while the banks were diversified with a boat-house, a terraced grotto, a +Turkish kiosk with a bath, bridges, and so on. Of the immense palace +which stood so near at hand the graceful breakfast gallery alone was +visible, while high above the waving crests of the trees the five +cupolas of the palace church, in the shape of imperial crowns, seemed to +float in the clear blue sky like golden bubbles. The lawns within the +acacia-hedged compartments were dazzling with campanulas, harebells, +rose campions, and crimson and yellow columbine, or gleamed with the +pale turquoise of forget-me-nots. We had only to enter the adjoining +park surrounding the Alexander Palace, built for Alexander I. by his +grandmother, Katherine II., to find the Field of the Cloth of Gold +realized by acres of tall double Siberian buttercups, as large and as +fragrant as yellow roses. + +Soldiers of the garrison strolled about quietly, as usual. The pet of +the hussars was in great form, and his escort of admiring comrades was +larger than ever. They thrust upon him half of their tidbits and +sunflower seeds,--what masses of sunflower seeds and handbill +cigarettes were consumed that day, not to mention squash seeds, by the +more opulent!--and waited eagerly for his dimpled smile as their +reward. When the bands were weary, the regimental singers ranged +themselves in a circle, and struck up songs of love, of battle, and of +mirth, amid the applause and laughter of the crowd. Now and then a +soldier would step into the middle of the circle and dance. The slight, +agile, square-capped _stryelki_ spun round until their full-plaited +black tunics stood out from their tightly belted waists like the skirts +of ballet dancers. The slender, graceful hussars, with their +yellow-laced scarlet jackets and tight blue trousers, flitted to and fro +like gay birds. The best performer of all was a cuirassier, a big blond +fellow, with ruddy cheeks and dazzling teeth. Planting his peakless +white cloth cap with its yellow band firmly on his head, he stepped +forward, grasping in each hand a serried pyramid of brass bells, which +chimed merrily as he squatted, leaped, and executed eccentric steps with +his feet, while his arms beat time and his fine voice rolled out the +solo of a rollicking ballad, to which the rest of the company furnished +the chorus as well as their laughter and delighted applause of his +efforts permitted. His tightly fitting dark green trousers, tall boots, +and jacket of white cloth trimmed with yellow set off his muscular form +to great advantage. A comrade stood by, shaking the _buntchuk_, an +ornamental combination of brass half-moons, gay horsetails, and bells, +--the Turkish staff of command, which is carried as a special privilege +by several Russian cavalry regiments. There is nothing that a company of +Russians likes better than a spirited performance of their national +dances, whether it be high-class Russians at a Russian opera in the +Imperial Theatre, or the masses on informal occasions like the present. +This soldier, who danced with joy in every fibre, was quite willing to +oblige them indefinitely, and seemed to be made of steel springs. He +stopped with great reluctance, and that only when his company was +ordered peremptorily to march off to barracks at the appointed hour. + +How many weddings resulted from that day's dress parade I know not. But +I presume the traditional "match-makers" did their duty, if the young +men were sufficiently impressed by the girls' outfits to commission +these professional proposers to lay their hearts and hands at the feet +of the parents on the following day. They certainly could not have been +hopelessly bewitched by any beauty which was on show. The presence of +the soldiers, the singing, music, and dancing, framed in that exquisite +park, combined to create a scene the impression of which is far beyond +comparison with that of the same parade in the Summer Garden at St. +Petersburg. + +This grand terrace of the Old Palace is a favorite resort for mothers +and children, especially when the different bands of the Guards' +regiments stationed in the town furnish music. But not far away, in the +less stately, more natural park surrounding the Alexander Palace, the +property of the Crown Prince, lies the real paradise of the children of +all classes. There is the playground, provided with gymnastic apparatus, +laid out at the foot of a picturesque tower, one of the line of signal +towers, now mostly demolished, which, before the introduction of the +telegraph, flashed news from Warsaw to St. Petersburg in the then +phenomenally short space of twenty-four hours. The children's favorite +amusement is the "net." Sailors of the guard set up a full-rigged ship's +mast, surrounded, about two feet from the ground, by a wide sweep of +close-meshed rope netting well tarred. Boys and girls of ambition climb +the rigging, swing, and drop into the net. The little ones never weary +of dancing about on its yielding surface. A stalwart, gentle giant of a +sailor watches over the safety of the merrymakers, and warns, teaches, +or helps them, if they wish it. + +Their nurses, with pendent bosoms and fat shoulders peeping through the +transparent muslin of their chemises, make a bouquet of colors, with +their gay _sarafani_, their many-hued cashmere caps attached to +pearl-embroidered, coronet-shaped _kokoshniki_, and terminating in +ribbons which descend to their heels, and are outshone in color only by +the motley assemblage of beads on their throats. + +Here, round the gymnastic apparatus and the net, one is able for the +first time to believe solidly in the existence of Russian children. In +town, in the winter, one has doubted it, despite occasional coveys of +boys in military greatcoats, book-knapsacks of sealskin strapped to +their shoulders to keep their backs straight, and officer-like caps. The +summer garb of the lads from the gymnasia and other institutes consists +of thin, dark woolen material or of coarse gray linen, made in the +blouse or Russian shirt form, which portraits of Count Lyeff +Nikolaevitch Tolstoy, the author, have rendered familiar to foreigners. +It must not be argued from this fact that Count Tolstoy set the fashion; +far from it. It is the ordinary and sensible garment in common use, +which he has adopted from others, not they from him. It can be seen on +older students any day, even in winter, in the reading-room of the +Imperial Public Library in St. Petersburg, on the imperial choir in the +Winter Palace as undress uniform for week-day services, and elsewhere. + +Some indulgent mothers make silk blouses for their sons, and embroider +them with cross-stitch patterns in colored floss, as was the fashion a +number of years ago, when a patriotic outburst of sentiment was +expressed by the adoption of the "national costume," for house wear, by +adults of both sexes. From this period dates also, no doubt, that style +of "peasant dress" which can be seen occasionally, in unfashionable +summer resorts, on girls not of the highest class by any means, and +which the city shops furnish in abundance as genuine to misguided +foreigners. Every one is familiar with these fantastic combinations of +colored lace insertion with bands of blue cotton worked in high colors, +and fashioned into blouses and aprons such as no peasant maid ever wore +or beheld. + +What strikes one very forcibly about Russian children, when one sees +them at play in the parks, is their quiet, self-possessed manners and +their lack of boisterousness. If they were inclined to scream, to fling +themselves about wildly and be rude, they would assuredly be checked +promptly and effectually, since the rights of grown people to peace, +respect, and the pursuit of happiness are still recognized in that land. +But, from my observation of the same qualities in untutored peasant +children, I am inclined to think that Russian children are born more +agreeable than Western children; yet they seem to be as cheerful and +lively as is necessary, and in no way restricted. Whistling, howling, +stamping, and kindred muscular exercises begin just over the Western +frontier, and increase in violence as one proceeds westward, until Japan +is reached, or possibly the Sandwich Islands, by which time, I am told, +one enters the Orient and the realm of peace once more. + +What noise we heard in Tzarskoe came from quite another quarter. As we +were strolling in the park one afternoon, we heard sounds of uproarious +mirth proceeding from the little island in the private imperial garden, +where the Duchess of Edinburgh, in her girlhood, had a pretty Russian +cottage, cow-stalls, and so forth, with flower and potato beds. She and +her brothers were in the habit of planting their pussy willows, received +on Palm Sunday, on the bank of the stream, and these, duly labeled, have +now grown into a hedge of trees. The screen is not perfect, however, and +glimpses of the playground are open to the public across the narrow +stream. On this summer afternoon, there was a party of royalties on the +island, swinging on the Giant Steps. The Giant Steps, I must explain, +consist of a tall, stout mast firmly planted in the earth, bound with +iron at the top, and upholding a thick iron ring to which are attached +heavy cables which touch the ground. The game consists of a number of +persons seizing hold of these cables, running round the mast until +sufficient impetus is acquired, and then swinging through the air in a +circle. The Tzarevitch* who had driven over from the great camp at +Krasnoe Selo, and whom I had seen in the church of the Old Palace that +morning at a special mass, with the angelic imperial choir and the +priests from the Winter Palace sent down from Petersburg for the +occasion, was now sailing through the air high up toward the apex of the +mast. One of his imperial aunts, clad in a fleecy white gown, occupied a +similar position on another cable. It was plain that they could not have +done their own running to gain impetus, and that the gardeners must have +towed them by the ends of the ropes. The other grand dukes and duchesses +were managing their own cables in the usual manner. The party included +the king and queen of Greece and other royal spectators. What interested +me most was to hear them all shrieking and conversing in Russian, with +only occasional lapses into French, instead of the reverse. + +* The present Emperor, Nicholas II. + +But everything is not royal in the vicinity of these summer parks and +palaces. For example, just outside of Tzarskoe Selo, on the Petersburg +highway, lies a Russian village called Kuzmino, whose inhabitants are as +genuine, unmodified peasants as if they lived a hundred miles from any +provincial town. Here in the north, where timber is plentiful, cottages +are raised from the ground by a half-story, without windows, which +serves as a storeroom for carts, sledges, and farming implements. The +entrance is through a door beside the large courtyard gate, which rears +its heavy frame on the street line, adjoining the house, in Russian +fashion. A rough staircase leads to the dwelling-rooms over the shed +storeroom. Three tiny windows on the street front, with solid wooden +shutters, are the ordinary allowance for light. In Kuzmino, many of the +windows had delicate, clean white curtains, and all were filled with +blooming plants. A single window, for symmetry, and a carved balcony +fill in the sharp gable end of such houses, but open into nothing, and +the window is not even glazed. Carved horses' heads, rude but +recognizable, tuft the peak, and lacelike wood carving droops from the +eaves. The roofs also are of wood. + +This was the style of the cottages in Kuzmino. The name of the owner was +inscribed on the corner of each house; and there appeared to be but two +surnames, at most three, in the whole village. One new but unfinished +house seemed to have been built from the ridgepole downward, instead of +in the usual order. There were no doorways or stairs or apertures for +communication between the stories, which were two in number. It was an +architectural riddle. + +As a stroll to the village had consumed an unexpected amount of time, we +found ourselves, at the breakfast hour, miles away from our hotel. We +instituted a search for milk, and were directed at random, it seemed, +until a withered little old peasant, who was evidently given to +tippling, enlisted himself as our guide. He took us to the house of a +woman who carried milk and cream to town twice a week, and introduced us +with a comical flourish. + +The family consisted of an old woman, as dried and colorless as a +Russian codfish from Arkhangel, but very clean and active; her son, a +big, fresh-colored fellow, with a mop of dark brown curls, well set off +by his scarlet cotton blouse; his wife, a slender, red-cheeked brunette, +with delicate, pretty features; and their baby girl. They treated us +like friends come to make a call; refused to accept money for their +cream; begged us to allow them to prepare the _samovar_, as a favor to +them, and send for white rolls, as they were sure we could not eat their +sour black bread; and expressed deep regret that their berries were all +gone, as the season was past. They showed us over their house in the +prettiest, simplest way, and introduced us to the dark storeroom where +their spare clothing and stores of food for the winter, such as salted +cucumbers in casks, and other property, were packed away; to a narrow +slip of a room on the front, where the meals for the family were +prepared with remarkably few pots and no pans; to the living-room, with +its whitewashed stone-and-mud oven in one corner, for both cooking and +heating, a bench running round the walls on three sides, and a clean +pine table in the corner of honor, where hung the holy images. They had +a fine collection of these images, which were a sign of prosperity as +well as of devotion. The existence of another tiny room also bore +witness to easy circumstances. In this room they slept; and the baby, +who was taking her noonday nap, was exhibited to us by the proud papa. +Her cradle consisted of a splint market basket suspended from the +ceiling by a stout wire spring, like the spring of a bird-cage, and +rocked gently. The baby gazed at us with bright, bird-like eyes and +smiled quietly when she woke, as though she had inherited her parents' +gentle ways. We believed them when they said that she never cried; we +had already discovered that this was the rule with Russian children of +all classes. + +They were much interested to learn from what country we came. I was +prepared to find them unacquainted with the situation of America, after +having been asked by an old soldier in the park, "In what district of +Russia is America?" and after having been told by an _izvostchik_ that +the late Empress had come from my country, since "Germany" meant for him +all the world which was not Russia, just as the adjective "German" +signifies anything foreign and not wholly approved. + +"Is America near Berlin?" asked our peasant hosts. + +"Farther than that," I replied. + +They laughed, and gave up the riddle after a few more equally wild +guesses. + +"It is on the other side of the world," I said. + +"Then you must be nearer God than we are!" they exclaimed, with a sort +of reverence for people who came from the suburbs of heaven. + +"Surely," I said, "you do not think that the earth is flat, and that we +live on the upper side, and you on the lower?" + +But that was precisely what they did think, in their modesty, and, as it +seemed a hopeless task to demonstrate to them the sphericity of the +globe, I left them in that flattering delusion. + +I asked the old woman to explain her holy pictures to me, as I always +enjoyed the quaint expressions and elucidations of the peasants, and +inquired whether she thought the _ikona_ of the Virgin was the Virgin +herself. I had heard it asserted very often by over-wise foreigners that +this was the idea entertained by all Russians, without regard to class, +and especially by the peasants. + +"No," she replied, "but it shows the Virgin Mother to me, just as your +picture would show you to me when you were on the other side of the +world, and remind me of you. Only--how shall I say it?--there is +more power in a wonder-working _ikona_ like this." + +She handed me one which depicted the Virgin completely surrounded by a +halo of starlike points shaded in red and yellow flames. It is called +"the Virgin-of-the-Bush-that-burned-but-was-not-consumed," evidently a +reminiscence of Moses. She attached particular value to it because of +the aid rendered on the occasion which had demonstrated its +"wonder-working" (miraculous) powers. It appeared that a dangerous fire +had broken out in the neighborhood, and was rapidly consuming the +close-set wooden village, as such fires generally do without remedy. As +the fire had been started by the lightning, on St. Ilya's Day (St. +Elijah's), no earthly power could quench it but the milk from a +jet-black cow, which no one chanced to have on hand. Seeing the flames +approach, my old woman, Domna Nikolaevna T., seized the holy image, ran +out, and held it facing the conflagration, uttering the proper prayer +the while. Immediately a strong wind arose and drove the flames off in a +safe direction, and the village was rescued. She had a thanksgiving +service celebrated in the church, and placed I know not how many candles +to the Virgin's honor, as did the other villagers. Thus they had learned +that there was divine power in this _ikona_, although it was not, +strictly speaking, "wonder-working," since it had not been officially +recognized as such by the ecclesiastical authorities. + +These people seemed happy and contented with their lot. Not one of them +could read or write much, the old woman not at all. They cultivated +berries for market as well as carried on the milk business; and when we +rose to go, they entreated us to come out on their plot of land and see +whether some could not be found. To their grief, only a few small +cherries were to be discovered,--it was September,--and these they +forced upon us. As we had hurt their feelings by leaving money on the +table to pay for the cream, we accepted the cherries by way of +compromise. The old woman chatted freely in her garden. She had been a +serf, and, in her opinion, things were not much changed for the better, +except in one respect. All the people in this village had been crown +serfs, it seemed. The lot of the crown serfs was easier in every way +than that of the ordinary private serfs, so that the emancipation only +put a definite name to the practical freedom which they already enjoyed, +and added a few minor privileges, with the ownership of a somewhat +larger allotment of land than the serfs of the nobility received. I knew +this: she was hardly capable of giving me so complete a summary of their +condition. But--it was the usual _but_, I found--they had to work +much harder now than before, in order to live. The only real improvement +which she could think of, on the inspiration of the moment, was, that a +certain irascible crown official, who had had charge of them in the +olden days, and whose name she mentioned, who had been in the habit of +distributing beatings with a lavish hand whenever the serfs displeased +him or obeyed reluctantly, had been obliged to restrain his temper after +the emancipation. + +"Nowadays, there is no one to order us about like that, or to thrash +us," she remarked. + +We found our fuddled old peasant guide hanging about for "tea-money," +when we bade farewell to my friend Domna, who, with her family, offered +us her hand at parting. He was not too thoroughly soaked with "tea" +already not to be able to draw the inference that our long stay with the +milkwoman indicated pleasure, and he intimated that the introduction fee +ought to be in proportion to our enjoyment. We responded so cheerfully +to this demand that he immediately discovered the existence of a dozen +historical monuments and points of interest in the tiny village, all +invented on the spot; and when we dismissed him peremptorily, he took +great care to impress his name and the position of his hut on our +memories, for future use. + +We had already seen the only object of any interest, the large church +far away down the mile-long street. We had found a festival mass in +progress, as it happened to be one of the noted holidays of the year. As +we stood a little to one side, listening to the sweet but +unsophisticated chanting of the village lads, who had had no training +beyond that given in the village school, a woman approached us with a +tiny coffin tucked under one arm. Trestles were brought; she set it down +on them, beside us. It was very plain in form, made of the commonest +wood, and stained a bright yellow with a kind of thin wash, instead of +the vivid pink which seems to be the favorite hue for children's coffins +in town. The baby's father removed the lid, which comprised exactly half +the depth, the mother smoothed out the draperies, and they took their +stand near by. Several strips of the coarsest pink tarlatan were draped +across the little waxen brow and along the edges of the coffin. On these +lay such poor flowers as the lateness of the season and the poverty of +the parents could afford,--small, half-withered or frost-bitten +dahlias, poppies, and one stray corn-flower. The parents looked gently +resigned, patient, sorrowful, but tearless, as is the Russian manner. +After the liturgy and special prayers for the day, the funeral service +was begun; but we went out into the graveyard surrounding the church, +and ran the gauntlet of the beggars at the door,--beggars in the midst +of poverty, to whom the poor gave their mites with gentle sympathy. + +Russian graveyards are not, as a rule, like the sunny, cheerful homes of +the dead to which we are accustomed. This one was especially melancholy, +with its narrow, tortuous paths, uncared-for plots, and crosses of +unpainted wood blackened by the weather. The most elaborate monuments +did not rise above tin crosses painted to simulate birch boughs. It was +strictly a peasant cemetery, utterly lacking in graves of the higher +classes, or even of the well to do. + +On its outskirts, where the flat, treeless plain began again, we found a +peasant sexton engaged in digging a grave. His conversation was +depressing, not because he dwelt unduly upon death and kindred subjects, +but because his views of life were so pessimistic. Why, for example, did +it enter his brain to warn me that the Finnish women of the neighboring +villages,--all the country round about is the old Finnish +Ingermannland,--in company with the women of his own village, were in +the habit of buying stale eggs at the Tzarskoe Selo shops to mix with +their fresh eggs, which they sold in the market, the same with intent to +deceive? A stale egg explains itself as promptly and as thoroughly as +anything I am acquainted with, not excepting Limburger cheese, and +Katiusha and I had had no severe experiences with the women whom he thus +unflatteringly described. He seemed a thoroughly disillusioned man, and +we left him at last, with an involuntary burden of misanthropic ideas, +though he addressed me persistently as _galubtchik_,--"dear little +dove," literally translated. + +If I were to undertake to chronicle the inner life of Tzarskoe, the +characteristics of the inhabitants from whom I received favors and kind +deeds without number, information, and whatever else they could think of +to bestow or I could ask, I should never have done. But there is much +that is instructive in all ranks of life to be gathered from a prolonged +sojourn in this "Imperial Village," where world-famed palaces have their +echoes aroused at seven in the morning by a gentle shepherd like the +shepherd of the remotest provincial hamlets, a strapping peasant in a +scarlet cotton blouse and blue homespun linen trousers tucked into tall +wrinkled boots, and armed with a fish-horn, which he toots at the +intersection of the macadamized streets to assemble the village cattle; +where the strawberry peddler, recognizable by the red cloth spread over +the tray borne upon his head, and the herring vender, and rival +ice-cream dealers deafen one with their cries, in true city fashion; +where the fire department alarms one by setting fire to the baker's +chimneys opposite, and then playing upon them, by way of cleaning them; +where Tatars, soldiers, goats, cows, pet herons, rude peasant carts, +policemen, and inhabitants share the middle of the road with the +liveried equipages of royalty and courtiers; where the crows and pigeons +assert rights equal to those of man, except that they go to roost at +eight o'clock on the nightless "white nights;" and where one never knows +whether one will encounter the Emperor of all the Russias or a +barefooted Finn when one turns a corner. + + + + +VII. + +A STROLL IN MOSCOW WITH COUNT TOLSTOY. + + +"Have you ever visited a church of the Old Believers?" Count Tolstoy +asked me one evening. We were sitting round the supper-table at Count +Tolstoy's house in Moscow. I was just experimenting on some pickled +mushrooms from Yasnaya Polyana,--the daintiest little mushrooms which +I encountered in that mushroom-eating land. The mushrooms and question +furnished a diversion which was needed. The baby and younger children +were in bed. The elders of the family, some relatives, and ourselves had +been engaged in a lively discussion; or, rather, I had been discussing +matters with the count, while the others joined in from time to time. It +began with the Moscow beggars. + +"I understand them now, and what you wrote of them," I said. "I have +neither the purse of Fortunatus nor a heart of flint. If I refuse their +prayers, I feel wicked; if I give them five kopeks, I feel mean. It +seems too little to help them to anything but _vodka_; and if I give ten +kopeks, they hold it out at arm's length, look at it and me +suspiciously; and then I feel so provoked that I give not a copper to +any one for days. It seems to do no good." + +"No," said Count Tolstoy with a troubled look; "it does no good. Giving +money to any one who asks is not doing good; it is a mere civility. If a +beggar asks me for five kopeks, or five rubles, or five hundred rubles, +I must give it to him as a politeness, nothing more, provided I have it +about me. It probably always goes for _vodka_." + +"But what is one to do? I have sometimes thought that I would buy my man +some bread and see that he ate it when he specifies what the money is +for. But, by a singular coincidence, they never ask for bread-money +within eye-shot of a bakery. I suppose that it would be better for me to +take the trouble to hunt one up and give the bread." + +"No; for you only buy the bread. It costs you no personal labor." + +"But suppose I had made the bread?--I can make capital bread, only I +cannot make it here where I have no conveniences; so I give the money +instead." + +"If you had made the bread, still you would not have raised the grain, +--plowed, sowed, reaped, threshed, and ground it. It would not be your +labor." + +"If that is the case, then I have just done a very evil thing. I have +made some caps for the Siberian exiles in the Forwarding Prison. It +would have been better to let their shaved heads freeze." + +"Why? You gave your labor, your time. In that time you could probably +have done something that would have pleased you better." + +"Certainly. But if one is to dig up the roots of one's deeds and +motives, mine might be put thus: The caps were manufactured from +remnants of wool which were of no use to me and only encumbered my +trunk. I refused to go and deliver them myself. They were put with a lot +of other caps made from scraps on equally vicious principles. And, +moreover, I neither plowed the land, sowed the grass, fed the sheep, +sheared him, cleansed and spun the wool, and so on; neither did I +manufacture the needle for the work." + +The count retreated to his former argument,--that one's personal labor +is the only righteous thing which can be given to one's fellow-man; and +that the labor must be given unquestioningly when asked for. + +"But it cannot always be right to work unquestioningly. There are always +plenty of people who are glad to get their work done for them. That is +human nature." + +"We have nothing to do with that," he answered. "If a man asks me to +build his house or plow his field, I am bound to do it, just as I am +bound to give the beggar whatever he asks for, if I have it. It is no +business of mine _why_ he asks me to do it." + +"But suppose the man is lazy, or wants to get his work done while he is +idling, enjoying himself, or earning money elsewhere for _vodka_ or what +not? I do not object to helping the weak, or those who do not attempt to +shirk. One must use discrimination." + +But Count Tolstoy persisted that the reason for the request was no +business of the man anxious to do his duty by aiding his fellow-men, +although his sensible wife came to my assistance by saying that she +always looked into the matter before giving help, on the grounds which I +had stated. So I attacked from another quarter. + +"Ought not every person to do as much as possible for himself, and not +call upon others unless compelled to do so?" + +"Certainly." + +"Very good. I am strong, well, perfectly capable of waiting on myself. +But I detest putting on my heavy Russian galoshes, and my big cloak; and +I never do either when I can possibly avoid it. I have no right to ask +you to put on my galoshes, supposing that there were no lackey at hand. +But suppose I were to ask it?" + +"I would do it with pleasure," replied the count, his earnest face +relaxing into a smile. "I will mend your boots, also, if you wish." + +I thanked him, with regret that my boots were whole, and pursued my +point. "But you _ought_ to _refuse_. It would be your duty to teach me +my duty of waiting on myself. You would have no right to encourage me in +my evil ways." + +We argued the matter on these lines. He started from the conviction that +one should follow the example of Christ, who healed and helped all +without questioning their motives or deserts; I taking the ground that, +while Christ "knew the heart of man," man could not know the heart of +his brother-man,---at least not always on first sight, though +afterward he could make a tolerably shrewd guess as to whether he was +being used as a cat's-paw for the encouragement of the shiftless. But he +stuck firmly to his "resist not evil" doctrine; while I maintained that +the very doctrine admitted that it was "evil" by making use of the word +at all, hence a thing to be preached and practiced against. Perhaps +Count Tolstoy had never been so unfortunate as to meet certain specimens +of the human race which it has been my ill-luck to observe; so we both +still held our positions, after a long skirmish, and silence reigned for +a few moments. Then the count asked, with that winning air of good-will +and interest which is peculiar to him:-- + +"Have you ever visited a church of the Old Believers?" + +"No. They told me that there was one in Petersburg, but that I should +not be admitted because I wore a bonnet instead of a kerchief, and did +not know how to cross myself and bow properly." + +"I'll take you, if you like," he said. "We will go as guests of the +priest. He is a friend of mine." Then he told us about it. Many years +ago, a band of Kazaks and their priests migrated across the frontier +into Turkey because they were "Old Believers;" that is to say, they +belonged to the sect which refused to accept the reforms of errors +(which had crept into the service-books and ritual through the +carelessness of copyists and ignorance of the proper forms) instituted +by the Patriarch Nikon in the time of Peter the Great's father, after +consulting the Greek Patriarchs and books. In earlier times, these Old +Believers burned themselves by the thousand. In the present century, +this band of Kazaks simply emigrated. Then came the Crimean war. The +Kazaks set out for the wars, the priest blessed them for the campaign, +and prayed for victory against Russia. Moreover, they went to battle +with their flock, and were captured. Prisoners of war, traitors to both +church and state, these three priests were condemned to residence in a +monastery in Suzdal. "I was in the army then," said Count Tolstoy, "and +heard of the matter at the time. Then I forgot all about it; so did +everybody else, apparently. Long afterward, an Old Believer, a merchant +in Tula, spoke to me about it, and I found that the three priests were +still alive and in the monastery. I managed to get them released, and we +became friends. One died; one of the others is here in Moscow, a very +old man now. We will go and see him, but I must find out the hour of the +evening service. You will see the ritual as it was three hundred years +ago." + +"You must not utter a word, or smile," said one of the company. "They +will think that you are ridiculing them, and will turn you out." + +"Oh, no," said the count. "Still, it is better not to speak." + +"I have had some experience," I remarked. "Last Sunday, at the Saviour +Cathedral, I asked my mother if I should hold her heavy fur coat for +her; and she smiled slightly as she said, 'No, thank you.' A peasant +heard our foreign tongue, saw the smile, and really alarmed us by the +fierce way in which he glared at us. We only appeased his wrath by +bowing low when the priest came out with the incense." + +So that plan was made, and some others. + +When we were descending the stairs, Count Tolstoy came out upon the +upper landing, which is decorated with the skin of the big bear which +figures in one of his stories, and called after us:-- + +"Shall you be ashamed of my dress when I come to the hotel for you?" + +"I am ashamed that you should ask such a question," I answered; and he +laughed and retreated. I allowed the lackey to put on my galoshes and +coat, as usual, by the way. + +The next afternoon there came a series of remarkable knocks upon our +door, like a volley of artillery, which carried me across the room in +one bound. Servants, messengers, and the like, so rarely knock in Russia +that one gets into the way of expecting to see the door open without +warning at any moment, when it is not locked, and rather forgets what to +do with a knock when a caller comes directly to one's room and announces +himself in the ordinary way. There stood Count Tolstoy. He wore a +peasant's sheepskin coat (_tulup_). The _tulup_, I will explain, is a +garment consisting of a fitted body and a full, ballet skirt, gathered +on the waist line and reaching to the knees. The wool is worn on the +inside. The tanned leather exterior varies, when new, from snow white to +gray, pale or deep yellow, or black, according to taste. A little +colored chain-stitching in patterns on the breast and round the neck +gives firmness where required. In this case the _tulup_ was of a deep +yellow hue; over it streamed his gray beard; peasant boots of gray felt, +reaching to the knee, and a gray wool cap of domestic manufacture +completed his costume. + +"It is too cold for our expedition, and I am afraid that I started a +little late also," he said, as he divested himself of his sheepskin. "I +will find out the exact hour of service, and we will go on Christmas +Eve." + +It was only 15 to 20 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, and I felt inclined +to remonstrate. But it is useless to argue with a Russian about the +thermometer; and, moreover, I discovered that the count had come all the +long way on foot, and was probably afraid of freezing us. I politely but +not quite truthfully agreed that Christmas Eve was a better time. + +Presently he proposed to go to the shop where books for popular reading +are published by the million at from one and a half to five kopeks. He +had business there in connection with some popular editions of the +masterpieces of all ages and literatures. + +The temperature of our room was 65 degrees, but the count's felt boots +and a cardigan jacket, worn over his ordinary costume of dark blue +trousers and strap-belted blouse, made him uncomfortable, and he sought +coolness in the hall while we donned our outdoor garments. The only +concession in the way of costume which I could make to suit the occasion +was to use a wool instead of a fur cap. + +This was not sufficient to prevent us from being a remarkable trio in +the eyes of all beholders, beginning with the real _muzhik_ ("boots") +and the waiter, who were peering round corners in disapproval. Our +appearance at the door effected a miracle. I could not believe my ears, +but not one of the numerous cabbies standing in front of the hotel +opened his lips to offer his services. Ordinarily, we had to run the +gauntlet of offers. On this occasion the men simply ranged themselves in +a silent, gaping row, and let us pass in peace. I had not supposed that +anything could quell a Russian cabby's tongue. Did they recognize the +count? I doubt it. I had been told that every one in Moscow knew him and +his costume; but diligent inquiry of my cabbies always elicited a +negative. In one single instance the man added: "But the count's a good +gentleman and a very intimate friend of a chum of mine!" + +"Are you a good walker?" asked the count, as he plied his thick stick, +evidently recently cut in the grove adjoining his house. "I walk +everywhere myself. I never ride; I can't, for I never have any money." + +I announced myself as a crack pedestrian,--but not when burdened with +Russian coat and galoshes. And I added: "I hope that you do not expect +us to walk all those versts to church, because we must stand through the +whole service afterward; they would be too strict to allow us chairs." + +"We will go in the horse-cars, then," he replied. "But this constant use +of horses is a relic of barbarism. As we are growing more civilized, in +ten years from now horses will have gone out of use entirely. But I am +sure that, in enlightened America, you do not ride so much as we do +here." + +Familiar as I am with Count Tolstoy's theories, this was a brand-new one +to me. I thought of several answers. Bicycles I rejected as a +suggestion, because the physical labor seems to be counterbalanced by +the cost of the steel steed. I also restrained myself from saying that +we were coming to look upon horses as a rather antiquated, slow, and +unreliable mode of locomotion. I did not care to destroy the count's +admiration for American ways too suddenly and ruthlessly, so I said:-- + +"I think that people ride more and more, with us, every year. If they do +not ride even more than they do, it is because we have not these +thousands of delightful and cheap carriages and sledges. And how are +people to get about, how are burdens to be carried, how is the day long +enough, if one goes everywhere on foot? Are the horses to be left to +people the earth, along with the animals which we now eat and which we +must give up eating?" + +"That will regulate itself. It is only those who have nothing to do who +have no time to do it in, and must be carried, in all haste, from place +to place. Busy people always have time for everything." And the count +proceeded to develop this argument. The foundation, of course, was the +same as for his other doctrines,--the dependence on one's self, +freeing others from bondage to his wants and whims. The principle is +excellent; but it would be easier for most of us to resist the +temptation to do otherwise on a desert island, than to lead such a +Robinson Crusoe and physical encyclopedic existence in a city of today. +This is almost the only argument which I felt capable of offering in +opposition. + +Thus we discussed, as we walked along the streets of China Town. When +the sidewalk was narrow, the count took to the gutter. And so we came to +the old wall and the place where there is a perennial market, which +bears various names,--the Pushing Market, the Louse Market, and so on, +--and which is said to be the resort of thieves and receivers of stolen +goods. Strangers always hit upon it the first thing. We had ventured +into its borders alone, had chatted with a cobbler, inspected the +complete workshop on the sidewalk, priced the work,--"real, artistic, +high-priced jobs were worth thirty to forty kopeks,"--had promised to +fetch our boots to be repaired with tacks and whipcord,--"when they +needed it,"--and had received an unblushing appeal for a bottle of +_vodka_ in which to drink the health of ourselves and the cobblers. With +true feminine faith in the efficacy of a man's presence, we now enjoyed +the prospect of going through the middle of it, for its entire length. I +related the cobbler episode to explain why I did not give the count a +job, and the count seemed to find no little difficulty in not laughing +outright. + +Imagine a very broad street, extending for several blocks, flanked on +one side by respectable buildings, on the other by the old, battlemented +city wall, crowned with straggling bushes, into which are built tiny +houses with a frontage of two or three windows, and the two stories so +low that one fancies that he could easily touch their roofs. These last +are the real old Moscow merchant houses of two or three hundred years +ago. They still serve as shops and residences, the lower floor being +crammed with cheap goods and old clothes of wondrous hues and patterns, +which overflow upon the very curbstone. The signs of the fur stores, +with their odd pictures of peasant coats and fashionable mantles, add an +advertisement of black sheepskins which precisely resemble rudely +painted turtles. In the broad, place-like street surged a motley, but +silent and respectful crowd. A Russian crowd always is a marvel of +quietness,--as far down as the elbows, no farther! Along the middle of +the place stood rows of rough tables, boxes, and all sorts of +receptacles, containing every variety of bread and indescribable meats +and sausages. Men strolled about with huge brass teapots of _sbiten_ (a +drink of honey, laurel leaves, spices, etc.), steaming hot. Men with +trays suspended by straps from their necks offered "delicious" snacks, +meat patties kept hot in hot-water boxes, served in a gaudy saucer and +flooded with hot bouillon from a brass flask attached to their girdles +behind; or sandwiches made from a roll, split, buttered, and clapped +upon a slice of very red, raw-looking sausage, fresh from the water-box. +But we did not feel hungry just then, or thirsty. + +"There are but two genuine Russian titles," said the count, as we walked +among the merchants, where the women were dressed like the men in +sheepskin coats, and distinguished only by a brief scrap of gay +petticoat, and a gay kerchief instead of a cap on the head, while some +of the dealers in clothing indulged in overcoats and flat caps with +visors, of dark blue cloth. "Now, if I address one of these men, he will +call me _batiushka_, and he will call you _matushka_."* + +* A respectfully affectionate diminutive, equivalent to _dear little +father, dear little mother_. + +We began to price shoes, new and old, and so forth, with the result +which the count had predicted. + +"You can get very good clothing here," the count remarked, as a man +passed us, his arm passed through the armholes of a pile of new vests. +"These mittens," exhibiting the coarse, white-fingered mittens which he +wore, piles of the same and stockings to match being beside us, "are +very stout and warm. They cost only thirty kopeks. And the other day, I +bought a capital shirt here, for a man, at fifty kopeks" (about +twenty-five cents). + +I magnanimously refrained from applying to that shirt the argument which +had been used against my suggestion in regard to giving bread. This +market goes on every day in the year, hot or cold, rain, sun, or shine. +It is a model of neatness. Roofs improvised from scraps of canvas +protect the delicate (?) eatables during inclement weather. In very +severe weather the throng is smaller, the first to beat a retreat being, +apparently, the Tatars in their odd _kaftans_ "cut goring," as old women +say, who deal in old clothes, lambskins, and "beggars' lace." Otherwise, +it is always the same. + +Our publisher's shop proved to be closed, in accordance with the law, +which permits trading--in buildings--only between twelve and three +o'clock on Sundays. On our way home the count expressed his regret at +the rapid decline of the republican idea in America, and the surprising +growth of the baneful "aristocratic"--not to say snobbish--sense. +His deductions were drawn from articles in various recent periodical +publications, and from the general tone of the American works which had +come under his observation. I have heard a good deal from other Russians +about the snobbishness of Americans; but they generally speak of it with +aversion, not, as did Count Tolstoy, with regret at a splendid +opportunity missed by a whole nation. + +I am sorry to say that we never got our expedition to the Old Believers' +Church, or the others that were planned. Two days later, the count was +taken with an attack of liver complaint, dyspepsia,--caused, I am +sure, by too much pedestrian exercise on a vegetable diet, which does +not agree with him,--and a bad cold. We attended Christmas Eve service +in the magnificent new Cathedral of the Saviour, and left Moscow before +the count was able to go out-of-doors again, though not without seeing +him once more. + +I am aware that it has become customary of late to call Count Tolstoy +"crazy," or "not quite right in the head," etc. The inevitable +conclusion of any one who talks much with him is that he is nothing of +the sort; but simply a man with a hobby, or an idea. His idea happens to +be one which, granting that it ought to be adopted by everybody, is +still one which is very difficult of adoption by anybody,--peculiarly +difficult in his own case. And it is an uncomfortable theory of +self-denial which very few people like to have preached to them in any +form. Add to this that his philosophical expositions of his theory lack +the clearness which generally--not always--results from a course of +strict preparatory training, and we have more than sufficient foundation +for the reports of his mental aberration. On personal acquaintance he +proves to be a remarkably earnest, thoroughly convinced, and winning +man, although he does not deliberately do or say anything to attract +one. His very earnestness is provocative of argument.* + +* From _The Independent_. + + + + +VIII. + +COUNT TOLSTOY AT HOME. + + +On one winter's day in Moscow, the Countess Tolstoy said to us: "You +must come and visit us at Yasnaya Polyana next summer. You should see +Russian country life, and you will see it with us. Our house is not +elegant, but you will find it plain, clean, and comfortable." + +Such an invitation was not to be resisted. When summer came, the family +wrote to say that they would meet us at the nearest station, where no +carriages were to be had by casual travelers, if we would notify them of +our arrival. But the weather had been too bad for country visits, and we +were afraid to give Fate a hint of our intentions by announcing our +movements; moreover, all the trains seemed to reach that station at a +very late hour of the night. We decided to make our appearance from +another quarter, in our own conveyance, on a fair day, and long before +any meal. If it should prove inconvenient for the family to receive us, +they would not be occasioned even momentary awkwardness, and our retreat +would be secured. We had seen enough of the charmingly easy Russian +hospitality to feel sure of our ground otherwise. + +Accordingly, we set out for Tula on a June day that was dazzling with +sunshine and heat, after the autumnal chill of the recent rains. As we +progressed southward from Moscow the country was more varied than north +of it, with ever-changing vistas of gently sloping hills and verdant +valleys, well cultivated, and dotted with thatched cottages which stood +flatter on the ground here than where wood is more plentiful. + +The train was besieged at every station, during the long halts customary +on Russian railways, by hordes of peasant children with bottles of rich +cream and dishes of fragrant wild strawberries. The strawberries cost +from three to four cents a pound,--not enough to pay for picking,-- +and the cream from three to five cents a bottle. + +Halfway to Tula the train crosses the river Oka, which makes so fine a +show when it enters the Volga at Nizhni Novgorod, and which even here is +imposing in breadth and busy with steamers. It was not far from here +that an acquaintance of mine one day overtook a wayfarer. He was +weather-beaten and travel-stained, dressed like a peasant, and carried +his boots slung over his shoulder. But there was something about him +which, to her woman's eye, seemed out of keeping with his garb. She +invited him to take advantage of her carriage. He accepted gladly, and +conversed agreeably. It appeared that it was Count Tolstoy making the +journey between his estate and Moscow. His utterances produced such an +effect upon her young son that the lad insisted upon making his next +journey on foot also. + +We reached Tula late in the evening. The guidebook says, in that amusing +German fashion on which a chapter might be written, that "the town lies +fifteen minutes distant from the station." Ordinarily, that would mean +twice or thrice fifteen minutes. But we had a touch of our usual luck in +an eccentric cabman. Vanka--that is, Johnny--set out almost before +we had taken our seats; we clutched his belt for support, and away we +flew through the inky darkness and fathomless dust, outstripping +everything on the road. We came to a bridge; one wheel skimmed along +high on the side rail, the loose boards rattled ominously beneath the +other. There are no regulations for slow driving on Russian bridges +beyond those contained in admonitory proverbs and popular legends. One's +eyes usually supply sufficient warning by day. But Vanka was wedded to +the true Russian principle, and proceeded in his headlong course _na +avos_ (on chance). In vain I cried, "This is not an obstacle race!" He +replied cheerfully, "It is the horse!" + +We were forced to conclude that we had stumbled upon the hero of Count +Tolstoy's story, Kholstomir, in that gaunt old horse, racing thus by +inspiration, and looking not unlike the portrait of Kholstomir in his +sad old age, from the hand of the finest animal-painter in Russia, +which, with its companion piece, Kholstomir in his proud youth, hangs on +the wall in the count's Moscow house. + +Our mad career ended at what Vanka declared to be the best hotel; the +one recommended by the guidebook had been closed for years, he said. I, +who had not found the guide-book infallible, believed him, until he +landed us at one which looked well enough, but whose chief furnishing +was smells of such potency that I fled, handkerchief clapped to nose, +while the limp waiter, with his jaw bound up like a figure from a German +picture-book, called after me that "perhaps the drains _were_ a little +out of order." Thrifty Vanka, in hopes of a commission, or bent upon +paying off a grudge, still obstinately refused to take us to the hotel +recommended; but a hint of application to the police decided him to +deposit us at another door. This proved to be really the best house in +town, though it does not grace the printed list. It was on the usual +plan of inns in Russian country towns. There was the large, airy +dining-room, with clean lace curtains, polished floor, and table set +with foliage plants in fancy pots; the bedrooms, with single iron beds, +reservoir washstands, and no bed linen or towels without extra charge. + +The next morning we devoted to the few sights of the town. The Kremlin, +on flat ground and not of imposing size, makes very little impression +after the Moscow Kremlin; but its churches exhibit some charming new +fancies in onion-shaped cupolas which we had not noticed elsewhere, and +its cathedral contains frescoes of a novel sort. In subject they are +pretty equally divided between the Song of Solomon and the Ecumenical +Councils, with a certain number of saints, of course, though these are +fewer than usual. The artist was evidently a man who enjoyed rich stuffs +of flowered patterns, and beautiful women. + +The Imperial Firearms Factory we did not see. We had omitted to obtain +from the Minister of War that permission without which no foreigner of +either sex can enter, though Russians may do so freely, and we did not +care enough about it to await the reply to a telegram. We contented +ourselves with assuring the officer in charge that we were utter +simpletons in the matter of firearms, afraid of guns even when they were +not loaded,--I presume he did not understand that allusion,--and +that it was pure curiosity of travelers which had led us to invade his +office. + +However, there was no dearth of shops where we could inspect all the +wares in metal for which this Russian Birmingham has been celebrated +ever since the industry was founded by men from Holland, in the +sixteenth century. In the matter of _samovars_, especially, there is a +wide range of choice in this cradle of "the portable domestic hearth," +although there are only two or three among the myriad manufacturers +whose goods are famed for that solidity of brass and tin which insures +against dents, fractures, and poisoning. + +During the morning we ordered round a _troika_ from the posting-house. +It did not arrive. Probably it was asleep, like most other things on +that warm day. It was too far off to invite investigation, and sallying +forth after breakfast to hire an _izvostchik_, I became a blessed +windfall to a couple of bored policemen, who waked up a cabman for me +and took a kindly interest in the inevitable bargaining which ensued. +While this was in progress, up came two dusty and tattered +"pilgrims,"--"religious tramps" will designate their character with +perfect accuracy,--who were sufficiently wide awake to beg. I +positively had not a kopek in change; but not even a Russian beggar +would believe that. I parried the attack. + +"I'm not an Orthodox Christian, my good men. I am sure that you do not +want money from a heretic." + +"Never mind; I'm a bachelor," replied one of them bravely and +consolingly. + +When we had all somewhat recovered from this, the policemen, catching +the spirit of the occasion, explained to the men that I and my money +were extremely dangerous to the Orthodox, both families and bachelors, +especially to pious pilgrims to the shrines, such as they were, and they +gently but firmly compelled the men to move on, despite their vehement +protestations that they were willing to run the risk and accept the +largest sort of change from the heretic. But I was obdurate. I knew from +experience that for five kopeks, or less, I should receive thanks, +reverences to the waist or even to the ground; but that the gift of more +than five kopeks would result in a thankless, suspicious stare, which +would make me feel guilty of some enormous undefined crime. This was +Count Tolstoy's experience also. We devoted ourselves to cabby once +more. + +Such a winning fellow as that Vanka was, from the very start! After I +had concluded the bargain for an extra horse and an apron which his +carriage lacked, he persuaded me that one horse was enough--at the +price of two. To save time I yielded, deducting twenty-five cents only +from the sum agreed on, lest I should appear too easily cheated. That +sense of being ridiculed as an inexperienced simpleton, when I had +merely paid my interlocutor the compliment of trusting him, never ceased +to be a pain and a terror to me. + +The friendly policemen smiled impartially upon Vanka and us, as they +helped to pack us in the drosky. + +Tula as we saw it on our way out, and as we had seen it during our +morning stroll, did not look like a town of sixty-four thousand +inhabitants, or an interesting place of residence. It was a good type of +the provincial Russian town. There were the broad unpaved, or badly +paved, dusty streets. There were the stone official buildings, glaring +white in the sun, interspersed with wooden houses, ranging from the +pretentious dwelling to the humble shelter of logs. + +For fifteen versts (ten miles) after we had left all these behind us, we +drove through a lovely rolling country, on a fine macadamized highway +leading to the south and to Kieff. The views were wide, fresh, and fair. +Hayfields, plowed fields, fields of green oats, yellowing rye, +blue-flowered flax, with birch and leaf trees in small groves near at +hand, and forests in the distance, varied the scene. Evergreens were +rarer here, and oak-trees more plentiful, than north of Moscow. The +grass by the roadside was sown thickly with wild flowers: Canterbury +bells, campanulas, yarrow pink and white, willow-weed (good to +adulterate tea), yellow daisies, spiraea, pinks, corn-flowers, melilot, +honey-sweet galium, yellow everlasting, huge deep-crimson crane's-bill, +and hosts of others. + +Throughout this sweet drive my merry _izvostchik_ delighted me with his +discourse. It began thus. I asked, "Did he know Count Tolstoy?" + +"Did he know Count Tolstoy? Everybody knew him. He was the first +gentleman in the empire [!]. There was not another such man in all the +land." + +"Could he read? Had he read the count's 'Tales'?" + +"Yes. He had read every one of the count's books that he could lay his +hands on. Did I mean the little books with the colored covers and the +pictures on the outside?" (He alluded to the little peasant "Tales" in +their original cheap form, costing two or three cents apiece.) +"Unfortunately they were forbidden, or not to be had at the Tula shops, +and though there were libraries which had them, they were not for such +as he."* + +* At this time, in Moscow, the sidewalk bookstalls, such as this man +would have been likely to patronize, could not furnish a full set of the +_Tales_ in the cheap form. The venders said that they were "forbidden;" +but since they openly displayed and sold such as they had, and since any +number of complete sets could be obtained at the publishers' hard by, +the prohibition evidently extended only to the issue of a fresh edition. +Meanwhile, the _Tales_ complete in one volume were not forbidden. This +volume, one of the set of the author's works published by his wife, cost +fifty kopeks (about twenty-five cents), not materially more than the +other sort. As there was a profit to the family on this edition, and +none on the cheap edition, the withdrawal of the latter may have been +merely a private business arrangement, to be expected under the +circumstances, and the cry of "prohibition" may have been employed as a +satisfactory and unanswerable tradesman's excuse for not being supplied +with the goods desired. + +"How had they affected him? Why, he had learned to love all the world +better. He knew that if he had a bit of bread he must share it with his +neighbor, even if he did find it hard work to support his wife and four +small children. Had such a need arisen? Yes; and he had given his +children's bread to others." (He pretended not to hear when I inquired +why he had not given his own share of the bread.) "Was he a more honest +man than before? Oh, yes, yes, indeed! He would not take a kopek from +any one unless he were justly entitled to it." + +"And Count Tolstoy! A fine man, that! The Emperor had conferred upon him +the right to release prisoners from the jail,--had I noticed the big +jail, on the left hand as we drove out of town?" (I took the liberty to +doubt this legend, in strict privacy.) "Tula was a very bad place; there +were many prisoners. Men went to the bad there from the lack of +something to do." (This man was a philosopher, it seemed.) + +So he ran on enthusiastically, twisting round in his seat, letting his +horse do as it would, and talking in that soft, gentle, charming way to +which a dozen adjectives would fail to do justice, and which appears to +be the heritage of almost every Russian, high or low. It was an +uncomfortable attitude for us, because it left us nowhere to put our +smiles, and we would not for the world have had him suspect that he +amused us. + +But the gem of his discourse dropped from his lips when I asked him +what, in his opinion, would be the result if Count Tolstoy could +reconstruct the world on his plan. + +"Why, naturally," he replied, "if all men were equal, I should not be +driving you, for example. I should have my own horse and cow and +property, and I should do no work!" + +I must say that, on reflection, I was not surprised that he should have +reached this rather astonishing conclusion. I have no doubt that all of +his kind--and it is not a stupid kind, by any means--think the same. +I tried to tell him about America, where we were all equals in theory (I +omitted "theory"), and yet where some of us still "drive other people," +figuratively speaking. But he only laughed and shook his head, and said +he did not believe that all men were equal in such a land any more than +they were in Russia. That was the sort of wall against which I was +always being brought up, with a more or less painful bump, when I +attempted to elucidate the institutions of this land of liberty. He +seemed to have it firmly fixed in his brain that, although Count Tolstoy +worked in the fields "like one of us poor brethren," he really did no +work whatever. + +Thus did I obtain a foretaste of the views held by the peasant class +upon the subject of Count Tolstoy's scheme of reformation, since this +man was a peasant himself from one of the neighboring villages, and an +average representative of their modes of thought. + +At last we reached the stone gateposts which mark the entrance to the +park of Yasnaya Polyana (Clearfield), and drove up the formerly splendid +and still beautiful avenue of huge white birch-trees, from whose ranks +many had fallen or been felled. The avenue terminated near the house in +hedges of lilacs and acacias. + +Most of the family were away in the fields, or bathing in the river. But +we were cordially received, assured that our visit was well timed and +that there were no guests, and were installed in the room of the count's +eldest son, who was at his business in St. Petersburg. + +Then I paid and dismissed the beaming Vanka, whose name chanced to be +Alexei, adding liberal "tea-money" for his charming manners and +conversation. My sympathy with the hardship of being unable to procure +books had moved me so deeply that I had already asked the man for his +address, and had promised to send him a complete set of the count's +"Tales" from Moscow. + +We parted with the highest opinion of each other. Alas! a day or two +later one of the count's daughters happened to inquire how much I had +paid for the carriage, probably in consequence of former experiences, +and informed me that I had given just twice as much as any cabman in +Tula would have been glad to take. (The boredom of those policemen must +have been relieved by another smile--behind our backs.) Then I repeated +my conversation with that delicately conscientious _izvostchik_, +nurtured on the "Tales," and mentioned my promise. Even the grave count +was forced to laugh, and I declared that I should be afraid to send the +set of books, for fear of the consequences. + +When we were ready, being unfamiliar with the house, we asked the maid +to conduct us to the countess. She took this in its literal sense, and +ushered us into the bedroom where the countess was dressing, an +introduction to country life which was certainly informal enough. + +We dined at a long table under the trees at a little distance from the +house. The breeze sifted the tiny papery birch seeds into our soup and +water. Clouds rolled up, and at every threat of the sky we grasped our +plates, prepared to make a dash for the house. + +The count, who had been mowing, appeared at dinner in a grayish blouse +and trousers, and a soft white linen cap. He looked even more +weather-beaten in complexion than he had in Moscow during the winter, if +that were possible. His broad shoulders seemed to preserve in their +enhanced stoop a memory of recent toil. His manner, a combination of +gentle simplicity, awkward half-conquered consciousness, and +half-discarded polish, was as cordial as ever. His piercing +gray-green-blue eyes had lost none of their almost saturnine and withal +melancholy expression. His sons were clad in the pretty blouse suits of +coarse gray linen which are so common in Russia in the summer, and white +linen caps. + +After dinner, on that first evening, the countess invited us to go to +the fields and see her husband at work. He had not observed the good old +recipe, "After dinner, rest awhile," but had set off again immediately, +and we had been eager to follow him. We hunted for him through several +meadows, and finally came upon him in a sloping orchard lot, seated +under the trees, in a violent perspiration. He had wasted no time, +evidently. He was resting, and chatting with half a dozen peasants of +assorted ages. It appeared that he had made a toilet for dinner, since +he now wore a blue blouse faded with frequent washing, and ornamented +with new dark blue patches on the shoulders. It was the same blouse with +which Repin's portrait of him engaged in plowing had already made us +familiar. + +We talked with the peasants. They remained seated, and gave no greeting. +I do not think they would have done so on any other estate in Russia. It +is not that the count has inspired his humble neighbors with a higher +personal sense of independence and the equality of man; all Russian +peasants are pretty well advanced along that path already, and they +possess a natural dignity which prevents their asserting themselves in +an unpleasant manner except in rare cases. When they rise or salute, it +is out of politeness, and with no more servility than the same act +implies in an officer of the Guards in presence of a Court dame. The +omission on this occasion interested me as significant. + +The conversation turned upon the marriage of one of the younger men, +which was to come off in a neighboring village two days later, at the +conclusion of the fast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. A middle-aged +peasant took up the subject in a rather unpleasant and not very +respectful manner, saying that he saw no use for priests, who had +everything provided for them (_na gatovayu ruku_), and charged so high +for baptizing and marrying. + +"They demand seven rubles for marrying this fellow," said he. "I'll do +it for a ruble, and be glad to." + +"If it is so easy, go pass your examinations and become a priest at +once," replied the countess. + +"I don't know enough for that." + +"Then go hire yourself out as a clown. You are always making bad jokes." + +The man was subdued. The count took no part in this conversation, and +looked somewhat disturbed when the other men joined disagreeably in the +laugh against their comrade. He turned the subject. + +"Look at the oldest of these men," he said to us in English. "He has +lost the first joint of all the fingers on one hand from frost." + +He was a weak-looking, withered little man, but when they began to mow +again, at the count's suggestion, he grasped his scythe as well as any +of them. The scythes were short, thick, straight, looked very heavy, and +were set on very long, straight handles, so that it was not necessary to +stoop in mowing. + +We watched the party for a while. The count made good progress over the +uneven ground and thin grass, as though he were used to the work which +he has described so inimitably in "Anna Karenin." (Another reminder of +this book is the old nurse of Levin, who still lives on the place, has +charge of the dogs because she is fond of animals, and carries her mania +to the extent of feeding and petting the black beetles. The grave of +Karl Ivanovitch, the tutor in "Childhood, Boyhood, Youth," which lies in +the cemetery a mile or two distant, is another memento of his writings.) +As we strolled back to the house, we paused to look at the long white +stables, the thatched granary with walls of wattled tree boughs, and +other farm buildings. In the space between the house and the +dining-table we found the children, with their cousins, the French +tutor, and the English governess, engaged in a game of ball called +_wapta_, which involves much running and some skill. + +To this table the _samovar_ was brought about half past seven, and the +early tea, the children's tea, was served at twilight in the open air +heavy with the perfume of the linden-trees. Late tea was always served +in the house, in the large hall, accompanied by various viands, and by +wild strawberries fetched by the peasant children. + +That evening the count talked to me chiefly about the pamphlets on the +Hopedale community and the peace doctrines advocated by Adin Ballou, +which had been sent to him shortly before from America. He had then +learned for the first time that his principles in that direction had +been anticipated, and he seemed to be genuinely gratified to know that +this was the case. He prophesied that this movement in favor of +non-resistance would attract much more attention in the future than it +has attracted in the past. The fate of Mr. Ballou's community did not +seem to shake his faith. + +Naturally, the house was the first point which engaged our attention. In +1860, Count Tolstoy, being then thirty-two years of age, made up his +mind unalterably that he would never marry. All the world knows that +when the count has irrevocably determined upon anything he immediately +furnishes substantial proof of his convictions. On this occasion his +demonstration took the form of selling the manor house, which was taken +down and set up again on another estate in the same government by the +purchaser. The wings of the former house alone remained, detached +buildings, such as were used in the olden days to accommodate the +embroiderers, weavers, peasant musicians and actors of the private +troupes kept by wealthy grandees, as a theatre, or as extra apartments. +The count occupied one of these wings. + +Two years later, he changed his mind and married. He brought his +beautiful bride of half his age to this tiny wing,--it chanced to be +tiny in this case,--and there she lived for seventeen years. The +horrible loneliness of it, especially in winter, with not a neighbor for +miles, unless one reckon the village at the park gate, which could not +have furnished anything but human beings, and never a congenial +companion for her! Needless to say that she never had on a low-bodied +gown, never went to the theatre or a ball, in all her fair young life; +and to the loneliness of the country must be added the absolute +loneliness during the absences of the count, who had much reading to do +in Moscow for the historical portions of his great war drama. When he +got tired of his village school, of his experiments upon the infant +peasant mind, of things in general, he could and did go away for rest. +The countess did not. Decidedly, the Countess Sophia Tolstoy is one of +those truly feminine heroines who are cast into shadow by a brilliant +light close to them, but a heroine none the less in more ways than need +be mentioned. Her self-denial and courage gave to the world "War and +Peace" and "Anna Karenin;" and she declares that were it to do over +again she would not hesitate a moment. The public owes the count's wife +a great debt of gratitude, and not of reproaches, for bravely opposing +his fatal desire to live in every detail the life of a peasant laborer. +Can any one blessed with the faintest particle of imagination fail to +perceive how great a task it has been to withstand him thus for his own +good; to rear nine healthy, handsome, well-bred children out of the much +larger family which they have had; to bear the entire responsibility of +the household and the business? + +She remarked, one day, that there was no crying need for the Russian +nobility to follow her husband's teachings and give away all their goods +in order to be on a level with the peasants. Plenty of them would soon +attain that blissful state of poverty in the natural course of things, +since they were not only growing poorer every year, but the distribution +of inheritances among the numerous children was completing the work, and +very many would be reduced to laboring with their hands for a living. +This is perfectly true. There is no law of primogeniture in Russia. The +one established by Peter the Great having produced divers and grievous +evils, besides being out of harmony with the Russian character, it was +withdrawn. All the male children share equally in the father's estate as +in title. The female children receive by law only an extremely small +portion of the inheritance, but their dowry is not limited. + +Among the count's most ardent followers is one of his daughters. She +does everything for herself, according to his teachings, in a manner +which American girls, in even moderately well-to-do families, would +never dream of. She works for the peasants in various ways, and carries +out her father's ideas in other matters as far as possible. Her Spartan +(or Tolstoyan) treatment of herself may be of value in character- +building, as mortification of the flesh is supposed to be in +general. Practically, I think the relations between peasants and nobles +render her sacrifices unavailing. For example: one of the peasant women +having been taken ill,--there was a good deal of sickness in the +village,--she went to the hayfield to do the woman's work and prevent +the forfeit of fifteen or twenty cents, the price of the day's labor. We +strolled out to find her. The thermometer must have stood at 100 degrees +F., and although the dry inland heat can be better borne than the same +amount of damp heat, it was far from being comfortable weather even for +indolent persons. We found her under a tree, resting and drinking cold +tea, while she awaited the return, from some errand of their devising, +of the peasant women who had been at work with her. She looked +wretchedly ill, and we tried to prevail on her to go back to the house +with us. But the count (who was not well enough to work) happened along, +and as he said nothing she decided to stay and to resume labor at once, +since the women seemed to have been detained. + +As we beat a retreat homeward under that burning sun, we discovered the +nature of the peasant women's urgent business. They were engaged in +stripping the count's bushes of their fruit and devouring it by the +handful. We could not persuade him to interfere. "They want it, or they +would not take it," he said. It was none of our business, to be sure, +but those strong, muscular women offered such a contrast, in physique +and conduct, to the fair, delicate young girl whom we had just left that +we felt indignant enough to attack them ourselves, if it would have done +any good. The next day his daughter was more seriously ill than the +peasant woman whose place she had taken. I should not have felt unhappy +to learn that those women had been uncomfortably ill in consequence of +their greediness. + +The count has no longer a school for the peasant children, by the way. +The necessity for that is past. But he must have been an original +professor. A friend of mine in St. Petersburg, who was interested, +during the sixties, in the secular Sunday-schools for workingmen who +could not attend on week days, repeated to me the count's method as +imparted to her by himself while visiting the capital. He objected to +the rules which compelled the men to be regular in attendance, on the +ground that learning must not be acquired thus mechanically, under +compulsion, but when the scholar feels an inward impulse. He would not +listen to the suggestion that this method would hardly answer when study +must be prosecuted on specified days under penalty of eternal ignorance. +He said that when he found his peasant pupils indisposed to learn he +dismissed the school, went home, and occupied himself in his own +affairs. After an interval, more or less long, a scuffling of feet and a +rapping would become audible at the door, and small voices would plead: +"Please, Lyeff Nikola'itch, we want to study. Please, come and teach +us." He went, and they made rapid progress because all was purely +voluntary. + +One of the whitened stone wings of the old manor house stands unchanged. +It is occupied in summer by the countess's sister and her family. She is +a handsome and clever woman, who translates, and who has written some +strong short stories. The wing used by the count has been enlarged to +meet the requirements of the large family, and yet it is not a great or +imposing house. At one end a stone addition, like the original building, +contains, on the ground floor, the count's two rooms, which open on an +uncovered stone terrace facing the hedge-inclosed lawn, with beds of +bright flowers bordering it, and the stately lindens of the grand +avenues waving their crests beyond in the direction of the ponds. Over +these rooms and the vestibule is the hall, indispensable as a +dining-room and a play-room for the small children in wet weather and in +winter. A wooden addition at the other end furnishes half a dozen rooms +for members of the family, the tutor and the maids. Near by stand +several log cottages,--the bakehouse, the servants' dining-room, and +other necessary offices. + +The count's study is very plain. The walls are in part lined with +bookcases; in part they are covered with portraits of relatives and of +distinguished persons whom he admires. There are more bookcases in the +vestibule, for people are constantly sending him books of every +conceivable sort. I imagine that the first copies of every book, +pamphlet, and journal on any hobby or "ism," especially from America, +find their way to the address of Count Tolstoy. He showed me some very +wild products of the human brain. The hall upstairs has a polished wood +floor, as is usual with such rooms, and a set of very simple wicker +furniture. Portraits of ancestors, some of whom figure in "War and +Peace," hang upon the walls. A piano, on which the count sometimes +plays, and a large table complete the furniture. Everything in the house +is severely simple. If I take the liberty of going into these details, +it is in the interest of justice. The house has been described in print +--from imagination, it would seem--as "a castle luxuriously +furnished," and the count has been reproached with it. Cheap as the +furniture is, he grumbled at it when it was purchased; he grumbles at it +still, and to me spoke of it as "sinful luxury." But then he cannot be +regarded a fair judge of what constitutes luxury. + +The whole house, outside and in, is modest in the extreme. The park with +its avenues of lindens, which were in full bloom during our visit, the +ponds and lawns and forest, must have been superb in the time of his +grandfather, and even of his mother, from whom he inherited it. A grove +and thicket now occupy the site of the former manor, and screen the view +of each wing from the other. Vegetable gardens and berry patches lie +near at hand, and beds of brilliant but not rare flowers enliven the +immediate vicinity of the house. + +The estate is large and fertile, though it does not lie in the famous +"black-earth zone." This begins a few miles south of it. + +Plain wholesome food, simple dress, an open-air life without fixed +programme, were what we found. In the morning, after drinking tea or +coffee, with bread and butter, in the hall, we usually strolled through +the lovely forest, filled with flowers and perfumes, to the little river +about a mile distant, for a bath. The unpainted board bath-house had +seats running along the walls, and steps leading down into the water. A +framework supporting thick screens of golden rye straw extended far out +over the stream. A door upstream swung open at will for ambitious +swimmers. It was a solitary spot. The peasant girls pitching hay in the +meadows beyond with three-pronged boughs stripped of their leaves were +the only persons we ever saw. Clad in their best scarlet cotton +_sarafani_ and head kerchiefs, they added greatly to the beauty of the +landscape. Haying is such easy work compared to the rest of the summer +labors, that the best gowns are donned as for a festival. + +If the boys got ahead of us on those hot mornings, when we had dispensed +with every article of clothing not absolutely necessary, we lay in the +shadow of the fragrant birches at the top of the hill on the soft, short +sward, which seems in Russia to grow as thick in dense forests as in +open glades, and waited until they could tear themselves from the cool +embrace of the stream. Then we went in, great and small, but with no +bathing-dress. The use of such a garment on such an occasion would be +regarded as a sign that one was afflicted with some bodily defect which +one was anxious to conceal. By the time we had refreshed ourselves and +rambled back, searching for early mushrooms through the forest or the +great plantation of birches set out by the count's own hands a quarter +of a century before, and grown now to stout and serviceable giants, the +twelve o'clock breakfast was ready under the trees. At this informal +meal every one sat where he pleased, and helped himself. At dinner, on +the contrary, my place was always at the count's left hand. We sat on +whatever offered itself. Sometimes I had a wooden chair, sometimes a bit +of the long bench like a plasterer's horse. Once, when some one rose +suddenly from the other end of this, I tumbled over on the count and +narrowly escaped wrecking his dinner. + +At no meal did the count ever eat a mouthful of meat, despite urgent +persuasion. Boiled buckwheat groats, salted cucumbers, black bread, eggs +with spinach, tea and coffee, sour _kvas_ (beer made from black bread), +and cabbage soup formed the staple of his diet, even when ill, and when +most people would have avoided the cucumbers and _kvas_, at least. + +The family generally met as a whole for the first time at breakfast. The +count had been busy at work in the fields, in writing or reading in his +study; the boys with their tutor; the countess copying her husband's +manuscript and ordering the household. After breakfast every one did +what he pleased until dinner. There was riding, driving,--anything that +the heat permitted. A second bath, late in the afternoon, was indulged +in when it was very hot. The afternoon bathing party generally drove +down in a _lineika_, a sort of long jaunting-car with a central bench, +not too wide, on which the passengers sit back to back, their feet +resting on a narrow footboard which curves over the wheels as a shield. +This _lineika_ had also cross-seats at each end, and with judicious +packing could be made to hold sixteen persons. As it was upholstered in +leather and had no springs, there was some art in keeping one's seat +when the three horses were going at full speed over the uneven forest +road. + +After breakfast I sometimes sat under the trees with the countess, and +helped her sew on baby Ivan's clothes, for the pleasure of her +conversation. Nothing could be more fascinating. This beautiful woman +has not rusted during her long residence in the country. There are few +better informed women than she, few better women of business, few women +who are so clever and practical. + +One day, as I was sitting, armed with thimble and needle, waiting for +her, the count discovered a hole in his pocket, and asked his niece to +mend it for him. She had not her implements. I volunteered,--to do the +mending, not to lend the wherewithal. The pocket was of black silk, my +thread of white cotton, but that was of no consequence. I seated myself +comfortably on the sand, and speedily discovered not one hole, but a row +of holes such as wear along the seams of pockets. The count was greatly +annoyed at the trouble he was giving me, protested as I began on each +new hole, and was very restless. I was finally obliged to speak. + +"Lyeff Nikola'itch," I said, "do me the favor to sit still. Your +reputation as well as mine is involved in this work. It must be done +thoroughly and neatly quite as much for your sake as for mine." + +"How so?" he asked in surprise. + +"My woman's reputation for neat mending trembles in the balance; and do +not you advocate the theory that we should help our fellow-men? You have +helped others; it is your turn now to be experimented on. And besides, +if the fellow-man obstinately refuses to be helped by others, how are we +to do our duty by him? How could you work for others, if they persisted +in following out the other half of your doctrine and doing everything +for themselves? 'Tis plain that you understand how to render services +far better than to receive them. Reform. Submit." + +The count laughed, with a sort of grim bewilderment in his eye, and +behaved in an exemplary manner for the few remaining moments. I mentally +thanked Fate for providing me with an opportunity for suggesting an +object lesson on a point which had puzzled me not a little, and which I +had been pining to attack in some form. He did not explain away my +difficulties, it is true, but I was satisfied with having presented the +other side of the shield to his attention. + +On another occasion, as we sat under the trees, a peasant came, scythe +on shoulder, to complain to the countess of his wrongs. No one ever went +to the count, knowing that his wife had full management. Peasants who +came in a deputation to parley about hiring or buying extra land, and so +on, applied directly to her. The comrades of this Vasily Alexei'itch had +got two buckets of _vodka_, and had forced him, who detested liquor, to +drink of it. Then they had become quarrelsome (he was peaceable), and +they had torn his shirt--so! Hereupon he flung back his coat, worn in +Russian fashion with the sleeves hanging, and let his faded red cotton +shirt fall from his muscular shoulders, leaving him nude to the waist, +save for the cheap little baptismal cross suspended round his neck by a +cord. The small boys set up a shout of laughter at his story and his +action. The countess rebuked him sharply for such conduct before the +children, and refused to interfere in the quarrel. The man pulled his +torn shirt over his body and slouched off. That evening, after tea, the +count happened to hit upon a couple of Mr. Rider Haggard's books for +discussion, and, for the benefit of those in the company who had not +read it, gave the chief points of "She" in particularly lively style, +which kept us all in laughter. In describing the heroine, he said that +"she was clothed in an airy garment, like Vasily Alexei'itch;" and again +that "she dropped her garment, and stood like Vasily Alexei'itch." He +pronounced "She" and other works of Haggard "the lowest type of +literature," and said that "it was astonishing how so many English +people could go wild over them." He seemed to read everything, good and +bad, and to possess not only an omnivorous literary appetite, but a +wonderful memory for books, even in small details. + +Among the innumerable things which he read were Mormon publications, +sent him regularly from headquarters. I cannot explain the object of the +Mormons in making him the point of attack. He thought very highly of the +doctrines of the Mormons as set forth by themselves, and could not +understand why they were "persecuted" in America. No one had ever sent +him documents on the other side of the question, and he seemed as +ignorant of it as I was of the Mormon arguments. In answer to his +queries, I told him that the problems involved were too numerous, +serious, and complicated for me to enter upon; that the best way, under +such circumstances, was for him to read statements set down in black and +white by recognized authorities on the subject; and that I would cause +books on the matter to be forwarded to him, which I did. But he +persisted that our government is in the wrong. + +"It is a shame," said he, "that in a great and free country like America +a community of people should be so oppressed, and not allowed that +liberty of which you boast." + +"You know your Dickens well," I answered. "Have you any recollection of +Martin Chuzzlewit? You will remember that when Martin was in America +with Mark Tapley he saw a slave being sold. Mark Tapley observed that +'the Americans were so fond of Liberty that they took liberties with +her.' That is, in brief, what ails the Mormons. The only argument in +favor of them which can possibly be made is that their practice, not +their preaching, offers the only solution of your own theory that all +women should be married. But that theory has never been advanced in +extenuation of their behavior. I offer it to you brand new, as a slight +illustration of a very unpleasant subject." + +One day, during a chat in his study, he had praised Dickens. + +"There are three requisites which go to make a perfect writer," he +remarked. "First, he must have something worth saying. Second, he must +have a proper way of saying it. Third, he must have sincerity. Dickens +had all three of these qualities. Thackeray had not much to say; he had +a great deal of art in saying it; but he had not enough sincerity. +Dostoevsky possessed all three requisites. Nekrasoff knew well how to +express himself, but he did not possess the first quality; he forced +himself to say something, whatever would catch the public at the moment, +of which he was a very keen judge. As he wrote to suit the popular +taste, believing not at all in what he said, he had none of the third +requisite." He declared that America had not as yet produced any +first-class woman writer, like George Eliot and George Sand. + +Count Tolstoy's latest book at that time was "What to Do?" It was much +discussed, though not very new. It will be remembered that in the final +chapter of that work he argues that woman's whole duty consists in +marrying and having as large a family as possible. But, in speaking of +Mr. Howells's "The Undiscovered Country," which he had just discovered, +--it was odd to think he had never heard of Mr. Howells before,--he +remarked, in connection with the Shakers, that "it was a good thing that +they did not marry." + +He said this more than once and at some length. I did not like to enter +on the subject lest he should go too far, in his earnestness, before the +assembled company. Therefore I seized an opportunity to ask his wife how +he reconciled that remark with his creed that all women should marry. + +She answered that it certainly was not consistent, but that her husband +changed his opinion every two years; and, to my consternation, she +instantly appealed to him. He did not go into details, however. He +pulled out a letter which he had received from a Russian woman, a +stranger to him. The writer said: "While acknowledging the justice of +your views, I must remark that marriage is a fate which is not possible +to every woman. What, then, in your opinion, should a woman who has +missed that fate do?" + +I was interested in his reply, because six months earlier he had advised +me to marry. I inquired what answer he intended to send,--that is, if +he meant to reply at all. He said that he considered the letter of +sufficient importance to merit an answer, and that he should tell her +that "every woman who had not married, whatever the reason, ought to +impose upon herself the hardest cross which she could devise, and bear +it." + +"And so punish herself for the fault of others, perhaps?" I asked. "No. +If your correspondent is a woman of sufficient spirit to impose that +cross, she will also have sufficient spirit to retort that very few of +us choose our own crosses; and that women's crosses imposed by Fate, +Providence, or whatever one pleases to call it, are generally heavier, +more cruel, than any which they could imagine for themselves in the +maddest ecstasy of pain-worship. Are the Shaker women, of whom you +approve, also to invent crosses? And how about the Shaker men? What is +their duty in the matter of invoking suffering?" + +He made no reply, except that "non-marriage was the ideal state," and +then relapsed into silence, as was his habit when he did not intend to +relinquish his idea. Nevertheless I am convinced he is always open to +the influence--quite unconsciously, of course--of argument from any +quarter. His changes of belief prove it. + +These remarks anent the Shakers seemed to indicate that another change +was imminent; and as the history of his progress through the links of +his chain of reasoning was a subject of the greatest interest to me, I +asked his wife for it. It cannot be called anything but a linked +progress, since the germs--nay, the nearly full-fledged idea--of his +present moral and religious attitude can be found in almost all of his +writings from the very beginning. + +When the count married, he had attained to that familiar stage in the +spiritual life where men have forgotten, or outgrown, or thoroughly +neglected for a long time the religious instruction inculcated upon them +in their childhood. There is no doubt that the count had been well +grounded in religious tenets and ceremonies; the Russian church is +particular on this point, and examinations in "the law of God" form part +of the conditions for entrance to the state schools. But, having reached +the point where religion has no longer any solid grasp upon a man, he +did not like to see other people observe even the forms. + +Later on he began a novel, to be called "The Decembrists." The +Decembrists is the name given to the participants in the disorders of +1825, on the accession of the Emperor Nicholas I. to the throne. Among +the preparations which he made for this work were excursions taken with +the object of acquainting himself with the divers dialects and +peculiarities of expression current in the different parts of the +empire. These he collected from pilgrims on the highways and byways. + +"A pilgrim," said the witty countess, "is a man who has grown tired of +the jars and the cares and responsibilities of the household; out of +patience with the family in general. He feels the necessity, inborn in +every Russian, for roaming, for getting far away from people, into the +country and the forests. So he makes a pilgrimage to some distant +shrine. I should like to be a pilgrim myself, but the family ties me +down. I feel the need of freshening up my ideas." + +In these excursions the count came to see how great a part religion +plays in the life of the lower classes; and he argued that, in order to +get into sympathy with them, one must share their ideas as to religion. +Accordingly he plunged into it with his customary ardor,--"he has a +passionate nature,"--and for several years he attended every church +service, observed every rite, kept every fast, and so on. He thought it +horrible if those about him did not do the same,--if they neglected a +single form. I think it quite probable that he initiated the trouble +with his stomach by these fasts. They are nothing to a person who has +always been used to them; but when we consider that the longer fasts +cover about four solid months,--not to mention the usual abstinence on +Wednesdays and Fridays and the special abstinences,--and that milk, +eggs, cheese, and butter are prohibited, as well as other customary +articles of food, it is not difficult to imagine the effect of sudden +and strict observance upon a man accustomed during the greater part of +his life to a meat diet. The vegetable diet in which he now persists +only aggravates the evil in one who is afflicted with liver trouble, and +who is too old to train his vital economy in fresh paths. + +His religious ardor lasted until he went to church one day, during the +last Russo-Turkish war, when prayers were offered for the success of the +Russian army. It suddenly struck him that it was inconsistent with "Love +your enemies," "Love one another," "Do not kill," that prayers should be +offered for the death of enemies. From that day forth he ceased to go to +church, as he had also perceived that the practice of religious forms +did not, in reality, bring him much nearer to the peasants, and that one +must live among them, work among them, to appreciate their point of +view. + +The only surprising thing about this is that he should never have +noticed that the army is prayed for, essentially in the same sense, at +every church service. After the petitions for the Emperor and the +imperial family, the liturgy proceeds, "And we pray for the army, that +Thou wilt assist Them [that is, the Imperial family and its army], and +subdue all foes and enemies under Their feet." Perhaps these familiar +words came home to him with special force on that particular day, as +familiar words sometimes do. Possibly it was a special prayer. In any +case, the prayer was strictly logical. If you have an army, pray for it; +and the only prayer that can be offered is, obviously, not for its +defeat. That would be tantamount to praying for the enemy; which might +be Scriptural, in one way, but would be neither natural, popular, nor +further removed from objections of murder than the other. + +But Count Tolstoy was logical, also, in another way. Once started on +this train of thought, most worldly institutions of the present day, +beginning with the army, appeared to him opposed to the teaching of +Christ, on which point no rational man will differ from him. As to the +possibility of living the life of Christ, or even the advisability of +trying it, at this period of the world, that is quite another matter. + +It is not necessary for me to recapitulate here that which all the world +knows already,--the minute details of his belief in personal property, +labor, the renunciation of art and science, and so forth. We discussed +them. But I neglected my opportunities to worry him with demands for his +catechism, which his visitors delight in grinding out of him as though +from a machine, when the reading public must be sufficiently informed on +that score already. I have endeavored to set down only the special +illustrations of his doctrines, out of the rich mass of his +conversation. + +Those who have perused attentively his earlier works will have perceived +that there is really very little that is absolutely new in these +doctrines. They are so strictly the development of ideas which are an +integral part of him, through heredity, environment, and personal bias, +that the only surprise would be that he should not have ended in this +way. Community of goods, mutual help, and kindred doctrines are the +national birthright of every Russian, often bartered, it is true. But +long residence in the country among the peasants who do not preach these +doctrines, but simply practice them, naturally affected the thoughtful +student of humanity though he was of a different rank. He began to +announce his theories to the world, and found followers, as teachers of +these views generally do,--a proof that they satisfy an instinct in +the human breast. Solitary country life anywhere is productive of such +views. + +Disciples, or "adepts," began to make pilgrimages to the prophet. There +is a characteristic, a highly characteristic history of one such who +came and established himself in the village at the count's park gate. + +"This F. was a Jew, who did not finish his studies, got led astray by +socialists, and joined a community where, like the other members, he +lived out of marriage with a young girl student. At last he came across +a treatise of Lyeff Nikolaevitch, and decided that he was wrong and +Lyeff Nikolaevitch right. He removed to Yasnaya Polyana, married his +former mistress, and began to live and work among the peasants." (He +first joined the Russian church, and one of the count's daughters stood +godmother for him.) "His wife worked also; but, with delicate health and +two small children to care for, she could do little, through weakness +and lack of skill. The peasants laughed at him and at Lyeff +Nikola'itch." + +Mrs. F. came to the countess with her griefs, and the latter helped her +with food, clothing, and in other ways. "One day nothing remained in the +house to eat but a single crust. F. was ill. His wife, who was also ill +and feeble, went off to work. On her return she found no bread. Some one +had come along begging '_Khristi radi_' [for Christ's sake], and F. had +given him the crust,--with absolute consistency, it must be confessed. +This was the end. There was a scene. The wife went back to her friends. +F. also gave up, went off to Ekaterinoslaff, learned the tailor's trade, +and married again!" How he managed this second marriage without +committing bigamy, in view of the laws of Russia on that point, I am at +a loss to understand. + +"All my husband's disciples," said the countess, "are small, blond, +sickly, and homely; all as like one to another as a pair of old boots. +You have seen them. X. Z.--you know him--had a very pretty talent +for verses; but he has ruined it and his mind, and made himself quite an +idiot, by following my husband's teachings." + +The count provided a complement to these remarks in a conversation on +Russian writers. He said of a certain author; "That man has never been +duly appreciated, has never received the recognition which his genius +deserves. Yet you know how superbly he writes,--or rather, did write. +He has spoiled himself now by imitating me. It is a pity." + +This ingenuous comment is rescued from any tinge of conceit or egotism +by its absolute simplicity and truth. The imitation referred to is of +the moral "Tales" for popular reading of the lower classes, which my +cabman had studied. The pity of it is, when so many of the contemporary +writers of Russia owe their inspiration, their very existence, to +Turgeneff and Tolstoy having preceded them, that a man who possesses +personal talent and a delightful individual style should sacrifice them. +In his case it is unnecessary. Count Tolstoy's recognition of this fact +is characteristic. + +The countess's description of the "adepts" was as clever as the rest of +her remarks, and absolutely accurate. One of them was at the house for a +day or two. (I had seen them elsewhere as well.) He had evidently got +himself a new blouse for the visit. It was of coarse blue and white +cloth, checked, and so stiff with newness that, having a long slit and +only one button, at the neck, I could see the whole of his hairy breast +every time I looked at him from the left side. I sympathized with Prince +K., who being next him at table turned his back on him and ignored him +conversationally; which embarrassed the young man extremely. Apropos of +his shirt, I never saw any one but the count himself wear a shirt that a +real peasant would have worn; and I do not believe that even he had one +of the characteristic red cotton garments which are the peasant's pride. + +I found this adept interesting when he sat opposite me, and he incited +the count to vivacity. He contributed a very good anecdote illustrative +of the count's followers. + +A man in one of the southern governments--which one is immaterial here +--sent a quantity of lithographed copies of five or ten forbidden books +(Tolstoy's and others) to a disciple of Tolstoy in one of the northern +governments. In the village of this disciple, some young women students +in the higher or university courses for women, and followers of Tolstoy, +were living for the summer in peasant fashion, and working in the +fields, "_to the scornful pity of the peasants_" (I italicize this +phrase as remarkable on the lips of an adept.) These young women, having +heard of the dispatch by post of the books, and being in the town, +thought to do the count's disciple a favor by asking if they had +arrived. Had they refrained, nothing would have happened and the books +would have been delivered without a question. As it was, attention was +attracted to the parcel by the inquiry of these girls of eccentric +behavior. The fifty or sixty copies were confiscated; the girls' +passports were taken from them. The disciple appealed to a relative in +high official position in their behalf. The girls were informed, in +consequence, that they might hire themselves out to work for this +disciple of gentle birth as much as they liked; but they were forbidden +to work for or among the peasants. The adventure was not ended when this +story was told. Whether the students were satisfied with the permission +to work I do not know. Probably not; their fellow-disciple would not +have scorned them as the peasants did, and contradiction, that spice of +life to enthusiastic worshipers of impracticable ideas, would have been +lacking. In my opinion, the authorities committed an error in judgment. +They should have shown more faith in the peasants, the toil, and the +girls' unhardened frames. All three elements combined could have been +trusted to effect a permanent cure of those disciples by the end of the +harvest, had they been gently encouraged not only to work with the +peasants but to prove that they were capable of toiling and enduring in +precisely the same manner and measure. + +Still the authorities very naturally looked upon the action of the girls +as a case of _idti v narod_ (going to the people), in the sense +understood by the revolutionary propagandists. Their prohibition was +based on this ground. + +In some way we got upon the subject of English things and ways. The +count's eyes flashed. + +"The English are the most brutal nation on earth!" he exclaimed. "Along +with the Zulus, that is to say. Both go naked: the Zulus all day long, +the Englishwomen as soon as dinner is served. The English worship their +muscle; they think of it, talk of it. If I had time, I should like to +write a book on their ways. And then their executions, which they go to +see as a pleasure!" + +I asked which nation was a model, in his opinion. + +"The French," he answered, which seemed to me inconsistent, when he told +of the execution which he had witnessed in Paris, where a father had +lifted up his little child that it might have a good view of the horrors +of the guillotine. + +"Defective as is Russian civilization in many respects," he said, "you +will never find the Russian peasant like that. He abhors deliberate +murder, like an execution." + +"Yet he will himself commit murder," I objected. "There has been a +perfect flood of murders reported in the newspapers this very spring. +Those perpetrated in town were all by men of the peasant class; and most +of them were by lads under twenty years of age." + +He insisted that I must have misread the papers. So I proceeded to +inquire, "What will a peasant do in case of an execution?" + +"He will murder, but without premeditation. What he will do in case of +an execution I can illustrate for you by something which occurred in +this very neighborhood some years ago. + +"The regimental secretary of a regiment stationed at Z. was persecuted +by one of his officers, who found fault with him continually, and even +placed him under arrest for days at a time, when the man had only obeyed +his own orders. At last the secretary's patience failed him, and one day +he struck the officer. A court-martial followed. I was chosen to defend +him. He was sentenced to death. I appealed to the Emperor through Madame +A.,--you know her. For some reason she spoke to one of the ministers. +'You have not stated the number of his regiment; that is indispensable,' +was the reply. Evidently this was a subterfuge, that time might be +consumed in correspondence, and the pardon might arrive too late. The +reason for this was, in all probability, that just at this time a +soldier had struck an officer in Moscow and had been condemned. If one +were pardoned, in justice the other must be also. Otherwise discipline +would suffer. This coincidence was awkward for the secretary, strong as +his case was, and he was shot. + +"The adjutant's hands trembled so with emotion that he could not apply +the bandage to the prisoner's eyes. Others tried and gave it up. Well, +as soon as that man was buried his grave was covered with flowers, +crosses, and all sorts of things by the peasants, who came many versts +from all directions, as to the grave of a martyr. Masses for the dead +were ordered there, in uninterrupted succession, by these poor peasants. +The feeling was so great and appeared to be spreading to such an extent +that the authorities were forced not only to prohibit access to the +grave, but even to level it off so that it could not be found. But an +Englishman! If he were told to cut the throat of his own father and eat +him, he would do it." + +"Still, in spite of your very striking illustration, and your doubts as +to my having read the papers correctly," I remarked, "I am sure that the +Russian peasant does, occasionally, murder with premeditation. He is a +fine-tempered, much-enduring, admirable fellow, I admit, but he is +human. He cannot be so different in this respect from all other races of +men. Moreover, I have the testimony of a celebrated Russian author on my +side." + +"What author? What testimony?" + +"Have you ever read The 'Power of Darkness'? The amount of deliberation, +of premeditation, in any murder is often a matter of opinion; but the +murder of the child in the last act of that comedy is surely deliberate +enough to admit of no difference of judgment. Don't you think that the +author supports me?" + +He gasped at my audacity in quoting his own writings against him, and +retreated into the silence which was his resource when he could not or +would not answer. Put him in a corner and he would refuse to come out. + +Beggars used to come while we were eating out-of-doors; some called +themselves "pilgrims." The count would give them a little money, and +they would tramp off again. One day, when the birthday of an absent +member of the family was being celebrated, and we were drinking healths +in _voditchka_ (a sort of effervescent water flavored with fruit +juices), we had a distinguished visitor, "Prince Romanoff." This was the +crazy Balakhin mentioned in "What to Do?" as having had his brain turned +by the sight of the luxury in the lives of others. His rags and patches, +or rather his conglomeration of patches, surpassed anything we had seen +in that line. One of the lads jumped up and gave him a glass of +raspberry _voditchka_, telling him that it was rare old wine. The man +sipped it, looked through it, and pretended (I am sure that it was mere +pretense) to believe that it was wine. He promised us all large estates +when the Emperor should give him back his own, now wrongfully withheld +from him. + +Balakhin stayed about the place, making himself at home with the +servants, for twenty-four hours or more. I believe that he strays about +among the landed proprietors of the district as a profession. In spite +of his willingness to call himself "Prince Romanoff" as often as any one +chose to incite him thereto, this did not impress me as a proof that he +was too deranged to earn his own living, with his healthy frame, if he +saw fit. I had observed the mania for titles in other persons (not all +Russians, by any means) who would vigorously resent the imputation that +they should be in a lunatic asylum. Moreover, this imperial "Prince +Romanoff" never forgot his "manners." He invariably rose when his +superiors (or his inferiors, perhaps I should say) approached, like any +other peasant, and he looked far more crafty than crazy. + +As the peasants were all busy haying, we postponed our visit to the +village until the afternoon of Peter and Paul's day, in the hope that we +should then find some of them at home. The butler's family were drinking +tea on the porch of their neat new log house with a tinned roof, at the +end of the village near the park gate. They rose and invited us to honor +them with our company and share their meal. We declined, for lack of +time. + +One of the count's daughters had told me of a curious difference +existing between the cut of the aprons of maidens and of those of +married women. I had been incredulous, and she suggested that I put the +matter to the test by asking the first married woman whom we should see. +We found a pretty woman, with beautiful brown eyes and exquisite teeth +(whose whiteness and soundness are said to be the result of the sour +black bread which the peasants eat exclusively), standing at the door of +her cottage. + +"Here's your chance!" + +"Show me your window, please," I said. + +She laughed, and turned her back to me. There was the "window," sure +enough. The peasant apron, which is fastened under the armpits, is +pretty evenly distributed as to fullness all the way round, and in the +case of a maiden falls in straight lines in the back. But the married +woman makes hers with a semicircular opening a few inches below the +band. The points of the opening are connected by a loop of fringe, a +couple of cords not always tied, or anything that comes handy, +apparently for ornament. Now, when the husband feels moved to +demonstrate his affection for his spouse by administering a beating, he +is not obliged to fumble and grope among those straight folds for the +awkward triangular little opening, quite unsuited to accommodate his +fist. He can grasp her promptly by the neck of her chemise and this +comfortable semicircle, and not force her to doubt his love by delay and +hesitation in expression. I asked the pretty woman if her husband found +it very useful. "Sometimes," she answered nonchalantly. The Russian +peasant theory is: "No beating, no jealousy; no jealousy, no love." + +She offered to sell us a new petticoat similar to the one which she +wore. It was of homespun, hard-twisted wool _etamine_ very durable, of a +sort which is made, with slight variations, in several governments. +Ordinarily, in this district, it is of a bright scarlet plaided off with +lines of white and yellow. A breadth of dark blue cotton is always +inserted in the left side. When a woman is in mourning, the same plaid +on a dark blue foundation is used. Married women wear coarse chemises +and aprons of homespun linen; and their braided hair coiled on top of +the head imparts a coronet shape to the gay cotton kerchief which is +folded across the brow and knotted at the nape of the neck. + +Young girls wear cotton chemises and aprons and print dresses, all +purchased, not home made. It is considered that if a girl performs her +due share of the house and field work she will not have time to weave +more than enough linen for her wedding outfit, and the purchase of what +is needed before that unhappy event is regarded as a certificate of +industry. I call it an unhappy event because from the moment of her +betrothal the prospective bride wears mourning garments. Black beads for +the neck are the height of fashion here. + +The girl's gown, called a _sarafan_, is plaited straight and full into a +narrow band, and suspended just below the armpits by cross-bands over +the shoulders. She prefers for it plain scarlet cotton (_kumatch_), or +scarlet printed in designs of yellow, white, and green. Her head +kerchief matches in style. Her betrothal gown and kerchief have a dark +blue or black ground with colored figures. + +The bargain for the petticoat was closed at two rubles, its real worth, +subject to "sister's approbation,"--an afterthought on the part of the +pretty woman. When she brought it to us at the house, a couple of hours +later, modestly concealed under her apron, and with sister's blessing, +she demanded half a ruble more, because we had not beaten her down, and +perhaps also as an equivalent for sister's consent. + +She showed us her cottage, which was luxurious, since it had a brick +half for winter use, exactly corresponding to the summer half of logs. +Behind, in a wattled inclosure, were the animals and farming implements. +It was not a cheerful dwelling, with its tiny windows, wall benches to +serve as seats and beds, pine table, images in the corner, great +whitewashed oven, in which the cooking was done, and on which, near the +ceiling, they could sleep, and sheepskin coats as well as other garments +lying about. + +Practically, a small Russian village consists of one street, since those +peasants who live on the occasional parallel or side lanes are "no +account folks," and not in fashion. It seemed inconsistent that ranks +and degrees should exist in peasant villages; but human nature is much +the same in the country as in capitals, even in the village of the man +who advocates absolute equality of poverty, and despite the views of my +merry _izvostchik_ Alexei. + +The aged mother of the woman to whom the count's daughter was carrying a +gift of a new kerchief was at home, and bestowed some smacking kisses in +thanks. The old woman even ran after us to discharge another volley of +gratitude on the young countess's pretty cheeks. + +In the evening we set out once more for the village, to see the choral +dances and hear the songs with which the peasants celebrate their +holidays. A dozen or so of small peasant girls, pupils of the count's +daughter, who had invited themselves to swing on the Giant Steps on the +lawn opposite the count's study windows, abandoned their amusement and +accompanied us down the avenue, fairly howling an endless song in shrill +voices that went through one's nerves. + +As we emerged from the shadows of the avenue and proceeded up the broad, +grassy village street to the place of assembly, the children dispersed. +A crowd was collected at a fairly level spot ready for the dancing. All +wore their gayest clothes. The full moon, with brilliant Jupiter close +beside her, furnished an ideally picturesque light, and displayed the +scene to the greatest advantage. Low gray cottages framed the whole. + +It was a grand occasion. One of the count's sons had brought his violin, +his cousin had a _balalaika_, a triangular peasant guitar, and one of +the lackeys had his harmonica, to play for the dancing. The young men +sat on a rough improvised bench; the servant stood beside them. The +peasants seemed shy. They hesitated and argued a good deal over +beginning each song. Finally they joined hands and circled slowly to the +tones of the generally monotonous airs. Some of the melodies were lively +and pleasing, but the Great Russian peasant woman's voice is undeniably +shrill. The dancing, when some bold peasant ventured to enter the +circle, after much urging and pushing, was far tamer and more unvarying +than I had seen elsewhere. We felt very grateful to our maid, Tatiana, +for stepping forward with spirit and giving us a touch of the genuine +thing. + +Alas! the fruits of Tatiana's civilization were but too visible in her +gown of yellow print flounced to the waist and with a tight-fitting +bodice. The peasant costume suits the dance far better. Her partner was +unworthy of her, and did not perform the squat-and-leap step in proper +form. She needed Fomitch, the butler, who had been obliged to stay at +home and serve tea; to his regret, no doubt, since we were informed that +"he danced as though he had ten devils in his body." As we saw no +prospect of any devils at all,--and they are very necessary for the +proper dash in Russian dancing,--we strolled home, past the pond where +the women were wont to wash their clothes, and up the dark avenue. +Perhaps the requisite demons arrived after our departure. It was a +characteristic scene, and one not readily to be forgotten. + +One of the most enjoyable incidents of the evening was the rehearsal of +the maid's coquettish steps and graces given by one of our young +hostesses for the benefit of those members of the family who had not +been present. It reminded us of the scene in "War and Peace" after the +hunt, when charming young Countess Natalya Ilinitchna astonishes her old +relative by her artistic performance of the Russian dance, which she +must have inherited with the traditions of her native land, since she +had never learned it. + +Balalaika duets were one of the joys of our evenings under the trees, +after dinner. The young men played extremely well, and the popular airs +were fascinating. Our favorite was the "_Barynya-Sudarynya_," which +invariably brings out volleys of laughter and plaudits when it is sung +on the stage. Even a person who hears it played for the first time and +is ignorant of the words is constrained to laughter by the merry air. In +the evenings there were also hare-and-hounds hunts through the meadows +and forests, bonfires over which the younger members of the family +jumped in peasant fashion, and other amusements. + +In consequence of vegetarian indiscretions and of trifling with his +health in other ways during the exceptionally hot weather then +prevailing, the count fell ill. When he got about a little he delighted +to talk of death. He said he felt that he was not going to live long, +and was glad of it. He asked what we thought of death and the other +world, declaring that the future life must be far better than this, +though in what it consisted he could not feel any certainty. Naturally +he did not agree with our view, that for the lucky ones this world +provides a very fair idea of heaven, because his ideal was not happiness +for all, but misery for all. He will be forced to revise this ideal if +he ever really comes to believe in heaven. + +During this illness I persuaded him to read "Looking Backward," which I +had received as I was leaving Moscow. When I presented it to him, he +promised to examine it "some time;" but when I give books I like to hear +the opinion of the recipient in detail, and I had had experience when I +gave him "Robert Elsmere." Especially in this case was I anxious to +discuss the work. + +At first he was very favorably impressed, and said that he would +translate the book into Russian. He believed that this was the true way: +that people should have, literally, all things in common, and so on. I +replied that matters would never arrive at the state described unless +this planet were visited by another deluge, and neither Noah nor any +other animal endowed with the present human attributes saved to continue +this selfish species. I declared that nothing short of a new planet, +Utopia, and a newly created, selected, and combined race of Utopian +angels, would ever get as far as the personages in that book, not to +speak of remaining in equilibrium on that dizzy point when it should +have been once attained. He disagreed with me, and an argument royal +ensued. In the course of it he said that his only objection lay in the +degree of luxury in which the characters of the new perfection lived. + +"What harm is there in comfort and luxury to any extent," I asked, +"provided that all enjoy it?" + +"Luxury is all wrong," he answered severely. "You perceive the sinful +luxury in which I live," waving his hand toward the excessively plain +furniture, and animadverting with special bitterness on the silver forks +and spoons. "It is all a fallacy that we can raise those below us by +remaining above them. We must descend to their level in habits, +intelligence, and life; then all will rise together." + +"Even bread must have yeast; and if we all make ourselves exactly alike, +who is to act as yeast? Are we to adopt all vices of the lower classes? +That would be the speediest way of putting ourselves on a complete +equality with them. But if some of us do not remain yeast, we shall all +turn out the flattest sort of dough." + +"We certainly cannot change the position of a thing unless we go close +enough to grasp it, unless we are on the same plane with it." + +"Perhaps not; but being on the same plane does not always answer. Did +you ever see an acrobat try that trick? He puts one leg on the table, +then tries to lift his whole body by grasping the other leg and putting +it on a level to begin with. Logically, it ought to succeed and carry +the body with it, if your theory is correct. However, it remains merely +a curious and amusing experiment, likely to result in a broken neck to +any one not skilled in gymnastics, and certain to end in a tumble even +for the one who is thus skilled." + +He reiterated his arguments. I retorted that human beings were not moral +kangaroos, who could proceed by leaps, and that even the kangaroo is +obliged to allow the tip of his tail to follow his paws. I said that in +the moral as well as in the physical world it is simply a choice between +standing still and putting one foot before the other; that one cannot +get upstairs by remaining on the bottom step; one member of the body +must rise first. + +We were obliged to agree to disagree, as usual, but I fancy that he may +have changed to my opinion of the book and the subject by this time. I +have already noted that he is open to influence. + +One evening, as we sat on the steps of the uncovered terrace outside his +study, the conversation fell on the book which he was then engaged upon, +and which the countess had shown us that she was copying for the fourth +time. He had been busy on it for two years. Neither of them went into +details nor mentioned the plot, but I had heard on my arrival in Russia, +twenty months previously, that it related to the murder of a woman by +her husband, and had a railway scene in it. I did not interrogate them, +and when the count said that he hoped I would translate the book when it +should be finished I accepted the proposal with alacrity. I inquired +whether I was to read it then. + +"You may if you wish," was the reply, "but I shall probably make some +changes, and I should prefer that you would wait; but that shall be as +you please." + +His wife said that he might suddenly take a fancy to view the subject +from an entirely different point, and write the book all over. + +I declined to anticipate my future pleasure by even glancing at it, and +I asked no questions. Neither did I ask to see "The Fruits of +Civilization," which was already written and named, I was not there to +exploit their hospitality. + +The count and his wife differed as to what ought to be the fate of the +coming volume. He wished to give it to the world (that is, to some +publisher) for nothing. She argued that some one, the publisher at +least, would make money out of it; then why not let his own family have +the profit, as was just? He insisted that it was wrong, inconsistent, in +the same strain as he discusses the subject of his writings in "What to +Do?" But she urged him, in case he would not consent to justice, to +leave the manuscript with her, unpublished, so that the family could use +it after his death. (When the book was ready it was named "The Kreutzer +Sonata.") + +I think that every one must side with the countess in her view of this +matter and in her management of the family. It is owing solely to her +that the younger members of the family are receiving that education to +fit them for their struggle with life which her husband bestowed upon +the elder members voluntarily. It is due to her alone, also, that her +husband is still alive. It is not an easy task to protect the count +against himself. One adds to one's admiration for the count's literary +genius an admiration for the countess's talent and good sense by an +extended acquaintance with this family. + +More than one community has been organized for the express purpose of +carrying out the life of toil which Count Tolstoy has advocated at +times. One of these communities, of which I had direct information, +purchased an estate of a landed proprietor, including the manor house, +and began to work. This acquisition of an estate by them, while the +count would like to give away his as sinful to retain, does not strike +one as a good beginning. However, they did not use the manor house, but +lived in one small peasant hut. "They all slept on the floor and +benches, men and women," said a Russian to me. A wealthy man had sold +his property to join this community against the wishes of his wife, who +accompanied him, nevertheless. When her baby came, they allowed her to +occupy a room in the mansion and required no work from her, since she +had the care of the child. "They never swept or scrubbed anything, and +they propagated every insect known to man, and probably a few new ones." +But the count has never preached this doctrine, or that an indefinite +number of persons should occupy a single cottage. Thus do his too +enthusiastic disciples discredit him by running into excesses. + +So far as he is concerned, there is not the slightest doubt that he +would gladly attempt the life which he advocates. But if he were to take +up his residence in a peasant's cottage, and try to support himself on +what his labors brought in exclusively, he would be dead in less than a +month. He suffers from liver disease; he has not been used to hard labor +from early youth; he cannot, at his age, accustom himself to it any more +than he can compel his stomach to accept a purely vegetable diet in +place of the meat diet on which he has been brought up. He strives +conscientiously to do it. Even the fits of illness caused by his severe +treatment of himself do not break his spirit. He exercises not the +slightest calculation or forethought in the care of his health, either +before it breaks down or afterwards. For example: about five years ago +he bruised his leg seriously against the wheel of a peasant cart. +Instead of resting it, he persisted in working. Erysipelas developed. +The Tula doctor paid him numerous visits, at fifteen rubles a visit. +Then gangrene threatened, and a doctor was sent for from Moscow. He was +a celebrity; price three hundred and fifty rubles. This was penny wise +and pound foolish, of course. But in all probability the count feels the +responsibility of exerting his will in this matter of labor all the more +because it does not come easy to him, and he attributes to weakness of +will power what a peasant would recognize as simple physical exhaustion. +The peasant would not hesitate to climb to the top of his oven and stay +there until his illness was over, with not a thought whether the work +were done or not; and yet the peasant would work far beyond the bounds +of what one would suppose that a man could endure. But Count Tolstoy +overrates his powers of endurance, and, having exhausted his forces in +one desperate spurt, he is naturally obliged to spend more than a +corresponding amount of time in recuperating, even if no serious +complication intervenes; and this gives rise to the accusation of +laziness and insincerity from those who chance to see him in one of +these intervals of rest. + +Another point which is too often lost sight of by people who disapprove +of his labor theories is that, while he advocates living in all respects +like a peasant, descending to that level in mind as well as in body, +which doctrine seems to include the incessant toil of the masses, he has +also announced his theory that men should divide their time each day +between (1) hard labor unto perspiration and callosities; (2) the +exercise of some useful handicraft; (3) exercise of the brain in writing +and reading; (4) social intercourse; sixteen hours in all. This is not a +programme which a peasant could follow out. In summer, during the +"suffering" season, the peasant toils in the fields for nearly the whole +of the twenty-four hours instead of the four thus allotted. In winter, +when no field labor is possible, he is likely to spend much more than +four hours at whatever remunerative handicraft he may be acquainted +with, or in intercourse with his fellow-men (detrimental as likely as +not), and a good deal less in reading at any season of the year, for +lack of instruction, interest, or books. On the other hand, this +reasonable _regime_ is not practicable for many men of other than +peasant rank. It happens to be perfectly practicable for Count Tolstoy +when his health permits. But as he has also said much about doing +everything for one's self, earning in some form of common labor all that +one spends, those who remember this only, and who know how little can be +earned by a whole day's toil in Russia, not to mention toil divided +between two branches, which agriculture does not permit, are not +altogether to blame for jumping to the conclusion that the count makes +no effort to practice what he preaches. He does what he can. He is +reproached with having made over his property to his wife and with +living as before. It is really difficult to see what other course is +open to him. An unmarried man, under obligations to no one but himself, +may reasonably be blamed for not carrying out the doctrine which he +volunteers to teach the world. A married man can only be blamed for +volunteering the doctrine. No blame can possibly attach to the wife who +defends the interest of the family to the extent of working havoc with +his doctrines. + +Even if Count Tolstoy were able to support himself, he certainly could +not support a wife and the nine living children out of sixteen which he +has had. There is no justice in expecting the adult members of the +family to accept and practice his doctrines. They do not compel him to +accept theirs, though they are in the majority. The little ones could +not feed themselves, even were they ideal peasant children. It would be +nearer the truth to say that the countess has taken possession of the +property; she administers it wisely and economically, for the good of +the family and her husband. She issued, about five years ago, a cheaper +edition of her husband's works, the only edition available hitherto +having been very expensive. The wisdom of her step was proved by the +large profits derived from it in the course of three years,--fifty +thousand dollars,--all of which was applied to the needs of the +family. + +The count is not the only one at Yasnaya Polyana to deny himself. For +the past two winters the whole family have remained on the estate, and +have not gone to Moscow, with the exception of one who is in business at +the capital, one member who is at his studies, and one who is married +and resides on another estate. This is because the income did not amount +to a certain sum, a very moderate sum in American eyes, without which a +stay in town would have been imprudent. + +The question naturally follows: If the countess holds the property, and +the count continues to get the good of it, in a modest way; if the count +does not do everything for himself, and earn his daily bread by manual +toil, is not he mentally unbalanced to proclaim his theories to the +world, and to change his mind so often on other points? + +The answer is: No. Undoubtedly the count, when he attained to his +convictions on the subject of poverty and labor, hoped to carry his +family with him. The countess, like a brave woman, like a devoted wife +and mother, refused to adopt his views. She is willing to shoulder the +responsibility of her refusal, and her conduct is an honor to her. As +for his changes of doctrine, we are all very much like him in the matter +of inconsistency. Only, as very few of us enjoy the renown or the +authority of Count Tolstoy, it rarely occurs to us to proclaim our +progressive opinions to the world; at most, one or two experiences cure +us of that weakness, even if any one thinks it worth while to notice +them in the slightest degree. Very few of us are so deeply rooted in our +convictions, or so impressed with their importance to the world as +principles, that we will raise a finger to defend them. We alternately +know that we shall never change them again, and suspect that we may see +something better at any moment; and we refrain from committing ourselves +unnecessarily in any form which can be brought up against us hereafter. + +The case is precisely the reverse with Count Tolstoy. He is so full of +the missionary spirit, so persuaded of the truth and value of his +beliefs, that he rushes into print with them instantly. There they are, +all ready for those who do not sympathize with him to use as missiles +when he gets a new inspiration. Change of opinion is generally progress. +Continuity, an absolute lack of change, means stagnation and death in +the mental as well as in the physical world. As the count is impressible +and reads much, his reading and meditation are fruitful of novelties, +which he bravely submits to the judgment of the world without pausing to +consider whether they coincide with his other utterances or not. That he +does not always express his abstract ideas clearly is the inevitable +result of the lack of philosophical training. + +But enthusiastic souls who grieve over the imperfections in the present +organization of society are always waiting for some one of warmer zeal +to lead them. Such persons perceive the ideal side of every argument, +interpret doctrines with their hearts, not with their heads, and are +fired by the newest conception of social relations. As one of the most +marked characteristics of Count Tolstoy lies in infusing his own +personality into every word he writes, it is only natural that these +people should adopt him as their guide. It is not the fault of any one +in particular that he has abandoned a doctrine by the time others have +mastered it. The only refuge is in the cry of Hamlet:-- + +"The time is out of joint; O cursed spite! That ever I was born to set +it right." + +Thus much I think I may say of the home life of the famous Russian +writer without sinning against the duties imposed by the frank and +cordial hospitality for which we are indebted to the family. It has +seemed time to enter a protest against various misrepresentations and +misconceptions in regard to them which are current. In conclusion, I beg +leave to explain that my spelling of the name is that used by themselves +when writing in English, and in print upon their French cards. + + + + +IX. + +A RUSSIAN HOLY CITY. + + +It was close on midnight when we left Yasnaya Polyana. A large and merry +party of Count Tolstoy's children and relatives escorted us: some in the +baggage cart, perched on our luggage; some in the jaunting-car-like +_lineika_ with us, on our moonlight drive to the little station where we +were to join the train and continue our journey southward. + +We should have preferred to travel by daylight, as we were possessed of +the genuine tourist greed for seeing "everything;" but in this case, as +in many others in Russia, the trains were not arranged so that we could +manage it. + +There is very little variety along the road through central Russia, but +the monotony is of a different character from that of the harsh soil and +the birch and pine forests of the north. The vast plains of this +_tchernozyom_--the celebrated "black earth zone"--swell in long, low +billows of herbage and grain, diversified only at distant intervals by +tracts of woodland. But the wood is too scarce to meet the demands for +fuel, and the manure of the cattle, well dried, serves to eke it out, a +traveling native in our compartment told us, instead of being used, as +it should be, to enrich the land, which is growing poor. Now and then, +substantial brick cottages shone out amidst the gray and yellow of the +thatched log huts in the hamlets. We heard of one landed proprietor who +encouraged his peasant neighbors to avoid the scourge of frequent +conflagrations by building with brick, and he offered a prize to every +individual who should comply with the conditions. The prize consisted of +a horse from the proprietor's stables, and of the proprietor's presence, +in full uniform and all his orders, at the house-warming. The advantages +of brick soon became so apparent to the peasants that they continued to +employ it, even after their patron had been forced to abolish the +reward, lest his horses and his time should be utterly exhausted. + +Minor incidents were not lacking to enliven our long journey. In the +course of one of the usual long halts at a county town, a beggar came to +the window of our carriage. He was a tall, slender young fellow, about +seven-and-twenty years of age. Though he used the customary forms,-- +"Give me something, _sudarynya_* if only a few kopeks, _Khristi +radi!_"** there was something about him, despite his rags, there was an +elegance of accent in his language, to which I was not accustomed in the +"poor brethren" generally. + +* Madam. ** For Christ's sake. + +I pretended ignorance of Russian and the sign language, but watched him +as I continued my conversation in English. Thereupon my man repeated his +demands in excellent French, with a good accent. I turned on him. + +"This is unusual," I said in Russian, by way of hinting that I belonged +to the category of the willfully deaf. "Accept my compliments on your +knowledge of French and of Russian. But be so good as to explain to me +this mystery before I contribute." + +"Madam," he retorted, "I'd have you know that I am a gentleman,--a +gentleman of education." + +"Then pray solve the other mystery,--why you, strong, young, healthy, +handsome, are a professional beggar." + +He stalked off in a huff. Evidently he was one of that class of "decayed +nobles" of whom I had heard many curious tales in Moscow; only he had +decayed at a rather earlier age than the average. + +As we proceeded southward, pretty Little Russian girls took the place of +the plainer-featured Great Russian maidens. Familiar plants caught our +eyes. Mulleins--"imperial sceptre" is the pretty Russian name--began +to do sentinel duty along the roadside; sumach appeared in the thickets +of the forests, where the graceful cut-leaved birch of the north was +rare. The Lombardy poplar, the favorite of the Little Russian poets, +reared its dark columns in solitary state. At last, Kieff, the Holy +City, loomed before us in the distance. + +I know no town in Russia which makes so picturesque and characteristic +an impression on the traveler as Kieff. From the boundless plain over +which we were speeding, we gazed up at wooded heights crowned and dotted +with churches. At the foot of the slope, where golden domes and crosses, +snowy white monasteries and battlemented walls, gleamed among masses of +foliage punctuated with poplars, swept the broad Dnyepr. It did not seem +difficult then to enter into the feelings of Prince Oleg when he reached +the infant town, on his expedition from unfertile Novgorod the Great, of +the north, against Byzantium, and, coveting its rich beauty, slew its +rulers and entered into possession, saying, "This shall be the Mother of +all Russian Cities." We could understand the sentiments of the pilgrims +who flock to the Holy City by the million. + +The agreeable sensation of approach being over, our expectations, which +had been waxing as the train threaded its way through a ravine to the +station, received a shock. It was the shock to which we were continually +being subjected whenever we made pious pilgrimages to places of historic +renown. On each occasion of this sort we were moved to reflect deeply on +the proverbial blessings of ignorance. It makes a vast difference in +one's mental comfort, I find, whether he accepts the present +unquestioningly, with enthusiasm, and reconstructs the historic past as +an agreeable duty, or whether he already bears the past, in its various +aspects, in his mind, in involuntary but irrational expectation of +meeting it, and is forced to accept the present as a painful task! Which +of these courses to pursue in the future was the subject of my +disappointed meditations, as we drove through the too Europeanized +streets, and landed at a hotel of the same pattern. It is easy to +forgive St. Petersburg, in its giddy youth of one hundred and +seventy-five winters, for its Western features and comforts; but that +Kieff, in its venerable maturity of a thousand summers, should be so +spick and span with newness and reformation seemed at first utterly +unpardonable. The inhabitants think otherwise, no doubt, and deplore the +mediaeval hygienic conditions which render the town the most unhealthy +in Europe, in the matter of the death-rate from infectious diseases. + +Our comfortable hotel possessed not a single characteristic feature, +except a line on the printed placard of regulations posted in each room. +The line said, "The price of this room is four rubles [or whatever it +was] a day, except in Contract Time." "Contract Time," I found, meant +the Annual Fair, in February, when the normal population of about one +hundred and sixty-six thousand is swelled by "arrivers"--as travelers +are commonly designated on the signboards of the lower-class hotels-- +from all the country round about. When, prompted by this remarkable +warning, I inquired the prices during the fair, the clerk replied +sweetly,--no other word will do justice to his manner,--"All we can +get!" Such frankness is what the French call "brutal." + +The principal street of the town, the Krestchatik, formerly the bed of a +stream, in front of our windows, was in the throes of sewer-building. +More civilization! Sewage from the higher land had lodged there in +temporary pools. The weather was very hot. The fine large yellow bricks, +furnished by the local clay-beds, of which the buildings and sidewalks +were made, were dazzling with heat. It is only when one leaves the +low-lying new town, and ascends the hills, on which the old dwellers +wisely built, or reaches the suburbs, that one begins thoroughly to +comprehend the enthusiastic praises of many Russians who regard Kieff as +the most beautiful town in the empire. + +The glare of the yellow brick melts softly into the verdure of the +residence quarter, and is tempered into inoffensiveness in the Old Town +by the admixture of older and plainer structures, which refresh the eye. +But the chief charm, unfailing, inexhaustible as the sight of the ocean, +is the view from the cliffs. Beyond the silver sweep of the river at +their feet, animated with steamers and small boats, stretches the +illimitable steppe, where the purple and emerald shadows of the sea +depths and shallows are enriched with hues of golden or velvet brown and +misty blue. The steppe is no longer an unbroken expanse of waving +plume-grass and flowers, wherein riders and horses are lost to sight as, +in Gogol's celebrated tale, were Taras Bulba and his sons, fresh from +the famous Academy of Kieff, which lies at our feet, below the cliffs. +Increasing population has converted this virgin soil into vast +grainfields, less picturesque near at hand than the wild growth, but +still deserving, from afar, of Gogol's enraptured apostrophe: "Devil +take you, steppe, how beautiful you are!" + +Naturally, our first pilgrimage was to the famous Kievo-Petcherskaya +Lavra, that is, the First-Class Monastery of the Kieff Catacombs, the +chief monastic institution and goal of pilgrims in all the country, of +which we had caught a glimpse from the opposite shore of the river, as +we approached the town. Buildings have not extended so densely in this +direction but that a semblance of ascetic retirement is still preserved. +Between the monastery and the city lies the city park, which is not much +patronized by the citizens, and for good reasons. To the rich wildness +of nature is added the wildness of man. Hordes of desperadoes, "the +barefoot brigade," the dregs of the local population, have taken up +their residence there every spring, of late years, in the ravines and +the caves which they have excavated, in humble imitation of the holy men +of the monastery of old. From time to time the police make a skirmish +there, but an unpleasant element of danger is still connected with a +visit to this section of the city's heart, which deters most people from +making the attempt. + +Beyond this lie the heights, on which stand the fortress and the +Catacombs Monastery. Opposite the arsenal opens the "Holy Gate;" all +Russian monasteries seem to have a holy gate. "The wall, fourteen feet +in height, and more in some places, surrounding the principal court, was +built by Hetman Mazeppa," says the local guide-book. Thus promptly did +we come upon traces of that dashing Kazak chieftain, who would seem, +judging from the solid silver tombs for saints, the churches, academy, +and many other offerings of that nature in Kieff alone, to have spent +the intervals between his deeds of outrageous treachery and immorality +in acts of ostentatious piety. In fact, his piety had an object, as +piety of that rampant variety usually has. He meditated betraying Little +Russia into the power of Poland; and knowing well how heartily the +Little Russians detested the Poles because of the submission to the Pope +of Rome in those Greek churches designated as Uniates, he sought to +soothe their suspicions and allay their fears by this display of +attachment to the national church. His vaingloriousness was shown by his +habit of having his coat of arms placed on bells, _ikonostasi_,* and +windows of the churches he built. In one case, he caused his portrait to +be inserted in the holy door of the _ikonostas_,--a very improper +procedure,--where it remained until the middle of the last century. +Highly colored frescoes of the special monastery saints and of +historical incidents adorned the wall outside the holy gate. Inside, we +found a monk presiding over a table, on which stood the image of the +saint of the day, a platter covered with a cross-adorned cloth, for +offerings, and various objects of piety for sale. + +* Image screens. + +The first thing which struck us, as we entered the great court, was the +peculiar South Russian taste for filling in the line of roof between the +numerous domes with curving pediments and tapering turned-wood spirelets +surmounted by golden stars and winged seraphs' heads surrounded by rays. +The effect of so many points of gold against the white of the walls, +combined with the gold of the crosses, the high tints of the external +frescoes, and the gold of the cupolas, is very brilliant, no doubt; but +it is confusing, and constitutes what, for want of a better word, I must +call a Byzantine-rococo style of architecture. The domes, under Western +influence, during the many centuries when Kieff was divorced from +Russia, under Polish and Lithuanian rule, assumed forms which lack the +purity and grace of those in Russia proper. Octagonal cupolas supported +on thick, sloping bases involuntarily remind one of the cup-and-ball +game. Not content with this degenerate beginning, they pursue their +errors heavenward. Instead of terminating directly in a cross, they are +surmounted by a lantern frescoed with saints, a second octagonal dome, a +ball, and a cross. These octagons constitute a feature in all South +Russian churches. + +Along the sides of the court leading to the great Assumption Cathedral +stood long, plain one and two story buildings, the cells of the monks. +Rugs of fine coloring and design were airing on the railings in front of +them. I examined their texture, found it thick and silky, but could not +class it with any manufacture of my acquaintance. I looked about for +some one to question. A monk was approaching. His long, abundant hair +flowed in waves from beneath the black veil which hung from his tall, +cylindrical _klobuk_, resembling a rimless silk hat. His artistically +cut black robe fell in graceful folds. I should describe him as +dandified, did I dare apply such an adjective to an ecclesiastical +recluse. I asked him where such rugs were to be found. He answered that +they were of peasant manufacture, and that I could probably find them in +Podol, the market below the cliffs. These specimens had been presented +to the monastery by "zealous benefactors." + +Then he took his turn at questioning. I presume that my accent was not +perfect, or that I had omitted some point of etiquette in which an +Orthodox Russian would have been drilled, such as asking his blessing +and kissing his hand in gratitude, by way of saying "good-morning," or +something of that sort. His manner was that of a man of the world, +artistically tinged with monastic conventionality, and I wondered +whether he were not an ex-officer of the Guards who had wearied of Court +and gayeties. He offered to show us about, and took us to the +printing-house, founded in the sixteenth century. It is still one of the +best and most extensive in the country, with a department of +chromo-lithography attached for the preparation of cheap pictures of +saints. One of the finest views in town is from the balcony at the rear +of this building, and the monk explained all the points to us. + +There was an air of authority about our impromptu guide, and the +profound reverences bestowed upon him and upon us by the workmen in the +printing-house, as well as by all the monks whom we met, prompted me to +inquire, as we parted from him, to whom we were indebted for such +interesting guidance and explanations. + +"I am _otetz kaznatchei_," he replied, with a smile, as he not only +offered his hand, but grasped mine and shook it, with an expression of +his cordial good wishes, instead of bestowing upon me a mechanical cross +in the air, and permitting me to kiss his plump little fingers in +return, as he would undoubtedly have done had I been a Russian. I +understood the respect paid, and our reflected importance, when I +discovered that the "Father Treasurer" occupies the highest rank next to +the permanent head of the monastery officially, and the most important +post of all practically. + +Shortly after, the question fever having attacked me again, I accosted +another monk, equal in stateliness of aspect to the Father Treasurer. He +informed me that from seven hundred to one thousand persons lived in the +monastery. Not all of them were monks, some being only lay brethren. +Each monk, however, had his own apartments, with a little garden +attached, and the beautiful rugs which I had seen formed part of the +furnishings of their cells. A man cannot enter the monastery without +money, but fifty rubles (about twenty-five dollars) are sufficient to +gain him admittance. Some men leave the monastery after a brief trial, +without receiving the habit. "In such a throng one comes to know many +faces," he said, "but not all persons." + +I inquired whether it were not a monotonous, tiresome life. + +"It seems so to you!" he replied, when he had recovered from his +amazement; and when I mentioned the liturgy which is peculiar to the +monastery cathedral, and famed throughout Russia as "the Kieff-Catacombs +singing," all he found to say was, "It is very long." + +He took advantage of the chance presented by a trip to his cell to get +us some water, to remove his tall _klobuk_. He must have read in our +glances admiration of his beauty mingled with a doubt as to whether it +were not partly due to this becoming cowl and veil, and determined to +convince us that it was nature, not adventitious circumstances, in his +case. I think he must have been content with the expression of our +faces, as he showed us the way to the most ancient of all the churches +in Kieff,--in Russia, in fact,--built by Prince-Saint Vladimir +immediately after his return from the crusade in search of baptism. + +The church door was locked. The wife of the deacon in charge was +paddling about barefooted, in pursuit of her fowls, in the long grass of +the dooryard. She abandoned the chickens and hunted up her husband, who +took a peep at us, and then kept us waiting while he donned his best +cassock before escorting us. + +It is a very small, very plain church which adjoined Prince Vladimir's +summer palace, long since destroyed, and still preserves its gallery for +women and servants, and a box for the ladies of the household. +Everything about it is nine hundred years old, except the roof and the +upper portion of the walls. The archaic frescoes of angels in the +chancel, which date from the same period, and are the best in Kieff, +were the only objects which the deacon could find to expound, to enhance +the "tea-money" value of his services in putting on his best gown and +unlocking the door, and he performed his duty meekly, but firmly. We did +ours by him, and betook ourselves to the principal church, the Cathedral +of the Assumption, where less is left to the imagination. + +There, very few of the frescoes are more than a hundred and sixty years +old, the majority dating back less than sixty years, and being in a +style to suit the rococo gilt carving, and the silver-gilt Imperial Gate +to the altar. In the _papert_, or corridor-vestibule, a monk who was +presiding over a Book of Eternal Remembrance invited us to enter our +subscriptions for general prayers to be said on our behalf, or for +special prayers to be said before the "wonder-working image" of the +Assumption so long as the monastery shall exist. + +"We are not _pravoslavny_" (Orthodox Christians), I said. But, instead +of being depressed by this tacit refusal, he brightened up and plied us +with a series of questions, until he really seemed to take a temporary +interest in life, in place of his permanent official interest in death +alone, or chiefly. + +Service was in progress, in accordance with the canons of the Studieff +monastery, adopted by St. Fedosy in the eleventh century. The singers, +placed in an unusual position, in the centre of the church, were as +remarkable for their hair as for their voices and execution. The +russet-brown and golden locks of some of them fell in heavy waves to +their waists. In fact, long, waving hair seemed to be a specialty with +the monks of this monastery, and they wore it in braids when off duty. I +had seen priests in St. Petersburg who so utterly beyond a doubt frizzed +their scanty hair on days of grand festivals, that the three tufts +pertaining to the three too slender hair pins on which they had been +done up stood out in painfully isolated disagreement. What would they +not have given for such splendid manes as these Kieff singers possessed! + +We ascended to the gallery, to obtain a better view of the scene. +Peasant men in sheepskins (_tulupi_),--the temperature verged on 100 +degrees Fahrenheit,--in coats of dark brown homespun wool girt with +sashes which had once been bright; female pilgrims in wadded coats girt +into shapelessness over cotton gowns of brilliant hues, knelt in prayer +all about the not very spacious floor. Their traveling-sacks on their +backs, the tin tea-kettles and cooking paraphernalia at their belts, +swayed into perilous positions as they rocked back and forth, striking +the floor devoutly with their brows, rising only to throw back their +long hair, cross themselves rapidly, and resume the "ground +salutations," until we were fairly dizzy at the sight. Some of them +placed red, yellow, or green tapers--the first instance of such a taste +in colors which we had observed--on the sharp points of the silver +candelabra standing before the holy pictures in the _ikonostas_, already +overcrowded. A monk was incessantly engaged in removing the tapers when +only half consumed, to make way for the ever-swelling flood of fresh +tapers. Another monk was as incessantly engaged in receiving the +_prosfori_. A _prosfora_ is leavened bread in the shape of a tiny double +loaf, which is sold at the doors of churches, and bears on its upper +surface certain symbolic signs, as a rule. The Communion is prepared +from similar loaves by the priest, who removes certain portions with a +spear-shaped knife, and places them in the wine of the chalice. The wine +and bread are administered with a spoon to communicants. From the loaves +bought at the door pieces are cut in memory of dead friends, whose souls +are to be prayed for, or of living friends, whose health is prayed for +by the priest at a certain point of the service, in accordance with the +indications sent up to the altar with the loaves on slips of paper, such +as "For the soul of Ivan Vasilievitch," "For the health of Tatiana +Pavlovna." Thus is preserved the memory of early Christian times, when +the Christians brought wine and oil and bread for their worship; and the +best having been selected for sacred use, portions were taken from the +remainder in memory of those who sent or brought them, after the rest +was used to refresh the congregation during a pause in the all-night +service between vespers and matins. After the service, in our modern +times, the _prosfori_ are given back to the owners, who cross themselves +and eat the bread reverently on the spot or elsewhere, as blessed but +not sacramental. At this monastery, the _prosfori_ prepared for memorial +use had a group of the local saints stamped on top, instead of the usual +cross and characters. It is considered a delicate attention on the part +of a person who has been on a pilgrimage to any of the holy places to +bring back a _prosfora_ for a friend. It is very good when sliced and +eaten with tea, omitting the bottom crust, which may have been dated in +ink by the pilgrim. Some of the peasants at this monastery church sent +in to be blessed huge packages of _prosfori_ tied up in gay cotton +kerchiefs. + +The service ended, and the chief treasure of the monastery, the +miraculous image of the Assumption of the Virgin,--the Falling Asleep +of the Virgin is the Russian name,--was let slowly down on its silken +cords from above the Imperial Gate, where a twelve-fold silver lamp, +with glass cups of different colors, has burned unquenched since 1812, +in commemoration of Russia's deliverance from "the twelve tribes," as +the French invasion is termed. The congregation pressed forward eagerly +to salute the venerated image. Tradition asserts that it was brought +from Constantinople to Kieff in the year 1073, with the Virgin's special +blessing for the monastery. By reason of age and the smoke from +conflagrations in which the monastery has suffered, the image is so +darkened that one is cast back upon one's imagination and the copies for +comprehension of this treasure's outlines. What is perfectly +comprehensible, however, is the galaxy of diamonds, brilliants, and gems +thickly set in the golden garments which cover all but the hands and +feet of the personages in the picture, and illuminate it with flashes of +many-hued light. After a few minutes, the image was drawn up again to +its place,--a most unusual position for a valued holy image, though +certainly safe, and one not occupied, so far as I am aware, by any other +in the country. + +It occurred to us that it might prove an interesting experiment to try +the monastery inn for breakfast, and even to sojourn there for a day or +two, and abandon the open sewers and other traces of advanced +civilization in the town. Our way thither led past the free lodgings for +poor pilgrims, which were swarming with the devout of both sexes, +although it was not the busiest season for shrine-visiting. That comes +in the spring, before the harvest, at all monasteries, and, in this +particular monastery, on the feast of the Assumption, August 15 (Russian +style), 27 (European style). But there was a sufficient contingent of +the annual one million pilgrims present to give us a very fair idea of +the reverence in which this, the chief of all Russian monasteries, is +held, and of the throngs which it attracts. But, as usual in Russia, +sight alone convinced us of their existence; they were chatting quietly, +sitting and lying about with enviable calmness, or eating the sour black +bread and boiled buckwheat groats provided by the monastery. I talked +with several of them, and found them quite unconscious that they were +not comfortably, even luxuriously, housed and fed. + +The inn for travelers of means was a large, plain, airy building, with +no lodgers, apparently. The monks seemed frightened at the sight of us. +That was a novelty. But they escorted us over the house in procession. +We looked at a very clean, very plain room, containing four beds. It +appeared, from their explanations, that pilgrims have gregarious tastes, +and that this was their nearest approach to a single room. I inquired +the price. "According to your zeal," was the reply. How much more +effective than "What you please" in luring the silver from lukewarm +pockets! The good monks never found out how warm our zeal was, after +all, for the reason that their table was never furnished with anything +but fish and "fasting food," they said, though there was no fast in +progress. The reason why, I could not discover; but we knew our own +minds thoroughly on the subject of "fasting food," from mushroom soup, +fish fried in sunflower oil, and coffee without milk to that most +insipid of dessert dishes, _kisel_, made of potato flour, sweetened, and +slightly soured with fruit juice. They told us that we might have meat +sent out from town, if we wished; but as the town lay several versts +distant, that did not seem a very practical way of coquetting with the +Evil One under their roof. Accordingly, we withdrew; to their relief, I +am sure. As we had already lived in a monastery inn, it had not occurred +to us that there could be any impropriety in doing so, but that must +have been the cause of their looks of alarm. I believe that one can +remain for a fortnight at this inn without payment, unless conscience +interferes; and people who had stayed there told me that meat had been +served to them from the monastery kitchen; so that puzzle still remains +a puzzle to me. + +We went to see the brethren dine in the refectory, an ancient, vaulted +building of stone, near the cathedral. Under a white stone slab near the +entrance lie the bodies of Kotchubey and Iskra, who were unjustly +executed by Peter the Great for their loyal denunciation of Mazeppa's +meditated treachery. Within, the walls of the antechamber were decorated +with dizzy perspective views of Jerusalem, the saints, and pious elders +of the monastery. At the end of the long dining-hall, beyond an +_ikonostas_, was a church, as is customary in these refectories. Judging +from the number of servitors whom we had met hurrying towards the cells +with sets of porcelain dinner-trays, not many monks intended to join the +common table, and it did not chance to be one of the four days in the +year when the Metropolitan of Kieff and other dignitaries dine there in +full vestments. + +At last, a score of monks entered, chanted a prayer at a signal from a +small bell, and seated themselves on benches affixed to the wall which +ran round three sides of the room. The napkins on the tables which stood +before the benches consisted of long towels, each of which lay across +four or five of the pewter platters from which they ate, as the table +was set in preparation. If it had been a festal day, there would have +been several courses, with beer, mead, and even wine to wash them down. +As it was, the monks ate their black bread and boiled buckwheat groats, +served in huge dishes, with their wooden spoons, and drank _kvas_, +brewed from sour black bread, at a signal from the bell, after the first +dish only, as the rule requires. While they ate, a monk, stationed at a +desk near by, read aloud the extracts from the Lives of the Saints +appointed for the day. This was one of the "sights," but we found it +curious and melancholy to see strong, healthy men turned into monks and +content with that meagre fare. Frugality and dominion over the flesh are +good, of course, but minds from west of the Atlantic Ocean never seem +quite to get into sympathy with the monastic idea; and we always felt, +when we met monks, as though they ought all to be off at work somewhere, +--I will not say "earning money," for they do that as it is in such +great monasteries as that of Kieff, but lightening the burden of the +peasants, impossible as that is under present conditions, or making +themselves of some commonplace, practical use in the world. + +The strongest point of the Lavra, even equal to the ancient and +venerated _ikona_ of the Assumption in the great cathedral, is the +catacombs, from which the convent takes its name. + +In the days of the early princes of Kieff, the heights now occupied by +the Lavra were covered with a dense growth of birch forest, and entirely +uninhabited. Later on, one of the hills was occupied by the village of +Berostovo, and a palace was built adjoining the tiny ancient "Church of +the Saviour in the Birch Forest," which I have already mentioned. It was +the favorite residence of Prince-Saint Vladimir, and of his son, Prince +Yaroslaff, after him. During the reign of the latter, early in the +eleventh century, the priest of this little church, named Ilarion, +excavated for himself a tiny cave, and there passed his time in devout +meditation and solitary prayer. He abandoned his cave to become +Metropolitan of Kieff. In the year 1051, the monk Antony, a native of +the neighboring government of Tchernigoff, came to Kieff from Mount +Athos, being dissatisfied with the life led in the then existing +monasteries. After long wanderings over the hills of Kieff, he took +possession of Ilarion's cave, and spent his days and nights in pious +exercises. The fame of his devout life soon spread abroad, and attracted +to him, for his blessing, not only the common people, but persons of +distinction. Monks and worldlings flocked thither to join him in his +life of prayer. Among the first of these to arrive was a youth of the +neighborhood, named Fedosy. Antony hesitated, but at last accepted the +enthusiastic recruit. + +The dimensions of holy Antony's cave were gradually enlarged; new cells, +and even a tiny church, were constructed near it. Then Antony, who +disliked communal life, retreated to the height opposite, separated from +his first residence by a deep ravine, and dug himself another cave, +where no one interfered with him. This was the origin of the caves of +Fedosy, known at the present day as the "far catacombs," and of the +caves of Antony, called the "near catacombs." The number of the monks +continued to increase, and they soon erected a small wooden church +aboveground, in the name of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, as +well as cells for those who could not be contained in the caverns. At +the request of holy Antony, the prince gave the whole of the heights +where the catacombs are situated to the brethren, and in 1062 a large +new monastery, surrounded by a stockade, was erected on the spot where +the Cathedral of the Assumption now stands. Thus was monastic life +introduced into Russia. + +The venerated monastery shared all the vicissitudes of the "Mother of +all Russian Cities" in the wars of the Grand Princes and the incursions +of external enemies, such as Poles and Tatars. But after each disaster +it waxed greater and more flourishing. Restored, after a disastrous fire +in 1718, by the zeal of Peter the Great and his successors, enriched by +the gifts of all classes, the Lavra now consists of six monasteries,-- +like a university of colleges,--four situated within the inclosure, +while two are at a distance of several versts, and serve as retreats and +as places of burial for the brethren. The catacombs, abandoned as +residences on the construction of the cells above ground, have not +escaped disasters by caving in. Drains to carry off the percolating +water, and stone arches to support the soil, have been constructed, and +a flourishing orchard has been planted above them to aid in holding the +soil together. Earthquakes in the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries +permanently closed many of them, and when the Tatars attacked the town, +in the thirteenth century, the monks boarded up all the niches and +filled in the entrances with earth. Some of these boards were removed +about a hundred years ago; some are still in place. The original extent +of the caves cannot now be determined. + +The entrance to the near catacombs of St. Antony is through a long +wooden gallery supported on stone posts, at a sharp slope, as they are +situated twenty-four fathoms below the level of the cathedral, and +twenty-two fathoms above the level of the Dnyepr. + +A fat merchant, with glowing black eyes and flowing, crisp, black beard, +his tall, wrinkled boots barely visible beneath his long, full-skirted +coat of dark blue cloth, hooked closely across his breast, descended the +gallery with us. Roused to curiosity, probably, by our foreign tongue, +he inquired, on the chance of our understanding Russian, whence we came. + +I had already arrived at the conclusion that the people at Kieff, +especially the monks and any one who breathed the atmosphere within +their walls, were of an enterprising, inquisitive disposition. My last +encounter had been with the brother detailed, for his good looks and +fascinating manners, to preside over the chief image shop of the +monastery. + +"Where do you come from?" he had opened fire, with his most bewitching +glance. + +"From the best country on earth." + +"Is it Germany?" + +The general idea among the untraveled classes in Russia is, that all of +the earth which does not belong to their own Emperor belongs to Germany, +just as _nyemetzky_ means "German" or "foreign," indifferently. + +"No; guess again," I said. + +"France?" + +"No; further away." + +"England, then?" + +"No." + +"Hungary?" + +Evidently that man's geography was somewhat mixed, so I told him. + +"America!" he exclaimed, with great vivacity. "Yes, indeed, it is the +best land of all. It is the richest!" + +So that is the monastic as well as the secular standard of worth! This +experience, repeated frequently and nearly word for word, had begun to +weary me. Consequently I led the fat merchant a verbal chase, and +baffled him until he capitulated with, "Excuse me. Take no offense, I +beg, _sudarynya_. I only asked so by chance." Then I told him with the +same result. + +This was not the last time, by many, that I was put through my national +catechism in Kieff. Every Kievlyanin to whom I spoke quizzed me. Of +course I was on a grand quizzing tour myself, but that was different, in +some way. + +Over the entrance to these catacombs stands a church. The walls of the +vestibule where my mother, the merchant, and I waited for a sufficient +party to assemble, were covered with frescoes representing the passage +of the soul through the various stages of purgatory. Beginning with the +death scene (which greatly resembled the _ikona_ of the Assumption in +the cathedral) in the lower left-hand corner, the white-robed soul, +escorted by two angels, passed through all the halting-places for the +various sins, each represented by the appointed devil, duly labeled. But +the artist's fancy had not been very fruitful on this fascinating theme. +The devils were so exactly alike that the only moral one could draw was, +that he might as well commit the biggest and most profitable sin on the +list, and make something out of it in this life, as to confine himself +to the petty peccadilloes which profit not here, and get well punished +hereafter. The series ended with the presentation of the soul before the +judgment seat, on the fortieth day after death. Round the corner, +Lazarus reclining in Abraham's bosom and the rich man in the flames were +conversing, their remarks crossing each other in mid-air, in a novel +fashion. + +When the guide was ready, each of us bought a taper, and the procession +set out through the iron grating, down a narrow, winding stair, from +which low, dark passages opened out at various angles. On each side of +these narrow passages, along which we were led, reposed the +"incorruptible" bodies of St. Antony and his comrades, in open coffins +lacquered or covered with sheets of silver. The bodies seemed very +small, and all of one size, and they were wrapped in hideous prints or +plaid silks. At the head of each saint flickered a tiny shrine-lamp, +before a holy picture (_ikona_) of the occupant of the coffin. It was a +surprise to find the giant Ilya of Murom, who figures as the chief of +the _bogatyri_ (heroes) in the Russian epic songs, ensconced here among +the saints, and no larger than they. Next to the silk-enveloped head of +St. John the Great Sufferer, which still projects as in life, when he +buried himself to the neck in the earth,--as though he were not +sufficiently underground already,--in order to preserve his purity, +the most gruesome sight which we beheld in those dim catacombs was a +group of chrism-exuding skulls of unknown saints, under glass bells. + +On emerging from this gloomy retreat, we postponed meditating upon the +special pleasure which the Lord was supposed to have taken in seeing +beings made to live aboveground turning into troglodytes, and set out +for the Fedosy, or far catacombs, in the hope that they might assist us +in solving that problem. + +We chose the most difficult way, descending into the intervening ravine +by innumerable steps to view the two sacred wells, only to have our +raging thirst and our curiosity effectually quenched by the sight of a +pilgrim thrusting his head, covered with long, matted hair, into one of +them. The ascent of more innumerable steps brought us to the cradle of +the monastery, Ilarion's caverns. + +In the antechamber we found a phenomenally stupid monk presiding over +the sale of the indispensable tapers, and the offerings which the devout +are expected to deposit, on emerging, as a memento of their visit. These +offerings lay like mountains of copper before him. The guide had taken +himself off somewhere, and the monk ordered us, and the five Russians +who were also waiting, to go in alone and "call to the monk in the +cave." We flatly declined to take his word that there was any monk, or +to venture into the dangerous labyrinth alone, and we demanded that he +should accompany us. + +"No guide--no candles, no coppers," we said. + +That seemed to him a valid argument. Loath to leave his money at the +mercy of chance comers, he climbed up and closed the iron shutters of +the grated window,--the cliff descended, sheer, one hundred and two feet +to the Dnyepr at that point,--double-locked the great iron doors, and +there we were in a bank vault, with all possible customers excluded. +Luckily, the saints in these caverns, which differed very little from +those in the former, were labeled in plain letters, since the monk was +too dull-witted to understand the simplest questions from any of us. At +intervals we were permitted a hasty glimpse of a cell, about seven feet +square, furnished only with a stone bench, and a holy picture, with a +shrine-lamp suspended before it. Ugh! There were several sets of +chrism-dripping saintly skulls in these catacombs, also,--fifteen of +the ghastly things in one group. I braced my stomach to the task, and +scrutinized them all attentively; but not a single one of them winked or +nodded at me in approval, as a nun from Kolomna, whom I had met in +Moscow, asserted that they had at her. I really wished to see how an +eyeless skull could manage a wink, and hoped I might be favored. + +After traversing long distances of this subterranean maze, and peering +into the "cradle of the monastery," St. Antony's cell, the procession +came to a halt in a tiny church. There stood a monk, actually, though we +might have wandered all day and come out on the banks of the Dnyepr +without finding him, had we gone in without a guide. Beside him, denuded +of its glass bell, stood one of the miraculous skulls. The first Russian +approached, knelt, crossed himself devoutly, and received from the +priest the sign of the cross on his brow, administered with a soft, +small brush dipped in the oil from the skull. Then he kissed the +priest's hand, crossed himself again, and kissed the skull. When we +beheld this, we modestly stood aside, and allowed our companions, the +other four Russian men, to receive anointment in like manner, and pass +on after the monk, who was in haste to return to his bank vault. As I +approached the priest, he raised his brush. + +"We are not Orthodox Christians, _batiushka_,"* I said. "But pray give +us your blessing." + +* Little father. + +He smiled, and, dropping his brush, made the sign of the cross over us. +I was perfectly willing to kiss his pretty, plump hand,--I had become +very skillful at that sort of thing,--but I confess that I shrank from +the obligatory salute to the skull, and from that special chrism. +Nevertheless, I wished the Russians to think that I had gone through +with the whole ceremony, if they should chance to look back. I felt sure +that I could trust the priest to be liberal, but I was not so certain +that our lay companions, who were petty traders and peasants, might not +be sufficiently fanatical to construe our refusal into disrespect for +their church, and resent it in some way. + +Though we returned to the monastery more than once after that, we were +never attracted to the catacombs again, not even to witness the mass at +seven o'clock in the morning in that subterranean church. The beautiful +services in the cathedral, the stately monks, the picturesque pilgrims, +with their gentle manners, ingenuous questions, and simple tales of +their journeys and beliefs, furnished us with abundant interest in the +cheerful sunlight aboveground. + +Next to the Catacombs Monastery, the other most famous and interesting +sight of Kieff is the Cathedral of St. Sophia. Built on the highest +point of the ancient city, with nine apses turned to the east, crowned +by one large dome and fourteen smaller domes,--all gilded, some +terminating in crosses, some in sunbursts,--surrounded by turf and +trees within a white wall, with entrance under a lofty belfry, it +produces an imposing but reposeful effect. The ancient walls, dating +from the year 1020, are of red brick intermixed with stone, stuccoed and +washed with white. It has undergone changes, external and internal, +since that day, and its domes and spires are of the usual degenerate +South Russian type, without a doubt of comparatively recent +construction. So many of its windows have been blocked up by additions, +and so cut up is its space by large frescoed pillars, into sixteen +sections, that one steps from brilliant sunshine into deep twilight when +he enters the cathedral. It is a sort of church which possesses in a +high degree that indefinable charm of sacred atmosphere that tempts one +to linger on and on indefinitely within its precincts. Not that it is so +magnificent; many churches in the two capitals and elsewhere in Russia +are far richer. It is simply one of those indescribable buildings which +console one for disappointments in historical places, as a rule, by +making one believe, through sensations unconsciously influenced, not +through any effort of the reason, that ancient deeds and memories do, in +truth, linger about their birthplace. + +Ancient frescoes, discovered about forty years ago, some remaining in +their original state, others touched up with more or less skill and +knowledge, mingle harmoniously with those of more recent date. Very +singular are the best preserved, representing hunting parties and +banquets of the Grand Princes, and scenes from the earthly life of +Christ. But they are on the staircase leading to the old-fashioned +gallery, and do not disturb the devotional character of the decoration +in the church itself. + +From the wall of the apse behind the chief of the ten altars gazes down +the striking image of the Virgin, executed in ancient mosaic, with her +hands raised in prayer, whom the people reverently call "The +Indestructible Wall." This, with other mosaics and the frescoes on the +staircase, dates from the eleventh century. + +I stood among the pillars, a little removed from the principal aisle, +one afternoon near sunset, listening to the melodious intoning of the +priest, and the soft chanting of the small week-day choir at vespers, +and wondering, for the thousandth time, why Protestants who wish to +intone do not take lessons from those incomparable masters in the art, +the Russian deacons, and wherein lies the secret of the Russian +ecclesiastical music. That simple music, so perfectly fitted for church +use, will bring the most callous into a devotional mood long before the +end of the service. Rendered as it invariably is by male voices, with +superb basses in place of the non-existent organ, it spoils one's taste +forever for the elaborate, operatic church music of the West performed +by choirs which are usually engaged in vocal steeplechases with the +organ for the enhancement of the evil effects. My meditations were +interrupted by the approach of a young man, who asked me to be his +godmother! He explained that he was a Jew from Minsk, who had never +studied "his own religion," and was now come to Kieff for the express +purpose of getting himself baptized by the name of Vladimir, the tenth +century prince and patron saint of the town. As he had no acquaintances +in the place, he was in a strait for god-parents, who were +indispensable. + +"I cannot be your godmother," I answered. "I am neither _pravoslavnaya_ +nor Russian. Cannot the priest find sponsors for you?" + +"That is not the priest's place. His business is merely to baptize. But +perhaps he might be persuaded to manage that also, if I had better +clothes." + +He wore a light print shirt, tolerably clean, belted outside his dark +trousers, and his shoes and cap were respectable enough. + +I recalled instances which I had heard from the best authority--a +priest--of priests finding sponsors for Jews, and receiving medals or +orders in reward for their conversion. I recalled an instance related to +me by a Russian friend who had acted, at the priest's request, as +godmother to a Jewess so fat that she stuck fast in the receptacle used +for the baptism by immersion; and I questioned the man a little. He said +that he had a sister living in New York, and gave me her name and +address in a manner which convinced me that he knew what he was saying. +He had no complaint to make of his treatment by either Russians or Jews; +and when I asked him why he did not join his sister in America, he +replied, + +"Why should I? I am well enough off here." + +Perhaps I ought to state that he was a plumber by trade. On the other +hand, justice demands the explanation that Russian plumbing in general +is not of a very complicated character, and in Minsk it must be of a +very simple kind, I think. + +He intended to return to Minsk as soon as he was baptized. How he +expected to attend the Russian Church in Minsk when he had found it +inexpedient to be baptized there was one of the points which he omitted +to explain. + +I was at last obliged to bid him a decisive "good-day," and leave the +church. He followed, and passed me in the garden, his cap cocked +jauntily over his tight bronze curls, and his hips swaying from side to +side in harmony. Under the long arch of the belfry-tower gate hung a +picture, adapted to use as an _ikona_, which set forth how a mother had +accidentally dropped her baby overboard from a boat on the Dnyepr, and +coming, disconsolate, to pray before the image of St. Nicholas, the +patron of travelers, she had found her child lying there safe and sound; +whence this holy picture is known by the name of St. Nicholas the Wet. + +Before this _ikona_ my Jew pulled off his cap, and crossed himself +rapidly and repeatedly, watching me out of the corner of his eye, +meanwhile, to see how his piety impressed me. It produced no particular +effect upon me, except to make me engage a smart-looking cabby to take +me to my hotel, close by, by a roundabout route. Whether this Jew +returned to Minsk as Vladimir or as Isaac I do not know; but I made a +point of mentioning the incident to several Russian friends, including a +priest, and learned, to my surprise, that, though I was not a member of +a Russian Church, I could legally have stood godmother to a man, though +I could not have done so to a woman; and that a godmother could have +been dispensed with. Men who are not members of the Russian Church can, +in like manner, stand as godfathers to women, but not to men. Moreover, +every one seemed to doubt the probability of a Jew quitting his own +religion in earnest, and they thought that his object had been to obtain +from me a suit of clothes, practical gifts to the godchild being the +custom in such cases. I had been too dull to take the hint! + +A few months later, a St. Petersburg newspaper related a notorious +instance of a Jew who had been sufficiently clever to get himself +baptized a number of times, securing on each occasion wealthy and +generous sponsors. Why the man from Minsk should have selected me, in my +plain serge traveling gown, I cannot tell, unless it was because he saw +that I did not wear the garb of the Russian merchant class, or look like +them, and observation or report had taught him that the aristocratic +classes above the merchants are most susceptible to the pleasure of +patronizing converts; though to do them justice, Russians make no +attempt at converting people to their church. I have been assured by a +Russian Jew that his co-religionists never do, really, change their +faith. Indeed, it is difficult to understand how they can even be +supposed to do so, in the face of their strong traditions, in which they +are so thoroughly drilled. Therefore, if Russians stand sponsors to +Jews, while expressing skepticism as to conversion in general, they +cannot complain if unscrupulous persons take advantage of their +inconsistency. I should probably have refused to act as godmother, even +had I known that I was legally entitled to do so. + +Our searches in the lower town, Podol, for rugs like those in the +monastery resulted in nothing but amusement. Those rugs had been made in +the old days of serfdom, on private estates, and are not to be bought. + +By dint of loitering about in the churches, monasteries, catacombs, +markets, listening to that Little Russian dialect which is so sweet on +the lips of the natives, though it looks so uncouth when one sees their +ballads in print, and by gazing out over the ever beautiful river and +steppe, I came at last to pardon Kieff for its progress. I got my +historical and mythological bearings. I felt the spirit of the Epic +Songs stealing over me. I settled in my own mind the site of Fair-Sun +Prince Vladimir's palace of white stone, the scene of great feasts, +where he and his mighty heroes quaffed the green wine by the bucketful, +and made their great brags, which resulted so tragically or so +ludicrously. I was sure I recognized the church where Diuk Stepanovitch +"did not so much pray as gaze about," and indulged in mental comments +upon clothes and manners at the Easter mass, after a fashion which is +not yet obsolete. I imagined that I descried in the blue dusk of the +distant steppe Ilya of Murom approaching on his good steed Cloudfall, +armed with a damp oak uprooted from Damp Mother Earth, and dragging at +his saddle-bow fierce, hissing Nightingale the Robber, with one eye +still fixed on Kieff, one on Tchernigoff, after his special and puzzling +habit, and whom Little Russian tradition declares was chopped up into +poppy seeds, whence spring the sweet-voiced nightingales of the present +day. + +The "atmosphere" of the cradle of the Epic Songs and of the cradle of +Pravoslavnaya Russia laid its spell upon me on those heights, and even +the sight of the cobweb suspension bridge in all its modernness did not +disturb me, since with it is connected one of the most charming modern +traditions, a classic in the language, which only a perfect artist could +have planned and executed. + +The thermometer stood at 120 degrees Fahrenheit when we took our last +look at Kieff, the Holy City. + + + + +X. + +A JOURNEY ON THE VOLGA. + + +I. + +We had seen the Russian haying on the estate of Count Tolstoy. We were +to be initiated into the remaining processes of the agricultural season +in that famous "black earth zone" which has been the granary of Europe +from time immemorial, but which is also, alas! periodically the seat of +dire famine. + +It was July when we reached Nizhni Novgorod, on our way to an estate on +the Volga, in this "black earth" grainfield, vast as the whole of +France; but the flag of opening would not be run up for some time to +come. The Fair quarter of the town was still in its state of ten months' +hibernation, under padlock and key, and the normal town, effective as it +was, with its white Kremlin crowning the turfed and terraced heights, +possessed few charms to detain us. We embarked for Kazan. + +If Kazan is an article in the creed of all Russians, whether they have +ever seen it or not, Matushka Volga (dear Mother Volga) is a complete +system of faith. Certainly her services in building up and binding +together the empire merit it, though the section thus usually referred +to comprises only the stretch between Nizhni Novgorod and Astrakhan, +despite its historical and commercial importance above the former town. + +But Kazan! A stay there of a day and a half served to dispel our +illusions. We were deceived in our expectations as to the once mighty +capital of the imperial Tatar khans. The recommendations of our Russian +friends, the glamour of history which had bewitched us, the hope of the +Western for something Oriental,--all these elements had combined to +raise our expectations in a way against which our sober senses and +previous experience should have warned us. It seemed to us merely a +flourishing and animated Russian provincial town, whose Kremlin was +eclipsed by that of Moscow, and whose university had instructed, but not +graduated, Count Tolstoy, the novelist. The bazaar under arcades, the +popular market in the open square, the public garden, the shops,--all +were but a repetition of similar features in other towns, somewhat +magnified to the proportions befitting the dignity of the home port of +the Ural Mountains and Siberia. + +The Tatar quarter alone seemed to possess the requisite mystery and +"local color." Here whole streets of tiny shops, ablaze with +rainbow-hued leather goods, were presided over by taciturn, +olive-skinned brothers of the Turks, who appeared almost handsome when +seen thus in masses, with opportunities for comparison. Hitherto we had +thought of the Tatars only as the old-clothes dealers, peddlers, +horse-butchers, and waiters of St. Petersburg and Moscow. Here the +dignity of the prosperous merchants, gravely recommending their really +well-dressed, well-sewed leather wares, bespoke our admiration. + +The Tatar women, less easily seen, glided along the uneven pavements now +and then, smoothly, but still in a manner to permit a glimpse of short, +square feet incased in boots flowered with gay hues upon a green or +rose-colored ground, and reaching to the knee. They might have been +houris of beauty, but it was difficult to classify them, veiled as they +were, and screened as to head and shoulders by striped green _kaftans_ +of silk, whose long sleeves depended from the region of their ears, and +whose collar rested on the brow. What we could discern was that their +black eyes wandered like the eyes of unveiled women, and that they were +coquettishly conscious of our glances, though we were of their own sex. + +We found nothing especially striking among the churches, unless one +might reckon the Tatar mosques in the list; and, casting a last glance +at Sumbeka's curious and graceful tower, we hired a cabman to take us to +the river, seven versts away. + +We turned our backs upon Kazan without regret, in the fervid heat of +that midsummer morning. We did not shake its dust from our feet. When +dust is ankle-deep that is not very feasible. It rose in clouds, as we +met the long lines of Tatar carters, transporting flour and other +merchandise to and from the wharves across the "dam" which connects the +town, in summer low water, with Mother Volga. In spring floods Matushka +Volga threatens to wash away the very walls of the Kremlin, and our +present path is under water. + +Fate had favored us with a clever cabman. His shaggy little horse was as +dusty in hue as his own coat,--a most unusual color for coat of either +Russian horse or _izvostchik_. The man's _armyak_ was bursting at every +seam, not with plenty, but, since extremes meet, with hard times, which +are the chronic complaint of Kazan, so he affirmed. He was gentle and +sympathetic, like most Russian cabmen, and he beguiled our long drive +with shrewd comments on the Russian and Tatar inhabitants and their +respective qualities. + +"The Tatars are good people," he said; "very clean,--cleaner than +Russians; very quiet and peaceable citizens. There was a time when they +were not quiet. That was ten years ago, during the war with Turkey. They +were disturbed. The Russians said that it was a holy war; the Tatars +said so, too, and wished to fight for their brethren of the Moslem +faith. But the governor was not a man to take fright at that. He +summoned the chief men among them before him. 'See here,' says he. 'With +me you can be peaceable with better conscience. If you permit your +people to be turbulent, I will pave the dam with the heads of Tatars. +The dam is long. Allah is my witness. Enough. Go!' And it came to +nothing, of course. No; it was only a threat, though they knew that he +was a strong man in rule. Why should he wish to do that, really, even if +they were not Orthodox? A man is born with his religion as with his +skin. The Orthodox live at peace with the Tatars. And the Tatars are +superior to the Russians in this, also, that they all stick by each +other; whereas a Russian, _Hospodi pomilui!_ [Lord have mercy] thinks of +himself alone, which is a disadvantage," said my humble philosopher. + +We found that we had underrated the power of our man's little horse, and +had arrived at the river an hour and a half before the steamer was +appointed to sail. It should be there lading, however, and we decided to +go directly on board and wait in comfort. We gave patient Vanka liberal +"tea-money." Hard times were evidently no fiction so far as he was +concerned, and we asked if he meant to spend it on _vodka_, which +elicited fervent asseverations of teetotalism, as he thrust his buckskin +pouch into his breast. + +Descending in the deep dust, with a sense of gratitude that it was not +mixed with rain, we ran the gauntlet of the assorted peddlers stationed +on both sides of the long descent with stocks of food, soap, white felt +boots, gay sashes, coarse leather slippers too large for human wear, and +other goods, and reached the covered wharf. The steamer was not there, +but we took it calmly, and asked no questions--for a space. + +We whiled away the time by chaffering with the persistent Tatar venders +for things which we did not want, and came into amazed possession of +some of them. This was a tribute to our powers of bargaining which had +rarely been paid even when we had been in earnest. We contrived to avoid +the bars of yellow "egg soap" by inquiring for one of the marvels of +Kazan,--soap made from mare's milk. An amused apothecary had already +assured us that it was a product of the too fertile brain of Baedeker, +not of the local soap factories. May Baedeker himself, some day, reap a +similar harvest of mirth and astonishment from the sedate Tatars, who +can put mare's milk to much better use as a beverage! + +In the hope of obtaining a conversation-lesson in Tatar, we bought a +Russo-Tatar grammar, warranted to deliver over all the secrets of that +gracefully curved language in the usual scant array of pages. But the +peddler immediately professed as profound ignorance of Tatar as he had +of Russian a few moments before, when requested to abate his exorbitant +demands for the pamphlet. + +By the time we had exhausted these resources one o'clock had arrived. +The steamer had not. The office clerk replied to all inquiries with the +languid national "_saytchas_" which the dictionary defines as meaning +"immediately," but which experience proves to signify, "Be easy; any +time this side of eternity,--if perfectly convenient!" Under the +pressure of increasingly vivacious attacks, prompted by hunger, he +finally condescended to explain that the big mail steamer, finding too +little water in the channel, had "sat down on a sand-bank," and that two +other steamers were trying to pull her off. "She might be along at three +o'clock, or later,--or some time." It began to be apparent to us why +the success of the Fair depends, in great measure, on the amount of +water in the river. + +Our first meal of bread and tea had been eaten at seven o'clock, and we +had counted upon breakfasting on the steamer, where some of the best +public cooking in the country, especially in the matter of fish, is to +be found. It was now two o'clock. The town was distant. The memory of +the ducks, the size of a plover, and other things in proportion, in +which our strenuous efforts had there resulted, did not tempt us to +return. Russians have a way of slaying chickens and other poultry almost +in the shell, to serve as game. + +Accordingly, we organized a search expedition among the peddlers, and in +the colony of rainbow-hued shops planted in a long street across the +heads of the wharves, and filled chiefly with Tatars and coarse Tatar +wares. For the equivalent of seventeen cents we secured a quart of rich +cream, half a dozen hard-boiled eggs, a couple of pounds of fine +raspberries, and a large fresh wheaten roll. These we ate in courses, as +we perched on soap-boxes and other unconventional seats, surrounded by +smoked fish, casks of salted cucumbers, festoons of dried mushrooms, +"cartwheels" of sour black bread, and other favorite edibles, in the +open-fronted booths. A delicious banquet it was,--one of those which +recur to the memory unbidden when more elaborate meals have been +forgotten. + +Returning to the wharf with a fresh stock of patience, we watched the +river traffic and steamers of rival lines, which had avoided sand-banks, +as they took in their fuel supplies of refuse petroleum from the scows +anchored in mid-stream, and proceeded on their voyage to Astrakhan. Some +wheelbarrow steamers, bearing familiar names, "Niagara" and the like, +pirouetted about in awkward and apparently aimless fashion. + +Passengers who seemed to be better informed than we as to the ways of +steamers began to make their appearance. A handsome officer deposited +his red-cotton-covered traveling-pillow and luggage on the dock and +strolled off, certain that no one would unlock his trunk or make way +with his goods. The trunk, not unusual in style, consisted of a +red-and-white tea-cloth, whose knotted corners did not wholly repress +the exuberance of linen and other effects through the bulging edges. + +A young Tatar, endowed with india-rubber capabilities in the way of +attitudes, and with a volubility surely unrivaled in all taciturn Kazan, +chatted interminably with a young Russian woman, evidently the wife of a +petty shopkeeper. They bore the intense heat with equal equanimity, but +their equanimity was clad in oddly contrasting attire. The woman looked +cool and indifferent buttoned up in a long wadded pelisse, with a hot +cotton kerchief tied close over ears, under chin, and tucked in at the +neck. The Tatar squatted on his haunches, folded in three nearly equal +parts. A spirally ribbed flat fez of dark blue velvet, topped with a +black silk tassel, adorned his cleanly shaven head. His shirt, of the +coarsest linen, was artistically embroidered in black, yellow, and red +silks and green linen thread in Turanian designs, and ornamented with +stripes and diamonds of scarlet cotton bestowed unevenly in unexpected +places. It lay open on his dusky breast, and fell unconfined over full +trousers of home-made dark blue linen striped with red, like the gussets +under the arms of his white shirt. The trousers were tucked into high +boots, slightly wrinkled at the instep, with an inset of pebbled +horsehide, frosted green in hue, at the heels. This green leather was a +part of their religion, the Tatars told me, but what part they would not +reveal. As the soles were soft, like socks, he wore over his boots a +pair of stiff leather slippers, which could be easily discarded on +entering the mosque, in compliance with the Moslem law requiring the +removal of foot-gear. + +Several peasants stood about silently, patiently, wrapped in their +sheepskin coats. Apparently they found this easier than carrying them, +and they were ready to encounter the chill night air in the open wooden +bunks of the third-class, or on the floor of the fourth-class cabin. The +soiled yellow leather was hooked close across their breasts, as in +winter. An occasional movement displayed the woolly interior of the +_tulup's_ short, full ballet skirt attached to the tight-fitting body. +The peasants who thus tranquilly endured the heat of fur on a midsummer +noon would, did circumstances require it, bear the piercing cold of +winter with equal calmness clad in cotton shirts, or freeze to death on +sentry duty without a murmur. They were probably on their way to find +work during the harvest and earn a few kopeks, and very likely would +return to their struggling families as poor as they went. As we watched +this imperturbable crowd, we became infected with their spirit of +unconcern, and entered into sympathy with the national _saytchas_--a +case of atmospheric influence. + +At last the steamer arrived, none the worse for its encounter with the +bar. Usually, the mail steamers halt three hours--half-merchandise +steamers four hours--at Kazan and other important towns on the Volga, +affording hasty travelers an opportunity to make a swift survey in a +drosky; but on this occasion one hour was made to suffice, and at last +we were really off on our way to the estate down the river where we were +to pay our long-promised visit. + +We were still at a reach of the river where the big steamer might sit +down on another reef, and the men were kept on guard at the bow, with +hardly an intermission, gauging the depth of the water with their +striped poles, to guide the helmsman by their monotonous calls: +"_Vosim!_" "_Schest-s-polovino-o-o-iu!_" "_Sim!_" (Eight! Six and a +half! Seven!) They had a little peculiarity of pronunciation which was +very pleasing. And we soon discovered that into shallower water than +five and a half quarters we might not venture. + +The river was extremely animated above the mouth of the Kama, the great +waterway from the mines and forests of the Ural and Siberia. Now and +then, the men on a float heavily laden with iron bars, which was being +towed to the Fair at Nizhni Novgorod, would shout a request that we +would slacken speed, lest they be swamped with our swell. Huge rafts of +fine timber were abundant, many with small chapel-like structures on +them, which were not chapels, however. Cattle steamers passed, the +unconfined beasts staring placidly over the low guards of the three +decks, and uttering no sound. We had already learned that the animals +are as quiet as the people, in Russia, the Great Silent Land. Very brief +were our halts at the small landings. The villagers, who had come down +with baskets of fresh rolls and berries and bottles of cream, to supply +hungry passengers whose means or inclination prevented their eating the +steamer food, had but scant opportunity to dispose of their perishable +wares. + +As the evening breeze freshened, the perfume of the hayfields was wafted +from the distant shores in almost overpowering force. The high right +bank, called the Hills, and the low left shore, known as the Forests, +sank into half-transparent vagueness, which veiled the gray log-built +villages with their tiny windows, and threw into relief against the +evening sky only the green roofs and blue domes of the churches, +surmounted by golden crosses, which gleamed last of all in the vanishing +rays of sunset. A boatload of peasants rowing close in shore; a +red-shirted solitary figure straying along the water's edge; tiny +sea-gulls darting and dipping in the waves around the steamer; a vista +up some wide-mouthed affluent; and a great peaceful stillness brooding +over all,--such were the happenings, too small for incidents, which +accorded perfectly with the character of the Volga. For the Volga cannot +be compared with the Rhine or the Hudson in castles or scenery. It has, +instead, a grand, placid charm of its own, imperial, indefinable, and +sweet. One yields to it, and subscribes to the Russian faith in the +grand river. + +No one seemed to know how much of the lost time would be made up. Were +it spring, when Mother Volga runs from fifty to a hundred and fifty +miles wide, taking the adjoining country into her broad embrace, and +steamers steer a bee-line course to their landings, the officers might +have been able to say at what hour we should reach our destination. As +it was, they merely reiterated the characteristic "_Ne znaem_" (We don't +know), which possesses plural powers of irritation when uttered in the +conventional half-drawl. Perhaps they really did not know. Owing to a +recent decree in the imperial navy, officers who have served a certain +number of years without having accomplished a stipulated amount of sea +service are retired. Since the Russian war vessels are not many, while +the Naval Academy continues to turn out a large batch of young officers +every year, the opportunities for effecting the requisite sea service +are limited. The officers who are retired, in consequence, seek +positions on the Volga steamers, which are sometimes commanded by a +rear-admiral, in the imperial uniform, which he is allowed to retain, in +addition to receiving a grade. But if one chances upon them during their +first season on the river, their information is not equal to their fine +appearance, since Mother Volga must be studied in her caprices, and +navigation is open only, on the average, between the 12th of April and +the 24th of November. Useless to interrogate the old river dogs among +the subordinates. The "We don't know" is even more inveterate with them, +and it is reinforced with the just comment, "We are not the masters." + +Knowing nothing, in the general uncertainty, except that we must land +some time during the night, we were afraid to make ourselves comfortable +even to the extent of unpacking sheets to cool off the velvet divans, +which filled two sides of our luxurious cabin. When we unbolted the +movable panels from the slatted door and front wall, to establish a +draft of fresh air from the window, a counter-draft was set up of +electric lights, supper clatter, cigarette smoke, and chatter, renewed +at every landing with the fresh arrivals. We resolved to avoid these +elegant mail steamers in the future, and patronize the half-merchandise +boats of the same line, which are not much slower, and possess the +advantage of staterooms opening on a corridor, not on the saloon, and +are fitted with skylights, so that one can have fresh air and quiet +sleep. + +At four o'clock in the morning we landed. The local policeman, whose +duty it is to meet steamers, gazed at us with interest. The secret of +his meditations we learned later. He thought of offering us his +services. "They looked like strangers, but talked Russian," he said. The +combination was too much for him, and, seeing that we were progressing +well in our bargain for a conveyance, he withdrew, and probably solved +the riddle with the aid of the postboy. + +The estate for which we were bound lay thirty-five versts distant; but +fearing that we might reach it too early if we were to start at once, I +ordered an equipage for six o'clock. I was under the impression that the +man from the posting-house had settled it for us that we required a pair +of horses, attached to whatever he thought fit, and that I had accepted +his dictation. The next thing to do, evidently, was to adopt the Russian +stop-gap of tea. + +The wharfinger, who occupied a tiny tenement on one end of the dock, +supplied us with a bubbling _samovar_, sugar, and china, since we were +not traveling in strictly Russian style, with a fragile-nosed teapot and +glasses. We got out our tea, steeped and sipped it, nibbling at a bit of +bread, in that indifferent manner which one unconsciously acquires in +Russia. It is only by such experience that one comes to understand the +full--or rather scanty--significance of that puzzling and +oft-recurring phrase in Russian novels, "drinking tea." + +As we were thus occupied in one of the cells, furnished with a table and +two hard stuffed benches, to accommodate waiting passengers, our postboy +thrust his head in at the door and began the subject of the carriage all +over again. I repeated my orders. He said, "_Kharasho_" (Good), and +disappeared. We dallied over our tea. We watched the wharfinger's boys +trying to drown themselves in a cranky boat, like the young male animals +of all lands; we listened to their shrill little songs; we counted the +ducks, gazed at the peasants assembled on the brow of the steep hill +above us, on which the town was situated, and speculated about the +immediate future, until the time fixed and three quarters of an hour +more had elapsed. The wharfinger's reply to my impatient questions was +an unvarying apathetic "We don't know," and, spurred to action by this, +I set out to find the posting-house. + +It was not far away, but my repeated and vigorous knocks upon the door +of the _izba_ (cottage), ornamented with the imperial eagle and the +striped pole, received no response. I pushed open the big gate of the +courtyard alongside, and entered. Half the court was roofed over with +thatch. In the far corner, divorced wagon bodies, running-gear, and +harnesses lay heaped on the earth. A horse, which was hitched to +something unsubstantial among those fragments, came forward to welcome +me. A short row of wagon members which had escaped divorce, and were +united in wheeling order, stood along the high board fence. In one of +them, a rough wooden cart, shaped somewhat like a barrel sawed in two +lengthwise, pillowed on straw, but with his legs hanging down in an +uncomfortable attitude, lay my faithless postboy (he was about forty +years of age) fast asleep. The neighboring vehicle, which I divined to +be the one intended for us, was in possession of chickens. A new-laid +egg bore witness to their wakefulness and industry. + +While I was engaged in an endeavor to rouse my should-be coachman, by +tugging at his sleeve and pushing his boots in the most painful manner I +could devise, a good-looking peasant woman made her tardy appearance at +the side door of the adjoining _izba_, and seemed to enjoy the situation +in an impartial, impersonal way. The horse thrust his muzzle gently into +his master's face and roused him for me, and, in return, was driven +away. + +I demanded an explanation. Extracted by bits in conversational spirals, +it proved to be that he had decided that the carriage needed three +horses, which he had known all along; and, chiefly, that he had desired +to sleep upon a little scheme for exploiting the strangers. How long he +had intended to pursue his slumberous meditations it is impossible to +say. + +He dragged me through all the mazes of that bargain once more. +Evidently, bargaining was of even stricter etiquette than my extensive +previous acquaintance had led me to suspect; and I had committed the +capital mistake of not complying with this ancestral custom in the +beginning. I agreed to three horses, and stipulated, on my side, that +fresh straw should replace the chickens' nest, and that we should set +out at once,--not _saytchas_ but sooner, "this very minute." + +I turned to go. A fresh difficulty arose. He would not go unless I would +pay for three relays. He brought out the government regulations and +amendments,--all that had been issued during the century, I should +think. He stood over me while I read them, and convinced myself that his +"_Yay Bogu_" (God is my witness) was accurately placed. The price of +relays was, in reality, fixed by law; but though over-affirmation had +now aroused my suspicions, in my ignorance of the situation I could not +espy the loophole of trickery in which I was to be noosed, and I agreed +once more. More quibbling. He would not stir unless he were allowed to +drive the same horses the whole distance, though paid for three relays, +because all the horses would be away harvesting, and so forth and so on. +Goaded to assert myself in some manner, to put an end to these +interminable hagglings, I asserted what I did not know. + +"Prince X. never pays for these relays," I declared boldly. + +"Oh, no, he does n't," replied the man, with cheerful frankness. "But +you must, or I'll not go." + +That settled it; I capitulated once more. + +We had omitted to telegraph to our friends, partly in order to save them +the trouble of sending a carriage, partly because we were thirsting for +"experiences." It began to look as though our thirst was to be quenched +in some degree, since we were in this man's power as to a vehicle, and +it might be true that we should not be able to obtain any other in the +town, or any horses in the villages, if indeed there were any villages. +Fortified by another volley of "_Yay Bogu_" of triumphant fervor, we +survived a second wait. At last, near nine o'clock, we were able to pack +ourselves and our luggage. + +The body of our _tarantas_, made, for the sake of lightness, of woven +elm withes, and varnished dark brown, was shaped not unlike a baby +carriage. Such a wagon body costs about eight dollars in Kazan, where +great numbers of them are made. It was set upon stout, unpainted +running-gear, guiltless of springs, in cat's-cradle fashion. The step +was a slender iron stirrup, which revolved in its ring with tantalizing +ease. It was called a _pletuschka,_ and the process of entering it +resembled vaulting on horseback. + +Our larger luggage was tied on behind with ropes, in precarious fashion. +The rest we took inside and deposited at our feet. As there was no seat, +we flattened ourselves out on the clean hay, and practiced Delsartean +attitudes of languor. Our three horses were harnessed abreast. The reins +were made in part of rope; so were the traces. Our _yamtschik_ had +donned his regulation coat over his red shirt, and sat unblenchingly +through the heat. All preliminaries seemed to be settled at last. I +breathed a sigh of relief, as we halted at the posting-house to pay our +dues in advance, and I received several pounds of copper coin in change, +presumably that I might pay the non-existent relays. + +The _troika_ set off with spirit, and we flattered ourselves that we +should not be long on the road. This being a county town, there were +some stone official buildings in addition to the cathedral, of which we +caught a glimpse in the distance. But our road lay through a suburb of +log cabins, through a large gate in the wattled town fence, and out upon +the plain. + +For nearly five hours we drove through birch forests, over rolling +downs, through a boundless ocean of golden rye, diversified by small +patches of buckwheat, oats, millet, and wheat. But wheat thrives better +in the adjoining government, and many peasants, we are told, run away +from pressing work and good wages at hand to harvest where they will get +white bread to eat, and return penniless. + +Here and there, the small, weather-beaten image of some saint, its face +often indistinguishable through stress of storms, and shielded by a +rough triangular penthouse, was elevated upon a pole, indicating the +spot where prayers are said for the success of the harvest. +Corn-flowers, larkspur, convolvulus, and many other flowers grew +profusely enough among the grain to come under the head of weeds. + +The transparent air allowed us vast vistas of distant blue hills and +nearer green valleys, in which nestled villages under caps of thatch, +encircled by red-brown fences cleverly wattled of long boughs. In one +hollow we passed through a village of the Tchuvashi, a Turkish or +Finnish tribe, which was stranded all along the middle Volga in +unrecorded antiquity, during some of the race migrations from the +teeming plateaux of Asia. The village seemed deserted. Only a few small +children and grannies had been left at home by the harvesters, and they +gazed curiously at us, aroused to interest by the jingling harness with +its metal disks, and the bells clanging merrily from the apex of the +wooden arch which rose above the neck of our middle horse. + +The grain closed in upon us. We plucked some ears as we passed, and +found them ripe and well filled. The plain seemed as trackless as a +forest, and our postboy suspected, from time to time, that he had lost +his way among the narrow roads. A few peasant men whom we encountered at +close quarters took off their hats, but without servility, and we +greeted them with the customary good wishes for a plentiful harvest, +"_Bog v pomozh_" (God help), or with a bow. The peasant women whom we +met rarely took other notice of us than to stare, and still more rarely +did they salute first. They gazed with instinctive distrust, as women of +higher rank are wont to do at a stranger of their own sex. + +Although the grain was planted in what seemed to be a single vast field, +belonging to one estate, it was in reality the property of many +different peasants, as well as of some proprietors. Each peasant had +marked his plot with a cipher furrow when he plowed, and the outlines +had been preserved by the growing grain. The rich black soil of the +fallow land, and strips of turf separating sections, relieved the +monotony of this waving sea of gold. + +The heat was intense. In our prone position, we found it extremely +fatiguing to hold umbrellas. We had recourse, therefore, to the device +practiced by the mountaineers of the Caucasus, who, in common with the +Spaniards, believe that what will keep out cold will also keep out heat. +We donned our heavy wadded pelisses. The experiment was a success. We +arrived cool and tranquil, in the fierce heat, at the estate of our +friends, and were greeted with fiery reproaches for not having allowed +them to send one of their fifteen or twenty carriages for us. But we did +not repent, since our conduct had secured for us that novel ride and a +touch of our coveted "experience," in spite of the strain of our thirty +hours' vigil and the jolts of the springless vehicle. + +Then we discovered the exact extent of our _yamtschik's_ trick. He had +let us off on fairly easy terms, getting not quite half more than his +due. By the regular route, we might really have had three relays and +made better time, had we been permitted. By the short cut which our wily +friend had selected, but one change was possible. This left the price of +two changes to be credited to his financial ability (in addition to the +tea-money of gratitude, which came in at the end, all the same), and the +price of the one which he would not make. And, as I was so thoughtless +as not to hire him to carry away those pounds of "relay" copper, I +continued to be burdened with it until I contrived to expend it on +peasant manufactures. The postboy bore the reputation of being a very +honest fellow, I learned,--something after the pattern of the charming +cabby who drove us to Count Tolstoy's estate. + +The village, like most Russian villages, was situated on a small river, +in a valley. It consisted of two streets: one running parallel with the +river, the other at right angles to it, on the opposite bank. The +connecting bridge had several large holes in it, on the day of our +arrival, which were mended, a few days later, with layers of straw and +manure mixed with earth. We continued, during the whole period of our +stay, to cross the bridge, instead of going round it, as we had been +advised to do with Russian bridges, by Russians, in the certainty that, +if we came near drowning through its fault, it would surely furnish us +with an abundance of straws to catch at. + +In one corner of the settlement, a petty bourgeois,--there is no other +word to define him,--the son of a former serf, and himself born a +serf, had made a mill-pond and erected cloth-mills. His "European" +clothes (long trousers, sack coat, Derby hat) suited him as ill as his +wife's gaudy silk gown, and Sunday bonnet in place of the kerchief usual +with the lower classes, suited her face and bearing. He was a quiet, +unassuming man, but he was making over for himself a handsome house, +formerly the residence of a noble. Probably the money wherewith he had +set up in business had been wrung out of his fellow-peasants in the +profession of a _kulak_, or "fist," as the people expressively term +peasant usurers. + +On the other side of the river stood the church, white-walled, +green-roofed, with golden cross, like the average country church, with +some weather stains, and here and there a paling missing from the fence. +Near at hand was the new schoolhouse, with accommodations for the +master, recently erected by our host. Beyond this began the inclosure +surrounding the manor house, and including the cottages of the coachmen +and the steward with their hemp and garden plots, the stables and +carriage houses, the rickyard with its steam threshing machine and +driers, and a vast abandoned garden, as well as the gardens in use. The +large brick mansion, with projecting wings, had its drawing-rooms at the +back, where a spacious veranda opened upon a flower-bordered lawn, +terminating in shady acacia walks, and a grove which screened from sight +the peasant cottages on the opposite bank of the river. A hedge +concealed the vegetable garden, where the village urchins were in the +habit of pilfering their beloved cucumbers with perfect impunity, since +a wholesome spanking, even though administered by the Elder of the +Commune, might result in the spanker's exile to Siberia. Another +instance of the manner in which the peasants are protected by the law, +in their wrongs as well as their rights, may be illustrated by the case +of a load of hay belonging to the owner of the estate, which, entering +the village in goodly proportions, is reduced to a few petty armfuls by +the time it reaches the barn, because of the handfuls snatched in +passing by every man, woman, and child in the place. + +No sound of the village reached us in our retreat except the choral +songs of the maidens on holiday evenings. We tempted them to the lawn +one night, and overcame their bashfulness by money for nuts and apples. +The airs which they sang were charming, but their voices were undeniably +shrill and nasal, and not always in harmony. We found them as reluctant +to dance as had been the peasants at Count Tolstoy's village. Here we +established ourselves for the harvest-tide. + +II. + +Our life at Prince X.'s estate on the Volga flowed on in a +semi-monotonous, wholly delightful state of lotus-eating idleness, +though it assuredly was not a case which came under the witty +description once launched by Turgeneff broadside at his countrymen: "The +Russian country proprietor comes to revel and simmer in his ennui like a +mushroom frying in sour cream." Ennui shunned that happy valley. We +passed the hot mornings at work on the veranda or in the well-filled +library, varying them by drives to neighboring estates and villages, or +by trips to the fields to watch the progress of the harvest, now in full +swing. Such a visit we paid when all the able-bodied men and women in +the village were ranged across the landscape in interminable lines, +armed with their reaping-hooks, and forming a brilliant picture in +contrast with the yellow grain, in their blue and scarlet raiment. They +were fulfilling the contract which bound them to three days' labor for +their landlord, in return for the pasturage furnished by him for their +cattle. A gay kerchief and a single clinging garment, generally made of +red and blue in equal portions, constituted the costume of the women. +The scanty garments were faded and worn, for harvesting is terribly hard +work, and they cannot use their good clothes, as at the haying, which is +mere sport in comparison. Most of the men had their heads protected only +by their long hair, whose sunburnt outer layer fell over their faces, as +they stooped and reaped the grain artistically close to the ground. +Their shirts were of faded red cotton; their full trousers, of +blue-and-red-striped home-made linen, were confined by a strip of coarse +crash swathed around the feet and legs to the knee, and cross-gartered +with ropes. The feet of men and women alike were shod with low shoes of +plaited linden bark over these cloths. + +They smiled indulgently at our attempts to reap and make girdles for the +sheaves,--the sickles seemed to grow dull and back-handed at our +touch,--chatting with the dignified ease which characterizes the +Russian peasant. The small children had been left behind in the village, +in charge of the grandams and the women unfit for field labor. Baby had +been brought to the scene of action, and installed in luxury. The +cradle, a cloth distended by poles, like that of Peter the Great, which +is preserved in the museum of the Kremlin at Moscow, was suspended from +the upturned shafts of a _telyega_ by a stiff spiral spring of iron, +similar to the springs used on bird-cages. The curtain was made of the +mother's spare gown, her _sarafan_. Baby's milk-bottle consisted of a +cow's horn, over the tip of which a cow's teat was fastened. I had +already seen these dried teats for sale in pairs, in the popular +markets, but had declined to place implicit faith in the venders' solemn +statements as to their use. + +It was the season which the peasants call by the expressive title +_strada_ (suffering). Nearly all the summer work must be done together, +and, with their primitive appliances, suffering is the inevitable +result. They set out for the fields before sunrise, and return at +indefinite hours, but never early. Sometimes they pass the night in the +fields, under the shelter of a cart or of the grain sheaves. Men and +women work equally and unweariedly; and the women receive less pay than +the men for the same work, in the bad old fashion which is, unhappily, +not yet unknown in other lands and ranks of life. Eating and sleeping +join the number of the lost arts. The poor, brave people have but little +to eat in any case,--not enough to induce thought or anxiety to return +home. Last year's store has, in all probability, been nearly exhausted. +They must wait until the grain which they are reaping has been threshed +and ground before they can have their fill. + +One holiday they observe, partly perforce, partly from choice, though it +is not one of the great festivals of the church calendar,--St. Ilya's +Day. St. Ilya is the Christian representative of the old Slavic god of +Thunder, Perun, as well as of the prophet Elijah. On or near his name +day, July 20 (Old Style), he never fails to dash wildly athwart the sky +in his chariot of fire; in other words, there is a terrific +thunderstorm. Such is the belief; such, in my experience, is the fact, +also. + +Sundays were kept so far as the field work permitted, and the church was +thronged. Even our choir of ill-trained village youths and boys could +not spoil the ever-exquisite music. There were usually two or three +women who expected to become mothers before the week was out, and who +came forward to take the communion for the last time, after the newborn +babes and tiny children had been taken up by their mothers to receive +it. + +Every one was quiet, clean, reverent. The cloth-mill girls had +discovered our (happily) obsolete magenta, and made themselves hideous +in flounced petticoats and sacks of that dreadful hue. The sister of our +Lukerya, the maid who had been assigned to us, thus attired, felt +distinctly superior. Lukerya would have had the bad taste to follow her +example, had she been permitted, so fast are evil fashions destroying +the beautiful and practical national costumes. Little did Lukerya dream +that she, in her peasant garb, with her thick nose and rather unformed +face, was a hundred times prettier than Annushka, with far finer +features and "fashionable" dress. + +Independent and "fashionable" as many of these villagers were, they were +ready enough to appeal to their former owners in case of illness or +need; and they were always welcomed. Like most Russian women who spend +any time on their estates, our hostess knew a good deal about medicine, +which was necessitated by the circumstance that the district doctor +lived eight miles away, and had such a wide circuit assigned to him that +he could not be called in except for serious cases. Many of the remedies +available or approved by the peasants were primitive, not to say heroic. +For example, one man, who had exhausted all other remedies for +rheumatism, was advised to go to the forest, thrust the ailing foot and +leg into one of the huge ant-hills which abounded there, and allow the +ants to sting him as long as he could bear the pain, for the sake of the +formic acid which would thus be injected into the suffering limb. I +confess that I should have liked to be present at this bit of-- +surgery, shall I call it? It would have been an opportunity for +observing the Russian peasant's stoicism and love of suffering as a +thing good in itself. + +The peasants came on other errands, also. One morning we were startled, +at our morning coffee, by the violent irruption into the dining-room, on +his knees, of a man with clasped hands uplifted, rolling eyes, and hair +wildly tossing, as he knocked his head on the floor, kissed our +hostess's gown, and uttered heart-rending appeals to her, to Heaven, and +to all the saints. "_Barynya!_ dear mistress!" he wailed. "Forgive! _Yay +Bogu_, it was not my fault. The Virgin herself knows that the carpenter +forced me to it. I'll never do it again, never. God is my witness! +_Barynya! Ba-a-rynya! Ba-a-a-a-a-a-rynya!_" in an indescribable, subdued +howl. He was one of her former serfs, the keeper of the dramshop; and +the carpenter, that indispensable functionary on an isolated estate, had +"drunk up" all his tools (which did not belong to him, but to our +hostess) at this man's establishment. The sly publican did not offer to +return them, and he would not have so much as condescended to promises +for the misty future, had he not been aware that the law permits the +closing of pothouses on the complaint of proprietors in just such +predicaments as this, as well as on the vote of the peasant Commune. +Having won temporary respite by his well-acted anguish, he was ready to +proceed again on the national plan of _avos_ which may be vulgarly +rendered into English by "running for luck." + +But even more attractive than these house diversions and the village +were the other external features of that sweet country life. The +mushroom season was beginning. Equipped with baskets of ambitious size, +we roamed the forests, which are carpeted in spring with lilies of the +valley, and all summer long, even under the densest shadow, with rich +grass. We learned the home and habits of the shrimp-pink mushroom, which +is generally eaten salted; of the fat white and birch mushrooms, with +their chocolate caps, to be eaten fresh; of the brown and green butter +mushroom, most delicious of all to our taste, and beloved of the black +beetle, whom we surprised at his feast. However, the mushrooms were only +an excuse for dreaming away the afternoons amid the sweet glints of the +fragrant snowy birch-trees and the green-gold flickerings of the pines, +in the "black forest," which is a forest composed of evergreens and +deciduous trees. Now and then, in our rambles, we met and skirted great +pits dug in the grassy roads to prevent the peasants from conveniently +perpetrating thefts of wood. Once we came upon a party of timber-thieves +(it was Sunday afternoon), who espied us in time to rattle off in their +rude _telyega_ with their prize, a great tree, at a rate which would +have reduced ordinary flesh and bones to a jelly; leaving us to stare +helplessly at the freshly hewn stump. Tawny hares tripped across our +path, or gazed at us from the green twilight of the bushes, as we lay on +the turf and discussed all things in the modern heaven and earth, from +theosophy and Keely's motor to--the other extreme. + +When the peasants had not forestalled us, we returned home with masses +of mushrooms, flower-like in hue,--bronze, pink, snow-white, green, +and yellow; and Osip cooked them delicately, in sour cream, to accompany +the juicy young blackcock and other game of our host's shooting. Osip +was a _cordon bleu_, and taxed his ingenuity to initiate us into all the +mysteries of Russian cooking, which, under his tuition, we found +delicious. The only national dish which we never really learned to like +was one in which he had no hand,--fresh cucumbers sliced lengthwise +and spread thick with new honey, which is supposed to be eaten after the +honey has been blessed, with the fruits, on the feast of the +Transfiguration, but which in practice is devoured whenever found, as +the village priest was probably aware. The priest was himself an +enthusiastic keeper of bees in odd, primitive hives. It was really +amazing to note the difference between the good, simple-mannered old man +in his humble home, where he received us in socks and a faded cassock, +and nearly suffocated us with vivaciously repetitious hospitality, tea, +and preserves, and the priest, with his truly majestic and inspired +mien, as he served the altar. + +Among the wild creatures in our host's great forests were hares, wolves, +moose, and bears. The moose had retreated, for the hot weather, to the +lakes on the Crown lands adjacent, to escape the maddening attacks of +the gadflies. Though it was not the hungry height of the season with the +wolves, there was always an exciting possibility of encountering a stray +specimen during our strolls, and we found the skull and bones of a horse +which they had killed the past winter. From early autumn these gray +terrors roam the scene of our mushroom-parties, in packs, and kill +cattle in ill-protected farmyards and children in the villages. + +It was too early for hare-coursing or wolf-hunting, but feathered game +was plentiful. Great was the rivalry in "bags" between our host and the +butler, a jealously keen sportsman. His dog, Modistka (the little +milliner), had taught the clever pointer Milton terribly bad tricks of +hunting alone, and was even initiating her puppies into the same evil +ways. When "Monsieur, Madame, and Bebe;" returned triumphantly from the +forest with their booty, and presented it to their indignant masters, +there were fine scenes! Bebe and his brothers of the litter were so +exactly alike in every detail that they could not be distinguished one +from the other. Hence they had been dubbed _tchinovniki_ (the +officials), a bit of innocent malice which every Russian can appreciate. + +Of the existence of bears we had one convincing glimpse. We drove off, +one morning, in a drizzling rain, to picnic on a distant estate of our +host, in a "red" or "beautiful" forest (the two adjectives are +synonymous in Russian), which is composed entirely of pines. During our +long tramp through a superb growth of pines, every one of which would +have furnished a mainmast for the largest old-fashioned ship, a bear +stepped out as we passed through a narrow defile, and showed an +inclination to join our party. The armed Russian and Mordvinian +foresters, our guides and protectors, were in the vanguard; and as Misha +seemed peaceably disposed we relinquished all designs on his pelt, +consoling ourselves with the reflection that it would not be good at +this season of the year. We camped out on the crest of the hill, upon a +huge rug, soft and thick, the work of serfs in former days, representing +an art now well-nigh lost, and feasted on nut-sweet crayfish from the +Volga, new potatoes cooked in our gypsy kettle, curds, sour black bread, +and other more conventional delicacies. The rain pattered softly on us, +--we disdained umbrellas,--and on the pine needles, rising in +hillocks, here and there, over snowy great mushrooms, of a sort to be +salted and eaten during fasts. The wife of the priest, who is condemned +to so much fasting, had a wonderfully keen instinct for these particular +mushrooms, and had explained to us all their merits, which seemed +obscure to our non-fasting souls. Our Russian forester regaled us with +forest lore, as we lay on our backs to look at the tops of the trees. +But, to my amazement, he had never heard of the _Leshi_ and the +_Vodyanoi_, the wood-king and water-king of the folk-tales. At all +events, he had never seen them, nor heard their weird frolics in the +boughs and waves. The Mordvinian contributed to the entertainment by +telling us of his people's costumes and habits, and gave us a lesson in +his language, which was of the Tatar-Finnish variety. Like the Tchuvashi +and other tribes here on the Volga, the Mordvinians furnish pleasurable +excitement and bewilderment to ethnographists and students of religions. + +These simple amusements came to an end all too soon, despite the rain. +We were seized with a fancy to try the peasant _telyega_ for the +descent, and packed ourselves in with the rug and utensils. Our +Mordvinian, swarthy and gray-eyed, walked beside us, casting glances of +inquiry at us, as the shaggy little horse plunged along, to ascertain +our degrees of satisfaction with the experiment. He thrust the dripping +boughs from our faces with graceful, natural courtesy; and when we +alighted, breathless and shaken to a pulp, at the forester's hut, where +our carriages awaited us, he picked up the hairpins and gave them to us +gravely, one by one, as needed. We were so entirely content with our +_telyega_ experience that we were in no undue haste to repeat it. We +drove home in the persistent rain, which had affected neither our bodies +nor our spirits, bearing a trophy of unfringed gentians to add to our +collection of goldenrod, harebells, rose-colored fringed pinks, and +other familiar wild flowers which reminded us of the western hemisphere. + +The days were too brief for our delights. In the afternoons and +evenings, we took breezy gallops through the forests, along the boundary +sward of the fields, across the rich black soil of that third of the +land which, in the "three-field" system of cultivation, is allowed to +lie fallow after it has borne a crop of winter grain, rye, and one of +summer grain, oats. We watched the peasants plowing or scattering the +seed-corn, or returning, mounted side-saddle fashion on their horses, +with their primitive plows reversed. Only such rich land could tolerate +these Adam-like earth-scratchers. As we met the cows on their way home +from pasture, we took observations, to verify the whimsical barometer of +the peasants; and we found that if a light-hued cow headed the +procession the next day really was pretty sure to be fair, while a dark +cow brought foul weather. As the twilight deepened, the quail piped +under the very hoofs of our horses; the moon rose over the forest, which +would soon ring with the howl of wolves; the fresh breath of the river +came to us laden with peculiar scents, through which penetrated the +heavy odor of the green-black hemp. + +One day the horses were ordered, as usual. They did not appear. The +cavalryman who had been hired expressly to train them had not only +neglected his duty, but had run away, without warning, to reap his own +little field, in parts unknown. He had carefully observed silence as to +its existence, when he was engaged. This was item number one. Item +number two was that there was something the matter with all the horses, +except Little Boy, Little Bird, and the small white Bashkir horse from +the steppes, whose ear had been slit to subdue his wildness. The truth +was, the steward's young son had been practicing high jumping, bareback, +in a circus costume of pink calico shirt and trousers, topped by his +tow-colored hair. We had seen this surreptitious performance, but +considered it best to betray nothing, as the lad had done so well in the +village school that our hosts were about to send him to town, to +continue his studies at their expense. + +The overseer, another soldier, was ordered to don his uniform and +accompany us. He rebelled. "He had just got his hair grown to the square +state which suited his peasant garb, and it would not go with his +dragoon's uniform in the least. Why, he would look like a Kazak! +Impossible, utterly!" He was sternly commanded not to consider his hair; +this was not the city, with spectators. When he finally appeared, in +full array, we saw that he had applied the shears to his locks, in a +hasty effort to compromise between war and peace without losing the cut. +The effect was peculiar; it would strike his commanding officer dumb +with mirth and horror. He blushed in a deprecating manner whenever we +glanced at him. + +There was a bath-house beside the river. But a greater luxury was the +hot bath, presided over by old Alexandra. Alexandra, born a serf on the +estate, was now like a humble member of the family, the relations not +having changed, perceptibly, since the emancipation, to the old woman's +satisfaction. She believed firmly in the _Domovoi_ (the house sprite), +and told wonderful tales of her experiences with him. Skepticism on that +point did not please her. When the horses were brought round with matted +manes, a sign of an affectionate visit from the _Domovoi_, which must +not be removed, under penalty of his displeasure, it was useless to tell +Alexandra that a weasel had been caught in the act, and that her sprite +was no other. She clung to her belief in her dreaded friend. + +The bath was a small log house, situated a short distance from the +manor. It was divided into anteroom, dressing-room, and the bath proper. +When we were ready, Alexandra, a famous bath-woman, took boiling water +from the tank in the corner oven, which had been heating for hours, made +a strong lather, and scrubbed us soundly with a wad of linden bast +shredded into fibres. Her wad was of the choicest sort; not that which +is sold in the popular markets, but that which is procured by stripping +into rather coarse filaments the strands of an old mat-sack, such as is +used for everything in Russia, from wrappers for sheet iron to bags for +carrying a pound of cherries. After a final douche with boiling water, +we mounted the high shelf, with its wooden pillow, and the artistic part +of the operation began. As we lay there in the suffocating steam, +Alexandra whipped us thoroughly with a small besom of birch twigs, +rendered pliable and secure of their tender leaves by a preliminary +plunge in boiling water. When we gasped for breath, she interpreted it +as a symptom of speechless delight, and flew to the oven and dashed a +bucket of cold water on the red-hot stones placed there for the purpose. +The steam poured forth in intolerable clouds; but we submitted, +powerless to protest. Alexandra, with all her clothes on, seemed not to +feel the heat. She administered a merciless yet gentle massage to every +limb with her birch rods,--what would it have been like if she had +used nettles, the peasants' delight?--and rescued us from utter +collapse just in time by a douche of ice-cold water. We huddled on all +the warm clothing we owned, were driven home, plied with boiling tea, +and put to bed for two hours. At the end of that time we felt made over, +physically, and ready to beg for another birching. But we were warned +not to expose ourselves to cold for at least twenty-four hours, although +we had often seen peasants, fresh from their bath, birch besom in hand, +in the wintry streets of the two capitals. + +We visited the peasants in their cottages, and found them very reluctant +to sell anything except towel crash. All other linen which they wove +they needed for themselves, and it looked as even and strong as iron. +Here in the south the rope-and-moss-plugged log house stood flat on the +ground, and was thatched with straw, which was secured by a ladder-like +arrangement of poles along the gable ends. Three tiny windows, with +tinier panes, relieved the street front of the house. The entrance was +on the side, from the small farmyard, littered with farming implements, +chickens, and manure, and inclosed with the usual fence of wattled +branches. From the small ante-room designed to keep out the winter cold, +the store-room opened at the rear, and the living-room at the front. The +left hand corner of the living-room, as one entered, was occupied by the +oven, made of stones and clay, and whitewashed. In it the cooking was +done by placing the pots among the glowing wood coals. The bread was +baked when the coals had been raked out. Later still, when desired, the +owners took their steam bath, more resembling a roasting, inside it, and +the old people kept their aged bones warm by sleeping on top of it, +close to the low ceiling. Round three sides of the room ran a broad +bench, which served for furniture and beds. In the right-hand corner, +opposite the door,--the "great corner" of honor,--was the case of +images, in front of which stood the rough table whereon meals were +eaten. This was convenient, since the images were saluted, at the +beginning and end of meals, with the sign of the cross and a murmured +prayer. The case contained the sacred picture wherewith the young couple +were blessed by their parents on their marriage, and any others which +they might have acquired, with possibly a branch of their Palm Sunday +pussy willows. A narrow room, monopolizing one of the windows, opened +from the living-room, beyond the oven, and served as pantry and kitchen. +A wooden trough, like a chopping-tray, was the washtub. The ironing or +mangling apparatus consisted of a rolling-pin, round which the article +of clothing was wrapped, and a curved paddle of hard wood, its +under-surface carved in pretty geometrical designs, with which it was +smoothed. This paddle served also to beat the clothes upon the stones, +when the washing was done in the river, in warm weather. A few wooden +bowls and spoons and earthen pots, including the variety which keeps +milk cool without either ice or running water, completed the household +utensils. Add a loom for weaving crash, the blue linen for the men's +trousers and the women's scant _sarafans_, and the white for their +aprons and chemises, and the cloth for coats, and the furnishing was +done. + +The village granaries, with wattled walls and thatched roofs, are placed +apart, to lessen the danger from fire, near the large gates which give +admission to the village, through the wattled fence encircling it. These +gates, closed at night, are guarded by peasants who are unfitted, +through age or infirmities, for field labor. They employ themselves, in +their tiny wattled lean-tos, in plaiting the low shoes of linden bark, +used by both men and women, in making carts, or in some other simple +occupation. An axe--a whole armory of tools to the Russian peasant-- +and an iron bolt are their sole implements. + +We were cut off from intercourse with one of the neighboring estates by +the appearance there of the Siberian cattle plague, and were told that, +should it spread, arrivals from that quarter would be admitted to the +village only after passing through the disinfecting fumes of dung fires +burning at the gate. + +Incendiaries and horse-thieves are the scourges of village life in +Russia. Such men can be banished to Siberia, by a vote of the Commune of +peasant householders. But as the Commune must bear the expense, and +people are afraid that the evil-doer will revenge himself by setting the +village on fire, if he discovers their plan, this privilege is exercised +with comparative rarity. The man who steals the peasant's horse condemns +him to starvation and ruin. Such a man there had been in our friends' +village, and for long years they had borne with him patiently. He was +crafty and had "influence" in some mysterious fashion, which made him a +dangerous customer to deal with. But at last he was sent off. Now, +during our visit, the village was trembling over a rumor that he was on +his way back to wreak vengeance on his former neighbors. I presume they +were obliged to have him banished again, by administrative order from +the Minister of the Interior,--the only remedy when one of this class +of exiles has served out his term,--before they could sleep +tranquilly. + +When seen in his village home, it is impossible not to admire the +hard-working, intelligent, patient, gentle, and sympathetic _muzhik_, in +spite of all his faults. We made acquaintance with some of his +democratic manners during a truly unique picnic, arranged by our +charming hosts expressly to convince us that the famous sterlet merited +its reputation. We had tried it in first-class hotels and at their own +table, as well as at other private tables, and we maintained that it was +merely a sweet, fine-grained, insipid fish. + +"Wait until we show you _zhiryokha_ [sterlet grilled in its own fat] and +_ukha_ [soup] as prepared by the fishermen of the Volga. The Petersburg +and Moscow people cannot even tell you the meaning of the word +'_zhiryokha_'" was the reply. "As for the famous 'amber' soup, you have +seen that even Osip's efforts do not deserve the epithet." + +Accordingly, we assembled one morning at seven o'clock, to the sound of +the hunting-horn, to set out for a point on the Volga twelve miles +distant. We found Milton, the Milliner, and the whole litter of +officials in possession of the carriage, and the coachman's dignity +relaxed into a grin at their antics, evoked by a suspicion that we were +going hunting. Our vehicle, on this occasion, as on all our expeditions +to field and forest, was a stoutly built, springless carriage, called a +_lineika_, or little line, which is better adapted than any other to +country roads, and is much used. In Kazan, by some curious confusion of +ideas, it is called a "guitar." Another nickname for it is "the +lieutenant's coach," which was bestowed upon it by the Emperor Nicholas. +The Tzar came to visit one of the Volga provinces, and found a _lineika_ +awaiting him at the landing, for the reason that nothing more elegant, +and with springs, could scale the ascent to the town, over the rough +roads. The landed proprietors of that government were noted for their +dislike for the service of the state, which led them to shirk it, +regardless of the dignity and titles to be thus acquired. They were in +the habit of retiring to their beloved country homes when they had +attained the lowest permissible rung of that wonderful Jacob's ladder +leading to the heaven of officialdom, established by Peter the Great, +and dubbed the Table of Ranks. This grade was lieutenant in the army or +navy, and the corresponding counselor in the civil service. The story +runs that Nicholas stretched himself out at full length on it for a +moment, and gave it its name. Naturally, such men accepted the Emperor's +jest as a compliment, and perpetuated its memory. + +This style of carriage, which I have already described in my account of +our visit to Count Tolstoy, is a development of the Russian racing-gig, +which is also used for rough driving in the country, by landed +proprietors. In the latter case it is merely a short board, bare or +upholstered, on which the occupant sits astride, with his feet resting +on the forward axle. Old engravings represent this uncomfortable model +as the public carriage of St. Petersburg at the close of the last +century. + +Our _troika_ of horses was caparisoned in blue and red leather, lavishly +decorated with large metal plaques and with chains which musically +replaced portions of the leather straps. Over the neck of the middle +horse, who trotted, rose an ornamented arch of wood. The side horses, +loosely attached by leather thongs, galloped with much freedom and +grace, their heads bent downward and outward, so that we could watch +their beautiful eyes and crimson nostrils. Our coachman's long _armyak_ +of dark blue cloth, confined by a gay girdle, was topped by a close +turban hat of black felt, stuck all the way round with a row of eyes +from a peacock's tail. He observed all the correct rules of Russian +driving, dashing up ascents at full speed, and holding his arms +outstretched as though engaged in a race, which our pace suggested. + +Our road to the Volga lay, at first, through a vast grainfield, dotted +with peasants at the harvest. Miles of sunflowers followed. They provide +oil for the poorer classes to use in cooking during the numerous fasts, +when butter is forbidden, and seeds to chew in place of the unattainable +peanut. Our goal was a village situated beneath lofty chalk hills, +dazzling white in the sun. A large portion of the village, which had +been burned a short time before, was already nearly rebuilt, thanks to +the ready-made houses supplied by the novel wood-yards of Samara. + +The butler had been dispatched on the previous evening, with a +wagon-load of provisions and comforts, and with orders to make the +necessary arrangements for a boat and crew with fisherman Piotr. But, +for reasons which seemed too voluble and complicated for adequate +expression, Piotr had been as slow of movement as my bumptious +_yamtschik_ of the posting-station, and nothing was ready. Piotr, like +many elderly peasants, might sit for the portrait of his apostolic +namesake. But he approved of more wine "for the stomach's sake" than any +apostle ever ventured to recommend, and he had ingenious methods of +securing it. For example, when he brought crayfish to the house, he +improved the opportunity. The fishermen scorn these dainties, and throw +them out of the nets. The fact that they were specially ordered was +sufficient hint to Piotr. He habitually concealed them in the steward's +hemp patch or some other handy nook, and presented himself to our host +with the announcement that he would produce them when he was paid his +"tea-money" in advance, in the shape of a glass of _vodka_. The swap +always took place. + +In spite of this weakness, Piotr was a very well-to-do peasant. We +inspected his establishment and tasted his cream, while he was +exhausting his stock of language. His house was like all others of that +region in plan, and everything was clean and orderly. It had an air +about it as if no one ever ate or really did any work there, which was +decidedly deceptive, and his living-room contained the nearest approach +to a bed and bedding which we had seen: a platform supported by two legs +and the wall, and spread with a small piece of heavy gray and black +felt. + +Finding that Piotr's eloquence had received lengthy inspiration, we bore +him off, in the middle of his peroration, to the river, where we took +possession of a boat with a chronic leak, and a prow the exact shape of +a sterlet's nose reversed. But Piotr swore that it was the stanchest +craft between Astrakhan and Rybinsk, and intrepidly took command, +steering with a long paddle, while four alert young peasants plied the +oars. Piotr's costume consisted of a cotton shirt and brief trousers. +The others added caps, which, however, they wore only spasmodically. + +A picnic without singing was not to be thought of, and we requested the +men to favor us with some folk-songs. No bashful schoolgirls could have +resisted our entreaties with more tortuous graces than did those +untutored peasants. One of them was such an exact blond copy of a pretty +brunette American, whom we had always regarded as the most affected of +her sex, that we fairly stared him out of countenance, in our amazement; +and we made mental apologies to the American on the spot. + +"Please sing 'Adown dear Mother Volga,'" the conversation ran. + +"We can't sing." "We don't know it." "You sing it and show us how, and +we will join in." + +The Affected One capped the climax with "It's not in the mo-o-o-ode now, +that song!" with a delicate assumption of languor which made his +comrades explode in suppressed convulsions of mirth. Finally they +supplied the key, but not the keynote. + +"Give us some _vodka_, and we may, perhaps, remember something." + +Promises of _vodka_ at the end of the voyage, when the danger was over, +were rejected without hesitation. We reached our breakfast-ground in +profound silence. + +Fortunately, the catch of sterlet at this stand had been good. The +fishermen grilled some "in their own fat," by salting them and spitting +them alive on peeled willow wands, which they thrust into the ground, in +a slanting position, over a bed of glowing coals. Anything more +delicious it would be difficult to imagine; and we began to revise our +opinion of the sterlet. In the mean time our boatmen had discovered some +small, sour ground blackberries, which they gallantly presented to us in +their caps. Their feelings were so deeply wounded by our attempts to +refuse this delicacy that we accepted and actually ate them, to the +great satisfaction of the songless rogues who stood over us. + +Our own fishing with a line resulted in nothing but the sport and +sunburn. We bought a quantity of sterlet, lest the fishermen at the camp +where we had planned to dine should have been unlucky, placed them in a +net such as is used in towns for carrying fish from market, and trailed +them in the water behind our boat. + +We were destined to experience all possible aspects of a Volga +excursion, that day, short of absolute shipwreck. As we floated down the +mighty stream, a violent thunderstorm broke over our heads with the +suddenness characteristic of the country. We were wet to the skin before +we could get at the rain-cloaks on which we were sitting, but our +boatmen remained as dry as ever, to our mystification. In the middle of +the storm, our unworthy vessel sprung a fresh leak, the water poured in, +and we were forced to run aground on a sand-bank for repairs. These were +speedily effected, with a wad of paper, by Piotr, who, with a towel cast +about his head and shoulders, looked more like an apostle than ever. + +It appeared that our fishing-camp had moved away; but we found it, at +last, several miles downstream, on a sand-spit backed with willow +bushes. It was temporarily deserted, save for a man who was repairing a +net, and who assured us that his comrades would soon return from their +trip, for supplies, to the small town which we could discern on the +slope of the hillshore opposite. There was nothing to explore on our +sand-reef except the fishermen's primitive shelter, composed of a bit of +sail-cloth and a few boards, furnished with simple cooking utensils, and +superintended by a couple of frolicsome kittens, who took an unfeline +delight in wading along in the edge of the water. So we spread ourselves +out to dry on the clean sand, in the rays of the now glowing sun, and +watched the merchandise, chiefly fish, stacked like cord wood, being +towed up from Astrakhan in great barges. + +At last our fisher hosts arrived, and greeted us with grave courtesy and +lack of surprise. They began their preparations by scouring out their +big camp kettle with beach sand, and building a fire at the water's edge +to facilitate the cleaning of the fish. We followed their proceedings +with deep interest, being curious to learn the secret of the genuine +"amber sterlet soup." This was what we discovered. + +The fish must be alive. They remain so after the slight preliminaries, +and are plunged into the simmering water, heads and all, the heads and +the parts adjacent being esteemed a delicacy. No other fish are +necessary, no spices or ingredients except a little salt, the +cookery-books to the contrary notwithstanding. The sterlet is expensive +in regions where the cook-book flourishes, and the other fish are merely +a cheat of town economy. The scum is not removed,--this is the capital +point,--but stirred in as fast as it rises. If the _ukha_ be skimmed, +after the manner of professional cooks, the whole flavor and richness +are lost. + +While the soup was boiling and more sterlet were being grilled in their +own fat, as a second course, our men pitched our tent and ran up our +flag, and the butler set the table on our big rug. It was lucky that we +had purchased fish at our breakfast-place, as no sterlet had been caught +at this camp. When the soup made its appearance, we comprehended the +epithet "amber" and its fame. Of a deep gold, almost orange color, with +the rich fat, and clear as a topaz, it was utterly unlike anything we +had ever tasted. We understood the despair of Parisian gourmets and +cooks, and we confirmed the verdict, provisionally announced at +breakfast, that the sterlet is the king of all fish. As it is +indescribable, I may be excused for not attempting to do justice to it +in words. + +While we feasted, the fishermen cooked themselves a kettle of less +dainty fish, as a treat from us, since the fish belong to the contractor +who farms the ground, not to the men. Their meal ended, the regulation +cross and prayer executed, they amiably consented to anticipate the +usual hour for casting their net, in order that we might see the +operation. The net, two hundred and fifty fathoms in length, was +manoeuvred down the long beach well out in the stream by one man in a +boat, and by five men on shore, who harnessed themselves to a long cable +by halters woven from the soft inner bark of the linden-tree. We grasped +the rope and helped them pull. We might not have been of much real +assistance, but we learned, at least, how heavy is this toil, repeated +many times a day, even when the pouch reveals so slender a catch as in +the present instance. There was nothing very valuable in it, though +there was variety enough, and we were deceived, for a moment, by several +false sterlet. + +The small _samovar_ which we had brought gave us a steaming welcome, on +our return to camp. Perched on the fishermen's seatless chair and stool, +and on boxes, we drank our tea and began our preparations for departure, +bestowing a reward on the men, who had acted their parts as impromptu +hosts to perfection. It was late; but our men burst into song, when +their oars dipped in the waves, as spontaneously as the nightingales +which people these shores in springtime,--inspired probably by the full +moon, which they melodiously apostrophized as "the size of a +twenty-kopek bit." They sang of Stenka Razin, the bandit chief, who kept +the Volga and the Caspian Sea in a state of terror during the reign of +Peter the Great's father; of his "poor people, good youths, fugitives, +who were no thieves nor brigands, but only Stenka Razin's workmen." They +declared, in all seriousness, that he had been wont to navigate upon a +felt rug, like the one we had seen in Piotr's cottage; and they disputed +over the exact shade of meaning contained in the words which he was in +the habit of using when he summoned a rich merchant vessel to surrender +as his prize. Evidently, Stenka was no semi-epic, mythical hero to them, +but a living reality. + +"Adown dear Mother Volga, Adown her mighty sweep," + +they sang; and suddenly ran the boat aground, and fled up the steep +slope like deer, carrying with them their tall winter boots of gray +felt, which had lain under the thwarts all day. We waited, shivering in +the keen night air, and wondering whether we were deserted on this +lonely reach of the river at midnight. If the apostle Peter understood +the manoeuvre, he was loyal and kept their counsel. He gave no comfort +beyond the oracular _saytchas_, which we were intended to construe as +meaning that they would be back in no time. + +When they did return, after a long absence, their feet were as bare as +they had been all day. Their boots were borne tenderly in their arms, +and were distended to their utmost capacity with apples! In answer to +our remonstrances, they replied cheerfully that the night was very warm, +and that the apples came from "their garden, over yonder on the bank." +On further questioning, their village being miles distant, they +retorted, with a laugh, that they had gardens all along the river; and +they offered to share their plunder with us. The Affected One tossed an +apple past my head, with the cry, "Catch, Sasha!" to our host, of whose +familiar name he had taken note during the day. After this and other +experiences, we were prepared to credit an anecdote which had been +related to us of a peasant in that neighborhood, to illustrate the +democratic notions of his class which prevailed even during the days of +serfdom. One of the provincial assemblies, to which nobles and peasants +have been equally eligible for election since the emancipation, met for +the first time, thus newly constituted. One of the nobles, desirous of +making the peasants feel at home, rose and began:-- + +"We bid you welcome, our younger brothers, to this "-- + +"We are nobody's inferiors or younger brothers any more," interrupted a +peasant member, "and we will not allow you to call us so." + +The nobles took the hint, and made no further unnecessary advances. Yes, +these Volga peasants certainly possess as strong a sense of democratic +equality as any one could wish. But the soft ingenuousness of their +manners and their tact disarm wrath at the rare little liberties which +they take. Even their way of addressing their former masters by the +familiar "thou" betokens respectful affection, not impertinence. + +Our men soon wearied of pulling against the powerful current, dodging +the steamers and the tug-boats with their strings of barks signaled by +constellations of colored lanterns high in air. Perhaps they would have +borne up better had we been able to obtain some Astrakhan watermelons +from the steamer wharves, which we besieged in turn as we passed. They +proposed to tow us. On Piotr's assurance that it would be a far swifter +mode of locomotion, and that they would pay no more visits to "their +gardens," we consented. They set up a mast through an opening in one of +the thwarts, passed through a hole in its top a cord the size of a +cod-line, fastened this to the stern of the boat, and leaped ashore with +the free end. Off they darted, galloping like horses along the old +tow-path, and singing vigorously. Piotr remained on board to steer. As +we dashed rapidly through the water, we gained practical knowledge of +the manner in which every pound of merchandise was hauled to the great +Fair from Astrakhan, fourteen hundred and forty miles, before the +introduction of steamers, except in the comparatively rare cases where +oxen were made to wind windlasses on the deck of a bark. It would have +required hours of hard rowing to reach our goal; but by this means we +were soon walking across the yielding sands to Piotr's cottage. Our +cunning rogues of boatmen took advantage of our scattered march to +obtain from us separately such installments of tea-money as must, in the +aggregate, have rendered them hilarious for days to come, if they paid +themselves for their minstrelsy in the coin which they had suggested to +us before breakfast. + +Piotr's smiling wife, who was small, like most Russian peasant women, +had baked us some half-rye, half-wheat bread, to our order; she made it +remarkably well, much better than Osip. We secured a more lasting +memento of her handiwork in the form of some towel ends, which she had +spun, woven, drawn, and worked very prettily. Some long-haired heads +were thrust over the oven-top to inspect us, but the bodies did not +follow. They were better engaged in enjoying the heat left from the +baking. + +It was two o'clock in the morning when we drove through the village +flock of sheep, that lay asleep on the grassy street. With hand on +pistol, to guard against a possible stray wolf, we dashed past the +shadowy chalk hills; past the nodding sunflowers, whose sleepy eyes were +still turned to the east: past the grainfields, transmuted from gold to +silver by the moonlight; past the newly plowed land, which looked like +velvet billows in its depths of brown, as the moon sank lower and lower +beyond in a mantle of flame. + +By this time practice had rendered us expert in retaining our seats in +the low, springless _lineika_; fortunately, for we were all three +quarters asleep at intervals, with excess of fresh air. Even when the +moon had gone down, and a space of darkness intervened before the day, +our headlong pace was not slackened for a moment. As we drove up to the +door, in the pearl-pink dawn, Tulip, the huge yellow mastiff with tawny +eyes, the guardian of the courtyard, received us with his usual +ceremony, through which pierced a petition for a caress. We heeded him +not. By six o'clock we were fast asleep. Not even a packet of letters +from home could keep our eyes open after that four-and-twenty hours' +picnic, which had been unmarred by a single fault, but which had +contained all the "experiences" and "local color" which we could have +desired. + +How can I present a picture of all the variations in those sweet, +busy-idle days? They vanished all too swiftly. But now the rick-yard was +heaped high with golden sheaves; the carts came in steady lines, +creaking under endless loads, from those fields which, two years later, +lay scorched with drought, and over which famine brooded. The peasant +girls tossed the grain, with forked boughs, to the threshing-machine, +tended by other girls. The village boys had a fine frolic dragging the +straw away in bundles laid artfully on the ends of two long poles +fastened shaft-wise to the horse's flanks. We had seen the harvesting, +the plowing with the primitive wooden plow, the harrowing with equally +simple contrivances, and the new grain was beginning to clothe the soil +with a delicate veil of green. It was time for us to go. During our +whole visit, not a moment had hung heavy on our hands, here in the +depths of the country, where visitors were comparatively few and +neighbors distant, such had been the unwearied attention and kindness of +our hosts. + +We set out for the river once more. This time we had a landau, and a +cart for our luggage. As we halted to drink milk in the Tchuvash +village, the inhabitants who chanced to be at home thronged about our +carriage. We espied several women arrayed in their native costume, which +has been almost entirely abandoned for the Russian dress, and is fast +becoming a precious rarity. The men have already discarded their dress +completely for the Russian. We sent one of the women home to fetch her +Sunday gown, and purchased it on the spot. Such a wonderful piece of +work! The woman had spun, woven, and sewed it; she had embroidered it in +beautiful Turanian, not Russian, patterns, with silks,--dull red, pale +green, relieved by touches of dark blue; she had striped it lengthwise +with bands of red cotton and embroidery, and crosswise with fancy +ribbons and gay calicoes; she had made a mosaic of the back which must +have delighted her rear neighbors in church; and she had used the gown +with such care that, although it had never been washed, it was not badly +soiled. One piece for the body, two for the head, a sham pocket,--that +was all. The footgear consisted of crash bands, bast slippers, rope +cross-garters. The artists to whom I showed the costume, later on, +pronounced it an ethnographical prize. + +These Tchuvashi are a small, gray-eyed, olive-skinned race, with +cheek-bones and other features like the Tatars, but less well preserved +than with the latter, in spite of their always marrying among +themselves. There must have been dilution of the race at some time, if +the characteristics were as strongly marked as with the Tatars, in their +original ancestors from Asia. Most of them are baptized into the Russian +faith, and their villages have Russian churches. Nevertheless, along +with their native tongue they are believed to retain many of their +ancient pagan customs and superstitions, although baptism is in no sense +compulsory. The priest in our friends' village, who had lived among +them, had told us that such is the case. But he had also declared that +they possess many estimable traits of character, and that their family +life is deserving of imitation in more than one particular. This village +of theirs looked prosperous and clean. The men, being brought more into +contact with outsiders than the women, speak Russian better than the +latter, and more generally. It is not exactly a case which proves +woman's conservative tendencies. + +On reaching the river, and finding that no steamer was likely to arrive +for several hours, we put up at the cottage of a prosperous peasant, +which was patronized by many of the neighboring nobles, in preference to +the wretched inns of that suburb of the wharves. The "best room" had a +citified air, with its white curtains, leaf plants, pretty china tea +service, and photographs of the family on the wall. These last seemed to +us in keeping with the sewing-machine which we had seen a peasant woman +operating in a shop of the little posting-town inland. They denoted +progress, since many peasants cherish religious scruples or +superstitions about having their portraits taken in any form. + +The athletic sons, clad only in shirts and trousers of sprigged print, +with fine chestnut hair, which compensated for their bare feet, vacated +the room for our use. They and the house were as clean as possible. +Outside, near the entrance door, hung the family washstand, a +double-spouted teapot of bronze suspended by chains. But it was plain +that they did not pin their faith wholly to it, and that they took the +weekly steam bath which is customary with the peasants. Not everything +was citified in the matter of sanitary arrangements. But these people +seemed to thrive, as our ancestors all did, and probably regarded us as +over-particular. + +To fill in the interval of waiting, we made an excursion to the heart of +the town, and visited the pretty public garden overhanging the river, +and noteworthy for its superb dahlias. As we observed the types of young +people who were strolling there, we recognized them, with slight +alterations only, which the lapse of time explained, from the types +which we had seen on the stage in Ostrovsky's famous play "The +Thunderstorm." The scene of that play is laid on the banks of the Volga, +in just such a garden; why should it not have been on this spot? + +All peasant _izbui_ are so bewilderingly alike that we found our special +cottage again with some difficulty, by the light of the young moon. By +this time "the oldest inhabitant" had hazarded a guess as to the line +whose steamer would arrive first. Accordingly, we gathered up our small +luggage and our Tchuvash costume, and fairly rolled down the steep, +pathless declivity of slippery turf, groping our way to the right wharf. +How the luggage cart got down was a puzzle. Here we ordered in the +_samovar_, and feasted until far into the night on the country dainties +which we had brought with us, supplemented by one of the first +watermelons from Astrakhan, which we had purchased from a belated dealer +in the deserted town market. The boat was late, as a matter of course; +but we understood the situation now, and asked no questions. When it +arrived, we and our charming hosts, whose society we were to enjoy for a +few days longer, embarked for Samara, to visit the famous kumys +establishments on the steppes. + +Russian harvest-tide was over for us, leaving behind a store of memories +as golden as the grain, fitly framed on either hand by Mother Volga. + + + + +XI. + +THE RUSSIAN KUMYS CURE. + + +It is not many years since every pound of freight, every human being, +bound to Astrakhan from the interior of Russia simply floated down the +river Volga with the current. The return journey was made slowly and +painfully, in tow of those human beasts of burden, the _burlaki_. The +traces of their towpath along the shores may still be seen, and the +system itself may even be observed at times, when light barks have to be +forced upstream for short distances. + +Then some enterprising individual set up a line of steamers, in the face +of the usual predictions from the wiseacres that he would ruin himself +and all his kin. The undertaking proved so fabulously successful and +profitable that a wild rush of competition ensued. But the competition +seems to have consisted chiefly in the establishment of rival lines of +steamers, and there are some peculiarities of river travel which still +exist in consequence. One of these curious features is that each +navigation company appears to have adopted a certain type of steamer at +the outset, and not to have improved on that original idea to any marked +degree. There are some honorable exceptions, it is true, and I certainly +have a very definite opinion concerning the line which I would patronize +on a second trip. Another idea, to which they have clung with equal +obstinacy, though it is far from making amends for the other, is that a +journey is worth a certain fixed sum per verst, utterly regardless of +the vast difference in the accommodations offered. + +Possibly it is a natural consequence of having been born in America, and +of having heard the American boast of independence and progress and the +foreign boast of conservatism contrasted ever since I learned my +alphabet, not to exaggerate unduly, that I should take particular notice +of all illustrations of these conflicting systems. Generally speaking, I +advocate a judicious mixture of the two, in varying proportions to suit +my taste on each special occasion. But there are times when I distinctly +favor the broadest independence and progress. These Volga steamers had +afforded me a subject for meditations on this point, at a distance, even +before I was obliged to undergo personal experience of the defects of +conservatism. Before I had sailed four and twenty hours on the broad +bosom of Matushka Volga, I was able to pick out the steamers of all the +rival lines at sight with the accuracy of a veteran river pilot. There +was no great cleverness in that, I hasten to add; anybody but a blind +man could have done as much; but that only makes my point the more +forcible. It was when we set out for Samara that we realized most keenly +the beauties of enterprise in this direction. + +We had, nominally, a wide latitude of choice, as all the lines made a +stop at our landing. But when we got tired of waiting for the steamer of +our preference,--the boats of all the lines being long overdue, as +usual, owing to low water in the river,--and took the first which +presented itself, we found that the latitude in choice, so far as +accommodations were concerned, was even greater than had been apparent +at first sight. + +Fate allotted us one of the smaller steamers, the more commodious boats +having probably "sat down on a sand-bar," as the local expression goes. +The one on which we embarked had only a small dining-room and saloon, +one first-class cabin for men and one for women, all nearly on a level +with the water, instead of high aloft, as in the steamers which we had +hitherto patronized, and devoid of deck-room for promenading. The +third-class cabin was on the forward deck. The second-class cabin was +down a pair of steep, narrow stairs, whose existence we did not discover +when we went on board at midnight, and which did not tempt us to +investigation even when we arose the next morning. Fortunately, there +were no candidates except ourselves and a Russian friend for the six red +velvet divans ranged round the walls of the tiny "ladies' cabin," and +the adjoining toilet-room, and the man of the party enjoyed complete +seclusion in the men's cabin. In the large boats, for the same price, we +should have had separate staterooms, each accommodating two persons. +However, everything was beautifully clean, as usual on Russian steamers +so far as my experience goes, and it made no difference for one night. +The experience was merely of interest as a warning. + +The city of Samara, as it presented itself to our eyes the next morning, +was the liveliest place on the river Volga next to Nizhni Novgorod. +While it really is of importance commercially, owing to its position on +the Volga and on the railway from central Russia, as a depot for the +great Siberian trade through Orenburg, the impression of alertness which +it produces is undoubtedly due to the fact that it presents itself to +full view in the foreground, instead of lying at a distance from the +wharves, or entirely concealed. An American, who is accustomed to see +railways and steamers run through the very heart of the cities which +they serve, never gets thoroughly inured to the Russian trick of taking +important towns on faith, because it has happened to be convenient to +place the stations out of sight and hearing, sometimes miles out of the +city. Another striking point about Samara is the abundance of red brick +buildings, which is very unusual, not to say unprecedented, in most of +the older Russian towns, which revel in stucco washed with white, blue, +and yellow. + +But the immediate foreground was occupied with something more attractive +than this. The wharves, the space between them, and all the ground round +about were fairly heaped with fruit: apples in bewildering variety, +ranging from the pink-and-whiteskinned "golden seeds" through the whole +gamut of apple hues; round striped watermelons and oval cantaloupes with +perfumed orange-colored flesh, from Astrakhan; plums and grapes. After +wrestling with these fascinations and with the merry _izvostchiki_, we +set out on a little voyage of discovery, preparatory to driving out to +the famous kumys establishments, where we had decided to stay instead of +in the town itself. + +Much of Samara is too new in its architecture, and too closely resembles +the simple, thrifty builders' designs of a mushroom American settlement, +to require special description. Although it is said to have been founded +at the close of the sixteenth century, to protect the Russians from the +incursions of the Kalmucks, Bashkirs, and Nogai Tatars, four disastrous +conflagrations within the last forty-five years have made way for +"improvements" and entailed the loss of characteristic features, while +its rank as one of the chief marts for the great Siberian trade has +caused a rapid increase in population, which now numbers between +seventy-five and eighty thousand. + +One modern feature fully compensates, however, by its originality, for a +good many commonplace antiquities. Near the wharves, on our way out of +the town, we passed a lumber-yard, which dealt wholly in ready-made log +houses. There stood a large assortment of cottages, in the brilliant +yellow of the barked logs, of all sizes and at all prices, from fifteen +to one hundred dollars, forming a small suburb of samples. The lumber is +floated down the Volga and her tributaries from the great forests of +Ufa, and made up in Samara. The peasant purchaser disjoints his house, +floats it to a point near his village, drags it piecemeal to its proper +site, sets it up, roofs it, builds an oven and a chimney of stones, +clay, and whitewash, plugs the interstices with rope or moss, smears +them with clay if he feels inclined, and his house is ready for +occupancy. Although such houses are cheap and warm, it would be a great +improvement if the people could afford to build with brick, so immense +is the annual loss by fire in the villages. Brick buildings are, +however, far beyond the means of most peasants, let them have the best +will in the world, and the ready-made cottages are a blessing, though +every peasant is capable of constructing one for himself on very brief +notice, if he has access to a forest. But forests are not so common +nowadays along the Volga, and, as the advertisements say, this novel +lumber-yard "meets a real want." When the Samarcand railway was opened, +a number of these cottages, in the one-room size, were placed on +platform cars, and to each guest invited to the ceremony was assigned +one of these unique drawing-room-car coupes. + +About four miles from the town proper, on the steppe, lie two noted +kumys establishments; one of them being the first resort of that kind +ever set up, at a time when the only other choice for invalids who +wished to take the cure was to share the hardships, dirt, bad food, and +carelessly prepared kumys of the tented nomads of the steppes. The +grounds of the one which we had elected to patronize extended to the +very brink of the Volga. In accordance with the admonitions of the +specialist physicians to avoid many-storied, ill-ventilated buildings +with long corridors, the hotel consists of numerous wooden structures, +of moderate size, chiefly in Moorish style, and painted in light colors, +scattered about a great inclosure which comprises groves of pines and +deciduous trees,--"red forest" and "black forest," as Russians would +express it,--lawns, arbors, shady walks, flower-beds, and other things +pleasing to the eye, and conducive to comfort and very mild amusement. +One of the buildings even contains a hall, where dancing, concerts, and +theatricals can be and are indulged in, in the height of the season, +although such violent and crowded affairs as balls are, in theory, +discountenanced by the physicians. All these points we took in at one +curious glance, as we were being conducted to the different buildings to +inspect rooms. I am afraid that we pretended to be very difficult to +please, in order to gain a more extensive insight into the arrangements. +As the height of the season (which is May and June) was past, we had a +great choice offered us, and I suppose that this made a difference in +the price, also. It certainly was not unreasonable. We selected some +rooms which opened on a small private corridor. The furniture consisted +of the usual narrow iron bedstead (with linen and pillows thrown in +gratis, for a wonder), a tiny table which disagreeably recalled American +ideas as to that article, an apology for a bureau, two armchairs, and no +washstand. The chairs were in their primitive stuffing-and-burlap state, +loose gray linen covers being added when the rooms were prepared for us. +Any one who has ever struggled with his temper and the slack-fitting +shift of a tufted armchair will require no explanation as to what took +place between me and my share of those untufted receptacles before I +deposited its garment under my bed, and announced that burlap and tacks +were luxurious enough for me. That one item contained enough irritation +and excitement to ruin any "cure." + +The washstand problem was even more complicated. A small, tapering brass +tank, holding about two quarts of water, with a faucet which dripped +into a diminutive cup with an unstoppered waste-pipe, was screwed to the +wall in our little corridor. We asked for a washstand, and this +arrangement was introduced to our notice, the chambermaid being +evidently surprised at the ignorance of barbarians who had never seen a +washstand before. We objected that a mixed party of men and women could +not use that decently, even if two quarts of water were sufficient for +three women and a man. After much argument and insistence, we obtained, +piecemeal: item, one low stool; item, one basin; item, one pitcher. +There were no fastenings on the doors, except a hasp and staple to the +door of the corridor, to which, after due entreaty, we secured an oblong +padlock. + +The next morning, the chambermaid came to the door of our room opening +on the private corridor while we were dressing, and demanded the basin +and pitcher. "Some one else wants them!" she shouted through the door. +We had discovered her to be a person of so much decision of character, +in the course of our dealings with her on the preceding day, that we +were too wary to admit her, lest she should simply capture the utensils +and march off with them. As I was the heaviest of the party, it fell to +my lot to brace myself against the unfastened door and parley with her. +Three times that woman returned to the attack; thrice we refused to +surrender our hard-won trophies, and asked her pointedly, "What do you +do for materials when the house is full, pray?" Afterwards, while we +were drinking our coffee on the delightful half-covered veranda below, +which had stuffed seats running round the walls, and a flower-crowned +circular divan in the centre, a lively testimony to the dryness of the +atmosphere, we learned that the person who had wanted the basin and +pitcher was the man of our party. He begged us not to inquire into the +mysteries of his toilet, and refused to help us solve the riddle of the +guests' cleanliness when the hotel was full. I assume, on reflection, +however, that they were expected to take Russian or plain baths every +two or three days, to rid themselves of the odor of the kumys, which +exudes copiously through the pores of the skin and scents the garments. +On other days a "lick and a promise" were supposed to suffice, so that +their journals must have resembled that of the man who wrote: "Monday, +washed myself. Tuesday, washed hands and face. Wednesday, washed hands +only." That explanation is not wholly satisfactory, either, because the +Russians are clean people. + +As coffee is one of the articles of food which are forbidden to kumys +patients, though they may drink tea without lemon or milk, we had +difficulty in getting it at all. It was long in coming; bad and +high-priced when it did make its appearance. As we were waiting, an +invalid lady and the novice nun who was in attendance upon her began to +sing in a room near by. They had no instrument. What it was that they +sang, I do not know. It was gentle as a breath, melting as a sigh, soft +and slow like a conventional chant, and sweet as the songs of the +Russian Church or of the angels. There are not many strains in this +world upon which one hangs entranced, in breathless eagerness, and the +memory of which haunts one ever after. But this song was one of that +sort, and it lingers in my memory as a pure delight; in company with +certain other fragments of church music heard in that land, as among the +most beautiful upon earth. + +I may as well tell at once the whole story of the food, so far as we +explored its intricate mysteries. We were asked if we wished to take the +_table d'hote_ breakfast in the establishment. We said "yes," and +presented ourselves promptly. We were served with beefsteak, in small, +round, thick pieces. + +"What queer beefsteak!" said one of our Russian friends. "Is there no +other meat?" + +"No, madam." + +We all looked at it for several minutes. We said it was natural, when +invalids drank from three to five bottles of the nourishing kumys a day, +that they should not require much extra food, and that the management +provided what variety was healthy and advisable, no doubt; only we would +have liked a choice; and--what queer steak! + +The first sniff, the first glance at that steak, of peculiar grain and +dark red hue, had revealed the truth to _us_. But we saw that our +Russian friends were not initiated, and we knew that their stomachs were +delicate. We exchanged signals, took a mouthful, declared it excellent, +and ate bravely through our portions. The Russians followed our example. +Well--it was much tenderer and better than the last horseflesh to +which we had been treated surreptitiously; but I do not crave horseflesh +as a regular diet. It really was not surprising at a kumys +establishment, where the horse is worshiped, alive or dead, apparently, +in Tatar fashion. + +That afternoon we made it convenient to take our dinner in town, on the +veranda of a restaurant which overlooked the busy Volga, with its mobile +moods of sunset and thunderstorm, where we compensated ourselves for our +unsatisfactory breakfast by a characteristically Russian dinner, of +which I will omit details, except as regards the soup. This soup was +_botvinya_. A Russian once obligingly furnished me with a description of +a foreigner's probable views on this national delicacy: "a slimy pool +with a rock in the middle, and creatures floating round about." The rock +is a lump of ice (_botvinya_ being a cold soup) in the tureen of +strained _kvas_ or sour cabbage. _Kvas_ is the sour, fermented liquor +made from black bread. In this liquid portion of the soup, which is +colored with strained spinach, floated small cubes of fresh cucumber and +bits of the green tops from young onions. The solid part of the soup, +served on a platter, so that each person might mix the ingredients +according to his taste, consisted of cold boiled sterlet, raw ham, more +cubes of cucumber, more bits of green onion tops, lettuce, crayfish, +grated horseradish, and granulated sugar. The first time I encountered +this really delectable dish, it was served with salmon, the pale, +insipid northern salmon. I supposed that the lazy waiter had brought the +soup and fish courses together, to save himself trouble, and I ate them +separately, while I meditated a rebuke to the waiter and a strong +description of the weak soup. The tables were turned on me, however, +when Mikhei appeared and grinned, as broadly as his not overstrict sense +of propriety permitted, at my unparalleled ignorance, while he gave me a +lesson in the composition of _botvinya_. That _botvinya_ was not good, +but this edition of it on the banks of the Volga, with sterlet, was +delicious. + +We shirked our meals at the establishment with great regularity, with +the exception of morning coffee, which was unavoidable, but we did +justice to its kumys, which was superb. Theoretically, the mares should +have had the advantage of better pasturage, at a greater distance from +town; but, as they cannot be driven far to milk without detriment, that +plan involves making the kumys at a distance, and transporting it to the +"cure." There is another famous establishment, situated a mile beyond +ours, where this plan is pursued. Ten miles away the mares pasture, and +the kumys is made at a subsidiary cure, where cheap quarters are +provided for poorer patients. But, either on account of the +transportation under the hot sun, or because the professional "taster" +is lacking in delicacy of perception, we found the kumys at this rival +establishment coarse in both flavor and smell, in comparison with that +at our hostelry. + +Our mares, on the contrary, were kept close by, and the kumys was +prepared on the spot. It is the first article of faith in the creed of +the kumys expert that no one can prepare this milk wine properly except +Tatars. Hence, when any one wishes to drink it at home, a Tatar is sent +for, the necessary mares are set aside for him, and he makes what is +required. But the second article of faith is that kumys is much better +when made in large quantities. The third is that a kumys specialist, or +doctor, is as indispensable for the regulation of the cure as he is at +mineral springs. The fourth article in the creed is that mares grazing +on the rich plume-grass of the steppe produce milk which is particularly +rich in sugar, very poor in fat, and similar to woman's milk in its +proportion of albumen, though better furnished: all which facts combine +to give kumys whose chemical proportions differ greatly from those of +kumys prepared elsewhere. Moreover, on private estates it is not always +possible to observe all the conditions regarding the choice and care of +the mares. + +At our establishment there were several Tatars to milk the mares and +make the kumys. The wife of one of them, a Tatar beauty, was the +professional taster, who issued her orders like an autocrat on that +delicate point. She never condescended to work, and it was our opinion +that she ought to devote herself to dress, in her many leisure hours, +instead of lounging about in ugly calico sacks and petticoats, as +hideous as though they had originated in a backwoods farm in New +England. She explained, however, that she was in a sort of mourning. Her +husband was absent, and she could not make herself beautiful for any one +until his return, which she was expecting every moment. She spent most +of her time in gazing, from a balcony on the cliff, up the river, toward +the bend backed by beautiful hills, to espy her husband on the steamer. +As he did not come, we persuaded her, by arguments couched in silver +speech, to adorn herself on the sly for us. Then she was afraid that the +missing treasure might make his appearance too soon, and she made such +undue haste that she faithlessly omitted the finishing touch,-- +blacking her pretty teeth. I gathered from her remarks that something +particularly awful would result should she be caught with those pearls +obscured in the presence of any other man when her husband was not +present; but she may have been using a little diplomacy to soothe us. +Though she was not a beauty in the ordinary sense of the Occident, she +certainly was when dressed in her national garb, as I had found to be +the case with the Russian peasant girls. Her loose sack, of a medium but +brilliant blue woolen material, fell low over a petticoat of the same +terminating in a single flounce. Her long black hair was carefully +braided, and fell from beneath an embroidered cap of crimson velvet with +a rounded end which hung on one side in a coquettish way. Her neck was +completely covered with a necklace which descended to her waist like a +breast-plate, and consisted of gold coins, some of them very ancient and +valuable, medals, red beads, and a variety of brilliant objects +harmoniously combined. Her heavy gold bracelets had been made to order +in Kazan after a pure Tatar model, and her soft-soled boots of rose-pink +leather, with conventional designs in many-colored moroccos, sewed +together with rainbow-hued silks, reached nearly to her knees. Her +complexion was fresh and not very sallow, her nose rather less like a +button than is usual; her high cheek-bones were well covered, and her +small dark eyes made up by their brilliancy for the slight upward slant +of their outer corners. + +Tatar girls, who made no pretensions to beauty in dress or features, did +the milking, and were aided in that and the other real work connected +with kumys-making by Tatar men. According to the official programme, the +mares might be milked six or eight times a day, and the yield was from a +half to a whole bottle apiece each time. Milk is always reckoned by the +bottle in Russia. I presume the custom arose from the habit of sending +the _muzhik_ ("Boots") to the dairy-shop with an empty wine-bottle to +fetch the milk and cream for "tea," which sometimes means coffee in the +morning. The mare's milk has a sweetish, almond-like flavor, and is very +thin and bluish in hue. + +At three o'clock in the morning, the mares are taken from the colts and +shut up in a long shed which is not especially weather-proof. In fact, +there is not much "weather" except wind to be guarded against on the +steppe. In about two hours, when the milk has collected, the colts +follow them voluntarily, and are admitted and allowed to suck for a few +seconds. Halters are then thrown about their necks, and they are led +forward where the mothers can nose them over and lick them. The +milkmaid's second assistant then puts a halter on the neck of a mare and +holds her, or ties up one leg if she be restive. In the mean time the +foolish creature continues to let down milk for her foal. The milkmaid +kneels on one knee and holds her pail on the other, after having washed +her hands carefully and wiped off the teats with a clean, damp cloth. If +the mare resists at first, the milk obtained must not be used for kumys, +as her agitation affects the milk unfavorably. Roan, gray, and chestnut +mares are preferred, and in order to obtain the best milk great care +must be exercised in the choice of pasture and the management of the +horses, as well as in all the minor details of preparation. + +The milking-pails are of tin or of oak wood, and, like the oaken kumys +churn, have been boiled in strong lye to extract the acid, and well +dried and aired. In addition to the daily washing they are well smoked +with rotten birch trunks, in order to destroy all particles of kumys +which may cling to them. + +The next step after the milk is obtained is to ferment it. The ferment, +or yeast, is obtained by collecting the sediment of the kumys which has +already germinated, and washing it off thoroughly with milk or water. It +is then pressed and dried in the sun, the result being a reddish-brown +mass composed of the micro-organisms contained in kumys ferment, casein, +and a small quantity of fat. Twenty grains of this yeast are ground up +in a small quantity of freshly drawn milk in a clean porcelain mortar, +and shaken in a quart bottle with one pound of fresh milk,--all mare's +milk, naturally,--after which it is lightly corked with a bit of +wadding and set away in a temperature of +22 degrees to +26 degrees +Reaumur. In about twenty-four hours small bubbles begin to make their +appearance, accompanied by the sour odor of kumys. The bottle is then +shaken from time to time, and the air admitted, until it is in a +condition to be used as a ferment with fresh milk. Sometimes this +ferment fails, in which case an artificial ferment is prepared. + +One pint of ferment is allowed to every five pints of fresh milk in the +cask or churn, and the whole is beaten with the dasher for about an +hour, when it is set aside in a temperature of +18 degrees to +26 +degrees Reaumur. When, at the expiration of a few hours, the milk turns +sour and begins to ferment vigorously, it is beaten again several times +for about fifteen minutes, with intervals, with a dasher which +terminates in a perforated disk, after which it is left undisturbed for +several hours at the same temperature as before, until the liquid begins +to exhale an odor of spirits of wine. The delicate offices of our Tatar +beauty, the taster, come in at this point to determine how much freshly +drawn and cooled milk is to be added in order rightly to temper the sour +taste. After standing over night it is ready for use, and is put up in +seltzer or champagne bottles, and kept at a temperature of +8 degrees to ++12 degrees Reaumur. At a lower temperature vinegar fermentation sets in +and spoils the kumys, while too high a temperature brings about equally +disastrous results of another sort. Kumys has a different chemical +composition according to whether it has stood only a few hours or +several days, and consequently its action differs, also. + +The weak kumys is ready for use at the expiration of six hours after +fermentation has been excited in the mare's milk, and must be put into +the strongest bottles. The medium quality is obtained after from twelve +to fourteen hours of fermentation, and, if well corked, will keep two or +three days in a cool atmosphere. The third and strongest quality is the +product of diligent daily churning during twenty-four to thirty-six +hours, and is thinner than the medium quality, even watery. When +bottled, it soon separates into three layers, with the fatty particles +on top, the whey in the middle, and the casein at the bottom. Strong +kumys can be kept for a very long time, but it must be shaken before it +is used. It is very easy for a person unaccustomed to kumys to become +intoxicated on this strong quality of milk wine. + +The nourishing effects of this spirituous beverage are argued, +primarily, from the example of the Bashkirs and the Kirghiz, who are +gaunt and worn by the hunger and cold of winter, but who blossom into +rounded outlines and freshness of complexion three or four days after +the spring pasturage for their mares begins. Some persons argue that +life with these Bashkirs and an exclusive diet of kumys will effect a +speedy cure of their ailments. Hence they join one of the nomad hordes. +This course, however, not only deprives them of medical advice and the +comforts to which they have been accustomed, but often gives them kumys +which is difficult to take because of its rank taste and smell, due to +the lack of that scrupulous cleanliness which its proper preparation +demands. + +There are establishments near St. Petersburg and Moscow where kumys may +be obtained by those who do not care to make the long journey to the +steppe; but the quality and chemical constituents are very different +from those of the steppe kumys, especially at the best period, May and +June, when the plumegrass and wild strawberry are at their finest +development for food, and before the excessive heats of midsummer have +begun. + +As I have said, when people wish to make the cure on their own estates, +the indispensable Tatar is sent for, and the requisite number of +middle-aged mares, of which no work is required, are set aside for the +purpose. But from all I have heard, I am inclined to think that benefit +is rarely derived from these private cures, and this for several +reasons. Not only is the kumys said to be inferior when prepared in such +small quantities, but no specialist or any other doctor can be +constantly on hand to regulate the functional disorders which this diet +frequently occasions. Moreover, the air of the steppe plays an important +part in the cure. When a person drinks from five to fifteen or more +bottles a day, and sometimes adds the proper amount of fatty, starchy, +and saccharine elements, some other means than the stomach are +indispensable for disposing of the refuse. As a matter of fact, in the +hot, dry, even temperature of the steppe, where patients are encouraged +to remain out-of-doors all day and drink slowly, they perspire kumys. +When the system becomes thoroughly saturated with this food-drink, +catarrh often makes its appearance, but disappears at the close of the +cure. Colic, constipation, diarrhoea, nose-bleed, and bleeding from the +lungs are also present at times, as well as sleeplessness, toothache, +and other disorders. The effects of kumys are considered of especial +value in cases of weak lungs, anaemia, general debility caused by any +wasting illness, ailments of the digestive organs, and scurvy, for which +it is taken by many naval officers. + +In short, although it is not a cure for all earthly ills, it is of value +in many which proceed from imperfect nutrition producing exhaustion of +the patient. There are some conditions of the lungs in which it cannot +be used, as well as in organic diseases of the brain and heart, +epilepsy, certain disorders of the liver, and when gallstones are +present. It is drunk at the temperature of the air which surrounds the +patient, but must be warmed with hot water, not in the sun, and sipped +slowly, with pauses, not drunk down in haste; and generally exercise +must be taken. Turn where we would in those kumys establishments, we +encountered a patient engaged in assiduous promenading, with a bottle of +kumys suspended from his arm and a glassful in his hand. + +Coffee, chocolate, and wine are some of the luxuries which must be +renounced during a kumys cure, and though black tea (occasionally with +lemon) is allowed, no milk or cream can be permitted to contend with the +action of the mare's milk unless by express permission of the physician. +"Cream kumys," which is advertised as a delicacy in America, is a +contradiction in terms, it will be seen, as it is made of cow's milk, +and cream would be contrary to the nature of kumys, even if the mare's +milk produced anything which could rightly pass as such. Fish and fruits +are also forbidden, with the exception of _klubniki_, which accord well +with kumys. _Klubnika_ is a berry similar to the strawberry in +appearance, but with an entirely different taste. Patients who violate +these dietary rules are said to suffer for it,--in which case there +must have been a good deal of agony inside the tall fence of our +establishment, judging by the thriving trade in fruits driven by the old +women, who did not confine themselves to the outside of the gate, as the +rules required, but slipped past the porter and guardians to the house +itself. + +We found the kumys a very agreeable beverage, and could readily perceive +that the patients might come to have a very strong taste for it. We even +sympathized with the thorough-going patient of whom we were told that he +set oft regularly every morning to lose himself for the day on the +steppe, armed with an umbrella against possible cooling breezes, and +with a basket containing sixteen bottles of kumys, his allowance of food +and medicine until sundown. The programme consisted of a walk in the +sun, a drink, a walk, a drink, with umbrella interludes, until darkness +drove him home to bed and to his base of supplies. + +We did not remain long enough, or drink enough kumys, to observe any +particular effects on our own persons. As I have said, we ate in town, +chiefly, after that breakfast of kumys-mare beefsteak and potatoes of +the size and consistency of bullets. During our food and shopping +excursions we found that Samara was a decidedly wide-awake and driving +town, though it seemed to possess no specialties in buildings, +curiosities, or manufactures, and the statue to Alexander II., which now +adorns one of its squares, was then swathed in canvas awaiting its +unveiling. It is merely a sort of grand junction, through which other +cities and provinces sift their products. In kumys alone does Samara +possess a characteristic unique throughout Russia. Consequently, it is +for kumys that multitudes of Russians flock thither every spring. + +The soil of the steppe, on which grows the nutritious plume-grass +requisite for the food of the kumys mares, is very fertile, and immense +crops of rye, wheat, buckwheat, oats, and so forth are raised whenever +the rainfall is not too meagre. Unfortunately, the rainfall is +frequently insufficient, and the province of Samara often comes to the +attention of Russia, or even of the world, as during the dearth in 1891, +because of scarcity of food, or even famine, which is no novelty in the +government. In a district where the average of rain is twenty inches, +there is not much margin of superfluity which can be spared without +peril. Wheat grows here better than in the government just north of it, +and many peasants are attracted from the "black-bread governments" to +Samara by the white bread which is there given them as rations when they +hire out for the harvest. + +But such a singular combination of conditions prevails there, as +elsewhere in Russia, that an abundant harvest is often more disastrous +than a scanty harvest. The price of grain falls so low that the cost of +gathering it is greater than the market value, and it is often left to +fall unreaped in the fields. When the price falls very low, complaints +arise that there is no place to send it, since, when the ruble stands +high, as it invariably does at the prospect of large crops, the demand +from abroad is stopped. The result is that those people who are situated +near a market sell as much grain and leave as little at home as possible +in order to meet their bills. The price rises; the unreaped surplus of +the districts lying far from markets cannot fill the ensuing demand. The +income from estates falls, and the discouraged owners who have nothing +to live on resolve to plant a smaller area thereafter. Estates are +mortgaged and sold by auction; prices are very low, and often there are +no buyers. + +The immediate result of an over-abundant harvest in far-off Samara is +that the peasants who have come hither to earn a little money at reaping +return home penniless, or worse, to their suffering families. Some of +them are legitimate seekers after work; that is to say, they have no +grain of their own to attend to, or they reap their own a little earlier +or a little later, and go away to earn the ready money to meet taxes and +indispensable expenditures of the household, such as oil, and so on. +"_Pri khlyeby bez khlyeby_" is their own way of expressing the +situation, which we may translate freely as "starvation in the midst of +plenty." Thus the extremes of famine-harvest and the harvest which is an +embarrassment of riches are equally disastrous to the poor peasant. + +Samara offers a curious illustration of several agricultural problems, +and a proof of some peculiar paradoxes. The peasants of the neighboring +governments, which are not populated to a particularly dense degree,-- +twenty male inhabitants to a square verst (two thirds of a mile), and +not all engaged in agriculture,--have long been accustomed to look +upon Samara as a sort of promised land. They still regard it in that +light, and endeavor to emigrate thither, for the sake of obtaining +grants of state land, and certain immunities and privileges which are +accorded to colonists. This action is the result of the paradox that +overproduction exists hand in hand with too small a parcel of land for +each peasant! + +Volumes have been written, and more volumes might still be written, on +this subject. But I must content myself here with saying that I believe +there is no province which illustrates so thoroughly all the distressing +features of these manifold and complicated problems of colonization, of +permanent settlements, with the old evils of both landlords and peasants +cropping up afresh, abundant and scanty harvests equally associated with +famine, and all the troubles which follow in their train, as Samara. +Hence it is that I can never recall the kumys, which is so intimately +connected with the name of Samara, without also recalling the famine, +which is, alas, almost as intimately bound up with it. + + + + +XII. + +MOSCOW MEMORIES. + + +St. Petersburg is handsome, grand, impressive. Moscow is beautiful, +poetic, sympathetic, and pervaded by an atmosphere of ancient Russia, +which is indescribable, though it penetrates to the marrow of one's +bones if he tarry long within her walls. Emperor Peter's new capital +will not bear comparison, for originality, individuality, and +picturesqueness with Tzar Peter's Heart of Holy Russia, to which the +heart of one who loves her must, perforce, often return with longing in +after days,--"white-stoned golden-domed, Holy Mother Moscow." + +But a volume of guide-book details, highly colored impressionist +sketches, and dainty miniature painting combined would not do justice to +Moscow. Therefore, I shall confine myself to a few random reminiscences +which may serve to illustrate habits or traits in the character of the +city or the people. + +"'Eography," says Mrs. Booby, in one of the famous old Russian comedies +which we were so fortunate as to witness on the Moscow stage: "Ah! good +heavens! And what are cabmen for, then? That's their business. It's not +a genteel branch of learning. A gentleman merely says: 'Take me to such +or such a place,' and the cabman drives him wherever he pleases." + +Nowadays, it is advisable to be vulgar and know the geography of Moscow, +if one is really enjoying it independently. It is a trifle less +complicated than the geography of the Balkan Principalities, and, unlike +that of the Balkan Principalities, it has its humorous side, which +affords alleviation. The Moscow cabby has now, as in the time of Mrs. +Booby, the reputation of being a very hard customer to deal with. He is +not often so ingenuous, even in appearance, as the man who drove close +to the sidewalk and entreated our custom by warbling, sweetly: "We must +have work or we can't have bread." He is only to be dreaded, however, if +one be genteelly ignorant, after Mrs. Booby's plan. I cannot say that I +ever had any difficulty in finding any place I wanted, either with the +aid (or hindrance) of an _izvostchik_, or on foot, in Moscow or other +Russian towns. But for this and other similar reasons I acquired a +nickname among the natives,--_molodyetz_, that is to say, a dashing, +enterprising young fellow, the feminine form of the word being +nonexistent. A Russian view of the matter is amusing, however. + +"I never saw such a town in which to hunt up any one," said a St. +Petersburg man in Moscow to me. "They give you an address: 'Such and +such a street, such a house.' For instance, 'Green Street, house of Mr. +Black.' You go. First you get hold of the street in general, and +discover that the special name applies only to one block or so, two or +three versts away from the part where you chance to have landed. Moscow +is even more a city of magnificent distances, you know, than St. +Petersburg. Next you discover that there is no 'house of Mr. Black.' Mr. +Black died, respected and beloved, God be with him! a hundred years ago +or less, and the house has changed owners three times since. So far, it +is tolerably plain sailing. Then it appears that the house you are in +search of is not in the street at all, but tucked in behind it, on a +parallel lane, round several corners and elbows." (I will explain, in +parenthesis, that the old system of designating a house by the name of +the owner, which prevailed before the introduction of numbers, still +survives extensively, even in Petersburg.) + +"The next time you set out on a search expedition," continued my +informant, after a cup of tea and a cigarette to subdue his emotions, +"you insist on having the number of the house. Do you get it? Oh yes! +and with a safeguard added, 'Inquire of the laundress.' [This was a +parody on, "Inquire of the Swiss," or "of the yard-porter."] You start +off in high feather; number and guide are provided, only a fool could +fail to find it, and you know that you are a person who is considered +rather above the average in cleverness. But that is in Petersburg, and I +may as well tell you at once that clever Petersburgers are fools +compared to the Moscow men, in a good many points, such as driving a +hard bargain. Well, suppose that the house you want is No. 29. You find +No. 27 or No. 28, and begin to crow over your cleverness. But the next +house on one side is No. 319, and the house on the other side is No. 15; +the one opposite is No. 211, or No. 7, or something idiotic like that, +and all because the city authorities permit people to retain the old +district number of the house, to affix the new street number, or to post +up both at their own sweet will! As you cannot find the laundress to +question, under the circumstances, you interview every Swiss +[hall-porter], yard-porter, policeman, and peasant for a verst round +about; and all the satisfaction you get is, 'In whose house? That is Mr. +Green's and this is Mr. Bareboaster's, and yonder are Count Thingumbob's +and Prince Whatyoumaycall's.' So you retreat once more, baffled." +Fortifying himself with more tea and cigarettes, the victim of Moscow +went on:-- + +"But there is still another plan. [A groan.] The favorite way to give an +address is, 'In the parish of Saint So-and-So.' It does n't pin you down +to any special house, street, or number, which is, of course, a decided +advantage when you are hunting for a needle in a haystack. And the +Moscow saints and parishes have such names!" Here the narrator's +feelings overcame him, and when I asked for some of the parochial titles +he was too limp to reply. I had already noticed the peculiar +designations of many churches, and had begun to suspect myself of +stupidity or my cabman and other informants of malicious jesting. Now, +however, I investigated the subject, and made a collection of specimens. +These extraordinary names are all derived--with one or two exceptions +for which I can find no explanation--from the peculiarities of the +soil in the parish, the former use to which the site of the church was +put, or the avocations of the inhabitants of its neighborhood in the +olden times, when most of the space outside of the Kremlin and China +Town was devoted to the purveyors and servants of the Tzars of Muscovy. + +St. Nicholas, a very popular saint, heads the list, as usual. "St. +Nicholas on Chips" occupies the spot where a woodyard stood. "St. +Nicholas on the Well," "St. Nicholas Fine Chime," are easily understood. +"St. Nicholas White-Collar" is in the ancient district of the court +laundresses. "St. Nicholas in the Bell-Ringers" is comprehensible; but +"St. Nicholas the Blockhead" is so called because in this quarter dwelt +the imperial hatmakers, who prepared "blockheads" for shaping their +wares. "St. Nicholas Louse's Misery" is, probably, a corruption of two +somewhat similar words meaning Muddy Hill. "St. Nicholas on Chickens' +Legs" belonged to the poulterers, and was so named because it was raised +from the ground on supports resembling stilts. "St. Nicholas of the +Interpreters" is in the quarter where the Court interpreters lived, and +where the Tatar mosque now stands. Then we have: "The Life-Giving +Trinity in the Mud," "St. John the Warrior" and "St. John the Theologian +in the Armory," "The Birth of Christ on Broadswords," "St. George the +Martyr in the Old Jails," "The Nine Holy Martyrs on Cabbage-Stalks," on +the site of a former market garden, and the inexplicable "Church of the +Resurrection on the Marmot," besides many others, some of which, I was +told, bear quite unrepeatable names, probably perverted, like the last +and like "St. Nicholas Louse's Misery," from words having originally +some slight resemblance in sound, but which are now unrecognizable. + +Great stress is laid, in hasty books of travel, on the contrasts +presented by the Moscow streets, the "palace of a prince standing by the +side of the squalid log hut of a peasant," and so forth. That may, +perhaps, have been true of the Moscow of twenty or thirty years ago. In +very few quarters is there even a semblance of truth in that description +at the present day. The clusters of Irish hovels in upper New York among +the towering new buildings are much more picturesque and noticeable. The +most characteristic part of the town, as to domestic architecture, the +part to which the old statements are most applicable, lies between the +two lines of boulevards, which are, in themselves, good places to study +some Russian tastes. For example, a line of open horse-cars is run all +winter on the outer boulevard, and appreciated. Another line has the +centre of its cars inclosed, and uninclosed seats at the ends. The +latter are the most popular, at the same price, and as for heating a +street-car, the idea could never be got into a Russian brain. A certain +section of the inner boulevard, which forms a sort of slightly elevated +garden, is not only a favorite resort in summer, but is thronged every +winter afternoon with people promenading or sitting under the +snow-powdered trees in an arctic fairyland, while the mercury in the +thermometer is at a very low ebb indeed. It is fashionable in Russia to +grumble at the cold, but unfashionable to convert the grumbling into +action. On the contrary, they really enjoy sitting for five hours at a +stretch, in a temperature of 25 degrees below zero, to watch the +fascinating horse races on the ice. + +In the districts between the boulevards, one can get an idea of the town +as it used to be. In this "Earth Town" typical streets are still to be +found, but the chances are greatly against a traveler finding them. They +are alleys in width and irregularity, paved with cobblestones which seem +to have been selected for their angles, and with intermittent sidewalks +consisting of narrow, carelessly joined flagstones. The front steps of +the more pretentious houses must be skirted or mounted, the street must +be crossed when the family carriage stands at the door, like the most +characteristic streets in Nantucket. Some of the doorplates--which are +large squares of tin fastened over the _porte cochere_, or on the gate +of the courtyard--bear titles. Next door, perhaps, stands a log house, +flush with the sidewalk, its moss calking plainly visible between the +huge ribs, its steeply sloping roof rising, almost within reach, above a +single story; and its serpent-mouthed eave-spouts ingeniously arranged +to pour a stream of water over the vulgar pedestrian. The windows, on a +level with the eyes of the passer-by, are draped with cheap lace +curtains. The broad expanse of cotton wadding between the double windows +is decorated, in middle-class taste, with tufts of dyed grasses, colored +paper, and other execrable ornaments. Here, as everywhere else in +Moscow, one can never get out of eye-shot of several churches; white +with brilliant external frescoes, or the favorite mixture of crushed +strawberry and white, all with green roofs and surmounted with domes of +ever-varying and original forms and colors, crowned with golden crosses +of elaborate and beautiful designs. Ask a resident, whether prince or +peasant, "How many churches are there in 'Holy Moscow town'?" The answer +invariably is, "Who knows? A forty of forties," which is the old +equivalent, in the Epic Songs, of incalculable numbers. After a while +one really begins to feel that sixteen hundred is not an exaggerated +estimate. + +Very few of the streets in any part of the town are broad; all of them +seem like lanes to a Petersburger, and "they are forever going up and +down," as a Petersburg cabman described the Moscow hills to me, in +serious disapproval. He had found the ground too excitingly uneven and +the inhabitants too evenly dull to live with for more than a fortnight, +he confessed to me. Many of the old mansions in the centre of the town +have been converted into shops, offices, and lodgings; and huge, modern +business buildings have taken the places formerly occupied, I presume, +by the picturesque "hovels" of the travelers' tales. + +One of the most interesting places in the White Town to me was the huge +foundling asylum, established by Katherine II., immediately after her +accession to the throne. There are other institutions connected with it, +such as a school for orphan girls. But the hospital for the babies is +the centre of interest. There are about six hundred nurses always on +hand. Very few of them have more than one nursling to care for, and a +number of babies who enter life below par, so to speak, are accommodated +with incubators. The nurses stand in battalions in the various large +halls, all clad alike, with the exception of the woolen _kokoshnik_,-- +the coronet-shaped headdress with its cap for the hair,--which is of a +different color in each room. It requires cords of "cartwheels"--the +big round loaves of black bread--to feed this army of nurses. If they +are not fed on their ordinary peasant food, cabbage soup and sour black +bread, they fall ill and the babies suffer, as no bottles are used. + +The fact that the babies are washed every day was impressed on my mind +by the behavior of the little creatures while undergoing the operation. +They protested a little in gentle squeaks when the water touched them, +but quieted down instantly when they were wiped. It is my belief that +Russian children never cry except during their bath. I heard no +infantile wailing except in this asylum, and very little there. Many +Russian mothers of all ranks still tie up their babies tightly in +swaddling clothes, on the old-fashioned theory that it makes their limbs +straight. But these foundlings are not swaddled. After its bath, the +baby is laid on a fresh, warm, linen cloth, which is then wrapped around +it in a particular manner, so that it is securely fastened without the +use of a single pin. Two other cloths, similarly wrapped, complete the +simple, comfortable toilet. This and another Russian habit, that of +allowing a baby to kick about in its crib clad only in its birthday +suit, I commend to the consideration of American mothers. + +The last thing in the asylum which is shown to visitors is the manner in +which the babies are received, washed, weighed, and numbered. It was +early in December when I was there, but the numbers on the ivory disks +suspended from the new arrivals' necks were a good many hundred above +seventeen thousand. As they begin each year with No. 1, I think the +whole number of foundlings for that particular year must have been +between eighteen and nineteen thousand. The children are put out to +board, after a short stay at the asylum, in peasant families, which +receive a small sum per month for taking care of them. When the boys +grow up they count as members of the family in a question of army +service, and the sons of the family can escape their turn, I was told, +if matters are rightly managed. The girls become uniformed servants in +the government institutions for the education of girls of the higher +classes, or marry peasants. + +The most famous of the gates which lead from the White Town through the +white, machicolated walls into China Town* is the Iversky, or gate of +the Iberian Virgin. The gate has two entrances, and between these +tower-crowned openings stands a chapel of malachite and marble, gilded +bronze and painting. The Iversky Virgin who inhabits the chapel, though +"wonder-working," is only a copy of one in the monastery on Mount Athos. +She was brought to Russia in 1666, and this particular chapel was built +for her by Katherine II. Her garment and crown of gold weigh between +twenty-seven and twenty-eight pounds, and are studded with splendid +jewels. But the Virgin whom one sees in the chapel is not even this +copy, but a copy of the copy. The original Virgin, as we may call the +first copy for convenience, is in such great demand for visits to +convents and monasteries, to private houses and the shops of wealthy and +devout merchants, that she is never at home from early morn till late at +night, and the second copy represents her to the thousands of prayerful +people of all classes, literally, who stop to place a candle or utter a +petition. The original Virgin travels about the town, meanwhile, in a +blue coach adorned with her special device, like a coat of arms, and +drawn by six horses; and the persons whom she honors with a visit offer +liberal gifts. The heads of her coachman, postilions, and footman are +supposed to be respectfully bared in all weathers, but when it is very +cold these men wind woolen shawls, of the nondescript, dirt color, which +characterizes the hair of most peasants, adroitly round their heads, +allowing the fringe to hang and simulate long locks. The large image of +the Virgin, in its massive frame, occupies the seat of honor. A priest +and a deacon, clad in crimson velvet and gold vestments, their heads +unprotected, even in the most severe weather, by anything but their own +thick hair, sit respectfully with their backs to the horses. When the +Virgin drives along, passers-by pause, salute, and cross themselves. +Evidently, under these circumstances, it is difficult for a foreigner to +get a view of the original Virgin. We were fortunate, however. Our first +invitation in Moscow was from the Abbess of an important convent to be +present at one of the services which I have mentioned,--a sort of +invocation of the Virgin's blessing,--in her cell, and at the +conclusion of the service we were asked if we would not like to "salute +the Virgin" and take a sip of the holy water "for health." Of course we +did both, as courtesy demanded. Some time after that, as we were driving +along the principal street of China Town, I saw an imposing equipage +approaching, and remarked, "Here comes the Iversky Virgin." + +* Ancient Moscow, lying in a walled semicircle just outside the walls of +the Kremlin. All the trading was done on the "Red Square," where the +Gostinny Dvor now stands, and all Oriental merchants were known by the +common designation of "Chinese." At the present day "Chinese" has been +replaced by "German," to designate foreigners in general. + +"Excuse me, madam," said my cabman,--I had not addressed him, but as I +had spoken involuntarily in Russian he thought I had,--"it is not the +Virgin, it is only the Saviour. Don't you see that there are only four +horses?" + +"Very true; and St. Sergius drives with three, and St. Pantaleimon with +two,--do they not? Tell me, which of them all would you ask to visit +you, if you wished a blessing?" + +"St. Pantaleimon is a good, all-round saint, who helps well in most +cases," he replied thoughtfully. This seemed a good opportunity to get a +popular explanation of a point which had puzzled me. + +"Which," I asked, "is the real miraculous Iversky Virgin?--the one in +the chapel, the one who rides in the carriage, or the original on Mount +Athos?" + +"It is plain that you don't understand in the least," answered my +_izvostchik_, turning round in his seat and imperiling our lives by his +driving, while he plunged into the subject with profound earnestness. +"None of them is the Virgin, and all of them are the Virgin. All the +different Virgins are merely different manifestations of the Virgin to +men. The Virgin herself is in heaven, and communicates her power where +she wills. It is like the Life-giving Trinity." Assuming that as a +foreigner, and consequently a heretic, I did not understand the doctrine +of the Trinity, he proceeded to expound it, and did it extremely well. I +lent half an ear in amazement to him, and half an ear I reserved for the +objurgations of the drivers who were so good as to spare our lives in +that crowded thoroughfare while my theological lesson was in progress. + +While I am speaking of this unusual cabman, I may mention some unusual +private coachmen in Moscow who use their masters' sledges and carriages +for public conveyances while their owners are safely engaged in theatre +or restaurant. I do not think that trick could be played in Petersburg. +I found it out by receiving an amazingly reasonable offer from a very +well-dressed man with a superb gray horse and a fine sledge. As we +dashed along at lightning speed, I asked the man whether he owned that +fine turnout or worked on wages. "I own it myself," he said curtly. +Therefore, when I alighted, I slipped round behind the sledge and +scrutinized it thoroughly under the gaslight. The back was decorated +with a monogram and a count's coronet in silver! After that I never +asked questions, but I always knew what had happened when I picked up +very comfortable equipages at very reasonable rates in places which were +between gas lanterns and near theatres and so forth. + +I should not be doing my duty by a very important factor in Russian life +if I omitted an illustration of the all-pervading influence of +"official" rank, and the prestige which acquaintance with officialdom +lends even to modest travelers like ourselves. It was, most +appropriately, in the Kremlin, the heart of Russia, that we were favored +with the most amusing of the many manifestations of it which came within +our experience. We were looking at the objects of interest in the +Treasury, when I noticed a large, handsomely bound book, flanked by pen +and ink, on a side table. I opened the book, but before I could read a +word an attendant pounced upon me. + +"Don't touch that," he said peremptorily. + +"Why not? If you do not wish people to look at this collection of +ancient documents,--I suppose that is what it is,--you should lock +it up, or label it 'Hands off!'" + +"It is n't ancient documents, and you are not to touch it," he said, +taking the book out of my hands. "It is strictly reserved for the +signatures of _distinguished_ visitors,--crowned heads, royal princes, +ambassadors, and the like." + +"Then it does not interest me in the least, and if you would label it to +that effect, no one would care to disturb it," I said. + +Very soon afterwards we were joined by one of the powerful officials of +the Kremlin. He had made an appointment to show us about, but was +detained for a few moments, and we had come on alone and were waiting +for him. As we went about with him the attendants hovered respectfully +in the rear, evidently much impressed with the friendly, unofficial tone +of the conversation. When we had made the round with much deliberation, +we excused our official friend to his duties, saying that we wished to +take another look at several objects. + +No sooner was he gone than the guardian of the autograph album pounced +upon us again, and invited us to add our "illustrious" names to the +list. I refused; he entreated and argued. It ended in his fairly +dragging us to the table and standing guard over us while we signed the +sacred book. I did not condescend to examine the book, though I should +have been permitted then; but--I know which three royal princes +immediately preceded us. + +As I am very much attached to the Russian Church, anything connected +with it always interested me deeply. One of the prominent features of +Moscow is the number of monasteries and convents. The Russian idea of +monastic life is prayer and contemplation, not activity in good works. +The ideal of devout secular life is much the same. To meet the wants in +that direction of people who do not care to join the community, many of +the convents have small houses within their inclosures, which they let +out to applicants, of whom there is always an abundance. The occupants +of these houses are under no restrictions whatever, except as to +observing the hours of entry and exit fixed by the opening and closing +of the convent gates; but, naturally, it is rather expected of them that +they will attend more church services than the busy people of "the +world." The sight of these little houses always oppressed me with a +sense of my inferiority in the matter of devoutness. I could not imagine +myself living in one of them, until I came across a group of their +occupants engaged in discussing some racy gossip with the nuns on one of +the doorsteps. Gossip is not my besetting weakness, but I felt relieved. +Convents are not aristocratic institutions in Russia as they are in +Roman Catholic countries, and very few ladies by birth and education +enter them. Those who do are apt to rise to the post of abbess, +influential connections not being superfluous in any calling in Russia +any more than in other countries. + +If I were a nun I should prefer activity. I think that contemplation, +except in small doses, is calculated to produce stupidity. Illustration: +I was passing along a street in Moscow when my eye fell upon an elderly +nun seated at the gate of a convent, with a little table whereon stood a +lighted taper. Beside the taper, on a threadbare piece of black velvet, +decorated with the customary cross in gold braid, lay a few copper coins +before a dark and ancient _ikona_. Evidently, the public was solicited +to contribute in the name of the saint there portrayed, though I could +not recollect that the day was devoted to a saint of sufficient +importance to warrant the intrusion of that table on the narrow +sidewalk. I halted and asked the nun what day it was, and who was the +saint depicted in the image. She said she did not know. This seemed +incredible, and I persisted in my inquiry. She called a policeman from +the middle of the street, where he was regulating traffic as usual, and +asked him about the _ikona_ and the day, with the air of a helpless +child. Church and State set to work guessing with great heartiness and +good-will, but so awkwardly that it was the easiest thing in the world +for me to refute each successive guess. When we tired of that, I gave +the nun a kopek for the entertainment she had unconsciously afforded, +and thanked the policeman, after which the policeman and I left the good +nun sitting stolidly at the receipt of custom. + +Quite at the opposite pole was my experience one hot summer day in the +Cathedral of the Assumption, where the emperors have been crowned for +centuries; or, to speak more accurately, the two poles met and embraced +in that church, the heart of the heart of Holy Russia. The early +Patriarchs and Metropolitans are buried in this cathedral in superb +silver-gilt coffins. Of these, the tomb and shrine of Metropolitan Jona +seems to be the goal of the most numerous pilgrimages. I stood near it, +in the rear corner of the church, one Sunday morning, while mass was in +progress. An unbroken stream of people, probably all of them pilgrims to +the Holy City, her saints and shrines, passed me, crossed themselves, +knelt in a "ground reverence," kissed the saint's coffin, then the hand +of the priest, who stood by to preserve order and bless each person as +he or she turned away. To my surprise, I heard many of them inquire the +name of the shrine's occupant _after_ they had finished their prayers. +After the service and a little chat with this priest, who seemed a very +sensible man, we went forward to take another look at the Vladimir +Virgin, the most famous and historical in all Russia, in her golden +case. A gray-haired old army colonel, who wore the Vladimir cross, +perceiving from our speech that we were foreigners, politely began to +explain to us the noteworthy points about the church and the Virgin. It +soon appeared, however, that we were far more familiar with them all +than he was, and we fell into conversation. + +"I am stationed in Poland," he said, "and I have never been in Moscow +before. I am come on a pilgrimage to the Holy City, but everything is so +dear here that I must deny myself the pleasure of visiting many of the +shrines in the neighborhood. It is a great happiness to me to be present +thus at the mass in my own _pravoslavny_ church, and in Moscow." + +"But there are Orthodox churches in Poland, surely," I said. + +"Yes," he replied, "there are a few; and I go whenever I get a chance." + +"What do you do when you have not the chance?" + +"I go to whatever church there is,--the Roman Catholic, the Lutheran, +the Synagogue." + +"Is that allowed?" I asked. I knew very well that Russians attend Roman +Catholic and Protestant churches when abroad, as a matter of course, +though I had not before heard of the Synagogue in the list, and I wished +to hear what the earnest old colonel would say. + +"Why not? why should n't I?" he replied. "We all go to church to worship +God and to pray to Him. Does it matter about the form or the language? A +man has as much as he can do to be a Christian and an honest man,-- +which are two very different things nowadays, apparently,--without +troubling himself about those petty details." + +It is almost superfluous to say that we swore friendship with the +colonel on the spot, on those foundations. Our acquaintance ended with +our long talk there in the cathedral, since we could not well stop in +Poland to accept the delightful old officer's invitation to visit him +and his wife. But the friendship remains, I hope. + +When he left us, a young fellow about seventeen years of age, who had +been standing near us and listening to the last part of our conversation +with an air of profound and respectful interest which obviated all trace +of impertinence, stepped up and said:-- + +"May I have the pleasure of showing you about the cathedral? You seem to +appreciate our Russian ways and thoughts. I have taken a good deal of +interest in studying the history and antiquities of my native city, and +I may be able to point out a few things to you here." + +He was a pleasant-faced young fellow, with modest, engaging manners; a +student in one of the government institutions, it appeared. He looked +very cool and comfortable in a suit of coarse gray linen. He proved to +be an admirable cicerone, and we let him escort us about for the +pleasure of listening, though we had seen everything many times already. +I commented on his knowledge, and on the evident pride which he took in +his country, and especially in his church, remarking that he seemed to +be very well informed on many points concerning the latter, and able to +explain the reasons for things in an unusual way. + +"Yes," he answered, "I am proud and fond of my country and my church. +We Russians do not study them as we should, I am ashamed to say. There, +for instance, is my cousin, Princess----, who is considered a very +well-informed young woman on all necessary points. She was to make her +communion, and so some one brought her to the church while the Hours +were being read, as is proper, though she usually comes very much later. +She had not been there ten minutes before she began to ask: 'When does +the Sacrament come? Is n't it pretty soon?' and she kept that up at +short intervals, despite all I could do to stop her. I am quite sure," +he added, "that I need not explain to you, though you are a foreigner, +where the Hours and the Sacrament come in the service?" + +"No: the Hours precede the Liturgy, and the administration of the +Sacrament comes very nearly at the end of all." + +"Exactly. You understand what a disgrace such ignorance was on my +cousin's part." + +He was charming, amusingly frank on many points which I had supposed to +be rather delicate with members of the "Orthodox" (as I must call it for +the lack of a possible English equivalent for _pravoslavny_) Russian +Church, but so well-bred and intelligent, withal, that we were sincerely +sorry to say good-by to him at the door of our hotel. + + + + +XIII. + +THE NIZHNI NOVGOROD FAIR AND THE VOLGA. + + +The most picturesque and appropriate way of reaching Nizhni Novgorod is +by the Volga, with which its life is so intimately connected, and the +most characteristic time to see the Volga steamers is on the way +upstream during the Fair. + +What an assortment of people we had on board! To begin with, our boat +was commanded by a Vice-Admiral in full uniform. His family was with +him, spending the summer on board sailing up and down the river between +Nizhni Novgorod and Astrakhan. + +The passengers over whom the vice-admiral ruled were delightfully +varied. There were Russians from every quarter of the empire, and of as +many races, including Armenians. One of the latter, an old man with a +physiognomy not to be distinguished, even by our Russian friends who +were traveling with us, from that of a Jew, seemed to take no interest +in anything except in telling over a short rosary of amber beads, and +standing guard at all stopping-places over his cabin, which he was +determined to occupy alone, though he had paid but one fare. After he +had done this successfully at several landing-places and had consigned +several men to the second cabin, an energetic man appealed to the +admiral. It required some vigorous language and a threat to break open +the door if the key were not forthcoming, before the admiral could +overcome the resistance of the obstinate old Armenian, who protested, in +very bad Russian, that he was very ill indeed, and should certainly die +if any one entered his cabin. He was still alive when we reached the end +of our voyage, and had cleverly made his cabin-mate pay for all his +food. + +Among the second-class passengers was a party of students returning to +the University of Kazan. They exhibited all degrees of shabbiness, but +this was only the modest plumage of the nightingale, apparently. For +hours they sang songs, all beautiful, all strange to us, and we listened +entranced until tea, cigarettes, and songs came to an end in time to +permit them a few hours of sleep before we reached their landing. The +third-class passengers, who were also lodged on the upper deck, aft, +included Tatars and other Mohammedans from the Orient, who spread their +prayer-rugs at sundown and went through their complicated devotions with +an air of being quite oblivious to spectators. Several got permission +from the admiral to ascend to the hurricane deck. But this, while +unnecessary as a precaution against crowding or interference from their +numerous Russian fellow-passengers, rendered them more conspicuous; and +even this was not sufficient to make the instinctively courteous +Russians stare at or notice them. + +The fourth-class passengers were on the lower deck. Among them was a +company of soldiers in very shabby uniforms, who had been far down the +river earning a little money by working in the harvest fields, where +hands are always too few, and who were returning to garrison at Kazan. +Some enterprising passengers from Astrakhan had laid in a large stock of +the delicious round watermelons and luscious cantaloupe melons. By the +time we reached Kazan, there were not many melons left in that +improvised shop on the lower deck, Russians are as fond of watermelons +as are the American negroes. + +At Samara we had seen enormous bales of camel's-hair, weighing upwards +of eight hundred pounds, in picturesque mats of red, yellow, and brown, +taken on board for the Fair. The porters seemed to find it easy to carry +them on their backs, aided only by a sort of small chair-back, with a +narrow, seat-like projection at the lower end, which was fastened by +straps passing over the shoulders and under the arms. When we left +Kazan, I noticed that a huge open barge was being towed upstream +alongside us, that it was being filled with these bales, to lighten the +steamer for the sand-bars and shallows of the upper river, and that a +monotonous but very musical cadence was being repeated at intervals, in +muffled tones, somewhere on board. I went down to the cargo department +of the lower deck and found the singers,--the herculean porters. One +after another they bent their backs, and two mates hoisted the huge +bales, chanting a refrain which enabled them to move and lift in unison. +The words were to the following effect: "If all don't grasp together, we +cannot lift the weight." The music was sad, but irresistibly sweet and +fascinating, and I stood listening and watching until the great barge +was filled and dropped behind, for the company's tug to pick up and tow +to Nizhni with a string of other barges. + +It is probably a vulgar detail, but I must chronicle the fact that the +cooking on these Volga steamers--on the line we patronized, at least +--is among the very best to be found in Russia, in my experience. On +the voyage upstream, when they are well supplied with sterlet and other +fish, all alive, from Astrakhan, the dinners are treats for which one +may sigh in vain in the capitals of St. Petersburg and Moscow, with +their mongrel German-French-Russian cookery. The dishes are very +Russian, but they are very good. + +I remember one particularly delicious concoction was composed of fresh +sterlet and sour cabbage, with white grapes on top, baked to a brown +crispness. + +We arrived at our wharf on the Volga front of the old town of Nizhni +Novgorod about five o'clock in the afternoon. Above us rose the steep +green hills on whose crest stood the Kremlin, containing several ancient +churches, the governor's house, and so forth. On a lower terrace, to +right and left, stood monasteries and churches intermingled with shops +and mediocre dwellings. The only noteworthy church was that in front of +us, with its picturesque but un-Russian rococo plaster decoration on red +brick, crowned by genuine Russian domes and crosses of elaborately +beautiful patterns. + +But we did not pause long to admire this part of the view, which was +already familiar to us. What a change had come over the scene since we +had bidden it farewell on our way downstream! Then everything was dead, +or slumbering, except the old town, the city proper; and that had not +seemed to be any too much awake or alive. The Fair town, situated on the +sand-spit between the Volga and the mouth of the Oka, stood locked up +and deserted, as it had stood since the close of last year's Fair. Now, +as we gazed over the prow of the steamer, we could see the bridge across +the Oka black with the swarming masses of pedestrians and equipages. + +The steamer company allows its patrons to sleep (but not to eat) on +board the night after arrival and the night before starting, and we +availed ourselves of the privilege, having heard that it was often no +easy matter to secure accommodations in the Fair, and having no +intention of returning to our former hotel, miles from all the fun, in +the upper town, if we could help it. + +The only vacant rooms in the Fair seemed to be at the "best hotel," to +which we had been recommended, with a smile of amusement which had +puzzled us, by a Moscow friend, an officer in the army. Prices were very +high at this hotel, which, like American summer hotels, is forced to +make its hay for the year during the season of six weeks, after which it +is locked up. Our room was small; the floor, of rough boards, was bare; +the beds were not comfortable. For the same price, in Petersburg or +Moscow, we should have had a spacious room on the _bel etage_, +handsomely furnished, with rugs on an inlaid floor. + +Across one corner of the dining-room was built a low platform, on which +stood a piano. We soon discovered its use. Coming in about nine o'clock +in the evening, we ordered our _samovar_ for tea in the dining-room,-- +a most unusual place. The proper place was our own room. But we had +found a peculiar code of etiquette prevailing here, governed by +excessive modesty and propriety, no doubt, but an obstructionist +etiquette, nevertheless. The hall-waiter, whose business it is to serve +the _samovar_ and coffee, was not allowed to enter our room, though his +fellows had served us throughout the country, after the fashion of the +land. Here we were compelled to wait upon the leisure of the +chambermaid, a busy and capricious person, who would certainly not be on +hand in the evening if she was not in the morning. Accordingly, we +ordered our tea in the dining-room, as I have said. Presently, a chorus +of girls, dressed all alike, mounted the platform, and sang three songs +to an accompaniment banged upon the piano by a man. Being violently +applauded by a long table-full of young merchants who sat near, at whom +they had been singing and staring, without any attempt at disguise, and +with whom they had even been exchanging remarks, they sang two songs +more. They were followed by another set of girls, also in a sort of +uniform costume, who sang five songs at the young merchants. It appeared +that one party was called "Russian singers," and the other "German +singers." We found out afterwards, by watching operations on another +evening, that these five songs formed the extent of their respective +repertories. + +A woman about forty-five years of age accompanied them into the room, +then planted herself with her back against the wall near us, which was +as far away from her charges as space permitted. She was the +"sheep-dog," and we soon saw that, while discreetly oblivious of the +smiles, glances, and behavior of her lambs,--as all well-trained +society sheep-dogs are,--she kept darting sharp looks at us as though +we were doing something quite out of the way and improper. By that time +we had begun to suspect, for various reasons, that the Nizhni Fair is +intended for men, not for--ladies. But we were determined quietly to +convince ourselves of the state of affairs, so we stood our ground, +dallied with our tea, drank an enormous quantity of it, and kept our +eyes diligently in the direction where those of the sheep-dog should +have been, but never were. + +Their very bad singing over, the lambs disappeared to the adjoining +veranda. The young merchants slipped out, one by one. The waiters began +to carry great dishes of peaches, and other dainty fruits,--all worth +their weight in gold in Russia, and especially at Nizhni,--together +with bottles of champagne, out to the veranda. When we were satisfied, +we went to bed, but not to sleep. The peaches kept that party on the +veranda and in the rooms below exhilarated until nearly daylight. I +suppose the duenna did her duty and sat out the revel in the distant +security of the dining-room. Several of her charges added a number of +points to our store of information the next day, at the noon breakfast +hour, when the duenna was not present. + +We began to think that we understood our Moscow friend's enigmatic +smile, and to regret that we had not met him and his wife at the Fair, +as we had originally arranged to do. + +The far-famed Fair of Nizhni Novgorod--"Makary," the Russians call it, +from the town and monastery of St. Makary, sixty miles farther down the +Volga, where it was held from 1624 until the present location was +adopted in 1824--was a disappointment to us. There is no denying that. +Until railways and steamers were introduced into these parts, and +facilitated the distribution of goods, and of commonplaceness and +monotony, it probably merited all the extravagant praises of its +picturesqueness and variety which have been lavished upon it. The +traveler arrives there with indefinite but vast expectations. A fancy +dress ball on an enormous scale, combined with an International +Exposition, would seem to be the nearest approach possible to a +description of his confused anticipations. That is, in a measure, what +one sees; and, on the other hand, it is exactly the reverse of what he +sees. I must confess that I think our disappointment was partly our own +fault. Had we, like most travelers who have written extravagantly about +the Fair, come to it fresh from a stay of (at most) three weeks in St. +Petersburg and Moscow only, we should have been much impressed by the +variety of types and goods, I have no doubt. But we had spent nearly two +years in the land, and were familiar with the types and goods of the +capitals and of other places, so that there was little that was new to +us. Consequently, though we found the Fair very interesting, we were not +able to excite ourselves to any extravagant degree of amazement or +rapture. + +The Fair proper consists of a mass of two-story "stone" (brick and +cement) buildings, inclosed on three sides by a canal in the shape of a +horseshoe. Through the centre runs a broad boulevard planted with trees, +ending at the open point of the horseshoe in the residence occupied by +the governor during the Fair (he usually lives in the Kremlin of the +Upper Town), the post-office, and other public buildings. Across the +other end of the boulevard and "rows" of the Gostinny Dvor, with their +arcades full of benches occupied by fat merchants or indolent visitors, +and serving as a chord to the arc of the horseshoe, run the "Chinese +rows," which derive their name from the style of their curving iron +roofs and their ornaments, not from the nationality of the merchants, or +of the goods sold there. It is, probably, a mere accident that the +wholesale shops for overland tea are situated in the Chinese rows. It is +a good place to see the great bales of "Kiakhta tea," still in their +wrappings of rawhides, with the hair inside and the hieroglyphical +addresses, weights, and so forth, cut into the skins, instead of being +painted on them, just as they have been brought overland from Kiakhta on +the Chinese border of Siberia. Here, also, rises the great Makary +Cathedral, which towers conspicuously above the low-roofed town. Inside +the boundary formed by this Belt Canal, no smoking is allowed in the +streets, under penalty of twenty-five rubles for each offense. The +drainage system is flushed from the river every night; and from the +ventilation towers, which are placed at short intervals, the blue smoke +of purifying fires curls reassuringly. Great care is necessary in this +department, and the sanitary conditions, though as good as possible, are +never very secure. The whole low sandspit is often submerged during the +spring floods, and the retreating waters leave a deposit of slime and +debris behind them, which must be cleared away, besides doing much +damage to the buildings. + +The peculiarity of this Makary Fair is that nothing is sold by sample, +in modern fashion; the whole stock of goods is on hand, and is delivered +at once to purchasers. The taciturn, easy-going merchants in those +insignificant-looking shops of the Gostinny Dvor "rows," and, to a small +extent, in the supplementary town which has sprung up outside the canal, +set the prices for tea and goods of all sorts all over Russia and +Siberia for the ensuing year. Contracts for the future are dated, and +last year's bills fall due, at "Makary." It is hard to realize. + +All the firms with whose shops we had been familiar in Petersburg and +Moscow had establishments here, and, at first, it seemed not worth while +to inspect their stocks, with which we felt perfectly acquainted. But we +soon discovered that our previous familiarity enabled us to distinguish +certain articles which are manufactured for the "Fair" trade +exclusively, and which are never even shown in the capitals. For +example, the great porcelain houses of St. Petersburg manufacture large +pipe-bowls, ewers (with basins to match) of the Oriental shape familiar +to the world in silver and brass, and other things, all decorated with a +deep crimson bordering on magenta, and with gold. The great silk houses +of Moscow prepare very rich and very costly brocades of this same deep +crimson hue, besprinkled with gold and with tiny bouquets of bright +flowers, or in which the crimson is prominent. They even copy the large, +elaborate patterns from the robes of ancient Doges of Venice. All these, +like the pipes and ewers, are made to suit the taste of customers in +Bokhara and other Eastern countries, where a man's rank is, to a certain +degree, to be recognized by the number and richness of the _khalati_ +which he can afford to wear at one time. This is one of the points in +which the civilization of the East coincides very nearly with the +civilization of the West. The _khalat_ is a sort of dressing-gown, with +wide sleeves, which is girt about the waist with a handsome shawl; but +it would strike a European that eight or ten of these, worn one on top +of the other, might conduce to the preservation of vanity, but not to +comfort, in the hot countries where the custom prevails. The Bokhariots +bring to the Fair _khalati_ of their own thin, strong silk, in hues more +gaudy than those of the rainbow and the peacock combined, which are +always lined with pretty green and white chintz, and can be bought for a +very reasonable price in the Oriental shops, together with jeweled arms +and ornaments, rugs, and a great variety of fascinating wares. + +The choicest "overland" tea--the true name is "Kiakhta tea"--can be +had only by wholesale, alas! and it is the same with very many things. +There are shops full of rolls of _sarpinka_, a fine, changeable gingham +in pink and blue, green and yellow, and a score of other combinations, +which washes perfectly, and is made by the peasants far down the Volga, +in the season when agricultural labor is impossible. There are furs of +more sorts than the foreign visitor is likely ever to have seen before; +iron from the Ural mines by the ton, on a detached sand-spit in the Oka +River; dried and salted fish by the cord, in a distant, too odorous +spot; goldsmiths' shops; old-clothes shops, where quaint and beautiful +old costumes of Russia abound; Tatar shops, filled with fine, +multi-colored leather work and other Tatar goods, presided over by the +stately Tatars from whom we had bought at Kazan; shops piled with every +variety of dried fruit, where prime Sultana raisins cost forty cents for +a box of one hundred and twenty pounds. Altogether, it is a varied and +instructive medley. + +We learned several trade tricks. For example, we came upon the agency of +a Moscow factory, which makes a woolen imitation of an Oriental silken +fabric, known as _termalama_. The agent acknowledged that it was an +imitation, and said that the price by the piece was twenty-five cents a +yard. In the Moscow Oriental shops the dealers sell it for eight times +that price, and swear that it is genuine from the East. A Russian friend +of ours had been cheated in this way, and the dealers attempted to cheat +us also,--in vain, after our Nizhni investigations. + +Every one seemed to be absorbed in business, to the exclusion of every +other thought. But sometimes, as we wandered along the boulevard, and +among the rows, we found the ground of the Gostinny Dvor strewn with +fresh sprays of fragrant fir, which we took at first to be a token that +a funeral had occurred among some of the merchants' clerks who lived +over the shops. However, it appeared that a holy picture had been +carried along the rows, and into the shops of those who desired its +blessing on their trade, and a short service had been held. The "zeal" +of these numerous devout persons must have enriched the church where the +_ikona_ dwelt, judging from the number, of times during our five days' +stay that we came upon these freshly strewn paths. + +The part of the Fair which is most interesting to foreigners in general, +I think, is the great glass gallery filled with retail booths, where +Russians sell embroidery and laces and the handiwork of the peasants in +general; where Caucasians deal in the beautiful gold and silver work of +their native mountains; where swarthy Bokhariots sit cross-legged, with +imperturbable dignity, among their gay wares, while the band plays, and +the motley crowd bargains and gazes even in the evening when all the +other shops are closed. + +I learned here an extra lesson in the small value attached by Russians +to titles in themselves. It was at the Ekaterinburg booth, where +precious and semi-precious stones from the Ural and Siberia, in great +variety and beauty, were for sale. A Russian of the higher classes, and, +evidently, not poor, inquired the price of a rosary of amethysts, with a +cross of assorted gems fit for a bishop. The attendant mentioned the +price. It did not seem excessive, but the bargainer exclaimed, in a +bantering tone,-- + +"Come now, prince, that's the fancy price. Tell me the real price." + +But the "prince" would not make any reduction, and his customer walked +away. I thought I would try the effect of the title on the Caucasians +and Bokhariots. I had already dropped into the habit of addressing +Tatars as "prince," except in the case of hotel waiters,--and I might +as well have included them. I found to my amusement that, instead of +resenting it as an impertinence, they reduced the price of the article +for which I was bargaining by five kopeks (about two and a half cents) +every time I used the title, though no sign of gratification disturbed +the serene gravity of their countenances any more than if they had been +Americans and I had addressed them as "colonel" or "judge," at +haphazard. Truly, human nature varies little under different skies! But +I know now, authoritatively, that the market value of the title of +"prince" is exactly two and a half cents. + +One evening we drove across the bridge to take tea at a garden on the +"Atkos," or slope,--the crest of the green hill on which stands the +Kremlin. In this Atkos quarter of the town there are some really fine +houses of wealthy merchants, mingled with the curious old dwellings of +the merely well-to-do and the poor. In the garden the tea was not very +good, and the weedy-looking chorus of women, the inevitable adjunct to +every eating establishment at the Fair, as we had learned, sang +wretchedly, and were rewarded accordingly when one of their number came +round to take up a collection. But the view! Far below, at our feet, +swept broad "Matushka Volga." The wharves were crowded with vessels. +Steamers and great barges lay anchored in the stream in battalions. +Though the activity of the day was practically over, tugs and small +boats were darting about and lending life to the scene. We were on the +"Hills" side of the river. Far away, in dreamy dimness, lay the flat, +blue-green line of the "Forests" shore. On our left was the mouth of the +Oka, and the Fair beyond, which seemed to be swarming with ants, lay +flat on the water level. The setting sun tinged the scene with pale rose +and amber in a mild glow for a while, and then the myriad lights shone +out from the city and river with even more charming effect. + +Our next visit to the old town was in search of a writer who had +published a couple of volumes of agreeable sketches. It was raining +hard, so we engaged an _izvostchik_ who was the fortunate possessor of +an antiquated covered carriage, with a queer little drapery of scarlet +cotton curtains hanging from the front of the hood, as though to screen +the modesty of "the young person" from the manners, customs, and sights +of the Fair,--about which, to tell the truth, the less that is said in +detail the better. Certainly, more queer, old-fashioned carriages and +cabmen's costumes are to be seen at the Fair than anywhere else in the +country. As we were about to enter our antique conveyance, my mother's +foot caught in the braid on the bottom of her dress, and a long strip +gave way. + +"I must go upstairs and sew this on before we start," said she, +reentering the hotel. + +The _izvostchik_ ran after us. "Let me sew it on, Your High Well-born," +he cried. Seeing our surprise, he added, "God is my witness,--_yay +Bogu!_ I am a tailor by trade." + +His rent and faded coat did not seem to indicate anything of the sort, +but I thought I would try him, as I happened to have a needleful of silk +and a thimble in my pocket. I gave them to him accordingly. He knelt +down and sewed on the braid very neatly and strongly in no time. His +simple, friendly manner was irresistibly charming. I cannot imagine +accepting such an offer from a New York cabby,--or his offering to do +such a job. + +When we reached the old town, I asked a policeman where to find my +author. I thought he might be able to tell me at once, as the town is +not densely populated, especially with authors;--and for other +reasons. He did not know. + +"Then where is the police office or the address office?" I asked. (There +is no such thing as a directory in Russian cities, even in St. +Petersburg. But there is an address office where the names and +residences on passports are filed, and where one can obtain the address +wanted by paying a small fee, and filling out a form. But he must know +the baptismal name and the patronymic as well as the surname, and, if +the person wanted be not "noble," his profession or trade in addition!) + +"There is no address office," he answered, "and the police office is +closed. It is after four o'clock. Besides, if it were open, you could +not find out there. We keep no record here, except of soldiers and +strangers." + +I thought the man was jesting, but after questioning him further, I was +forced to conclude that it might be true, thought it certainly was +amazing. As the author in question had been sent to Siberia once or +twice, on the charge of complicity in some revolutionary proceedings, it +did seem as though the police ought to be able to give his address, if +Russia meant to live up to the reputation for strict surveillance of +every soul within her borders which foreigners have kindly bestowed upon +her. + +As a house-to-house visitation was impossible, I abandoned the quest, +and drove to a photographer's to buy some views of the town. The +photographer proved to be a chatty, vivacious man, and full of +information. I mentioned my dilemma to him. He said that the policeman +had told the exact truth, but that my author, to his positive knowledge, +was in the Crimea, "looking up material." Then he questioned me as to +what we had seen at the Fair, mentioning one or two places of evening +entertainment. I replied that we had not been to those places. I had +understood that they were not likely to suit my taste. Had I been +rightly informed, or ought I to have gone to them in spite of warning? + +"No," he replied frankly, after a momentary hesitation, "you ought not +to see them. But all the American women do go to them. There was a party +here last year. O-o-o-oh, how they went on! They were told, as you have +been, that they ought not to go to certain places; so of course they +went, and took the men in the party with them,--which was just as +well. I'd have given something to see their faces at the time, or even +afterwards! An Englishman, who had traveled everywhere, and had seen +everything, told me that nowhere, even in India, had he seen the like of +the doings at this Fair; and he was greatly shocked." He added that an +officer could not appear at these places in uniform. + +I begged the photographer to remember in future that there were several +sorts of American women, and that not all of them worked by the law of +contraries. In my own mind I wondered what those particular women had +done, and wished, for the hundredth time, that American women abroad +would behave themselves properly, and not earn such a reputation for +their country-people. + +On Sunday we went to the Armenian church, to see the service and to meet +some Armenian acquaintances. We found the service both like and unlike +the Russian, in many points approaching more nearly to the Greek form. +The music was astonishing. An undercurrent of sound, alternating between +a few notes, was kept up throughout the service, almost without a break. +At times, this undercurrent harmonized with the main current of intoning +and chanting, but quite as often the discord was positively distressing. +Perceiving that we were strangers, the Armenians showed their +hospitality in an original way. First, when one of the congregation went +forward to the chancel railing and received from the priest the triple +kiss of peace, which he then proceeded to communicate to another person, +who passed it on in dumb show, and so on through the whole assembly, +neither men nor women would run the risk of offending us by offering the +simulated kiss. Secondly, and more peculiar, besides throwing light on +their motives in omitting the kiss, they deliberately passed us by when +they brought round the plate for the collection! This was decidedly +novel! A visit to the Armenian church in St. Petersburg convinced us +that the discordant music was not an accident due to bad training, but +deliberate and habitual. I noticed also that the men and women, though +they stood on opposite sides of the church, as with the Russian Old +Ritualists, with the women on the left,--in the State Church, at +Court, the women stand on the right,--they crossed themselves from +left to right, like Roman Catholics, instead of the other way about, as +do the Russians. + +As we were exploring the Tatar shops at noon, we heard the muezzin +calling to prayer from the minaret of the mosque close by, and we set +off to attend the service. If we had only happened to have on our +galoshes, we might have complied with etiquette by removing them, I +suppose, and could have entered in our shoes. At least, the Russian +policeman said so, and that is very nearly what the Tatars did. They +kicked off the stiff leather slippers in which they scuff about, and +entered in their tall boots, with the inset of frosted green pebbled +horsehide in the heel, and soft soles, like socks. As it was, we did not +care to try the experiment of removing our shoes, and so we were obliged +to stand in the vestibule, and look on from the threshold. Each Tatar, +as he entered, pulled out the end of his turban, and let it float down +his back. Where the turban came from for the prayers, I do not know. +None of the Tatars had worn a turban in the shops from which they had +just come in large numbers, abandoning the pressing engagements of the +busy noontide. Several individuals arrived very late, and decided not to +enter. All of these late comers, one after the other, beckoned me +mysteriously out of sight of the congregation and the _mollah_, and +whispered eagerly:-- + +"How do you like it?" + +"_Very_ much," I answered emphatically; whereupon they exhibited signs +of delight which were surprising in such grave people, and even made a +motion to kiss my hand. + +At least, that is what the motion would have meant from a Russian. Next +to the magnificent ceremonial of the Russian Church, the opposite +extreme, this simplicity of the congregational Mussulman worship is the +most impressive I have ever seen. + +The manner of our departure from Nizhni Novgorod was characteristically +Russian,--but not by our own choice. We decided to go on up the Volga +by steamer, see the river and a few of the towns, and return from some +point, by rail, to Moscow. + +The boat was advertised to start from the wharf, in the old town, at six +o'clock in the evening. We went aboard in good season, and discovered +that there were but three first-class staterooms, the best of which (the +only good one, as it afterwards appeared) had been captured by some +friends of the captain. We installed ourselves in the best we could get, +and congratulated each other when the steamer started on time. We had +hardly finished the congratulations when it drew up at another wharf and +made fast. Then it was explained to us that it was to load at this +wharf, at the "Siberian Landing," a point on the Volga shore of the Fair +sand-spit, miles nearer our hotel than the one to which we had driven +through torrents of rain. We were to make our real start at ten o'clock +that night! The cold was piercing. We wrapped ourselves up in our wadded +cloaks and in a big down quilt which we had with us, and tried to sleep, +amid the deliberate bang-bang-bang of loading. When the cargo was in we +slept. When we woke in the morning we began to exchange remarks, being +still in that half comatose condition which follows heavy slumber. + +"What a delightfully easy boat!" "Who would have expected such +smoothness of motion from such an inferior-looking old craft?" "It must +be very swift to have no motion at all perceptible. Whereabouts are we, +and how much have we missed?" + +I rose and raised the blind. The low shore opposite and far away, the +sandy islet near at hand, the river,--all looked suspiciously like +what our eyes had rested upon when we went to bed the night before. We +would not believe it at first, but it was true, that we had not moved a +foot, but were still tied up at the Siberian Landing. Thence we returned +to the town wharf, no apologies or explanations being forthcoming or to +be extracted, whence we made a final start at about nine o'clock, only +fifteen hours late! And the company professed to be "American"! + +Progress up the river was slow. The cold rain and wind prevented our +availing ourselves of the tiny deck. The little saloon had no outlook, +being placed in the middle of the boat. The shores and villages were not +of striking interest, after our acquaintance with the lower Volga. For +hours all the other passengers (chiefly second-class) were abed, +apparently. I returned to my cabin to kill time with reading, and +presently found the divan and even the floor and partition walls +becoming intolerably hot, and exhaling a disagreeable smell of charred +wood. I set out on a tour of investigation. In the next compartment to +us, which had the outward appearance of a stateroom, but was inclosed on +the outside only by a lattice-work, was the smoke-pipe. The whistle was +just over our heads, and the pipe almost touched the partition wall of +our cabin. That partly explained the deadly chill of the night before, +and the present suffocating heat. I descended to the lower deck. There +stood the engine, almost as rudimentary as a parlor stove, in full sight +and directly under our cabin; also close to the woodwork. It burned +wood, and at every station the men brought a supply on board; the +sticks, laid across two poles in primitive but adequate fashion, being +deposited by the simple process of widening the space between the poles, +and letting the wood fall on the deck with a noise like thunder. The +halts and "wooding up" seemed especially frequent at night, and there +was not much opportunity for sleep between them. Our fear of being +burned alive also deprived us of the desire to sleep. We were nearly +roasted, as it was, and had to go out on the deck in the wind and rain +at short intervals, to cool off. + +There was nothing especially worthy of note at any of the landings, +beyond the peculiar windmills, except at Gorodetz, which is renowned for +the manufacture of spice-cakes, so the guide-book said. I watched +anxiously for Gorodetz, went ashore, and bought the biggest "spice-cake" +I could find from an old woman on the wharf. All the other passengers +landed for the same purpose, and the old woman did a rushing business. +After taking a couple of mouthfuls, I decided that I was unable to +appreciate the merits of my cake, as I had been, after repeated efforts, +to appreciate those of a somewhat similar concoction known under the +name of "Vyazemsky." So I gave the cake to the grateful stewardess, and +went out on deck to look at a ray of sunlight. + +"Where's your cake?" asked a stern voice at my elbow. The speaker was a +man with long hair and beard, dressed like a peasant, in a conical fur +cap and a sheepskin coat, though his voice, manner, and general +appearance showed that he belonged to the higher classes. Perhaps he was +an "adept" of Count Tolstoy, and was merely masquerading in that +costume, which was very comfortable, though it was only September. + +"I gave it to the stewardess," I answered meekly, being taken by +surprise. + +"What! Didn't you eat it? Don't you know, madam, that these spice-cakes +are renowned for their qualities all over Russia, and are even carried +to the remotest parts of Siberia and of China, also, I believe, in great +quantities? [He had got ahead of the guide-book in that last +particular!] _Why_ didn't you eat it?" + +"It did not taste good; and besides, I was afraid of indigestion. It +seemed never to have been cooked, unless by exposure to the sun, and it +was soggy and heavy as lead. You know there has been a great deal of +rain lately, and what sun we have even now is very pale and weak, hardly +adapted to baking purposes." + +This seemed to enrage my hairy mentor, and he poured out a volume of +indignant criticism, reproach, and ejaculations, all tangled up with +fragments of cookery receipts, though evidently not the receipt for the +Gorodetz cakes, which is a secret. The other passengers listened in +amazement and delight. When he paused for breath, I remarked:-- + +"Well, I don't see any harm in having bestowed such a delicate luxury on +the poor stewardess. Did any of you think to buy a cake for her? And why +not? I denied myself to give her pleasure. Look at it in that light for +a while, sir, if my bad taste offends you. And, in the mean while, tell +me what has inspired you with the taste to dress like a peasant?" + +That settled him, and he retreated. That evening he and the friend with +whom he seemed to be traveling talked most entertainingly in the little +saloon, after supper. The friend, a round, rosy, jolly man, dressed in +ordinary European clothes, was evidently proud of his flow of language, +and liked to hear himself talk. Actors, actresses, and theatres in +Russia, from the middle of the last century down to the present day, +were his favorite topic, on which he declaimed with appropriate gestures +and very noticeable management of several dimples in his cheeks. As a +matter of course, he considered the present day degenerate, and lauded +the old times and dead actors and actresses only. It seemed that the +longer they had been dead, the higher were their merits. He talked very +well, also, about books and social conditions. + +The progress of the weak-kneed steamer against wind and current was very +slow and uncertain, and we never knew when we should reach any given +point. Even the mouths of the rivers were not so exciting or important +in nature as they used to look to me when I studied geography. I +imparted to the captain my opinion that his engine was no better than a +_samovar_. He tried hard to be angry, but a glance at that ridiculous +machine convinced him of the justice of my comparison, and he broke into +a laugh. + +We left the steamer at Yaroslavl (it was bound for Rybinsk), two hundred +and forty-one miles above Nizhni-Novgorod, and got our first view of the +town at daybreak. It stands on the high west bank of the river, but is +not so picturesque as Nizhni. Access to the town is had only through +half a dozen cuts and ravines, as at Nizhni; and what a singular town it +is! With only a little over thirty thousand inhabitants, it has +seventy-seven churches, besides monasteries and other ecclesiastical +buildings. There are streets which seem to be made up chiefly of +churches,--churches of all sizes and colors, crowned with beautiful +and fantastic domes, which, in turn, are surmounted by crosses of the +most charming and original designs. + +Yaroslavl, founded in 1030, claims the honor of having had the first +Russian theatre, and to have sheltered Biron, the favorite of the +Empress Anna Ioannovna (a doubtful honor this), with his family, during +nineteen years of exile. But its architectural hints and revelations of +ancient fashions, forms, and customs, are its chief glory, not to be +obscured even by its modern renown for linen woven by hand and by +machinery. For a person who really understands Russian architecture,-- +not the architecture of St. Petersburg, which is chiefly the invention +of foreigners,--Yaroslavl and other places on the northern Volga in +this neighborhood, widely construed, are mines of information and +delight. However, as there are no books wherewith a foreigner can inform +himself on this subject, any attempt at details would not only seem +pedantic, but would be incomprehensible without tiresome explanations +and many illustrations, which are not possible here. I may remark, +however, that Viollet-le-Duc and Fergusson do not understand the subject +of Russian architecture, and that their few observations on the matter +are nearly all as erroneous as they well can be. I believe that very few +Russians even know much scientifically about the development of their +national architecture from the Byzantine style. Yaroslavl is a good +place to study it, and has given its name to one epoch of that +development. + +With the exception of the churches, Yaroslavl has not much to show to +the visitor; but the bazaar was a delight to us, with its queer pottery, +its baskets for moulding bread, its bread-trays for washtubs, and a +dozen other things in demand by the peasants as to which we had to ask +explanations. + +Breezy, picturesque Yaroslavl, with its dainty, independent cabbies, who +object to the mud which must have been their portion all their lives, +and reject rare customers rather than drive through it; with its +churches never to be forgotten; its view of the Volga, and its typical +Russian features! It was a fitting end to our Volga trip, and fully +repaid us for our hot-cold voyage with the _samovar_ steamer against the +stream, though I had not believed, during the voyage, that anything +could make up for the tedium. If I were to visit it again, I would +approach it from the railway side and leave it to descend the river. But +I would not advise any foreigner to tackle it at all, unless he be as +well prepared as we were to appreciate its remarkable merits in certain +directions. + +A night's journey landed us in Moscow. But even the glories of Moscow +cannot make us forget the city of Yaroslaff the Great and Nizhni +Novgorod. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Russian Rambles, by Isabel F. 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