The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1866-12-08 00:00:00

A RUSSIAN TRAKTIN.

Our next visit was to a genuine Russian Traktin.
aitside, the place, which stood in one of the main
streets, looked like a very respectable second-class
eating-houee ; an, indeed, I believe it is. Entering by
a clean staircase enough, you again paid a few kopecks
at a wooden wicket, where you might leave your furs
if you chore, and paned into a low well-lit room. At
one corner there was a bar, with caviar, salmon sand-
wiche-i, sardines, pickled herrings, and glasses of tea.
Behind was a goodly array of bottles of all sorts and
sizes. Tables were placed about the room, and at the
if it there was a small theatre, almost level with
the fl or. Opening out of this entrance ball there
were half-a-dozen dining rooms, with sofas and cur-
tains, all shabby, soiled, and tawdry, but not without
a pretence at elegance. In the centre one stood a
great barrel organ, which kept on all day and night
gentling out its scanty repertoire of operatic tunes. All
about the place there were parties of men and women,
or rather boys and girls, seated drinking. The class and
condition of the former were more doubtful, of the lat-
ter less en. than in the music-halls. Some of the men had
the aspect of respectable tradesmen, some of common
Moujike ; but the majority were young workmen who
had got a little money together, and were come
here to mend it in a sort of sottieh, stupid dissipation.
At the different supper tables tea and beer were being
drunk in some inatances, but wodka was the atticle
most in request. The women, who were admitted free
of payment, moved about from table to table romping
in a rough kind of play with anybody who aspired
to the pleasure of their acquaintance, but chiefly
engaged in stimulating the consumption of strong
liquids. The ugliest part of the business was the extreme
youth of these poor creatures. None of them looked
over twenty; many were little, unformed chits of
girls, who scarcely appeared to be more than twelve or
thirteen. In every room there was the never.failing
picture of the Saviour or the Virgin encased in gilt ;
anti I observed that both men and women always
crossed themselves when they rose from table after
eating. The amusements provided for tbe entertain-
ment of thecompany were not very varied. Every now
and then the curtain rose, and we were favoured with
ecomic recitation. A gentleman, with the crushed
white hat and the traditional red nose, which in all
parts of the world I have visited, seem to be considered
essential for the performance of comic melodies, came
forward to the footlights with the standard reeling
walk, crushed his hat down on the hick of his head and
gave a recitation interspersed with matches of songs. It
rounded very theme% ass! could not mideretand sword of
it; possibly, judging from comic songs I hay° heard in
languages I can speak, I should have deemed it still
more die-cal if I bad understood every word of it.
However, the audience cheered, and demanded the
song over and over again. My guide told me it was
coarse, but humoroue. I am inclined to think his
judgment was more likely tube correct upon the first
than upon the second of its reputed attributes. Then,
when the audience had grown tired of listening, or
rather when the hoarse, spirit-cracked voice of the
singer had become so worn out as to be hardly audible,
a company of musicians took their places on the stage,
and began playing quadrille music with an utter dis-
regard for time or harmony. As soon as the strains
of the music were heard, the company came flocking
into the room from the different apartments, and the
women began dancing, while the men looked on and
drank. In a clumsy way, some of the female per-
formers imitoted the cancan ; but to do them justice,
the dancing was, for the place, decent enough. The I
men hardly smoked at AIL Very few of the
women went without cigarettes in their mouths.
There was not much noise, and no violent quar.
telling. My guide declared that, before the
place closed, which might be at any hour in
the morning, everybody would be drunk. While I was
there I saw numbers of persons the worse for liquor,
but I observed no eases of violent intoxication. All
the Traktins I visited hal the same family features.
In each of them were found the organ, the decked-out
painted women, the long rows of tables, covered vrith
full glasses and empty bottles, the cracked brazen in-
atruniental music, and the pictures of the M minima I
and her Son. One was the counterpart of the other, a
little lees gaudy, perhaps, or somewhat cleaner, but
the same in all essential points. The merriment was
nowhere wild or furious, and I believe there are few
capitals in the world where, if you chose to search for '
them, you might not find wanes of dissipation and
debauch infinitely worse than anything presented at ,
these St. Petersburg Traktins. What struck me
most about them, indeed, wag their comparative re- "
spectability. 'They were all obviously the resorts of
decent working people, of small tradesmen—of a clams,
in fact, very much above the lowest. They were the
places in which them people pans their evenings; and
yet one and all had the same stamp of vice noon them
—not, indeed, very gross or flagrant, but still palpable
enough.