Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1847-04-08
RUSSIAN SKETCHES.
BY J. Won LITTRow.

/ FROM a notice In inc Westminster REVIEW
DOMESTIC LIFE.
The consumption of tea in Russia is en-
ormous, and Won Lttrow says that the arti-
Gle is so cheap as to be within the means of
the poorest classes, and that it is of much
better quality than that imported by England
or Holland, which has its fine favour inn
paired by the sea voyge. The Russians, he
says, procure all their tea from Kiachta,
whence it is carried overland; but we know
that, of late years, at least the English have
regularly imported large quantities into o.
dessa, where they can considerably under
sell the native merchants, partly in conse-
quence of the obstructive commercial poll
cy of the government and partly of its neg
lect to improve the means of internal COM
munication. Sugar being very expensive,
the humber classes use honey instead of it.
The Russian honey is cheap, and of a deli
cious favour, incomparably superior to the
produce of our hives. 1t is of green col
our, and is made by the wild bees that inhab-
it the linden woods Raisins are a very ia
vourlte appendage to the tea-table among the
common people. The beverage is prepared
in tin or copper vessel called SamoUar,
which is generally of an urn shape.
The moment visitor enters a room, he
is Immediately followed by the samoUar,
which the servant brings in as matter of
course, without waiting for special orders.
| The mistress of the house always takes her
cups with her visitor, and as she receives
many calls, particularly on Sundays and hol-
idays, it is not at all unusual for her to drink
upwards of twenty cups in the course ofthe
day without feeling any inconvenience from
1t. The practice is carried to still greater
excess by the men, especially by the petty
traders. Often have | seen parties of these
kupzi, just arrived from Journey, sitting
down in their bear-skin cloaks, covered with
ice and snow, before huge samovar and a
great dish of raisins, and not quitting the
table until both were empty. Each might
have swallowed some two dozen cups during
the sitting; and the perspiration caused by
such quantity of scaldng hot liquid was
so great, that the water ran in streams down
their shaggy faces, which they were obliged
to wipe and mop without ceasing. But they
must have felt quite comfortable, for not one
of them took off his heavy cloak to tighten,
what seemed to me, his laborious work.
The samovar is the Russians constant ac-
compartment, and is to be found in the poor
est hut. How often when on entering one
of these, in which everything betokened
great penury, / saluted the inmates with the
usual question kak 2hi0iOSh ?-( How do you
live y, l was answered with phrase express
sive of cheerful contentedness, which has
become in manner proverbial, StaUa Be-
ga, chieb yeSt, samoan yeSt, nitcheUO ne ma
damna, Thank God, there is bread, there
is the samovar, we want nothing more
Instead of being prejudicial to health, this
free use of a warm beverage is perhaps ne
cessary to the preservation of life in such a
climate.
1t is not unusual for sitting rooms to be
heated to 80 Reaumur (999 Fahrenheit),
whilst the temperature out of doors is as ma
ny degrees below Zero. Now, as the in
mates of such rooms must leave them more
or less every day, and expose themselves to
the open air. they thus undergo sudden
change of temperature of fully 60s (l35o
Fahrenheit), which not even Russian con-
stitution can endure. unless peculiar precau-
tons were taken, The middle-dged foreign
err who settles in these regions, and chooses
to adhere to the customs of his own warm
er country, generally succumbs quickly to
the severity of the climate. In Perm, for
instance, town that is south of the latitude
of st. Petersburg, | was told by young
German, who had been settled there for six
years, that not one This countrymen, whom
he had found there on his arrival, still sur
vived. Within these six years. he said,
Il have followed more than twenty German
fathers of families to the grave, and / should
probably myself have had like fate, if had
not arrived here in my twenty-third year, at
an age when the constitution is sufficiently
plastic to accommodate itself to new out
ward circumstances. The Russians, he
added, know this very well, and they look
on every foreigner who comes amongst tnem
in his fortieth year, as certainly destined to
die soon. Thus the parents all die OIL pre-
maturely, but their children in general thrive
very WE'LL The frequent and sudden ex-
change of hot room for the cold outer air
produces a malady peculiar to those north
ern regions, and which is the more appalling
since il must be remedied on the instant,
otherwise it will be rapidly fatal, or will end
in very distressing chronic malady The
strongest and heaithiest man, if he puts one
foot out of the room, or if the door or WIN,
dow is opened for a moment, is often seizeu
with an uneasy sensation, which Is illlheui-
ately followed by. an extreme disturbance OF
his whole system, the consequence OF the
sudden suppression of persplration, great
WEAKNESS in the limbs, feeling in the ex-
temities ais if they would drop off, piercing
headache, and burning in the eyes, are
the first symptoms OF the disorder, and II