Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1858-08-21
MISCELLANY.
From the Edgcfold Advertiser.
Russian Items.

Russian Items.
From letter, dated ST Petersburg, 18th
July, VIC pluck q few passages that may
not prove unintcresting to the inqusitivc
reader We do so at our risk, as no single
part of the letter was designed otherwise
than as aprivate correspondence, Should
the distant writer see this he must excuse
our liberty; if he will not, he can Just step
over the branch and take his satisfaction
out of us bodily--who's afraid?
owe came through London, Paris, Bcr-
lin, &C., on our way Found vcrything
very expensive and the real comforts Of
life not near equal to those of our own
country, They have no conception, for in
stance, of comfortable bedrooms and beds.
Everything in parlors and for show They
have no touching knowledge of homc.-
Tho magniticcncc of their parks and public
buildings is beyond description An indi-
vidual existence and domestic rcposc seem
lost, or forgotten, in European society.
"Wcstern Europe is fcudal in It's organ
izution; and although the fcudal system
was well adapted to dcvclope the energies
of masses of people, and to call forth mill
tary ardor and national yigor, yet it was
never calculated to cultivate the private and
social virtues. All Russia, on the other
hand, is Asiatic in its social institutions
based upon a system contradistinguishcd
from the fcudal by it's patrinrchial features,
which tend much more to dcvclopc private
attachments than home virtues. Any one
will be struck with this the moment he en-
ters Russia. The higher class are extreme
ly kind, familiar and hospitablc--more like
the people of our own South than any |
have ever seen. Although they live in so
cold country, they are warm and genial
4 have met with ladies and gentlemen
whose manners are exactly like the kindcst
and most cordial of our best society in the
country.
Very hot weather now in st. Peters
burg-quite as hot us at homc--indccd the
mornings are precisely such as VIC have
there, but the sun is more intense and OPP
prcssive at noon.
"Sun sets at 10 o'clock and rises at half
past 2. One can see to read at midnight.
We ride In the most beautiful drives you
ever imagined, amid splendid country seats
and palaces, until IL O'Clock in the evening,
at that time precisely like our sunset
We take tea about II o'clock, and break
fast at III in the morning.
"Ihc river Neva runs all through the
city, and is the sweetest and clcarcst water
i ever saw, except the mountain streams of
our own country. We drink of its water,
which is far the best have found in Kit
rope. Every one warned us against it as
dangerous, but We all drink it freely to the
astonishmcnt of the natives. j. b.
has fattencd on it. The secret of it is, that
1T is pure frcestonc and nearly all Europe
is accustomed to limestone. We, being
raised ON tho former, know know how 10 enjoy Il
"There are about 20 cases of cholera a
day in the hospital, but this is very healthy;
when they reach one thousand day, it
will be considered sickly. The cholera is
always here, winter and summer. If you
were to sec tho filth of the lower caasses
and how they live, you would not be sur
prisedat it.
"The gentleman of the upper class here
are fine looking and clcap (?)-thc women
ugly--but men and women of the lower
class shocking. ..s
"They have here tho finest horses ev-
er saw--bcautiful blacks, and occasionally
grays They seem to be of high blood
originally came from Turkey. They seem
too to be the best broke horses in the world.
We drive at the rate of 10 miles an hour,
and faster, amid all sorts of carriages, and
never an accident. A carriage, with dri-
ycr and good horses, costs about s140 per
month
The churches are gorgeous covered
with gold on their steeplcs, which arc seen
at great distance The st. Isaac Church
is the most gorgeous thing ever conceived
of. Two hundred and iifty pounds of pure
gold N4efo used in gliding the ccntre dome
on top; then there arc largo coInmns of
solid malachitc stone inside, bcsidessaphyro,
and all sorts of MOSAIC strachues and col,
umns also diamonds, and rubics, &C., &C.,
set around paintings and crosses without
number, IT is said to have cost ono l,.n.
dred and thirty-two millions Of dollars
"Sucb superstition ] mover behcld--Iat-