, 1864-04-17

ON FIRE.

Lfa0fQlnafy adventures " ~ SuC4uefeu. .llte.
the Northern, Il hit, laTga schooner trailing
between Hull and st. Petersburg. A 1onr
acouaintance with the vicissltudes Of the
Ruesinu clImate had made me somewhat
reckless. The consequence was, that one OF
the ath Of October liaa iound ny ,1 Eessel light
In nv eauefuees to take tull cargo oftimber.
and t was Justly punished for my telnerity
a prisoner I'LL the middle or end of April, TAI
aWay IRON nv friends. and doing whit alIT-,
ery-stabl,s;.keePer would e.ll M ':e3ating own
Being. however, of . sanguine tempera-.
Ious about, I resolved TO make the brst Gift.
and euIoy myself. AZ well as I. could. I saw
uu the sights Of St. Petersburg, Ifom Peter
the greats wooden house down to the nam.
tug. / drove about in sledges. I fell In love
and fell out ngain. Nor did i neglect bust
meas. i frequently attended the exchange.
md made myself known TO the chief tallow,
hemp, and timber merchants: I studied.
Russian copamerce: arranged Tor cargoes
are yery hosptiab}e, and, thanks to the kind
uees Of Nj. Anderson, the Euglish Banker.
nv hotel expenses were very small Ny fur
coats were my chief e1pepse;. they cost me
/. q large sum then; but Teckoned that they
wordd last me my life, and SO they hase-at
lE2&El wear lueu1 ~ A0io ANJs
Neyc1thr1vss. pined for the hour of libcr-
ty, An Idle lie did not euft man Of my
temrerament-one who had been at SEA ever
sircs he Was twelve years old Like all sail
ois, l WAS never happy away from It. At
last the order of MT release came. The Ice on
the Eeya, opposite the custom house especi-
nils, began to melt into thin bars au inch OF
SO wide. 1t became dangerous to venture on
It, except where it Vas piled With snow. The
fce-elnbs On the quay began to break, when l
pushed them with my stick, Into CLASSY frag-
ments. Here and there some spaces began to
open, and dirty brown snow water pooled on
tie surface. There had been several warm
soon melted the walls Of my crystal prison.
S1edgcs slill vcntured on the Neya, though
the water rose up TO the horses Knees
One morning, when ! looked out of my
window on theground floor At Miss Benson's,
on the English quay, the water had III gone
from the surface of the ice j; that was tho well
known Sign that the ice had all become too
porous and epongy to hold water, and In q
few hours would break away from the banks
and begin to float seaward.
had just eat down to breakfast, when o
thunder peal Of cannon broke from the fort
"What Is that, Miss Bensong'' Isasd to our
1ostees at the head of the table. :: =
That" she replied, !. 'is the signal that
the commander Of the citadel, with bis otH-
GERS, Is crossing The river, to present the
Of keya water In token of the return Of
arring: The emperor viii give him the cup
Back nlled with ducats. ~
"Hu1rah, y cried j" then hey for old Eng
lrnd!" 80.
It took me some days to ret the ship of,
for it was tedions going backwards and for
wards to .Cronstadt. It was the butter week
time; that seven days feast which precedes
Lent, and iB followed By the rejoicing Of
Easter. In the intervals Of business, ia I
went to nnd fro to my agents, I amueed my
self with observing the reTelry OF this great
Russian festival.
There were thousands of peasauts deyour-
ing blinni {Fancakes), aud cayiare, honey
cakes, and nuts. There were swings, see-
saws, and roundabonta. The great square Of
amusement, Close to the winter pa1ace, the
war office, and the senatelouse, there were
scores of Temporary thenters, md long lines
Of ice mountains. down which the siedges
kept rushing tncessantly, amid the shouta
aud laughter OF the good natured but wild
te:s stood the tea-sellers, with huge brazen
semovars smoking In the center of their ia
b1es, and surrounded by countless teapots,
The sh0p-kcepcrs themselves, In furss caps
and gloves, stood by their stalls stamping
and clapping their hands, and shouting:
oNAt4G44IAt VIII 5oA plS49ke ~ LAhE u 'EkhSS
OF warm tea, with lemon or creams How
will you take the sugar :'' uor true Russian
Keeps his sugar in his mouth, and does not
put It in bis tcacup). The admiralty square
was strewn with nnt-shells; here and there
drunken bear Of peasant, q mere ree!iug
me, and then, with the simple hearted polite
ness Of his race, took oil his hat and hiccup-
cd ont; "pardon me, mY little father, bnt
remember it ia Butter Week"
Ooc dry I sailed out into the grcat square
about noon to see the grandees Of tho capital
dtiye through the fair, and never saw such q
sight. The line was guarded by mounted
gcndarmcs, dressed like lancers, and wear
ing light blue uniforms with brown epaulets
There were Chinese, Turks, Tartars,
Germans, Englishmcu, Russian princes,
priests, soldiers, bearded merchants and
their poruy wives Circassian officers, colo:
ncls Of the body guard in their easle.crowned
helmets, and ser1s, in q long procession of
carriages, which beginning ut the rock on
which Peter the Greats statue stands reach
ed to the base Of the granite column Of Alex
ander, facing the enormous pile Of the Win
Tired at Last of the procession, I. turned
aside to one Of the largest Of the wooden
theaters. a clash of music from within an-
nounced the commencement OF new per-
fo1napce; joining the torrtnt Of people, old
for 6smitfance, ut last made my way to the
pay-p1ace, where mob OF clamorous mAn-
tiks were thrustinG out their bands with the
ndmittance money with childish impatience.
drew back to make way for a respectable
old grey-beardcd merchant and Ills pretty
daughter, who, 1nuilled up in q cloak trim
his arm, and shrank back from the rough
gcsticulating crowd. Thought I had never
seen so charming girl so tender in manner
so gentle and spring.1ike In teauty.. The
merchant aud bis daughter bowed and thank
,a cd me s in broken English for ny pol!tsness,;
rapidly, but crowd 1f peasants thrust them
selves in before me, SO that when took my
seat I could obtain NO glimpse of the mer-
chant or his pretty danghter.:
The wooden theater Of the Katshell was
an enormous building; built, rs peasant
It had large galleries, balconies, and Corin-
THAN pillars hung with cheap drapery, and
gay with red aud blue paint. A vast chan
delicr lighted up the tent-like Interior The
tbeateI was already full when entered, SO
that had TO content myself with back seat
one of the staircases, MS soon foundry the
kccn.edgcd iced drnught. '1amuscd myself
while the overture was playing with the
motley view before me. The Tartar. faces
only partially reclaimed from barbarism, were
fun. The little obiique eyes elisrened With Gu.
joyment, the great: bearded: tangled heads
rolling about in ecstaey. Here and there,
the eye fell on Polish or Clrcassinn face,
with large fnc eyes, and almost Greek con-
four. Every now and then. group of grave
portly merchants In furrcd caftans and boots
mingled with the serts, but with an obtrusive
rcserve that showed they did SO under pro
test Their children, also dressed in caftans
and boots, were exactly like themselves, all
but the boards: Nor YVES there any lack Of
women Of the lower orders; rough, honest,
Irieh-looking womep, few OF them in bonnets,
most Of them with their heads bound round
with coloTed handkerchief. ..
I did not listen much to the music; 1t was
that brnzen mechanical sSrt OF music, with
ont color or Lie, that no one listens TO- By
and-by, it ended with q jolting crash. There
was moments pause, ond the curtain drew
up, A deep hush passed over the troubled
raves of the pit The children clutched
their tathcr's hands, the soldiers ceased their
practical jokes, tie count1J-womcn paused
In their gossip, the boys stopped eating,
every eye turned to the stage.
: An honest old woman Just before me-a
houseEeeper Us I Judged by her dress
amused me especially by her chi1d-llke eager.
ness. She put on her spectacles, and leaned
forward with both hands on her knees, to
drink In every word. The p1ay was little
opcretta, half French, half italian think
they called 1t Rose and Lnbln." It was
gay, tfidfng thing, The hero and heroine
were Villagers, and m old cross father. and
malicious fool, were the constant Inter
.rupters Of their stolen meetings. Rose was
dressed In little tucked mp gown Of Thito
enk striped with pink, and wore gypsy nat;
Iubln wore nondescript sort OF blne stk
coat and tapped, waistcoat, while the zany
rrtf11 lad int and ccrAn