Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-07-22
A RUN In RUSSIA.

Polite Officials-Prosaic MonOtO-
ny of the Country from KonLgsberg
TO st. Petersburg-Imperi Mag
nificence of ST. Petersburg.
WARSAW, June IL, 1871. As it is not
every day that a man is in Moscow. /
take the opportunity offered by a heavy
pour of rain here in Warsaw to jot down
for you few of my impressions of Rus
STA and its people. Much, indeed, can
not pretend to know, for have only been
q fortnight in the country, alternating
between St. Petersburg and Moscow; but
what have seen l will set down truly,
and not pretend to any knowledge which
do not possess.
/ entered Russia from the German cor
ner, after having paid my respects as in
duty bound, 10 Emmanuel Kant at Konigs-
berg, who stands prominently in street.
which bears his name, in bsgwig, with a
three-corned hat under his left arm, look
ing out cuIiOusly into the world of corn>
dealers, traders, and ship captains, IN the
midst of which it was his fortune, with
happy presidency, through long life to
pbilosophise. The distance from Ko-
nigsberg to ST. Petersburg is about 600
miles, of which some so miles at starting
belong to Prussia, and the rest of the
long stretch is Russia proper, all except
the first forty miles to tAswest of Kowno,
which is part of Poland On stopping at
the first Russian station, at Wisballen,
where our passports and luggage were ex-
amined, the signs that We were in new
country, and in different social Amos
phere, if not many, were significant. What
struck me most was general look of brown.
ness and greyneSs-the heath was grey
and brown, the cottages were grey and
brown, the soldiers greatcoats were of
dull sandy greyish brown, the boots
which everybody wears-and with which
they are always FLASHING through mud and
marsh-were brown rather than black,
and the faces both of soldiers and peas
antry were of dark sandy brown-not
gag sight at all; rather sombre, dull, aud
stupid looking; and then that We were
not only in dull but in cold country
was plainly indicated by the greatcoats
which almost every body wears, some-
times coming down TO the feet like long
prelisses Gas in the case of the st. Peters
burg cabmep), and often lined with fur
(Which species they called Shabd), some
times made of the skins of animals, with
the inside out, like those mentioned by
Aristophanes in ''The Clouds" 1t was
evident to me, however, that we were in
a very well-oIdeIed, civil and polite coun-
try. The apostolic precept, 'Let all
things be done decently and in order, !"
was never more extensively COM
piled with. No doubt, certain
amount of patience was required to
''bide your turn" as we say, at the Gus
tomhouse; but when the officials did come,
having their breasts al hung with stars
and crosses, they did their spiriting most
gently, and with single glance discovered
that u gentleman showing respectable
passport, and no. looking like a pedlar,
could rot possibly be the conyeyancer of
of contraband goods into the orthodox
Muscoyite Empire. Generally, l would
say that not only the CustOmhouse
bureaucracy, but ell official persons, from
high to low, whom l have met with in
Russia, are remarkably polite. If there
be anything of the boor in their nature,
it does not appear in official circles, or at
all events was not shown to me. | have
met with rudeness from French and Aus
| TRAN officials, but never from Russian.
So much for the start. But what shall l
say of the long journey of twentyNfour
mortal hours from the Prussian boundary
TO the city of Peter2 Of the four towns
of any significance by which we pass -
Kowno, wilma, Dunaburg, and Pskov-
| the course of the railway allows the
curious traveller to see very little. Ole
| is happy to observe, however, that at
Kowno and Wins, and some other spots,
there are certain uudulations in the vast
flatness, which, being happily intersected
by rivers and tufted with wood, msy per-
haps allow of the epilhet picturesque, "
in a weak sense, being applied 10 the
Landscape; bu. generally a less pic
turesque country is not COnceivahle-a
country where all the beauty that exists
is generally more than half artificial, aid
where all in nature ia tame, grey, vase,
coarse, un,rimmed, and embarrassing to
a degree which Scotsman, who lives in
a land of wild pictorial beauty, and an
Eoglishmsn, who lives in land OF the
richest and most graceful culture, can
comprehend fully only when he beholds.
A great part of it seems to lie in State
of primitive, unredeemed, or only half
redeemed, eavagery-
"Ssnd and forest and bog, bog and forest and
| sand,
Muscovite land"
And what adds to the waste horror of the
general aspect of the country is that in
many places long stretches of burned OF
half-burned forests are seen, standing
like gaunt, fieshless skeletons, or like de-
capitated statues, along the railway line.
The trees also principally pine and
birch when unscathed by fire, are often
slender and dwarfish, evidently not under
auy scientific treatment. The brooks by
which these immense sandy spaces are
intersec.ed display no touches of beauty
on their banks from which a TennysoT
could spin pretty poem-they are only
large bitches; and the houses of the peo
pie, though often made of wood, put TO-
gether horizontally with q certain trim
cOmpactness, have none of the grace OF
English cottages, but stand in brown lines
together, like the booths of a fair, with
out the gayety of fair, the unimprovet
model of the original log houses. out Of
which the genius of Greece developed
the classic type Of the Dorit
temple. Let US, therefore, JUMP
over all this most prosaic monotOny
of $50 miles, And at once enter st. Peters
burg. A few green and golden cupola
of sacred shrines, and here and there
trim villa, or DatScke, as they call it
not certainly moEe rich and cultivated
country, indicate the approach to the me
tropolis. You still feel yourself in sor
of half redeemed waste when in the dis
lance the golden dome of st. Isaac
Cathedral is seen cleaning afar in tn
evening sun, glad sign to the weary rail
way traveller, like the spear and shield o
Pallas Alhene, casting its well-knoWl
radiance from the Parthenon on the eye
of the Greek sailor as he rounded tb
promontory of Sunium. Anon other Bu
less elevated doues begin to peer fort
with their glittering heads, and in half
an-hour we are landed at the southwei
end of the great city, and sent off rattlin
in our cabs 70 our respective destinations
, No traveller expects that town viii sho'
, its best face when entered from railws
] station; and at st. Peterebur!