The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1874-07-17
RUSSIAN SEASONS AID RUSSIAN
EXPENSES.

FROM - ftfP1.t Efg Coz. y. y Tines.
To one like myself. who has not been
so far north before. the season.. herr. ay,-
pear 20 b- quite ont Of Joint. for in This
part of Russia the Year i made of about
five months of winter and two OF >ilr,,-
u-r. wlilt. the les We say aLsUr fall
and spring the better. for the weather
then i scarcely eudurable. there being
hardly Two DAYS alike. except that il
i always wet and sloppy under foot.
and when there i not cold wind blow
ing. the atmosphere j. occasionally dark
emed by heavy fo-.
We have said @ood-by to spring. how
ever. and the change from what was ~
ally nothing more than the faS end of a
severe winter j. a. sudden a. il l. wei
come The trees are Just coming out
into leaf. bat no flowers have Yet put in
an appearance. although IL l. the mid
dle of June. The past week has been
rather ii wet one, and the rain has
brought on the vegetation wonderfully.
50 much 50 that you can almost see the
trees growing. About Il fortnight ago
| saw lilac tree trying its level best TO
burst into bloom. 1t lad almost sue
creded i'll its atteIHptS. a day or two
aud UippeI 1t in the bud. 80 that II i
io,: faded and dropping. IL if regretfuI
of tine haste with which it had tried to
be- the first in the field; and, Judging
by appearances. il will never arrive at
maturity
1t is daylight al uight-excuSe the
pIradOX-SO that we can easily read
coarse print at midnight This Is rath-
Q
annoying that we cannot enjoy the long
evenings 80 well as We could If the
weather were only warm enough to per
NIT of our leaving off great coats
The season during which vegetables
Of any kind can be raised here being 50
short, the result IS that articles of this
kind are very GcIr-;,S. indeed. every
thing Is here-so that If luXurie> are de-
sired they must be- paid for at a high liz
ure. Strawberries are priced in the
market mt about fifteen rOubleS (Sl0l a
pound: bat notwithstanding the high
price which this fruit commands. they
were furnished at Il reception, the other
day, in sufficient quantity to meet the
requirements Of a couple hundred
guests. TOmatos sell at thirty cents
piece, and are not of the best quality at
that, for they are imported from a long
distance.
The Russians are very lavish in their
household expenditure. but one Of the
things which HAS struck me a. remarka-
bic here is that man with an income
of say $4,000 II year will argue Tor five
minutes or more with an isCO driver
tcar mani about the amount Of fare, the
sum in question probably not being
more than five or ten copecks at most,
or four 10 eight cents iii our currency.
Not Unfrequently he Will hail one or
two iSvoStclicils before he can persuade
Il man to accept what he considers
qHjd prD qHD for the distance he is re
quirrd To drive And yet the only cheap
thing have observed in st. Petersburg
ut present j. riding in these little iSvos,
Tor a man will drive Il mile for fifteen
copecks. and If YOU give him twenty in
stead. he will even thank You, and evi-
IDENTIFY consider himself well paid.
There is one thing to be said about it,
and that is. the vehicles are of such
crazy construction that the horse, driver,
and fare share the labor between them;
for il the passenger should fail TO hold
on pretty tightly, he stands fair chance
of being precipitated into the mud. I'm
a%ine Il freshly piowed field frozen into
. compact uasS, with the ruins of a
block of houses scattered indiscrimin-
ately over it, and you have good idea
of the uneven surface of the majority
OF the streets of the Russian capital.
though. of course, some OF the main
thOrouShfares are in a much better con
ditiOn, and where the wooden roadway
has been adopted are not in any way to
be found fault with