Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1875-06-09

sage at arms a. he was brimming over with
mischief and as full of fun as possible, While
she was such an original as is rarely met
with. After the first compliments OF intro
duction were over, new charge was made
upon Guatty by his mistress, urging him 20
hurry up the tea. A bustling movement aud
few words Of broken Russian sandwiched
in between massive sentences OF Mingrelian,
equally unintelligible to the hostess and 10
us, was the only resllt Of her efforts. In or
der 10 occupy the internal between us and
the appearance Of tea, which now seemed to
recede more and more into the dim distance,
the remnant Of a watermelon, about hall
disembOweled the previous evening, was
placed ON the table. Asit was withered and
crowded with ants and wasps, though great et-
forts were made, no-one had the courage TO at
tack it; we tried hard 10 organize Mr. Russell
into forlorn hope, but tho belonging to a mi
litia regiment, he could not muster sufficient
courage for the attack. All this time Guatty
was working at the samovar. Such aeon.
ical figure short and rather thick set, wear
ing "a species Of coarse linen petticoat, com
ing downneary 10 his heels, without his mus
tache it woud have been difficult 10 dstin-
guish his sex at first sight At nine o'clock
the water had risen TO about two hundred
and eleven degrees Of heat, n degree or so
below boiling point. As Guatty seemed TO
be thoroughly exhausted, and the charcoal
all gone, there was no prospect of getting on
the other degree Of heat. The tea was made
without further waiting. After tea we at
tended morning services at the church.
The singing was fairly good, and the reso-
nance was wonderful. have never been
in a building where the human voice pro
duced such an effect With frst-class choir
the singing in pitsounda church would be
unequalled. There were not many worship
ers-a few Cossaoks, and some Of the native
villagers As it was a week day there was
no sermon At tho door we met the Abbot,
a whte-haired. venerable man, who received
us very kindly, and said that although he
did not know us personally he did by name
and invited us 20 breakfast An invitation
proifered so kindly by the chief of the mon
astery was not 10 be refused. without sui-
ficient reason, and as we had none, of course
we went, The Abbot had spent some years
in Russian America, and gave an interesting
account of his journeys. lie had but re-
Gently arrived az Pitsounda, and had not yet
put his house entirely into order. Books
were piled up on tables and chairs, aud 1t
was evident that he had not got fairly settled
down. The Countess had requested us TO
invite the Abbot to dinner, it possible
Having accepted his hospitality we now in
vited him 10 partake of ours lie promised
to dine with ms at three o'clock. On our re-
turn. Ruspoli was delighted to learn that the
Abbot would be under her roof that day.
Guatty was Immediately sent for, and or
dered to hehead three innocent chickens.
Our stores were brought into requsition,
aud they were much needed, for, besides the
chickens. the whole stock of provisions in
the Countess possession consisted OF about
two pounds of coru-meal, n quart of new po-
tatoes. and the remains of the watermelon
above meutionedl she had neither salt, meat
nor bread. In respect TO her larder, she was
very much like the old woman of the Nur-
sery Rhymes, who lived in her shoe" As
we, however, had as many supplies as two
pack-horses could carry, the house was full
of good things for the moment and we looked
forward to a bountiful dinner Having a
couple of hours at our disposal we got some
Cossack horses aud set out TO explore the
neighborhood We returned, after brisk
gallon of AN hour and half with splendid
appetites, and much interested with what
we had seen. The Countess was busting
around, her face flushed with exercise, and
Guatty was moving about as in waking
dream. The dinner was under headway, but
seemed 10 be in a sort of deadlock. The
soup aud chickens were ready,
4 Cossack woman had cooked them at her
own house and brought them back prepared
Tor the table. The question now was TO
bring up the remainder of the dinner before
the chickens and soup got cold. We saw
clearly that if Guatty and the old Countess
were TO be the only actors in the scene, the
dinner would not be ready for hours. Our
decision was quickly taken. Mr.. Russell took
command of the kitchen, and offered to as.
sist the old lady in setting the table, The
plan succeeded-the kitchen was left to our
felow-traveler, who did his work quickly
and well. The dining-room presented a
most remarkable sight-a large room full of
all sorts Of trumpery. In one corner stood a
hat-rack, upon which saddle and bride
were hanging in another was an enor-
nous old tumble-down sofa, with the
springs all broken, and the surface as irregu-
lar as the outlines OF the Caucasian noun
tains in third was bed which seemed 10
be at least as old as the Pitsounda church. and
that is considerably more than thousand
years in the fourth was a miscellaneous col
lection OF pots and kettles, an old hoe aud a
broken rake; near them a small, rickety table,
loaded with odds and ends; in the centre
of the room stood the dinner-table, groaning
under a load of old plates, cups, saucers,
pans, knives and forks, empty bottles, etc.,
all unwashed and in wonderful disorder,
On closer inspection found the table liter
ally covered with ants, running about in
every direction. The first work was to re-
move all the dishes and then turn the table
over to shake and brush off the ants. Then
we brought four pans half filed with water.
Into these pans the legs of the table were
placed. Thus we secured ourselves from the
visits of these troublesome insects who,
though capable of furnishing good exam
pie 10 the sluggard. are by no means pleasant
table companions, Boiling water was brought
from the kitchen and set about washing a
sufficient number Of dishes off which to dine.
The old lady tried to assist me- keeping up
perfect volley of conversation all the time.
Her presence was hindrance instead of an
aid. | tried 10 get rid of her by remarking
that | supposed the Abbot would come in a
few minutes. No sooner were the words
ont of my mouth than she rushed oil to her
room TO put ON a more gorgeous attire in
which to meet our reverend guest The
table was soon put in order, my husband and
Mr.. Russell assisting We had an excellent
/ dinner. For the preliminary zakooska, I"
or Russian appetizer, some stomach bitters
| for the Abbot sardines, caviar, or prepared
1 cheese made Of Sleeps milk, with different
/ breads. ! may here explain that it is uni
! versal custom in Russia TO take " "a
kooska," or lunch, Immediately before sitting
down TO dinner. 1t is usually placed on a
/ side-table, and as a rule is taken standing.
A small glass of vodka, or bitters, is drank
first of all, then follows picked herring,
caviar, and other things calculated to arouse
hunger instead of satisfying it, The fol
lowing was our bill of fare; chicken soup,
with vermicelli, boiled chickens, boiled pota-
toes, saddle of roast lamb, cucumber salad,
egg-cakes, water and musk melons When
all was ready we looked with eager glances
at the table, and were anxious to demolish
the array of provisions which we had
brought together with such difficulty. The
Abbot did not keep us long waiting just as
he entered the Countess emerged from her
room, dressed in black silk, with a long court
train; her eyebrows were even longer than
before, in consequence of fresh application
of dye, while youth and beauty bloomed
on her cheek, owing TO liberal use of white
ndred paint. Wewere not very ceremonious.
Hunger was the master feeling of the mo-
ment. When we sat down, If may be allowed
to use a slang phrase, we went for that din.
ner = with right good will. At first there
was little conversation, but when the soup