The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1875-04-15
LIFE IN RUSSIA.

Hon. MARSHALL JEWELL, Postmaster
General, and formerly Minister of tn,
! United States at the court of the Car
lectured before the eSchillerbund, at Wash
ington, few nights since, on his ex
periences in Russia. He began with
few remarks upon the climate of st
Petersburg, and said we were mistakel
in thinking the temperature so low tina
one could scarcely venture out of door
with safety, and that people were contin
ually rubbing each others noses on thu
street with snow to take out the frost
Il have experienced much greater cole
in my home in Hartford than in Russia
But the average winter temper
ature is certainly very low there. Frost.
begin in September; by the 1st of Oc
tober all the leaves have fallen; by the
| 10th and 18th ice is abundant, and BY
November everything is hermetically
sealed up for the next eight months. The
suns rays fall so nearly horizontally il
mid-winter that they impart but little
warmth during the short days of four OF
five hours, consequently the temperature
at MONDAY is but few degrees higher
than at night
"After winter sets in the houses arc
carefully closed up to keep out the cold
4
nearly all the women who are confined
at home have sallow, unhealthy com
pleXion, but the men are generally fine
| stalwart race. The fruit buds do not be-
gin to swell before May but, by the ac-
| cumulation of heat in the long days and
| short nights of summer, fruit and grass
are ripened in an incredibly short period,
as they have to be, if at all, to avoid
the early frosts; but of course fruit
grown and harvested in the space of
sixty or seventy days cannot be of re-
markable quality. Although there is
| plenty of snow, / have never seen a
snow w-storm during my residence in Rus
| sia. The explanation is as follows: St
Petersburg is built on very low, flat land
| at the mouth of the Neva, and the atmos-
| phere is saturated with moistness arising
| from the soil and the bodies of water
| adjacent. A slight reduction of temper
ature is sufficient to CONCEAL this, and ii
| is deposited in the form of snow, OF
rather ice-crystals, at the rate of two
| inches every night, until it attains the
depth of several feet; and yet no one
has seen it fall.
GAS there is no such thing as hill
anywhere near st. Petersburg, artificial
ones are made, so as to allow the amuse-
ment of coasting on steel-shod sledges,
| of which the Russians are very fond. AS
an illustration of the soil in ST. Peters
burg, it is said the piles upon which the
principal church is built cost as much as
some of the finest churches in this coun-
try, and yet it has settled some"
Mr. Jewell next spoke of the royal
family and the court. "The Emperor,
| though an autocrat, by no means con-
CT h 20 fn 81, IA 10
ness. He rises at eight a. m, goes to
work at nine, breakfasts attwelve. The
| CZarovitch pronounced cZar-ay-vitch), or
heir apparent, is about the only man
coming to throne in Europe fitted to
| fill it. One of his accomplishments is
| that of being able to talk to the repre-
sentative OF each foreign country in his
own language. Nor is he the only young
member of the royal family thus accom-
| plished. At court reception attended
the Princess Alexandrowna-no now Ouch
ess OF Observation-Disclosures every
| foreign Minister, except the Turkish and
one other, in his own language, passing
| from one to another as they were all
ranged sclemnly in order, and sustaining
the burden of the conversation, as it is
not etiquette for them to do more than
answer her"
We next quote from some incidents
| connected with Mr.. JEWELS first pres
entation at court: "a full Ambassador
is entitled to the honor of having a coach
sent to convey him to court the first
time, but as our Ambassador is only an
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plen-
ipotentiary' he must find the way there
as best he can. l went in my own coupe
Arriving at the door Twas received by
one l knew to be a servant by his not
taking his hat off (as servants never do
in Russial, and conducted through hall
after hall Tined with platoons of soldiers
with shouldered arms, who gave no indi-
cation that they recognized my pres
ence. Being transferred from attendan,
to attendant, each higher in rank, was
finally received by Prince, who ushered
| me into the private cabinet of the Gar
who received me as he does every one
with an afiability which soon put me en-
| tirely at ease and removed all apprehen.
sion of not being able to pass through
the ordeal The evening being over ]
passed out by the way entered and the
different demeanor Of the soldiers was
very marked. Before, although accredit.
ed by my own country as Minister, Ihad
| not been received by their lord and mas
| ter, and, therefore, was nothing to them
| but now, having been accepted and re
ceived his imprimature, / had suddenly
| become second only in importance to the
royal family itself, and hence every
| platoon, of soldiers presented arms and
every band began to play as / reached
and passed them.
1.-The royal banquets are magnifcen,
affairs, and seem gotten up not only re
| gardless of expense, but with an effor,
| to see how much can be spent on them
At one where l attendcd-where the
Emperor of Austria sat on the right
hand of the Gar and the Prince OF
| Wales ON the left-there were 1,90(
guests, and though some 600 had to take
their supper standing the service for the
whole 1900 was of solid silver, including
| splendid epergnes and fifty plates at the
head of the table of solid gold The IL
| Elimination of the salons required some
10000 wax candles, as the Russians
never use gas except in halls, kitchen.
and inferior parts of the house, consider
| ing it unhealthy.
"To grace the feast not only beauti
full flowers but large palm-trees in tubs
where they grew, were brought from thu
royal greenhouses, some five or six mile,
! NiotdAtr duu bOihS WlhtCA bLnot
houses had TO be built over them to pro
tect them during the journey. Thes,
greenhouses contained 500 japonica tree,
of various hues and palm-trees owe
sixty feet high
The chasseurs, or footmen of the for
eign Ministers, wear plumes Of the ma
tional colors of their respective countries
those of the American legation being
of course, red, white and blue.
Pedestrians have literally no rights
which drivers are bound to respect; if /,
person gets run over, and is not killed
he is liable to be arrested for being il
the way. When the Cars carriage come
aleng, everybody and everything get
out of the way, and, next to his, that o
| foreign minister is of greatest impor
fance, and the drivers fully appreciate thu
fact
The nobility have French cooks, ant
/ their tables do not differ so much from
other countries, but the native cuisin,
| is quite peculiar, and would not be rel
ished by many foreigners. Among theil
delicacies are cabbage soup thickenet
with sour cream, and cariare, which il
made of sturgeon roes uncooked an(
packed In oil. The staple arm,