The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1879-10-08
WHOLE NO. l474.
BERLIN. Sept. Is.

BERLIN, Sept. Is, 1879.
The capitol Of the Czar is not like
Madrid and like Pern, city almost
uninhabitable for Europeans. The
neeessaries of life are abundant and
cheap enough its Iuxuries, albeit ex-
eeedingly costly. are equally plenti-
fol. With supplies Of money in your
pocket, everything that the most pol
ished Sy barite could desire, may be
procured in Petropolis. House-rent
of a superior kind is enormously
dear; but you get proportionately
splendid accommodation for your
trouble. Succulent dinners, dressed
by French cooks, ball-dresses and bon
nets, constructed by French millin-
ers, and dressmakers, a1 inexhansti-
bic supply of Jouvin gloves, eau de
Cologne, artificial flowers and articles
de Paris; one OF the grandest opera
houses in Europe, with Patti or Al
bani for "prime donne :" French
plays and opera bouifes with ail the
brightest stars of the Gate, the Van
deville, ami the Ambigue; dazzling
succession during the winter season
of Dourt balls, banquets and recep-
tions, splendid reviews, Grstrate
horse flesh, and any amount of skat.
ing, sledging, and Montague Rus
Sc" descending in winter. tiIe--all
these ere constituents of upper-class
existence in the metropolis of Rus
sia. The lower classes are illiterate,
superstitious, and filthy, but you do
not come iu contact with them You
rarely even hear their language.
Well-educated Russians speak noth-
ing but French in society, even
among themselves aud when no for
eigners are present As it has long
been the practice amoug the Courts
of Europe to send the very cleyerest
ambassadors, ministers, and secreta-
ries of legation obtai1aole to q Court
where intrigue is chronic and double
dealing a custom of the country, the
diplomatic saloons of S.. Petersburg
are frequented by exceptionally pol
ished, cultured, and astute guests,
while feneral society is redundant
with accomplished enchautresses,
who combine the grace and refine
ment Of ,he Fanbourg 81. German
with the mirthful morals of Monte
Carlo. What more could be desired /?
There is an Academy Of Sciences /;
there are splendid museums If pict-
ures snd sculpture and antiqui,ies !;
and artists and servant 90 inlo soci-
ETY.. The only drGwbarS To all this
luxury and culture is ih ST. Peters-
burg Is virtually prison, aud that
the highest degree of freedom which
can be enjoyed by any person. bow
ever highly he may be pie ed, no is
doomed to inhsbis The MG COW cap
itol. does not extend much beyond an
uneasy impression that be is only out
on bail, and that some day or other
he will be called upon to surrender
20 his recoguizances. With this un-
comfortable sensation the asper:ty of
the climate has little to do. A winter
in Montreal Or Quebec will vie in me
way Of intense cold with a winter in
st. Petersburg. The st. Lawrence
freezes as hard and as long es the
Neva; and making up your mind for
the worst, with well heated rooms,
and plenty OF furs, mOcassins and
buffalo robes to keep you warm, the
frost and snow are soon forgotten,
even il, indeed, they are not found
rather enjoyable than otherwise. 1t
is the moral, not the physical man,
who feels that be is in goal. Not the
limbs but the mind requires freedom
Of action, it may be that Government
itself is powerless to relax the tension
which is the offspring of merciless
system Of repression. 1t has been
said of the Sphynx that she is SO old
as to have forgotten the solutions of
her own riddles and of the Russian
Government it may be said, almost
without the risk of paradox, that it
has lost the key of the prison in which
not only its sujects and the strangers
within its gates, but its own self, are
confined and that it has grown 80
accustomed to a regime of espionage
and delation, as to begin confusedly
to contemplate the expe diency of de-
nounciug and taking itself into eusto-
dy.