The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-03-15
The Cars Winter Palace.

A queer story is told Of the Winter Palace of
the czar, which may be given as illustrating
the great extent of the place, and the possibil-
tiles of mischief it affords. In the time of
Nicholas, the father of the present czar, a
number of sentres were posted ON the roof to
guard against fire or foes. Finding the eli
mate up there not altogether so comfortable as
could be wished, this permanent watch at
length contrived to convey on to the oof the
materials for number of huts or cabins,
which in course Of time they erected under the
shelter of the chimney stacks. So snug and
cosey did they manage to make themselves,
that it at length occurred to the married men
among them that, as there was plenty of room
up there, they might as well enlarge their es-
adjustments. Accordingly wives and fam
lilies, one after another, found their way out on
to the imperial leads. Several of the sir gle
men of the guard, finding such tempting op-
portunity of setting up housekeeping econOmi-
cally, took wives to themselves, and after
while quite considerable colony had sprung
up. How far the development might have
gone on if the individuals composing this par
astic little village had been reasonably eau
tous and careful in their behavior it is difficult
to guess; but the establishment of families
among the chimneys of the palace led gradual
ly to the accumulation of domestic animals.
Fowls multiplied amazingly, and goats became
numerous and fiourished so well in the bracing
atmosphere that at length it was suggested that
a COW might conveniently be added to the
farm stock. How the animal was elevated we
are not informed, but it is stated as fact that
it was by some means hoisted to the roof, and
was eventually the ruin OF the community.
The lowing of the COW came to certain official
ears, and led to an investigation and the total
breaking up of the queer little society. Even
at that time it is said that the Russian emperor
felt so little confidence in his personal security
that nobody ever knew in which bedroom he
was going to sleep. A large number were al
ways kept ready and unoccupied, and at bed
time the czar would quietly slip into any one
of them selected at the moment. The Winter
Palace is described as the largest palace in the
world, being one-third larger than that of the
emperor OF Austria, and unsurpassed in point
OF splendor. 1t is the residence of the czar on
the left bank of the Neva, on the site of a
house which, in the reign of Peter the Great,
belonged to his high admiral, Count Apraxin,
who bequeathed it to Peter Ii. 1t was so COM
pletely destroyed by fire In 1887 that it was
necessary to rebuild it, and one of the not least
remarkable facts connected with it is that it's
present form was the work of two short years.
The palace is four stories high, or about eighty
feet. The frontage is 455 feet in length, and
the breadth.is $50 feet. The principal en-
trance is from the Neva, and leads by a mag
nificent flight of marble steps to the State
apartments of the palace. A gateway, in the
center OF the building facing Alexander's col
umn, opens into large court The most mag
nl1cent apartments are the Throne Room of
Peter L., where the diplomatic corps generally
present their congratulations on New Years
day; the White Hall; the Hall of st. George
a parallelogram of 40 feet by 90 feet the Gal
lery of the Field Marshals, and the Alexander
Gallery The interor is most gorgeous, suites
OF splendid halls being filled with MARBLE mall
achlte, vases and pictures; whilst the crown
and other jewels are of almost inestimable
value.