Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1883-06-15
GRAND SCENES.
Views Of the Great Empire by a
Journalist.
His Impressions Of the Country While
On His Way to the
Coronation.

tgNdlWOlt
The entrance into Russia ia very
clearly defined. Usually races become
fused together along frontier lines and
bu for the difference of speech it would
be difficult to distinguish them, Here
the line is sharply cut. The Russian
frontier is just three minutes ride from
NierybOlovO, the first Russian station;
and there an entirely different civilia-
ton suddenly rises up before one The
Russian gendarme is there, wrapped in
his great gray cloak and wearing the
fur cap which may be described as a
cross between our tOqUea and the Basque
beret. The saber i~ssuspended in Asiatic
fashion from a leather strap, crossed
upon the chest by another leather strap
to which Is attached the revolver, in its
yellow leather case, and the cartridge
bON. This person no wise resembles
the
PrusSian Soldiers,
in his tightly-fitting and shining uni
form, and his helmet with his orna.
mentS of polished brass. In addition
To the old national costume, the rail-
road employees wear q garment half
blouse, half-froc6-cOat, hanging i'm kir-
tle-shape folds below the leathe! belt.
They have the wide PuSslan panta-
looms stuffed into boots rising above
the calf Ofthe leg; the fur cap which
has become q part Ofthe uniform dress
since the abolition of the helmet in the
army. The cap is in a certain sense the
emblem of Russia-wOrn by all, from
the humblest employee to all the up
per ranks by way of the army-eveu
to the Emperor himself who also wears
it on the occasion of his solemn entry
into Moscow as the natural COM
pllment to his generals uniform.
n Route
offers few points of interest; for these
provinces are the poorest we pass
through in Russia. The cOunery is an
endless plain, divided here and there at
long intervals by the border lines of
some miserable forest of fir trees or
birches; the trees, like all the nature
about them, have a puny look; the
land is marshy-that is say, unhealthy;
the villages are few, situated at such
vast distances from Il another and so
inlnly pCOplSU that - - Impossible To
maintain highways Of communication
at all comparable To our beautiful roads.
The peasants do not touch elbows, as
the saying is-the villages are situated
at immense distances from each other
and these conditions, added to the
poverty Of the soil, render impossible
the construction and maintenance of
- Comm eTcIRI or Department Roads.
Consequently the peasant is always
confined within his village, eternally
bent over the ungateful soil, having no
communication whatever with the
city he is born, grows up and dies in
his hamlet, aud he leaves this valley
of teaTs as poor as he entered 1t. Pow
erty of the soil-miSery OF the labOrer!
The cattle, small and lean, painfully
browse upon the thin grass; before the
pillow walks a lank, sickly horse. The
wooden village seems to sweat poverty :
everything in them is wretched-
wretched to that point that n cannot
distinguish the stable from the dwelling
house. Certainly this does not typity
all Russia; but the first sample OF
AkGSSllu swiftly Is ANN5A ~
ones heart sink.
The Capital Am AsfoniShment.
The gilded cupolas of The "athedrals
and chapels glitter under the sun.
EVERYTHING is large, magnificent, daz-
zling-totaliy unlike other capitals,
which all resemble each other. Every
thing here has a special character, a
color of its own; everything Is eqVally
interesting, because the peculiar ma
tioral element is everywhere visible
i'm the costume Of the peasant, which
remained unvaryingly the same for cen
turtles; i'm the attire of the hack driver,
enveloped in his long Rattan and wear
ing a little round cap, bullying ont a
great deal toward the summit in the
uniform of the soldiers in the private
vehicles even i'm the way horses gal
lop ana men walk.
After the HiSerieS
we had a glimpse Ofin the country only
Yesterday, We now behold the luNuri-
Gus capital with its palaces, its moutl'
| ments, its magnificent churches whose
columns are often OF malachite and
even of lapislaZuii, its chapels contain
! inc holy images of embossed gold en-
| riched with Jewels Of wondrOus value
Here is the luxury OF the court, Of The
aristocracy and of religion. Ii forms
picture as dazzling As that of the cOun
try i mouTniul: and thus in two day:
| had had o sight both Of the immenst
riches which are the cOuntry'SStrengtn
and the gnawing miserieS by wnlch /
suffers.
could not describe to you
n Impression
this city makes upon one. EverythlCs
in il is grand. Ii has been said tina
one must visit st. Petersburg in win
ter, when all is covered with snow.
10 not think so. The black sky coult
never allow this city to W the beam
ipg splendor which the spring sun nov
gives it, making the waters OF tn
Neya blue and transparent-makini
the gilded church eupolas tiash-play
ing upon the glittering facades OF tn,
palaces. In this softer temperature al
The life of the streets become gayer-
the thousands of vehicles, not muct
bigger than veloCipedes, drawn by Hill
horses which are not much larger thar
PONIES. but which gallop like dee
under the whip of the driver, leaning
forward as though 10 urge them on still
faster by his very a~ttitu1e-all this l.
admirably animated and picturesque
And for lovers of art st. Petersburg
possess the finest museum in the work
the Hermitage superbly arrange'
for the presentation OF each picture II
the general plar. Here the great mas
tiers, especially for the dutch, are rep
resented by dozens of incomparaot
obaEd,nanvre The city i superb, as