Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1883-05-09
st. Petersburg i'm Winter


People i'm America might possibly
imagine that tea-making in this country
is a very complicated and laborious
affair, but it is no more SO than any
where else, only people here are so
easy-going and good-natured; time has
so little value, and labor is so cheap,
even though it may be poor, that about
half dozen people are doing here
what one person would do with much
more thoroughness in America because
not stumbling over other peoples feet.
One of the servants in question was
washing about half dozen spoons,
saucers and glasses. Men in Russia
drink their tea out of glasses, so they
can admire the amber liquid and at the
same time feel its warmth creeping
through their bodies as they hold the
glasses between their fingers. The
second man brought the tea-canister
and sugar-bowl, and being impressed
with the Importance and dignity of his
work he moved about with slowness
that was edifying to behold and gene
rated i'll the spectator violent desire
to 90 to lis assistance, The third man
was arranging sweet crackers and slic-
ing lemons to be used with the tea,
while the fourth mans attention was
entirely absorbed by the samovar.
The Samovar, as wei as the steam
bath, is a truly national institution.
Take away from the Russian these two
objects of necessity and luxury, and he
will think life has been robbed of half
its charms. The samovar is an indis-
pensable piece of furniture in the houses
of the rich and the poor, the high and
the low, and not till he is the happy
owner of such an institution does a
young man set about i'll search of life
partner, willing to share with him the
comforts offered by room somewhere
under staircase. The word ''samo-
var'' is composed of the pronom self
or itself, - and the verb ito boil, - and
literally means ''self-bOiler. The samO-
var is made of brass, has the shape OF
an egg, and holds from one to two pals
of water. The lower end rests on -four
feet, the upper is fiattened, and it has a
funnel for charcoal in the centre. The
top of the funnel is finished off by an
object resembling crown, and when
the water boils on your tea-table you
fill your teapot, put it on the crown t.
draw, and your tea is ready.
The four men We're attending to then
duty III religious silence, the only time
they opened their mouths being to i'll.
form me that there was to be an extra
meeting on some important business
and that it was on that account they
were making the tea. Now the gentle
men who compose those meetings come
together at =, leisureiy sip their tea
relate the latest news, and go home tC
their dinners at 4, leaving kind Provi
dence to attend to their affairs, unless
indeed, the question he one of politics
political unreliability, as they call il
here. Then these same jOvial, easy
going gentlemen Will instantly bt
transformed into stern, unfiinchine
judges, working day and night and t.
the best of their abilities, in their en-
deavor to please the head of the coun
try and thus earn stars and ribbons, Ol
more exalted ''chin" or rank.
The present Emperor, in ordering {
revision of the laws relating to the
Jews, has taken one step further OF
the road trodden by his father. WheI
Alexander III. freed the serfs he at the
same time tried to better the condition
of his Hebrew subjects. Previous t.
1861 no Jew was allowed to remain il
a Russian town longer than a week
except Ill Poland and the South, whicl
were oyerrun by them. In PolanC
they We're even SO numerous and S,
powerful once that Polish King wa:
on the point of marrying a Jewess
Russians knew only the peddling Jew
by no means the best representative o
the race, as the prosecutions by hi:
Christian brethren had made him un
scrupulous and cowardly and had over
developed his natural shrewdnesS
Even where they were tolerated they die
not dare TO betray any outward sign
of thrift; they would not long have re
manned unmolested if they had, 50 the,
remained ragged and dirty, and to al
outward appearances ill abject poveft
until they became by-word and
reproach, while in reality they held tn
7 purse strings of the country. The
carried on a pitileSs and most mrt
lenting usury, sucking the lfe-bloo
; OF their victims like SO many leeche
r and keeping the people, who flattere
5 themselves that they were their master:
T. in the most absolute and humiliatin
e dependence. And the two races hate
!. each other most thoroughly. Once
t a while the Christian slave rebelled an
S inaugurated a love-feast, similar
e those of the Vandals and the Goth
but his resistance only lasted until Ii
4 long accumulated energy had spent it
5 eli, when everything went on as befor