Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1884-12-28
The czAR's MERRY CAPITAL.
Ffsvolity and Immoraiity that Il Is the Gov
efnneDf's Policy to Encourage.
csrrernondencr Nt-r YerE SHa

| EfIvolity and immortality that Il IL the Gov
efnrnenf's Policy to Encourage.
c5rrespoudsncc Mo TerE Sun.
81. PErEasBURG, December 2.--This is q
capital Of the country known as the Holy
Russia It's in state of lesser siege. II
is ruled by Ministry in which jealous
church members decidedly preponderate.
Ii is believed that under several Gifts streets
there are mines charged with dynamite.
Though being q capital. it rarely sees its
august master. Now. one would hardly be-
Eeve that under such circumstances this
| town could be merry one. and yet that is
what it is Nay. it is not simply merry; il
is msdly merry. aud for that it has the fall
sarctien and encouragement Of the Govern.
ment.
In the very centre Of this capital there
are Eve great institutions far the public
amusement which cannot be classified
either with theatres, or hotels. or saloons,
| though they have some traits OF each.
Here is, for instance, the 0rpheum, mag
nifcent house. Its entrance is brilliantly
lighted A gorgeous-liveried footman shows
the public in. You enter an immense hall
containing stage. Next room is the buffet,
and there are also q number of private
rooms. The entrance fee is q rouble for a
man, and half rouble for woman. The
assemblage AT the 0rpheum is mixed.
| There are Russian merchants, foreign clerks
Young military and civil officers, and wo.
men of doubtful reputation. Many Of
the men are jolly, and some are tipsy. Full
freedom reigns. They talk, sing, exchange
amorous compliments, quarrel, and even
| fight, without any interference from the
| police On the stage they perform invari-
| ably light operettas, consisting of immoral
songs and can-can dancing. Between the
acts audience and performers rush to the
| buffet, and vodka, beer, wine and sandwiches
are attended to with perhaps livelier inter-
est than is evinced toward the play itself.
| The ballet dancers in their scanty dress
particularly command the attention of the
cavaliers What conversations are con-
Quoted there, and what scenes take placel
| About two o'clock in the morning
| the amusement turns into mad Bacchanals.
| The proprietor of the 0rpheum spends over
| 100, 600 roubles year. Each month he
brings new ballet dancers, paying each from
| 100 to 600 roubles month, and yet he
| makes money.
Here is another institution Of the kind,
the Golden Palace occupying an old
princely mansion. It's former aristocratic
| occupants never dreamed that servants, shop
| girls and clerks would ever assemble there
| for indescribable orgies, wasting their hard
earned money and lives. On the stage of
the palace they give piecesin which mockery
is made Of the purest and most sacred things.
Here is also the Palace Of Pleasure, fire..
quented by unmarried people. Of the
| pleasure offered and INDUCED in here it is
better not to say word. Then there is the
Dancing Room Of Alexandroff. On the
stage the ballet dancers perform such pieces
as "A Wife to Hire" and on the floor the
public, sometimes as many as hundred
pairs at time, engage in the most outra'
geous dances. When between the acts the
performers and theHpublic mix up, one
hardly can tell who belongs to the stage and
who to the audience to such an extent do
the ballet costumes and manners predomi-
nate Here, too vodka, beer, wine aud
| obscene conversations freely flow.
Thus tens Of thousands of the poorer PEG.
pie of the Car s capital pass all their even
ings and nights. Besides the places l have
mentioned there are scores Of others which
infect the outskirts Of this city. In all Of
them the public are allowed to stay through
the night. 1t is known here that the Gov.
ernment favorS this kind of institutions. II
is the men and women Of the type Brutus
that the imperial Ministers fear hate and
prosecute; they fear nothing from the jolly
men and frivolous women who frequent Or
pheums, Golden Palaces, Palaces OF Pleas.
ure, dancing rooms, and other places Of the
kind. And this state of things exists
throughout Russia, in all towns and villages.
1t is kind OF internal policy Of the present
Ministry. What delusionl As If ever a
government could be strengthened by sys-
ten attic immortality.
lf We look up from below we find things
only apparently cleaner On the stage Of
the imperial theatres great dramas and
noble operas are replaced by operettes and
light pieces of French make. In the fash.
ionable clubs and hotels the aristocratic and
rich public pass their evenings in dancing,
drinking wine, and playing cards. Even
the ladies of high birth are addicted to card
play ing. Well, by using up the cards they
increase the funds Of the charitable and
educational institutions under her Males
tvs protection. 1t is an imperial privilege
to make and sell cards.
Russian newspapers, though in an iron
grasp, protest against the systematic de-
moralizing Of the people. Thus the Novoe
yIemia said:
We are told that Vienna and Paris are
kl own for the light morals Of their resi-.
dtLts. But in our capital there are things
III known to either OF those cities. In
Paris they close all places Of amusement at
!! o'clock, and here the very Babels are
allowed to Inst through the night. Our
Ncrsky Prospect, even during the day, IS
led into huge disreputable house
OILY under the Directory in France were
Il re morals so loose IS ours today.
The ST. Petersburg Vedomosti said on
Il . same subject:
Nowadays everybody and everything
Yields TO the. crowd, which becomes mightier
tbs gods aud kings. The crowd has its
ov temples, palaces priests aud priestesses
Everybody hatters and serves the crowd.
See what music, pictures, statues and naked
forms are offered nightly to that new master
Of the world. A paychical eontagiol is
spreading unchecked We are living in
moral revolution.
But the Cars government does not care
for any revolution that has no smell of dyns-
mite about it, and thus it lets all phYchical
contagious and moral revolutions work
their own way.