Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1884-02-17
ST. PETERSBURG.
Its Appearance as Approached by
Water.
Some Of Its Most Noteworthy Features-An
Evening Service in the Creek
Church The Hermitage
The Winter Palace.

NdtSI 10 idE ilOEc ucautiidi tuoh ~
land. The country around Is fat and
the city sits upon the sea, as it were.
Who would not prefer TO approach
Aphrodite upon her native element,
rather than look upon her and her
gorgeous train from the shore? Theo-
phile Gautier's description Of this scene
is 80 true and vivid, although. of an
evening in January, perhaps, that 1t
may well be copied here: ain the dis
tance, emerged slowly between the
milky water and the opaline sky, en-
circled by its mural crown, crenellsted
with tHrrets, the superb silhouette OF st.
Petersburg, whose tints of amethyst
drew a line of debarkstion between
those two pale immensities OF sea anu
sky. Gold scintillated in scales and in
needles upon the diadem, the richest.
the most beautiful, that ever city wore
upon its brow. Soon st. lsaac's out
lined between its four bell towers its
cupola of gold, like tiara; the admiral
~ darted high in the air its gltterins
arrows; the church of st. Michael the
Archangel rounded its dome Of Moscow,
tie curve, that Of the Horse Guard ilited
sharp pyramids, their tips adorned
with crosses, and a crowd OF more re-
mote church towers cleaning with
their metallic lustre. Nothing exists
more splendid than was
That Golden city
upon that horizon Of silver, when the
evening had all the white radiance OF
the dawn.
Immediately on our arrival, hearing
that it was the eve of great feast in the
Greek church, we fastened to st.
Issacs, where a splendid service was
going on. On entering this grand edl,
flee, where the glitter Of thousands OF
candles covered the retreating sunlight
that played softly In the almost faith:
omless depths of the dome, we stood
spell-bound amid the PROSTATE forms
sll about US, and we heard 1.-THE beauti-
Jul in song"
Beneath the great dome stood group
of priests, with long black hair, cover
ed with the cap peculiar to tteir office,
ond clad in rich garments OF white and
gold; on either side, fsnked by that
10y. choir, worthy of its world reknown
the body Of this temple filled with
thousands OF worshippers, and here anu
there groups of sisters and monks,
whose pale faces made fitting frame
for this sumptuous and splendid picture.
AS the services continued the priests
and their surrounding throng moved
slowly toward the iconastase, thai
wall of sacred pictures set in gold"
through the central door Of which, IN
the mysterious darkness beyond, Isl seen
the colossal Christ forming the window
at the back Of the sanctuary, where, III
purple and gold, with the right hand
raised in benediction, the power OF art
seems almost to have surpassed itself.
We turned; fainter and more ETHEREAL
sounded the "Gospodi pomilup'-"rhe
Lord have mercy.
On a clear,
Warm August Day
Sunday-hearlng that the annual oil
GERS races" were 10 come of at kras-
noe SelO, the summer camp OF the i'm
perial guards, mum boring eighty thou.
sand men, we took boats to Peterhol
and drove thence to the camp, some
sixteen miles from st. Petersburg. The
camp is six 10 ten miles in extent, y
rolling country, with here and there
plains of considerable extent. The hour
set for the races was T.. NJ, but Oh
reaching the place we were Informed
the car would not arrive until 6 O'Clock.
For two hours companies of infantry,
without arms, issued from the different
camps and slowly gathered around and
about the central chalet, which stood
-, hn OF n
cavalry superbly mounted, representing
every point of the Russian dominions,
came upon the scene by twos and threes
The CIrcassian, the Mongol, the Tartar
and the COssack, "a crowd Of uniforms
embroidered with gold, epaulettes star.
red with diamonds, lows deliberations,
whose enamel and precious stones form
centres of flashing light" Several
bands took up their station opposite the
chalet when the czar was TO occupy.
When few minutes before O'Clock
his majesty appeared with the czarina
and some OF their children, together
with the grand dukes and the various
members of the imperial household, was
it by accident or design that the chalet
was completely surrounded by from
five to ten thousand men, mounted and
unmounted?
The Gear;
although he sat at the front Of the bal
cony.opening of his chalet during the
time of the actual racing, moved away
at once when the winning horse passed
the line, withdrawing to the salon
within, to reappear again when the
uext race was called. Possibly this
nervous action on his part was owning
10 the fact, heard by us on the day fol
lowing, that man and woman hal
been arrested recently on the grounds
OF the palace of Peternof because Of act
ing suspiciously), where the emperor
was accustomed to show himself some
what freely. The sun had set when the
races were over, there had been no ser
ious accident TO those engaged in the
sport, the prizes had been bestowed by
royal hands, the emperor and the i'm
perial household had driven Off from
the camp to some palace in the neigh.
bOrhood, and our troiks with its three
horses abreast bore Us, flying almost
over the miles that lay between the
camp and the golden dOmed city. Tue
stroika is peculiarly Russian institu-
ton. Imagine q vehicle capabie nj