Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-12-24
THE CZAR'S MERRY CAPITAL.
Frtvolity and immortality that it 10 the
Governments Policy TO Encourage.

Government's Policy 60 Encourage.
Correspondence New York sun
ST. PETERSBURG. December 2.-This Is capt.
| tai Of the country known as the HOLY Russia.
1t Is in the state OF lesser siege IL Is ruled by
ministry In which Jealous church members de-
cidedly preponderate. Ii is believed that under
several of its streets there are mines charged
with dynamite. Though being capital it
rarely sees its august master. Now, one hardly
would believe that under such circumstances
this town could be a merry one and vet that's
what it is. Nay. it lis not simply merry; it is
madly merry, and for that il has the full sane
ton and encouragement of the government.
In the very center Of this capital there are five
great institutions for the public amusement
which cannot be classified either with theaters,
or hotels. or saloons, though they have some
traits OF each. Here is, for instance. the Or
| pheum. magnificent house. Its entrance is
| brilliantly lighted. 4 gorgeouS-liyTried !Outman
shows the public in. You enter an immense
hall containing stage. Next room is the
| buffet, and there are also number OF private
| rooms. The entrance fee IL a rouble for a man
! and half a rouble for a woman. The aSSemhage
| At the 0rpheum is mixed, There are Russian
merchants. foreign clerks. young military and
civil officers and women of doubtful reputation.
/ Many OF the men are jolly. and solQe are tipSy.
/ Full freedom re@ns. They talk. sing. exchange
amor0uS compliments. quarrel and even fight
| without any interference from the police. On
! the stage they perform invariably light OPP
| erettas. consisting OF immoral songs and can
! can dancing. Between the acts audience and
/ performers rush 10 the buffet. and yCaka. beer.
| wine and sandwiches are attended u with per-
/ haps livelier interest than is eyinced toward
/ the play Itself. The ballet dancers in their
scanty dress particularly command the atteD-
/ ton of the cavaliers. What conversations are
conducted there and what scenes take place,
! About o'clock in the morning the amusement
! turns into mad Bacchanals. The proprietor OF
| the orpheum spends over 100000 roubes year.
! Each month he brings new ballet dancers. pay
ing each from 100 to 600 roubies month, and
| yet he makes money.
Here is another institution of the kind the
! Golden Palace occupying an old princely man.
sion. Its former aristocratic occupants never
dreamed that servants shop girls and clerks
/ would ever assemble there for indescribabe
! orgies, wasting their nard-earned money aud
! lives. On the stage of the palace they give
/ pieces in which mockery made OF the purest
! and most sacred things
| Here is also the Palace OF Pleasure, frequent
/ ed by unmarried people OF the pleasure Of
| fered and INDUCED in here it is better not to
say word. Then there is the Dancing Room
/ of AleXandrof. 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 pair at a time. engage in the most out
rageOus dances. When between the acts the
performers and the public mix up. enc hardly
can tell who belongs to the stage and who to
! the audience, to such an extent do the ballet
costumes and manners predominant. Here too.
vodka beer, wine and obscene conversations
! freely flow.
! Thus tens of thousands of the poorer people
! of the Cars capital pass all their evenings and
nights. Besides the places | have mentioned
! there are scores OF Others which inject the out
skirts of this city. In all of them the public are
allowed to stay through the night 1t is known
here that the government fayors this kind of in
situations. 1t is the men and women of the
| type Brutus that the imperial Ministers fear,
| hate. ana prosecute: they fear nothing from the
jolly men and frivolous women who frequent
| Orpheums, Golden Palaces Palaces of Pleasure
| dancing rooms and other places of the kind.
And this state of things exists throughout Rus
STA, in all towns and villages. 1t is kind of
| internal policy of the present Ministry. What
delusion. As if ever a government could be
| strengthened by systematic immortality
Ii We look up from below We ind things only
| apparently cleaner On the stage of the mpe-
rial theaters great dramas and noble operas are
replaced by operettaS and light pieces of French
make. In the fashionable clubs and hotels the
| aristocratc and rich public pass their evenings
| in dancing, drinking wine and playing cards.
Even the ladies OF high birth are addicted to
| card playing. Well by using up the cards they
increase the funds of the charitable and educa-
tOnal institutions under her maesty's protec-
ton 1t is an imperial privilege to make and
sell cards here.
| Russian newspapers though in an iron GRASP
protest against the systematic demoralizing Of
| the people. Thus the Noroe Vrentia said:
We are told that Vienna and Paris are known for
the light morals OF their residents. Butt our cap
1tal there are things unknown to either or those
cities. In Paris they close all places OF public
amusement at II O'Clock, and here the very Babels
are allowed TO last through the night. Our Neysly
Prospect. even during the day is turned into huge
| diSreputabie house. Only under the directory In
France we're their morals SO loose as ours to-day.
The St Petersburg Tedomosti said on the same
| subject
Nowadays everybody and every thing yields to the
| crowd, Which becomes miglter than gods and
kings. The crowd has its own temples palaces.
priests, and prieStesSeS Everybody flatterS and
serves the crowd See what music, pictures, sta
| tues, and naked forms are offered nightly TO that
| new master OF the world. A pySchical conta zion
is spreading unchecked. We are living In q moral
| revolution.
But the cars government does not care for
any revolution that has no smell of dynamite
about It, and thus it lets all pyschical contagious
and moral revolutions work their own way