The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1885-01-17
VOL. XX.-NO. 10.

one has seen engrayings of the equestrian
statue In bronze of Peter |. 1t is an ex-
traordinary monument. The huge rugged
rock of granite which forms the pedestal of
the statue, it required little short of mirac
ulous ingenuity and labor to move it to the
spot. The statue itself is masterpiece.
No one visiting the Russian capital
should omit seeing the Hermitage; under
this unpretending appellation it contains
vast treasures of art and industry. The
picture gallery alone never wearies the
lover of art. The RaphaePs gallery is said
to be of the same dimensions as that of the
Vatican. intermediate are the pillars of
porphyry and marble. And what a pro-
fusion of vases and tables of lapsis-lazuli,
malachite, of fine mosaies, ETC. It is an
assemblage of beautiful objects. The Win
ter Garden there for the moment quite
deludes you into the idea that you have
escaped into some delicious southern eli
mate; for in the most severe season there
are the blooming rose and the hyacinth in
company with the ripening peach, trees
and bushes in leaf, verdant lawns and gravel
walks surrounding.
The writer cannot conclude this little
sketch of winter in the Russian metropolis
without paying tribute to the memory of
the late undetermined Emperor, whose sad
and most unmerited fate shocked Europe
in its length and breadth, and created teh
deepest feelings of horror and disgust in
all right-minded people He formed a
l., al.
throne, with high moral courage following
it out to its completion; and certainly, at
the time the writer was in Russia, nothing
could exceed the respect, not to say adora-
ton, with which all classes of his subjects
regarded him; and when better times come,
and the fearful spirit which has actuated
men to such crimes has passed away, again
will all hearts in gratitude revert to him.
He will occupy grand page in history,
and millions yet unborn will bless the name
of Alexander the Emancipator.
With the Easter festivities may be said
to end the Russian winter. The prepara-
tions for Easter ceremonies in the Russian
Greek Church, on Easter eve, and grand
doings on the festival itself, have been so
often described, as to render it unnecessary
for the writer to enter into any detail re-
specting them They certainly leave inn
pressions on the mind never to be obliter-
ated And with this joyous festival come
new thoughts, new hopes. All begin to
anticipate the breaking of the ice on the
Neva still, when the river with its clear
current appears, winter is not yet gone.
Soon after comes down the drift ice from
the Ladoga; and as long as it floats on the
surface, the atmosphere owns no warmth,
and no discarding of fur cloaks, nor other
sudden changes of garments, can, with i'm
punity, be made But, these Ladoga
blocks once out of sight, the temperature
rapidly changes. Every blade of grass
after the snow has disappeared is as yellow
as straw, and the country looks as if it could
know no renovation. But, patience for
short time When once the temperature
becomes genial, change like magic takes
place. The buds of the birch trees expand,
there is a sudden burst of foliage, and the
various tint which gladden. the eye, together
with the food of song of the nightingale,
apprise the inhabitants of these attitudes
that the long, monotonous winter has de-
parted, and that they can prepare for their
migration. All sorts of al .fresco visions
present themselves 1t is time of jubilee;
and with delight is greeted the change from
luxurious, but close, shut up rooms, to the
almost universal balcony life