The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1888-02-14
DOG-DAYS IN RUSSIA.
FAIRY PLAYS AND OTHER ST. PET
ERSBURG FRlVOLlTlES.
OhicIal Junketing Trips at the Public
Cost-The Cars Visit to 1inIand-
Merry st. Petersburgers-Lively
Competitive Contests
Tst. Petersburg Cor. New York Sun

| TSt Petersburg Cor. New York SUM-
| The activity of the Russian officials. to
! all appearances, reaches it's highest point
| In dog days Now. as in former years,
there are scores of different commissions
and committees, sub commissions and
sub committees travelling in all the parts
of the country, presumably for the public
ends They seem to revise various
branches of the administration, and to
study on the spot different questions of
national Importance. such as epidemics
epizOotics, the laying of new railways.
the digging of new canals. the improve
ment of rivers, the protection to some new
industries. the struggle against grasShOp-
perS, the Siberian marmOtS, the SeCtarlanS,
and the Nihilists, the opening of new
ports, and no end of other big points. 1t
ought to be highly gratifying to the cars
subjects to see his officials earning their
bread by the sweat of their brOws.
But the trouble is that they the sub
iects know very well that that unSeasoned
display Of OF. cial activity is merely dog
days junketing at public cost Every
year as the vacations approach the
tchinovniks here vie with each other min
venting the public questions that should
be studied on the spot Some of these
junketing trips are, nevertheless, de-
scribed in the newspapers at great length,
as if they really meant business. Just
capital are describing the cars trip to
Finland.
On the shore of the Finnish bay, in a
picturesque spot, there is a little town,
Whitman strand. The car and czarina
made up their minds to go there and see
the sights They wanted to go there by
railway and to return back aboard of
some man of war. To please such guests
the Firms have built a railway from Abo
to Whitman strand, distance of sixteen
miles. When everything was ready, in
The Official Messenger there appeared an
item stating that his ma esty was going to
review the armies of Finland. Now,
those armies consist of nine battalions all
told For weeks the Finn soldiers were
making triumpha arches, ornamenting
the railroad stations with fir garlands, and
covering the platforms with red cloth.
At last the car, III company with
scores of generals and courtiers, went on
his Finnish journey, or, as the papers
style it, Ibis triumphal march The
Finn women presented to the arina a
little boat of their own make, and the
men have in.various ways shown their
loyalty. AS soon, however, as the ar
was gone, the senate Of Finland voted
unanimously to raise the tax on Russian
goods imported to Finland-in order, as
it were. to cover the expenses of the i'm
perial trip.
Among other official trips of this sea-
son is worth noticing that of bishops
In the city of kalan there met twelve
bishops each accompanied by half a
dozen learned theulogians They hold
their meetings in a church and discuss
means Of bringing Mohammedan Tartars
and the old believers to the bosom of the
orthodox church, and of siren gthening
faith among The people. a bishop sug-
gested education as the best means for
hot nd LINT : har nct ,f fHo fI1N
were unanimous in matchmaking mod
err eduGatiS2.-z-HSee what life the best
educated people of ST. Petersburg are liv.
ing" remarked one of them
During these dog days the St Peters
burgers live as merrily as in any other
season. The fairy play is the rage Of the
day here In all the suburban fashion
able parks gardens, and theaters they put
up some fairy play. The Journey to
the Moon, for instance, has been played. |
here about hundred times Another |
play of the kind, the Golden Apples, -
has been presented about seventy five |
times. enc critic expressed his surprise |
at the success OF these plays, which, as he !
said. have no sense whatever.
SENSE" answered critic of The |
Novoe remya 1--WE do not care for |
sense at all! Show US beautiful forms
graceful movements, expressive panto-
mimes-that is what we want We are
urea OF SenSlOle .alOgueS see what toes
of steel has Nine cory, and did you
ever see such a personifcation of grace as
is Nine Aukki! How charmingly fairy
like she goes up to the moon"
Now the theater- goers in Arcadia and |
other dog days places Of amusement will
see charming scenes and host of fairies.
they will hear music and songs.
and notice ingenious DISCUSSES.
wonderful transformations, and sugges
tive pantomimes
Competition i'll Russia is Just now very
lively. The cars brother, Grand Duke
Vladimir, is watching the military cook
competition in preparing the soldier mess,
and he distributes personally the cook
prizes OF silver spoons with small sums of
money. Then the ears uncle, Grand
Duke Nicholas, oversees curious race at
a distance of 100 versts (sixty-seven miles,
between the cavalry otcers and railroad
train the former winning Another cars
uncle. Grand Duke Michael, is noting
which of seven batteries will the quicker
demo!ish its target, while the peasants of
the nelghborhoOd are thanking God for a
good crop 1t is well known here that
the residents of several villages near
krasnoe Selo, where the big maneuvers
take place live exclusively on the bullets.
and bOmbshells they pick I'D
OF their fields. A few days ago, near
Cronstadt, there was race between Rus
sian and Finnish yachts, which competed
for the prize of the ministry of marine, a
SIX ton yacht kussian yacht won the
prize AS for horse-Taces, we have them
almost every day.
Kind-Hearted Rochefort.