Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-05-24
RUSSIA'S FAIR CITY,
GEORGE KEENAN, GIVES A DEscRIP-
TloN OF NlZHNl NoVGORoD.

A CIty Utterly Deserted at One Season
OF the Year aud swarmIng with Busy
MnItitudes at Another Time-Curious
Contrasts.
To Traveller visiting Mimi Novgorod for
the first time there is something surprising
and almost startling, in the appearance of
what he supposes to he the city, and in the
scene presented To him US he emerges froEl
the railway station and walks away from
the low bank of the Okla river in the direo-
ton of the Nolga. The clean, well paved
streets; the long rows Of substantial build
ings, the spacious boulevard, shaded
by leafy birches and poplars; the
canal, spanued at intervals by graceful
bridges; the picturesque tower of the water
works; tine enormous cathedral Of Alexander
Nevski; the bourse; the theatres; the hotels;
the market places all seem to indicate a
great populous center Of life and commercial
activity; but of living inhabitants there is
not n sign Grass and weeds are growing in
the middle of the empty streets and in the
chinks of the travel-worn sidewalks; birds
are singing fearlessly in the trees that shade
the lonely and defnced boulevard; the count
less shops and warehouses are all closed,
barred, and Iradlocked; the bells are silent
in the gilded belfries Of the churches, and
the astonished stranger may perhaps wander
for a mile between solid blocks of buildings
without seeing an open door, vehicle, or a
single human being. The city seems to have
been stricken by pestlence and deserted
If the newcomer remembers for what
Ni2hni Novgorod is celebrated, he is not
long, of course, in coming 10 the conclusion
that he is on the site of the famous fair; but
the first realization of the fact that the fair
is in itself separate and independent city,
and city which during nine months of every
year stands empty and deserted, comes TO
him with the shock of a great surprise Tho
fair city of Mimi NovgOrod is situated on
low peninsula between the rivers Okla and
Nolga, just above their Junction, very much
as New York city is situated on Manhattan
Island between Fast River and the Hudson.
In geographical position 1t bears the same
relation to the old town of Ni2hni Novgorod
that New York would benr to Jersey City if
the latter were elevated ON a steep terraced
bluff 100 feet above the level Of the Hudson
AN EPHEMERAL LIFE.
The Russian fair city, however, differs
from New York city in that it is n mere
temporary market-a huge commercial cara
vansary where 500, 900 traders assemble every
year to buy and sell commodities. In Sep
TENDER it has frequently a population of
more than 100, 600 souls. and contains mer-
chandise valued at s750OO,00O while in
January February or March all of its in
habtants might be fed and sheltered in the
smallest of its hotels, and all of its goods
might be put into n single one of its in
Vulnerable shops. Its life, therefore, is sort
of intermittent commercial fever in which |
an annual paroxysm of intense and unnatural |
activity is followed by long interval of !
torpor and stagnation.
1t seems almost incredible at first that a |
city of such magnitude-a city which con |
tains churches, mosques, theatres, markets, |
banks hotels, a merchants exchange and !
nearly 1000 shops and inhabitable buildings, |
should have so ephemeral life, and |
should be SO completely abandoned every |
year after it has served the purpose for |
which it was created When | saw this |
unique city for the first time, ON a clear
frosty night in January, 1868, it presented !
an extraordinary picture Of loneliness and
desolation. The moonlight streamed down
into its long empty streets where the I'm
broken snow lay two feet deep upon the side
walks; it touched with silver the white walls
and swelling domes of the old fair cathedral,
from whose towers there came no clangor of
bells; it sparkled on great snowdrifts heaped
up against the doors Of the empty houses,
and poured food of pale light over thou
sands of snow-covered roofs; but it did not
reveal anywhere sign Of a human being
The city seemed to be not only uninhabited,
but wholly abandoned to the arctic spirits OF
solitude and frost
BUSY MULTITUDE.
When saw it next, at the height of the
annual fair in the autumn of 1870 it was so
changed as to be almost unrecognizable. 1t
was then surrounded by a great forest of
its hot, dusty atmosphere thrilled
with the incessant whi5tling of steamers;
merchandise to the value of 125, O00, 900 rubles
lay on its shores was packed into its 5000
shops; every building within its limits was
10000 people were crossing every
day the poptoon bridge which connected il
with the old town; military band was
playing airs from Offenbach's operas on the
great boulevard in front of the governors
house, and through all the streets of the re-
animated and reawakened city poured a
great tumultuous flood Of human life
l did not see the fair city again until June
1885, when found it almost as completely
deserted as on the occasion of my first visit |
but in other ways greatly changed and i'm :
proved Substantial brick buildings had ,
aiken the place of the long rows of infam- 6
nable wooden shops and sheds; the streets ,
n many parts of the city had been neatly j.,
paved the number of stores and warehouses
lad largely increased, and the lower end of
he peninsula had been improved and digni- '.
led by the erection of the great Alexander l
Jevski cathedral George KEENAN, in The 1
century