The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-05-21
DOG-DAYS IN RUSSIA.
FAIRY PLAYS AND OTHER ST. PET
ERSBURG FRVOuITlES.
Official Junketing Trips at the Public
COst-The Cars Visit to Finland
Merry st. PetersburGers-Lively
Competitive Contests.
rst Petersburg Cor. New York sun. r

fSt Petersburg Cor. New York SUM-
The activity of the Russian officials 10
all appearances. reaches its highest point
in dog days Now as in former years,
there are scores of different commissions
and committees sub commissions aud
sub committees travelling in all the parts
of the country, presumably for the public
ends. They seem TO revise various
branches of the administration, aud 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 sectarians,
and the Nihilists, the opening of new
ports and no end of other big points. IL
ought TO be highly gratifying TO the cars
sub ectS 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 official activity is merely dog
days junketing at public cost Every
year as the vacations approach the
tchinovniks here vie with each other in in
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
now, for instance all the journals of this
capital are describing the cars trip TO
Finla; d.
ON the shore of the Finnish bay. in
picturesque spot, there is little town,
Whitman strand The car aud czarina
made up their minds to go there and see
the sights They wanted TO 20 there by
railway and to return back aboard Of
some man-of-war. To please such guests
the inns have built railway from Abo
to Whitman strand, a 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 triumphal arches, Ornamenting
the railroad stations with fir garlands, and
covering the platforms with red cloth.
At last the car, IN company with
scores of generals and courtiers. went on
his Finnish journey, or, as the papers
style it. his triumphal march The
Finn women presented to the C. arinR a
little boat of their own make, and the
men have in various ways shown their
loyalty. As soon, however as the car
was gone, the senate of Finland voted
unanim ously to raise the tax on Russian
goods imported to Finland-in order, as
it were, to cover the expenses of the inn
periaI trip
Among other official trips cf this sea-
son is worth noticing that of bishops.
In the city of ka, an there met twelve
bishops, each accompanied by half a
dozen learned theulogians They hold
their meetings in church and discuss
means of bringing Mohammedan Tartars
and the old believers to the bosom of the
orthodox church and of strengthening
faith among the people. a bishop sug-
gested education as the best means for
that end But the rest of the theologians
were unanimous in matchmaking mod
ern education. "See what a life the best
educated people of st. Petersburg are liY-
ing" remarked one of them
During these dogdays the St Peters
burgers live as merrily as in any other
season. The fairy play is the rage of the
day here In al. 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 a hundred times. Another
play of the kind. the Golden Apples, "
has been presented about seventy-five
times one critic expressed his surprise
at the success of these plays, which, as he
said, have no sense whatever
Sense" answered a critic of The
NOvoe NTemya We do not care for
sense at ALI Show US beautiful forms,
mimes-that is what we want. We are
tired Of sensible dialogues Sec what toes
of steel has Nine. e, CORY, and did you
ever see such a pcrsOnifICation of grace as
is Nine. Zukkiy How charmingly fairy
like she goes up to the noon
Now the theater gOeTs in Arcadia and
other dog days places of amusement will
see charming scenes and a host of fairies:
they will hear music and songs
and notice ingenious DISCUSSES
wonderful transformations and sugges-
tive pantomimcs.
Competition in Russia is Just now very
lively. The cars brother, Grand Duke
! ladimir. 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 cars uncle, Grand
| Duke Nicholas, oversees a curious race At
| 4 distance of 100 yersts fsiXty-seven niles
! between the cavalry 0 GERS and a railroad
| train the former winning. Another cars
unc.e, Grand Duke Michael. is noting
! which of seven batteries will the quicker
demoish its target while the peasants of
! the neiphborhood are thanking God for
/ good crop Ii is we'll known here that
! the residents of several villages near
/ krasnOe Selo. where the big maneuvers
! take place. live eXclusi ely on the bullets.
! cannOnballs and bOmO>hells they pick up
/ OH their fields \ few days ago. near
/ Cronstadt there was race between rus
/ sim and Finnish yachts. which competed
/ for the prize of the ministry Of marine, q
/ eiX-tou yacht 4 | usSiaR yacht won the
/ prize As for horse races, We have the
almost every day.