The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-04-08
ABOUT RUSSIAN LUXURY
Life of the Wealthy in a Land Where
Famine Abounds.
IS SEEN BY TRAVELLER.
Fortunes Worn I'm Furs-How the Houses
IRE Furnished-Carriages Considered
a Necessity-Tbe Rich Enjoy Them
selves While the Poor Starve.

The pithy epigram "if you scratch a
Russian you will find a Tartar, /" has taken
such a deep hold upon the popular mind
hat the real society of the upper classes
in the empire of the car is but little
understood. There is a general impress
sion that the State that the nobility
keeps is barbaric and widely different
from the rest OF the European continent,
and IL Is to correct this notion that an
observant traveller has set down these pen
pictures of the country as he has seen 1T.
The Venetian women, he says, never go
out save in a gondola; the Russian only
in q carriage. Scarcely are they willing
to walk q few steps along the Newsky
Prospekt. Their bonnets and their fash
ions in dress come from Paris. OF the
elegance of their figures IT is impossible to
Judge, for ample petisses of black satin,
or some wooden material with large plaids,
wrap them from head to heel. Coquetry
gives way to considerations OF climate.
A carriage is not considered as an object
of luxury, but Of prime necessity. Small
tradesmen, clerks with moderate salaries,
economic in every way and stint them
selves in order to keep a Garcia, droschky,
or sledge. To 60 on DOT is a kind of dis
grace.
A fashionable droschky, such as the
young swells use, Is a small open carriage
with iour wheels, those of the rear not
larger than the front wheels OF a victoria,
those of the fronts apparently copied from
a wheelbarrow. Four circular springs
support the body Of the carriage, which
has two seats, the one for the coachman
and the other for the master.
Provision against the cold Is CT course a
necessity Of the climate, and here is a hint
AZ to the way to keep Jack Frost on the
outside. The travellers edroo was her.
mctically closed, between one sash and
the other was placed a layer Of sand, in
which were little paper horns filled with
salt, designed to absorb moisture and pre-
vent the accumulation of silvery foliage.
Copper mouths, like the openings of a let
ter-box, were also in readiness to blow
hot-air blasts. There are no outside
shutters. One narrow movable pane
serves to admit fresh air, but its use is
disagreeable, and even dangerous, SO great
is the difference in temperature without
and within.
There is also something peculiar in the
appearance of a Russian ante-room. Pc
l~isses, lined with sable or Siberian blue
fox hang from the rack with their limp
sleeves and straight heavy folds vaguely
suggesting the human figure, and the in
evitable overshoes beneath them simulate
feet. These overshoes are made Of the
finest cloth and have collars Of beaver
costing from 100 to 300 rubles. An over
coat worth ! 900 rubles is not unusual. A
Northern proverb might well be "Tell me
what furs you wear and / will tell you
how much you are WORTH
Flowers are the Russians luxury. The
houses overflow with them; flowers re-
ceive you at the door, and go with you up
the stairway. Irish ivies festoon the bal
listers, jdrdinferes adorn the landings on
every floor. In the cmbrasure of the win
dows bananas spread out their broad,
silken leaves; TALBOT palms, magnolias,
camellias, growing like trees, mingle their
blossoms with the gilded volutes Of the
cornices; orchids hover like butterflies
around lamp shades Of crystal, porcelain
and c~uriously wrought terra Gotta.
And all this floral splendor thrives az in
O hot house. In truth, every Russian
apartment Is a hot house. In the street
you are at the pole, within doors you
might believe yourself in the tropics. In
regard to furniture, It is much like our
own, only larger, more ample, as becomes
tho size Of the rooms, which are large.
But one thing distinctly Russian is the
boudoir Of delicate and costly wood,
carved in open work, like the sticks of a
fan, which occupies a corner of the draw
ing room, festooned with the rarest OF
climbing plants-a kind OF confessional
for confidential talk-furnished with di-
vans when the mistress of tho house, iso-
lating herself from the crowd of visitors
while yet remaining with them, may re-
ceive three or fou guests Of special dis
tinction.
Some times IL Is of tinted glass covered
engravings etched with gluoric acid and
mounted in panels Of gilded copper. Nor
is IL rare to zee a huge white bear suitably
stuffed and arranged, Offering to visitors a
commodious seat, and sometimes little
black cub servo as foot-stools or otto
mans.
A Russian dinner is thus described: Be-
fore sitting down at table the guests APP
proach a small queridon on which is set
out csviare, bits OF sailed herring, an
chovies, cheese, olives, slices OF Bologna
sausage, Hamburg smoked beef and other
relishes to be eaten with biscuit In order
TO stimulate the appetite. This lunch IL
taken standing and accompanied by alb
sinthe, Madeira, Dantzic brandy, cognac,
and cumien, a kind OF anisette. At table by
the side OF the white bread is served a
slice OF the blacklist rye bread. The Rus
SLAMS are also very fond Of sailed cucum-
bers.
During dinner after great ~draughts of
such bordeaux and champagne as is found
nowhere but in Russia, they take porter
and ale and especially Kivas, a kind OF
local beer made OF crusts Of black bread
fermented, which must learn to like
and which, to strangers, scarcely seem
worthy Of the magnificent goblets of
bohemian glass or chiselled silver in
which fosms its brown liquor.-Philsdel-
phia Press.