Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-07-27

oring to drag a sleigh with it's two occu.
pants safe from the maws of the wolves
who pursue. A mounted cossack has
halted his horse while he lights his pipe
bit of drawing which art students would
do well to see. One mammoth bronze has
group of cossacks maneuvering their
horses with that mad-cap recklesSness for
which the cossacks are justly celebrated.
Here is a farmer blowing the fields with
his weary team and his perpendicular
pillow. A woman, work-worn, is riding a
farm horse with long rake in her hand.
A detachment Of the army is crossing the
Balkans A rough-rider is out on the
steppes catching wild horse with a long
pole which has a moose at the end of it. "A
woman stands tip-toe upon a stump to
reach with her lips the face of her cossack
lover who has just returned from the war.
Another woman has one foot in the stir
rup of her cossack, and he bends over to
press her kiss and an embrace. These
are the bronzes of life, not of poetry.
They carry us to Russia, to Siberia, to the
Caucasus. They are a delight after a sur
felt of cupds and nymphs and venuses.
The Russians show so much else that is
worthy our attention that it is difficult to
select the things which shall be left I'M
mentioned. In furs as might be expected,
they are simply magnificent. Noteworthy
in this collection are chairs upholstered in
seal skin, with the horns of bison for legs
and arms, and two horns meeting at the
tips for the back From $50 to 800 is the
price of these novelties. In carved and in
laid furniture, in cosmetics, in silk and
other fabrics, the Russians surprise us
Their skill is entirely unexpected.
int iDu iS haa yb nf o I'm
perial Russian State Paper mandatory.
Its printing, engraving photography, art
photography, handmade papers as well as
papers of all grades, its mixing of colors
for printing inks, speak of the highest
state of development of all these arts.
This concern, which corresponds to Our
government printing Office and bureau of
engraving and printing with a commercial
papermaking house besides, employs $500
men and women, pays them 1,2OO,o 600 rou-
bles a year in wages and besides gives
them one half Of the 600 900 roubles profits.
Noteworthy is beautiful cabinet with
pictures and other decorations in burnt
wood, executed by Madame Semetschkin,
who is delegate from the Russian i'm
perial institutions appointed by the En-
press Marie to the Worlds Columbian ex-
position. II depicts scenes in the life of
Tolstoi, that greatest of Russians-Tolstoi
as boy as a collegian, as worker in the
fields with his pair of horses and antiquat-
ed pillow, and Tolstoi the ripe author and
philosopher.
There is fine exhibit of Asiatic prod
uct, gathered especially for this fair, and
said to be the most prehensive illustra-
ton Of life and processes in Siberia ever as
sembled. The thousand square feet OF sur
/ face in the Liberal Arts department is a
! display which you will all want to see. 1t
will be the means of convincing you that
the children of Russia are not permitted
| to grow up in the darkness of ignorance,
that the cars government is not wholly
devoted to the making of war and collec-
ton of taxes. There are 800 schools, many
of them art, needle work and technical
schools, throughout the empire under the
| patronage of the car and empress, and
these make a comprehensive showing OF
what they have been taught to do that
will compare favorably with similar eX
hihits from the schools of this country.
In this section, also, are the pieces OF
needle work made by the senior pupils OF
the embroidery schools for presentation to
Mrs. Cleveland at the close of the fair
They are as fine examples OF the art as are
to be found anywhere in the exposition
One has as its figure piece graphic de
linestion Of an event of recent occurrence
which is of interest both in Russia ant
America-arrival Of the relief ship from
this country laden with Americas gift O
corn and wheat to the famine sufferers.
\ Russia makes fine exhibits in the Agri
cultural, the Forestry, the Fisheries, Ma
chinery hall and other Departmental
buildings of the fair. In the Fine Art
palace she shows some Of the most strik
ing paintings Of that vast collection. 1t i
impossible to see what Russia has doHi
and is doing without a feeling of respec
for her government and her people, min
gled with admiration, that is none the les
sincere because perhaps new.
! A----s-A WALTER WELLMAN.