Smyrna times., 1895-09-25
Roland W. Bell at st. Petersburg.
U. S. FLAGSHIP "SAN Francisco" !"
KRoNsTADT, RUSSIA,
Tuesday, July 9th, 1895.
MY DEAR MOTHER

My DEAR MOTHER:
l think that l had better give you
another installment of the diary, in
order to describe to you our trip to st.
Petersburg, July 7th, 1896. Sunday
we were at Kronstadt and st. Peters
burg. A party was hurriedly made up
last night to see St. Petersburg. Our
party consisted of only seven persons.
We left the ship at 6 a. M, and landed
in the Navy Yard, in Kronstadt. We
made quite hurried inspection of the
town aud took the eight o'clock boat
for St. Petersburg. The ride from
Kronstadt to the city of Peter the Great
occupies about one and half hours,
and the time slips by, nearly unnOticed,
as the scenery on either side of Neva
Bay is very pretty. The first object
seen upon approaching the city, is the
gilded dome of St. Isaacs Cathedral.
As we enter the River Neva itself, we
pass the Baltic works where the major
ity of the Russian ironclads are built
There are quite number in process of
construction there now. A little far
ther up the river we notice the U. S. S.
Marblehead, lying quite close to the
NicOlai bridge. Right alongside of her
is the American yacht Margherita.
Immediately upon landing, we jump
into one of the droskies and are driven
to the Hotel de France, where we pro.
cured an English speaking guide,
through the courtesy of one of our Of
fcers. Our first stop now is the cathe-
dral of St. Isaac. 1t is second, only, in
grandeur and magniiicence, to st.
Peters in Rome Upon entering, we
notice great thrOng wOrshipping be-
fore the High Priest. The music is
entirely vocal, and the grandest that l
have ever heard. 1t is very hard to
realize that there is not grand organ
in the rear; but such is the case. I
cannot give any, even rough estimate
as to the cost of the church, but it must
be something Tremendous. There are
several columns which cost 10000 900
rOubles apiece labout $2O,OOO,OOO and
everything is solid gold and silver.
The doors are of bronze, and have finely
executed biblical designs upon them.
Outside, on the facade, there are mass
i've columns made of one piece of gran.
lite. From the cathedral we went to
the Russian Naval Museum, where we
saw objects of great interest to us.
After the museum we went and had
dinner, or rather breakfast, as it is
called. After breakfast we went and
took carriages 10 the Fortress of Peter
and Paul, where all of the Cars and
the Imperial family are buried. We
were very fortunate 10 gaining admit.
tance, as they were preparing for the
arrival of the Grand Duke, and no Wis
itors were allowed inside. Our uni.
forms finally gave US the coveted ad-
mission and we were shown around by
full Russian Colonel, He seemed
very much pleased to see us and took
much pleasure in showing us around
1t seemed incOngruous to US, as the
officers, even that were present, would
stand at attention and salute him as we
passed. The tombs, themselves, are
nearly all the same thing, with the ex.
ception Of the late Car, whose tomb i:
more highly decorated than the rest
Ali around the wall, as in fact, il
nearly oil of the churches in St. Peters
burg, you will see standards and other
trophies of war. This place in particular
has thousands of flags and standards
that have been taken from the enemy
It seemed to me very strange place
to keep them, but it is the custom o
the country,
Near the tomb of the several Cars
you will see the tokens of respect tha
have been sent from different cities anC
countries, nearly all of them in tn,
form of wreaths, about sixteen inches
in diameter and made of solid gold
Upon the top of the tomb of the lat,
Gar, there is an immense crown, mad,
entirely of gold. diamonds and rubies
After leaving the fortress, we drov,
around the suburbs of the city and say
the residences Of the wealth people
The several tributaries of the New
contribute largely to the beauty of tn
lawns and parks. By the way, ther
are but two classes cf people in Russia
the Opulently rich and the exceedIngl,
poor. We drove through several yer.
pretty public parks and then went t.
the Kazan, or Cossack church.
The form of the church is, in itself
very peculiar, having twa rows of col
umns on either side, in the form of
semi'circle, and the building prope
Immediately behind and outside of th,
middle of the semi-circle. In here, too
you will see the battle.hags and key
of city gates that have been taken b,
the Russians, The principal object 0
interest ls a picture of the Virgin Mar,
and the infant Jesus. The background
of the picture is of solid silver, and tn
image itself made up entirely of dia
monds. The picture is about thre
feet square and the image covers tn
majority of it. On either side of th
picture are large and massive candela
bras, made of pure silver and gold. A
soon as one of priests found that W
were Americans, he took us through
side door into the Holy of HOLES. /
here there is almost immeasurabl
wealth displayed, principally, gifts t
the church. Everything they sho,
you is fairly incrusted with preciou
atopes, diamonds and rubies predomi
mating. One gift in particular wa
very pretty and costly, namely, bible
whose leaves and all was made en-
tirely of gold, and whose cover front
was nothing more than q mass of dis
moRds and rubies in design. The bibl
was about three feet long, about tw