The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-20

! never seen city while tens of thousands
OF the peasants present had never seen
any other than a matched roof. What
must have been the effect upon their I'M
! accustomed minds and sense of this won
drous display of courtly magnificence Of
/ endless lavish expenditure, and, above
/ all, of the stern display of limitless armed
! force-of the spectacle of $1,000 troops,
| perfect in discipline and equipment blaz-
J ing in gold and silver trappings, the flow
er Of Russia's vast armies? All this deep
! ly impressed American and European
minds. What, then. must have been the
force of the object-lesson taught to Rus
! sias predestined Oriental subjects?
1T was astonishing to observe the per-
lection of detail and the absolute preci-
sion with which the three weeks ceremo-
NAL passed off. The Russians took plenty
of time for preparation, and when the
mighty machine was set in motion it
moved smoothly and without a hitch The
Russian railroads are very weak in the
matter of rolling stock A special train
is not matter of everyday occurrence
with their officials. Yet every day for a
whole week, from 6 in the morning to
in the evening, ten great special trains
were sent out from st. Petersburg to
Moscow, all of which started and ar
rived on their schedule time In England
or here this would not mean much, nor,
for that matter, would II In Germay, but
rope, which I need not name in which
1t would simply be an impossibility.
Nv nat were the most impressive scenes
of the three weeks? First of course. the
coronation Itself; then the illumination of
the Kremlin. To attempt fittingly to de-
scribe this would be foolish 1t was done
on SUCH scale and with such wonderful
taste that one left the scene feeling that
hereafter there was nothing left to see in
that line. 1t was ALPHABETICALLY beau
tiful Then there was the great court
ball at the Kremlin. Nowhere else in the
world IS there to-day such a magnificent
spectacle as that of a court ball In Rus
sia 1t is one of indescribable majesty
AS a curious experience attendance at
one such ball would amply repay a trip
to the further end of Europe.
our country was we'll represented at
the court ball in the Kremlin. There were
present Mrs. John A. Logan, with two or
three lovely young girls in her train; w.
r. ID. Stokes and his wife, fresh from
series of visits among the imperial studs
OF southern Russia; Mr. and Mrs. Potter
Palmer, who had dropped in to see a few
of the many friends they had made at
the Chicago exhibition, and many Others"
When asked about the disater at the
Khodynsky Pole, Mr.. Webb replied: 81
don't like to think of it, 1t was shocking
horrible. 1t left on all who saw any
thlng OF II an impression that will never
be eradicated. Who was to blame?
don't know, and under the circumstances
| don't care to indulge in any conjectures
1t cast gloom over the whole remaining
period of the ceremonies. 1t came as a
dreadful shock to the young empress, who
insisted on going from hospital to hospital
to visit the wounded and on the emperor,
who, like most constftutionalIy brave men.
is as tender hearted as a woman. The
Whole incident. and the fashion in which,
after it had happened, it was treated,
gives much food for thought A vast
throng swayed by one impulse closes
up, one person on another A few moments
pass, and it opens out again, and there
lie dead $500 people. This is at in the
morning. The work of removing the
bodies began at once, and simultaneously
go on the final preparations for the great
games at l o'clock. AT these are at an
end, and the court, the diplomatic corps,
the invited guests are driven back to
town, passing all the way in the dreary
procession of corpses. The ball at the
French embassy takes place that evening
1t is political function. 1t cannot be
postponed, and the poor young emperor
and his wife, murmuring for their strick-
en- subjects have to go to it with death
in their hearts, as the emperor is re-
ported to have said. In thirty-six hours
every trace of the disaster is wiped out
The dead are buried. The field resumes
It's accustomed appearance, and the great
reaction of the coronation moves on as
steadily as ever.
This is not heartlessness. It is the
Russian character. The Russian is a good
fellow, and is very kindly and gentle, but
he is fatalist by instinct. The thing has
happened. 1t can't be helped Everything
In the world is done for the families VINO
have been bereft of their bread-winners
and that ends it, The Russian is indiffer-
ent to the sufferlngs of others, but so he
Is to his own. That same quiet careless
ness as to what fate may have in store
for him, which finds expression in such
magnificent display of courage in the
hunting field, in such profound contempt
for death on the field of battle, the Rus
sian takes with him into everyday life
He is very quiet person, especially when
in a crowd, but, as we say, he gets there
Russia has been compared by great
writer to a bear whose vast bulk lies
stretched across all Northern Europe ana
Asia. 1 should compare her rather to a
mighty glacier, which is slipping, creep
ing, ever quietly onward. If it meets an
obstacle it either grinds it to powder or
picks ii up and carries ii with 1t. The
glacier does not recede-it travels all the
time, very slowly. but very surely. I must
catch a train-good-by."