St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1896-11-28
DELIGHTS OF RUSSIAN TRAVEL.
How to Have Few of the Modern Conyen-
len ees or Com forts Ef,lInd IEIsnru lnn,a . /

-
fences or Comforts Found Elsewhere.
Much has been written about the 6er-
man bed. But how much might not hef
written about the Russian bed? Nay,
i how much has net been written al
readya Even in decent country houses
1 in Russia the sleeping place is often.
merely a couch or the top of chest of
drawers covered with d rug. But in the
towns, and especially in the hotels in
the towns, there are beds, and such
/ beds! The German bed, MS most people
are aware. if not from personal eA-
1 perience, from Jerome X. Jerome ) de-I
scription of it, is placed on deep box.
/ into which you climb and then pull the
bed on top of you. The whole contri-
| vance is SO designed as to keep one-half
| of the body perspiringly hot and the
other half shiveringly cold, and to suf-
focatc you II you are not constantly on
the alert. Its grand redeeming feature
| is that you cannot tumble out of it, how
ever much you toss about. The Rus-
sian bed, ON the contrary, is an affair.
out of which, or rather off of which,
you cannot possibly help tumbling,
however still you lie. It is an iron or
wooden frame, perfectly destitute Of
rails and about the width of an ordinary
coffin. Upon this is laid mattress and
the entire arrangement is deposited in
the middle of the room. To get on it
iseasy enough for it is quite low. Bat to-
fall asleep on it is ineyitablyttp fall cn
the floor. 1t is too narrow to turn in.
and there is nobody who. does not turn
in his sleep, unless he is a Russian, who,
one may assume, has been weaned from
the habit by countless hops in the days
Of his youth, when he didn't mind that
sort of thing. He has brought himself
into harmony with his environment,
as the evolutionists say, and is comfort-
able. The stranger has not and suf-
fers accordingly.
Most people before they enter the
land of Nod are apt TO dream that they.
have fallen over precipiee and are go-
ing down, down, down, and just as they,
are about to touch bottom they wake
up with a start and heaye a sigh Of re-
lief as they realize that they are ON
nothing harder than feathers. In Riis-
sil that dream has terribly actual
termination. The visionary wakes with
start to find that he has gone over"
in a very literal sense and is wallowirg
among his trunks. Al cunning manwiIl
shift his. bed from the center OF the
room to the wall. That saves him on
one side. But he is still open to disaster
on the other, and a bedroom companion
of mine used to fall out OF bed three
times regularly every night and after
the third time lie talking in his sleep
until daylight, dreaming, / fancy,
that he was about to break the record
by falling out again. The narrow bed
is general where beds are employed at
ALL Even the imperial residences are
furnished with them, and the couch
upon which the murdered Alexander
breathed his last, still shown to visitors
in the winter palace, is Of the sGine
type. The Russians, like their Teutonic
neighbors, have good deal to learn
about Bedfordshire.
But what about the bedciothesc''
it viii be asked. Well they are much
more easily described than the bed, the
fact being that they are invariably con-
spicueals by their absence. Tt is not
the fashion in Russia to supply bed
clothing. even in the best hotels. The
traveller is expected to bring his sheets
and blankets with him IL he requires
them; and the same is the case
in private houses. A Russian would no
more think Of offering him second hand
bedclothes than you would Of Offering
him q secondhand toothbrush. The
railway officials now supply one pillow,
one sheet and one blanket toseacll first.
class passenger Elsewhere, however,
as stated, the stranger, let him be
invited guest or paying lodger,, is uT-
derstood to provide his own beleloth-
Ing. There are considerations which
render this system highly desirable.
But it is not without its drawbacks,
and when we remember that the mean
annual temperature of northern Rms
Eia is below freezing point, 1t will De adj
n1itted that no one should be left IN
ignorance of the custom. It's discovery
created no small CONSERVATION among
the English tourists, who were quite
unpreparea for it, and who arrived at
Moscow az midnight, tired to Death,
and found themselves with nothing to
sleep in and with next to nothing. to
sleep upon. How did they manage?
One slept for eight days in his top coat;
another wrapped himself up in his Dig
aity and his dressing gown, while q
third reposed in a borrowed railway
rug.
Guests in a Russian hotel, or in d Tr.i-
rate house, for that matter, ought. if,
they are particular, to fasten their bed
'oom doors before engaging In serious
ablutions. Russian servants and watt
srs, male and female, give no warning
Il their approach. 1t is no more the
,ustorn to knock at the door than It Isl
o furnish bedclothes, and boots or a.
Will Invariably enter a.
Dom without any intimation, t.as IT,
IS one writer has expressed it, ..inten-
sfonalIy ignoring such obstacles to
movement as DOORS The fact that
he room is q bedroom makes no differ
nee whatever. This free-and-easy
'tyle may not annoy a slav, utitisapt
o provoke embarrassing situations
mong Englishmen, whose morning
oilet il d very extensive affair, enbrac-
ng every part of the man from fhe
rown of his head to the soles Of his
eet. Newcastle Eng.1 Chronicle.