The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1896-12-20
In UNKNOWN RUSSIA.
LIFE UNDER A PATRIanCHAL Gov
ERSMENT.
Heterogeneous Collection of People
and Lxsg.axe~-Son-As. Assimilation
81 Rsces-Nillicns Who Are Little
Retter Than S~rfs-strons ReiiS-
foss Tendency.

WoH1ar Grc mystery. OF WEfCh We KNOW
nothing. Yet there exists today a eoun-
|. try which II greater and rnor@ powerful
than any save two on earth and 81 which
practically nothing IL ever written-An
empire with torrintcn over ons-ssyenfh OF
al the land en- the globe. nation with a
past Most marvellous and fgtare which
70 one dares 10 predict. Today the aver
age educated American citizen knows
more OF darkest Africa" than he does Of
Christian and civilized Russia.
To Americans this unknown land should
have a peculiar and special interest. In
many ways II Is more Ike our country
than any other on earth. and yet between
the TWO nations there are differences
more radical than between any other TWO
civilized powers in the world. You can
not travel day in Russia without real
izing how strikingiy peculiar Il is.
You leave our peaceful land and sail
into Russia between rows OF newly built
warshlps. II you go by water: or IL you
so by land. you will meet. in any town at
which you stop. ten 10 100 soldiers and Of
hcers within ten minutes after YOU leave
your train. Our state and Federal gov
ernmcnts have little or nothing 10 do with
the individual citizen. The Russian gov
eminent has everything 10 do with him.
Before you even enter the country you
meet the government. 1t demands your
passport. and If you cannot show IL you
cannot enter. At each city. town or viz
laSe you may stop you must present your
Credentials.
You drive to your hotel through crowded
streets AZ a gallop, or as fast as your
horse can go-aS does everybody else. In
your hotel the roam you VIII stay IN VIII
have double windows and stove four or
five feet broad. two or three feet thick.
and reaching 10 within foot or two Of
the ceiling. THIS is for winter. All Rus
sian life, customs and institutions are for
winter, a winter that lasts from seven 70
ten months. on the way 10 st. Petersburg
We passed Cronstadt, town on an island
In the middle OF the Gulf OF Finland. l
asked our ships captain II boats could get
into the Neva in winter. 81. Petersburg
Is on the Neva.
Get into the Neva? Why, they can't
get away from Cronstadtv'
Cant get away from cronstadt? Way
sot?"
Because of the ice.'
THE ice, where"
Around Cronstadt"
asWny. YOU don't mean 20 SLY that she
Gulf of Finland freezes over in winter
81 do. Ii freezes clear into the Baltic
sea, BOO or 800 miles"
I remained silent some little time after
getting this insight into the mild and
fropfcaI character of st. Peters
burg winters. After a while / recovered
sufficiently TO ask tho captain now people
in cronsfadt communicated with the
shore In winter. remarklnK that they sure
ly could not carry IN sleighs enough pro-
visions for a town of several Thousand
people.
Of she carrying on railroads"
sRailroadsr' / exclaimed, "hut tts an
island?''
ives. I know. but in winter there ars
electric railways that run over the Ice
They are biilt on the ice"
And yet in summer time the mercury
often stands at 90 degrees Fahrenheit and
higher. In siberia there is a region where
the average temperature In July Is 90 de-
grees. and IN January GO degrees below
zero.
II You study the people you will find
even more that is strange and marvellous
20 u.s.
There IL the Russian church. 10 which
belongs the great mass OF the Russian
ueople. from the emperor 20 the hum
blest peasant Blu: the Russian religion
Is not ike ours. In our country II IS the
more Intelligent and educated people VINO
are the most religious and God-fearng.
but I'm Russia the lower poorer. d4fuer
and more ignorant the man Is, the mofs
deenIv deyout he is. the hnest anu
wealthiest churches are filled, not with me
,ica ard well-dressed. but with CROWDS
az rouRh-looklng. dirty muzhlks. the low
est. poorest class OF the Russian popaia-
ton. -.
The church buildings are the gayest.
brightest, gaudiest houses in town. Mvst
are stone or stucco. and instead o. oeins
painted brown. gray or some other uuaet
color, are OF light pink or sky-piue. 49,
ally with green roofs and domes OF bright
gold or blue or pink and green.
In many regDects the Russian cnufch y
like the Roman Catholic, and YET the
PRIESTS wear long hair and boards are ri
married. and the bishops ana metrop'ii-
tans must be widowers
throughout the whole daily lie or the
neople we find these same remarkable con
trasts 20 our life and civilization. IN
snaak,nR 20 n gentleman or lady OF your
acquaintance. you do not say MI So-aia-
sor' or Mrs. Blank" but employ the
given name. adding the name OF me fathef
of the person addressed. Eaui lNsssl7~
witch" 0T,au'. son OF john. or Nara MIC
eisievra,, Ofary. daughter Of Nichoiasl.
Is the form Of address. Befors ef4s atS
,,,srrfe5 sl,ey hardly cross the street win
oe,t a rhana~ou But they nearly 81
smoke. as do the women Eeneraiiy Inc
Russian peonie are very sympathetic anu
warm hearted. and vet the mothers never
nurse their children, unless they are so
moor they cannot possibly adord a nurse
e
che United states. also. there are ST races
and naiionalities, hut they are al more
.horoual1w assgrnsIated to our native pop
yg}atgon: they all speak our language ana
,af,nt our customs and Hte. bBt IN Hus-
STA there are probably forty languages ana
dialects that are regularly spoken ~ IS
many different people And these people
&c Sisfinet from fhe Russians. not only
An 1arrunRe but also in al their customs
ard vvsvs az living They form seIsafst}e
nations within the Russian empire Many
cannot speak Russian AZ al, l sm writ
trg a. Sarrszra ard have Just come oef@
asonx the VolEs from Slzhnl NoksoFof-
From Nizhui 20 ssTsrs. e'ily 80 mics. ne
country Is inhabited ~ more than a dozen
afYs~e7t races Each OF these peoples has
tie eszrr, lsnguaze or dlalsct and keeps Gp
lts own peculiar custeus-
~~hesr or3zsu and history = often most
remarkable For instsncs. IRE language
~ re TcNereTrlsses IS derived from IN
uish Tartar and Russian; the kasSirs are
a. Finnish type and orig1n aH2 SPEAK me
Turkish language In Siberia. TIE Ca3-
e~x.tS and n the north, where ] 70 from
hera. there are people even more strange
ans foreign 20 the Russians than are these
tribes along tha Noiga-
~, eur e5an,ry the railing slsrnerst. the
life ~ the ration. Is ire Ersa& middle class.
neither rsch nor poor, scsaeSarly nor iAti-
crate But 81 Russia the grest mass 81
she x~aDl~ are shc.s VINO tAlrty-fxs years
ego were s~rf. n much TIE SANE c0182~
fsow 81 our negroes <heE. ToaAv they ATs
roor and unafnrated. Taey are TeBe1.
sHwrnv- hsonae-heartei fellows wao work
tw-esve 20 ffteen hours q dEy. ard yes 1Fe
on zeak TEA and blsck bread. WHO never
,,se .Nesr naaak in any wcrk tbey d. and
yer are fan O nervous energy; ~rao arr
ths dlrtssst-5ookisg peoqlr ever - " ard
80 era % ss--ss~e CHEF geiEfszS - q