The Portland daily press., 1897-01-19
OLD AND NEW RUSSIA.
John L. Stoddard's Fourth Lecture in HIS
Course.

At City hall, last evening, John L.
Stoddard gave his lecture Oh "old ana
New Russia Before his usual large ana
friendly audience In his opening he
quoted Napoleon's famous statement
"scratch a Russian and you will ind
Tartar" added Tourgeniet's COM
ment on it that the Tartar is SO close Ee-
hind that the Russians are semi par
barous people yet, who put Paris klu
gloves on their hands instead OF WASHING
them, and who bow and utter polite
phrases and then 60 home and fog their
wives.
Mr.. stoddard said we should bear this
in mind when estimating Russia. HIS
statistics of the empire were STRIKING.
She has one-seventh Of the land surface
of tho globe, an area which would receive
two such nations as ours, including
Alaska, and then have room for Mexico,
Great Britain, Germany and France, and
whose PEOPLE speak forty different
languages or dialects. On SUBJECT SO
vast many different lectures could be
writton, hut Mr.. Stoddard proposed to
oonfine himself to what the traveller
usually seas in Russia, its brain and it's
heart, St. Petersburg and Moscow.
With this preliminary outlaying Of his
subject Mr.. StuddarG transported his
audience at once to the land of the Gar
AS seen when approaching st. Peters,
burg from the Baltic, tho city looks like
no rINRn to
| the waves does it stand. Only the IN
domitable energy of Peter the Great
would have been equal to the tRsk OF
building such a city on such a spot. In
one year he succeeded in estah iishing
foundation and having erected 81, 000
houses, but they covered the bones of
100. 900 Iaborers, Whose lives were saori-
feed 1t might be supposed that 1T would
be difficult to fill the houses of city
| built in a location SO unsanitRry. But
| this problem did not bother Peter the
Great. He simply drafted merchants
anG mechanics from all over his empire
to people the new capital.
Built and populated in this msnner,
St. Petersburg has, nevertheless, grown
to be one OF the fine capitals Of Europe,
notable especially as city of bridges,
and for its multitude of prayer shrines.
Its pavements, which nature kindly
makes smooth with ice for half the year,
are horrible when the ice is gone. Among
Its remarkable buildings are st. Isaac's
Cathedral, the Alexander column. eighty
| four feet high the greatest monolith OF
modern times, and the gigantic winter
palace. The political morality OF Russia
NAV be Judged from tho remark made at
one time by Gar Nicholas that his son
and himself were the only men in Russia
who did not steal. Deeply interesting
| was the story of the career of Peter the
Great, as was the description of the
! famous Cars Koe Sslo, a Hummar palace
with park eighteen miles in circuInfer-
ence. Then the scene shifted to the
historic capital, Moscow, situated on the
limits Of European civilization, where
the Occident and Orient forever gaze in
to each others eyes, This is city pre-
eminent for its churches. Its church of
the Savior the lecturer, declared to be as
splendid as any temple in the world. Its
curious St. Basil's church, built to the
memory Of an idiot, would seem to be
possible only in Russia.
There was not dull moment in the
lectnrs. The large audience followed
the speaker with the closest attention
and gave frequent demonstrations of
warm approval of the lecture and its
Illustrations, second in interest to none
that have thus far appeared.