The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1898-09-06
N THE LAND OF THE GAR
s..p.-. ana Incidents of Travel From
\ Private Letter.

s,..n,@. and Incidents of Travel From
u Private Letter.
lady resident in Raleigh has re
eeixed a letter from a friend IN 81 Re
tersbnrg. Russia. from which the follow
ing extract * permitted:
Hotel d. France,
ST. Petersburg Russia,
August 10. 1898.
London was 4 delight: we had beau'i-
f,l weather and 10 see all the places ana
,biu,,s that have read about since l
vas = ,hild was charming e>tihill>t'E
Abbey was the most impressive lhdSS
tb,t have ever been IN. We went 70
sar,ic,. there III the afternoon ana Ia he*'r
H.. amanS san. by the choir Was worth
H.. trim to Europe. From london We
had very pleasant journey 10 Ne"
Ca>le. where we embarked Tor i'trE'"'
Norway. | have Away eon>ldtrcd ~
self an extremely good >aA"t, h"t
snccumhe,l 10 the North Sea. | nae
twenty-SiN hours Of IT, lhr captain '''N
shelter among the islands ana we VIZ
five hours late getting IN.
In Norway from Bergen 70 North
Cane and back t. ~F'raudkjun. We Wtr,
sixteen days on the water. You cannot
imagine how IDEAL il WAS, the scenery =
past description. tire narrow deep iJ"FdN
and the marvellous rocky >noW-cIad noun
tains towering above Us with tiny httlr
farms perched on Their sites. We're eN-
ouiSitp. We were extremely fortunate
in seeing the midnight sun. a thing tlat
does not follow by any means. There
were people ON the boat with us VII" mac
been there three times aud bad not gotten
j view of til il an extremely weird feel
-. . = ~ IrI.rIt At twelve. . CloCH
nj night rs ii is nj midday. The sun
slowly sinks 10 about 4 foot above the
horizon and there il remains for about
IN hour. when il slowly begins the as
cent. Just lit twelve there are four gum
fired from the ship and to near the echo
rcyerberatimg among the mountains Is
ma~niGccnt. We fell quite in love with
the Norwegian people. they are 50 honest
and polite. 1t is strange the amount OF
English that is spoken among them.
English people are Very fond OF Norway
and 20 there 4 great deal. which may
account for It.
Christiana we found quite an at
| t@ractive little city. which seemed quite
4 large one to us after being 50 long
in the heart Of the country.
Stockholm we enjoyed III many ways;
it is Il delightful city and so beautifully
kept. There are exquisite parks with
handsome bronze statues. The city =
| built Oh Islands but they are SO large and
there are such handsome bridges that the
| fact is not particularly noticeable except
TO hightcn the beauty Of the place. | WAS
simply in love with Stockholm and some
day | certainly hope to 90 back.
We stopped a day At tlclSingfors IN
Finland. when we came to Russia. 1t
is Il very pretty town with fine cathe-
Ill, - ,.,. ,,,ni,,,r ,,,,ifn h1pl q, WA
were somewhat hampercd by that. We
went back to the Ulcober@. our boat,
never %Supposin@ for 4 moment that it
| would he anything but smooth sailing
10 Petersburg. 1t did not take us long
TO diSabuse our minds. however. In the
Gulf of Finland we really encountered Il
terrible gale. The ship fairly Writhed
in agony and so did the passengers. The
captain WAS forced to put back. the first
time he had done such a thing in years,
he said. We were twelve hours late III
| getting into Petersburg, SO consequently
We have had to work hard to make up
FOR the time that we lost. We passed the
fortrcSSeS Of CronStadt supposed to
be the most Wonderful dcrcnSeS in the
world. 1t would be 4 brave fleet that
| would attempt TO cross tn, terrific cross
fire which could be poured upon them.
It was beautiful coming up the Neva
when we cot the first glimpse Of TcterS-
burg. The sun was flashing upon 4 hun-
dred gold towers. piers and domes.
Petersburg is 4 beautiful city and one
is more impressed by the lavish display
of wealth than anything else. The iconds
or paintings of the Savior and different
saints are deliberately decorated with the
most exquisite Jewels. At st. 1saacs
one Of The NEST beautiful churches here.
| there are ten cDlumDS Of mHt1chitp and
two Of lapis lazuli. the latter is more
expensive than gold. Also the most
beautiful moslics | ever dreamed of:
there are six and zach one cost twenty
thousand dollars. Down 1T Peterhof the
summer residence of the Gar. we saw
the tombS Of Alexander II and his wife
They have had sixteen mon working
every day since 81 and they are not
nearly completed vet. They are of
jasper and rhodozite and are almost worth
their weight in gold. petcrhof has such
exquisite grounds, beautiful fountains
which we were fortunate enough to see
playing. It takes fifteen million lights
TO illuminate the grounds or rilc occasion
Of Z fete. so YOU can imagine the size
Of them. The present Gar Nicholas
does not live there: both his and the
Czarina'S tastes are extremely simple and
they live III Il more simple palace. quite
near by. but all the balls, entertainments.
etc. are held here.
The winter palace here is magnificent
and is rightly called the most beautiful
one III Europe. We spent a part of the
day there to-day. IT has forty eight
hundred rooms only fifty of which arc
used by the present Gar.
HESTERS ANNUAL REPORT.