Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-09-20
Special Correspondence.


st. Petersburg, Aug. 29.-Some
writer devoted a chapter ION how TO |
properly enter a drawing-room A !
chapter-a very brief one-might be |
penned on how to best enter the city
Of St. Petersburg, that is, SO as to get
the best conception of its beauty |
magnitude and splendor. 1t would be
up the river Neva from the Baltic
Many Of its sumptuOus palaces, its fine
bridges, the vast and busy quays and /
navy yard, the countless barges ana
steamers, ali are seen in rapid and
ever-changing succession as our steam
er edges in and out among this pro-
digiOus commerce to her dock and
the picturesque, but wonderfully silent
crowds awaiting her.
From Kronstadt, a score of miles be-
low, We pass, it seems to US, 40 or
more war vessels. many Of them of
gigantic proportions. The golden
domes Of st. Isaac's, Kazan and many
other cathedrals are strange, impress
sive and conspicuous features in the
wilderness of great buildings and the
nearly finished mOsque-like tower Of
the Alexander II. cathedral, with it's
twisted oriental crown and mosaic
walls. Decidedly we are unaccustomed
to such fantastic architecture. The
queer 2-story hOrse-collars and the
absurd droschkes, as we'll as the
droschke drivers, and the cossacks,
and general opera-bouffe makeup of
many Of the people we see in the busy
streets convince us that we are in a
foreign land-veIy much so.
St. Petersburg is a monumental city
Is it the finest Of the great cities we
have seen in Europe? We all but
think so. In many respects it GER
tainly is. Great was Peter the great!
And great he was not alone because of
his towering seven and one-half feet
stature, his resistless will and intellect,
but in his wonderful foresight in build
ing in the midst Of marshes and we'll
night Arctic tundra one of the worlds
finest capitals, and the outlet to the
Baltic, of vital Importance. to the vast
Russian empire-nOW one of the great
est factors in modern civilization; but
always Russian, always like it's rail-
roads, Upbuilding primarily for the
military and naval strength Of Russia.
We shall see and hear very much of
Russia in the next decade. Is ST.
Isaac's the finest cathedral interior in
the world? most impressive, with its
maIachite and lapis lazuli columns Of
90 to 40 feet? [ think so,-fner than
ST. Peters than San Marco or the
KOelner Dom. Yes. and one room in
the dazzling treasury Of the Hermitage
museum and gallery is said to hold
thirty millions roubles in precious
stones and jewels, and the numbers of
masterpieces by Rembrandt, Tintoretto.
Rafael, Leonardo de Vinci, Titan,
Claude Lorrain, Rubens, ETC., some of
which are worth a kings ramson.
The galleries of the winter palace
and the Hermitage are among the
finest extant, not excepting Amster
dam, Dresden, Rome or London (that
superb Wallace collection in Hartford
house though is almost unrivaled), the
Escurial at Madrid or elsewhere. And
st. Petersburg is almost terra incOg-
nita, and has but about three and one
half months of comfortable weather.
1t is wretcnedly cold now. Heavy
wraps are in demand. I feel glad that
I have a heavyweight overcoat, even
if it is in Wisconsin. It is August II
by the Russian calendar. The GregOr-
ian calendar slips cog now and then,
and makes no account of fractions.
The GregCrian chorals which we heard
during service at st. Isaac's (fete day
ceremony were most impressive; I'M
accompanied by instruments or organ,
they were grandly solemn. Not often
do we hear double A below middle G |
sung by bass voice.
We are now travelling in company
with Mr.. and Miss Baier of New York.
Mr.. Baier is the organist at Trinity
and says but once has he heard me |
like, and that was by sky or -
poff Russia is noted for phenomenal |
basso profundos.
The soldiery, cossacks, are rough
and-ready in gay and respondent uni
forms. There are said to be now in
st. Petersburg over 10000!
W. W. Warner.