The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-12-27
SPENDING THE EVENING"
What This Innocent Phrase Means In
 Hospitable St. Petersburg"

From the London Chronicle.
 An Englishman who has just returned from some years in St. Petersburg de- elares that Russian hospitality demands more from it's recipients than any other. The demand would seem to be mainly of a liquid nature. Here is his description of the way you "spend the evening in the Russian house: You no sooner make your appearance than your host drags you to his den and makes you take a drink You find all the other men there, taking their pick of the bottles, ranging along the hosts private side board, and helping themselves to one every few minutes. If you are wise and diplo- matic you will dodge as many of the ante-prandial drinks as possible, with a view to your comfort later on. But you have got to be very skillful about this. Most Russian hosts have a way of re- garding it as a sort of reflection upon their stock of liquors, if not indeed, on their own drinking habits, if their non- Russian guests begin to fight shy. It doesn't spoil their hunger as 1t does ours. The more a Russian drinks the more he wants to eat. That and the climate are, I take it, the salvation of that nation of heavy drinkers.
 You sit down to dinner at o'clock and 1t lasts until g. The array of courses Is staggering, and there's wine it would seem, for every dish, let alone every course. Men and women drink cham pagne like water, and the air Is such that it does them little harm. Between every two or three courses the cigarettes are passed around to the women as well as the men. and everybody smokes and chatters. After dinner you go to the theater, where boxes have been engaged. That's part of spending the evening" You may smoke all you want to in the boxes, and by 10 o'clock the drinking business begins again. Your hosts cabi- net of liquors-a portable affair designed for theater use-has preceded him to the box, with ice tank and syphons complete. The women as a rule, take champagne, but the men choose the liquors. Thus drinking and smoking pretty necessarily you watch the performance, walking about the boxes and chattering between acts. until after midnight, when the show comes to an end
 Docs that end the evening? Not at all. You return with your host and host ess to their home, where you find an elaborate supper served and waiting. You do your best to do justice to 1t, and to- ward a. m. an adjournment Is made to the drawing room for an hour or so of music. The Russian women play and sing magnihcently, but you are expected to keep on drinking while listening to them. By this time you are about ready to go home. But that would be dis courteous. Spending the evening is by no means over yet. Card tables are brought out and everybody plays French games for the most part per- haps a couple of Russian ones, and once in a while poker-and everybody gam bles You drink necessarily while play ing and munch caviare sandwiches At last-it Is now about 5 a. m.-the evening Is spent. You may go home if you wish. If not you signify your desire to sleep at your hosts house and you find your room all prepared. He is honored by your preference, but when you come to some hours later you feel that all you ever did in your college days was chld's play by the side of a quiet evening with a Russian household"