Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-28
TRAVEL IN RUSSIA
A Voyage on the Steamship
Grand Duke Constantine.
UP THE BLACK SEA
FINE-LooKING MEN AND THEIR
PLEASANT MANNERS.
How a Rich English Widow Became
Russian Prin-
cess.
Written for The Evening Star.

days between Odessa and Batoum, four
stops only-Sebastopol, Ialta, Kertch and
Novortssisk, ALL We thought, rather unin-
teresting places. except Ialta. as the coun-
try Is fiat or with low sun-dried hills and
no vegetation. Kertch, the third stop, is at
the north mouth of the Sea of Azof
modern Russian port, but built on the site
of very ancient Greek town. The waters
of the harbor are SO shallow that the ship
has to anchor at half an hours distance
from the town. but that half hour is inter-
esting, although a noisy one, as it is spent
on board a small tender amid a crowd of
people of all nationalities and costumes, all
chattering and shouting at the top of their
voices. Some one has said that the east
meant to him Babel of voices. all talking
at once and in the loudest of tones, and we
felt that on the tender we must indeed be
in the east. 1t is funny to watch them,
more so than to listen, for they never seem
to feel 1t necessary to come near enough to
save their voices, but scream to each other
from the house tops, or yell from a distant
boat, or shout from the end of street,
until one wonders what their throats can
be made Of One does not wonder, however,
that they shout when in a crowd, for with
everybody in the crowd talking as fast as
he can only the loudeSt voices can be heard.
The country about kertch Is more inter-
esting than the town itself, as 1t is COW
cred with mounds, tombs of the ancient in
habitants, mostly Greek, but as we found it
difficult to believe that the tomb we were
shown as such was that of Mthridates and
as the mounds had all been plundered dur
ing the Crimean war. and now showed only
the traces here and there of fresco, we did
not llnger as long among them a supe-
rior Intelligence might have prompted us to
do The view in the moonlight over the
hills, the Sea of Azofs and the Black sea
was more of an attraction to u.s. confess
Coming aboard again at 10, we all went
to most comfortable perch we had discov-
cred in the stern, and made very pleasant
evening of it, the Turk playing boating
songs of the Volga and Turkish serenades
on the mandolin and the Russian officer
humming the air softly to himself. The
combination of the Black sea moonlight
and mandolin proved SO attractive that
eight bells struck and found US still there
and awake! An unheard-of hour during
our six weeks tour. In between the soft
stunning the Turk gave US some interest
iEg bits of informant Such as that his
grand father had had forty-five children,
but that his father was quite of modern
turn Of mind, as was he himself, and that
his own one aim in life was to marry a rich
American girl and live in New York
When he spoke Of the sultan, which he
frequently did in a daringly open manner,
1t was with hardly concealed scorn. He
has everything a man can want" he said
He has not to leave his park to enjoy all
the pleasures of earth. He has all the
pleasures of earth. He has as many wives
as he wants; the finest jewels Of the world;
in fact, he has paradisei but he is wicked,
how wicked! and he will never get his
ticket to the heavenly paradise" Then his
expressive face beamed and he said: "Meis!
II he should ever hear that remark" and
he drew one finger across his throat and let
his chin fall on his chest with a thump 1
looked around little fearfully, for 1 had
Just heard that there were spies on all the
SHIPS, VINO understood all languages, al
though they pretend to understand none ex-
cept Russian.
l had always imagined Russian to be
harsh language. more like German, and
and much like Italian in sound The wo-
men have not very agreeable voices high
and nasal and thin, but those we met and
saw were all pretty with slim figures and
fair skins.
Good-Looking Men.
The men we admired very much, as all
those we saw were tail, wen-made men,
and had very good manners and an amlable
expression of face, SO that 1t was hard to
believe what the German merchant de-
clared to be fact, that they, one and all,
possessed the temper of the evil one him
self, and that, when reused, they at once
returned to their old savagery. He as
sured us that the scratch" had to be very
light to reveal the Tartar! He indeed
seemed to consider the nation as beyond
any possible salvation. A hopeless, UNI
so4vable riddle. He had lived IN Russia
Tor fifteen years and thought the country
now in worse condition than better He
said that the tar was entirely in the hands
OF the synod Of priests, and that If he
should try In any way to help the people or
introduce any new ideas or MAKE any re-
forms he would die a natural death In his
bed! But that no tar had ever died a
natural dea tn in reality, that the poor were
so dreadfully poor, that their la X of nour-
ishment and inability to keep clear through
lack of clothes brought on disease, and
there was always more or less cholera In
the Interior that large sums were raised
Tor their aid, but went into the pockets of
the priests. He evidently thought the tar
wanted to do his best, but was weak and
that no tzar Of great strength of character
would be long-lived. All the Russians we
met spoke warmly and affections civ of the
tar, but the poor tzarina seems to be uni
versally disiked. She is considered Eng
lish, and the hatred of the English is never
disguised.
She is called naughty and proud and is
supposed to be trying to break down and
root out all the old Russian customs and
TO introduce English ones in their place
foor young thing, her life is anything but
an enviable one. We were told that none
or the princesses of Hesse had sons, and
that of course she would never have one
When suggested that the Princess Henry
mad a son, | was answered with a shrup
On, yes and she is the only one Of the
sisters" 49,
Some very interesting Russians. a pro-
fessor in some big school and his sonin-
law, came aboard at Kertch The Younger
man was physician who had broken down
from overwork and was taking a holiday
He had had nine hundred cases of cholera
In his district in the interior, during
the last two months, and said that it was
almost impossible to keep down When
asked the cause of it he shrugged his Shout
ders and said, "A little thin cabbage soup
and stale bread once day is not a nour-
ishing diet but this is a hard world to
live In"
They spoke little French, but very good
German, and he told US that the language
was much spoken all through south Rus
STA, from the fact that the colonies OF Ger
mans founded there by the Tzarina Cath
crime were still in a Furnishing condition
and had greatly increased in population:
that they kept very much to themselves
and We're disliked by the Russians, but
that their language had spread greatly.
Widow and the Prince.
Every one seems to agree that the eau
casans are a very fine race of men, tall and
well built. and with good features, and they
say that at Tifiis they are all princes,
which sounds rather unusual We were
told a funny tale of English widow,
very rich. who went to Tiiis and was
much attracted by the appearance Of the
waiter at her table. When she found that
he was prince, not appreciating how little
that means in Russia, she sent word to him
that she would like to meet him. He
haughtily replied that he would not meet