Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-09
THE GREAT WHITE BEAR
A FAVORABLE VIEW OF RUSSIA
AND THE RUSSIANS.
Despotism and Autocracy by No
Means Obtrude Themselves Upon
the American Traveller.

st. Petersburg Corr. of the Boston Transcript
A good many years ago when every one
nearly every one-was trying to save the
Old South Church in Boston from threaten
ed demolition Mr.. Lowell agreed to give
one lecture In series which included per
haps six eight others. He began his dis
course. as l remember it, with these words:
You may be surprised in q course on
American history to hear me announce as
my subject the poet Gray. / had selected
for my theme The Early Colonial Poets,
but upon beginning to read up on the mat
ter an insuperable obstacle presented itself.
There were none"
One who shall claim at the present mo-
ment that the basal quality of the Russian
mind from car to peasant is democratic,
and that there are already reforms in that
country set in motion which promise that
that great nation may lead the world side
by side with the United States toward a
common ideal will find as barren a field for
justification in the modern press Mr..
Lowell discovered for poetry in the early
records of the colonies. The word has gone
forth from English and American current
literature that of progress of reform there
is none. Those who care enough about the
matter to go to Russia itself, walk its
streets. watch It's people and the effects of
the government as its stands today, inquire
about what they do not understand keep
the open eye and the open mind, and from
the opportunities they have get their i'm
pressions, such as these must paint the
thing as they see II.
Aspect of St. Petersburg.
I first realized that something new was
going to happen when 1 boarded the
steamer at Stockholm. the signs in
letters that looked like Greek and had
my tea served to me In tumbler. My
next surprise was when 1 had the first
glimpse of ST. Petersburg 1t lies on a
level with the sea before you, its turnp-
shaped dcmes of FURNISHED gold and of va
ried colors shining in the sun like those of a
city builded of enchantment. st. Peters
burg is close to the river that its streets
are in constant danger of being submerged,
and if the Neva rises but an inch, from all
the fire towers. which are placed at differ
ent parts of the city and about the turrets
of which men walk round and round all
day, signals will be given which will set the
bells ringing with the note of warning to
those in cellars anywhere, and provision is
always made for the safety of sentinels
posted near the banks. The flood threatens
Peters brilliant Window toward Europe
before and behind 1t elk and bear may
be hunted within thirty miles of ST. Isaacs
Cathedral and the cars winter palace. The
conditions are typical of vast Russia.
The wonder grew upon me at the customs.
Two very splendid personages in white !
coats came on board. examined, stamped
and returned to US our passports. which the |
captain had collected when first took
the steamer Then they disappeared. After |
them followed the custom house officers
Nearly everything so far as l can learn. Is |
dutiable in Russia, and l expected to have |
my luggage ransacked from end to end. |
One of the men held out his hand for my
key as 1 was about to stoop to my trunk. |
knelt and unlocked 1t himself, lifted the |
tray glanced below without disturbing any
thing, locked the trunk and handed me the |
key with smile. When 1 indicated my |
bag he shook his head, touched his cap and |
passed on. This bewldering expert |
ence to a citizen of the land of the free. |
After landed l found much else that was |
not such / had been led to expect. I had |
been told Russia was a very expensive |
place at every point. The light drojki, in |
which / drove about the town behind my |
queer coachman in his long coat plated at
the back and tied round with a sash. never
cost above 10 cents for distances which call |
for from 30 cents to dollar in American |
cities.
The West and East.
At the Hotel de rEurope. one of the |
largest hotels in the world, the price of |
rooms varies 1T does in other inns, but
one of moderate size and good position was |
$1.75 a day. Luncheon these cost the equiv
alent of SO cents dinner s1.O6. Fees were
small. I read statement somewhere that
5 per cent of the bill was sufficient at the
table. We found that picture galleries
were free. so were palaces and churches. l |
heard of nothing. in fact. that eXpen-
sive in Petersburg, according to our stan
dards but developing and printing photo
graphs, each process costing in such cases |
60 cents dozen, and the ordinary traveller |
may abstain from such reckless waste If he |
will High on each side of the main street, |
we drove at the quick pace common in |
the capital. rose the buildings of pale yell |
low, the horse cars on q single track |
in the center of the thoroughfare and an |
unbroken line of drojki moved right and |
left at each side, while on the sidewalks |
figures in costumes of extraordinary variety |
hurried on their way.
The west meets the east there, mingles in |
the daily walks and soon accepts small diff |
ferences of manners or ideas. while through |
all and over all is the splendor and per- |
suasiveness of the Greek Church. No space |
is too vast for Its magnificence to cover no |
hut is too small for its picture of the |
Mother and Child TO hang in the sacred |
corner of Its one room. Not q man or |
boy in st. Petersburg but lifts his hat when |
he passes that picture in niche of the wall |
OF a business building as he goes about his |
days work. The presence of those two be- |
ings is made part of the air Russian |
breathes, and he wells the ikon in it's cor |
ner of his room when he means to do an |
act he is ashamed for those eyes to see. !
The pale Russian who necessarily spends |
the greater part of his year in the house |
stays much out of doors in the summer. |
His church gives him considerable liberty |
10 do this. for there many saints days |
In the Greek calendar. He goes to the |
parks with his wife and children and to the |
Peoples Palace on its island in the Neva, |
where for cents he may have many forms
of entertainment. including an opera in the
great theater there. and he usually gets
his supper for ) cents more at the restau-
rant.
TO TUNNEL ELIZABETH RIVER.