Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-06

The most of them wear long coats and
high-topped boots, into which they stuff
their pantalCors They usually part their
hair in the middle and cut it off around the
neck so that it forms Il sort of brush as it
hangs down from the crown They are
shrewd traders and go on the principle that
everything is fair in trade. Some of them
are very rich, and as a rule the richer a
man is the poorer he dresses and the less
style he puts on outside his own home
The most of the merchants are religious
Every store of this big bazaar has a sa-
cred picture over the door with a little
candie burning under it. Sometimes the
picture is no bigger than a PLAYING card
ana sometimes even as small as postage
stamp, but it is always there The propr,-
etof ana his clerks each say a prayer and
cross themselves they omen the store
and they all say prayers before they leave
Shutting UP Shop
spent one night at the great bazaar
watching the closing of the different stores
II was o'clock, the usual closing hour.
Out IN this latitude as light as at o'clock
in the United States. AS looked the
clerks came out and began to put up the
shutters. They closed the whole front of
each store, leaving a crack for the clerks
ana proprietor to come out
before departing the merchant and his
clerks crossed themselves They crossed
themselves and prayed when they stood
pull the great doors together and turrn
the ponderous keys in the half dozen dif-
1erent locks. Then the merchant took a
strllg ana tied 1t about the iron work SO
mat IL crossed the opening of the door
He Joined the ends of the string with wav
ana stamped this with his private seal
so that it was impossible to open the lock
without cutting the string or breaking the
sea- linen there was another taking off
OF mats ON all sides, all crossed themselves
again and muttered prayers and all shook
hanus ana went away to their homes
inis ceremony was observed before al
NEST all the stores of this vast bazaar.
NOT clerk left before the shutters were
up and employers and clerks departed to-
gether. Indeed, l saw but one man who
d1d not seal his store with wax He was
plous-looking fellow and APPARENTLY con-
tented himself with saying an extra nravar
over the fastenings AS / watched him 7
sald 10 my son Jack, who was with me.
There, my boy is a man whom YOU wouId
90 well to initiate. He believes in PRAYER
and he trusts the Lord to take care of
his goods" VI
Yes" said Jack. Il see he does, but
also notice that he is mighty careful
\ to lock his store with three senarate kavs
before ne gives the Lord a chance"
Peddling in Russia.
am surprised at the backward methods
of Russian business. Our American in
vaders should come here and study the
situation. They will find many things the
same as in the middle ages. There ara
open-air markets. where all sorts of things
are sold, and peddlers go through the
streets with every kind of ware. even to
caps. trousers and boots man will have
half a dozen pairs of pants on his hack
and sells them as he goes. OF course there
IS no trying on. The police would not per-
init that, but as nine-tenths of the Rus
slams wear their trousers in their boots the
fit is more waist measure than anything
else. The shoe peddler carries his wares
from house to house, and the itinerant
shoemaker may be found in every other
street halfsoling boots while the customers
wait.
Retaliate Against the Americans.
At present most American goods nav an
extra duty because the United States dis
eliminates against Russian sugar. The dis
elimination came from the influence of our
sugar trust: but it would have paid us bet
ter to have admitted Russian sugar free
than to have our trade hampered by the
present restrictions. All customs matters
here are in the hands of the finance min
lister, and when we put our duty on sugar
he at once put duties on almost all Amert
can imports. We still sell plenty of ma
chinery because the American machinery
is better than any other, but many of our
l chatted with Mr.. fernando De Sofa
our vice consul general here, as to this
tariff. During the talk he told me how no
had been forced to pay SIT so for bringing
an old American bicycle into Russia,
Il was said he. connected with the con-
sulate at Dresden. and was ordered to St.
Petersburg. / had a letter from the Rus
sian ambassador at Berlin asking the from
tier customs officers to treat-me lenientlv
and also papers showing that I was CON
nected with the United States government.
Nevertheless when the customs officers
saw my bicycle they said it was classed as
machinery and that 1 must pay a duty of
Is roubles. or 50. But said l. this is nv
personal property. You can see that il is
an old machine, for have ridden 1t 4 600
miles l bought it in America some years
ago.
"'Ah!' was the reply, American, is 1t?
We have a new rule as to American ma
chinery. and will have to charge you al
| most double the duty. According to that
the tariff is 30 roubles.' This amounted to
$3.50 and that amount l paid"
FRANK G. CARPENTER
Beginning to Understand.
From Puck