The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-20

harmonious character of his race, is the son of a general Certain gambling epi- aodes and'foIlies were committed when he was an officer and he directs the train end personnel of his rolling ship as well las the amusements of fhe travellers with an equal mastery.
 In the evening the travellers make ntu- sic bringing ift6 Acquisition any musi- 1 clans and instruments that may be ton board. and q concert is improvised. The national accordion Is In evidence. usually played by some student, who improviseS or sings those strange tunes of impromp- tu character that belong to the Slavic race. And thus the night passes. with familiar phrases from the compositions of character are elaborated. taken up by one or another. and one by one the trav- eiIers cease talking and laughing little by little in the ifnn1euse QA1let-
 And what should one de9 m the first class compartmetita, aa afi the third class also, but pass the tffhA n eating and playing cards7 The nFat days drag pain fully through a iionokonous landscape. Always tho same immense plain. covered with snow, even at the beginning of spring Here and there are little black spots and the red roofs of tiie station are like children's tops in the solitude. Tomsk the station.r is simply four rude walls of plank badly joined. where one gets a cup of tea and black bread.
 The stops are always the same. more or less prolonged, according to the whim ! of the station master. The travellers des- cend and stretch their legs in a prome-, made the length of the train, awaiting the third blowing of the whistle and casting anxious glances from time to tltne on their baggage. although iil each conipart- ment one person is alRays set apart to. guard 1t. For the country Is unsafe and whole coaches have been known Co be mysterioueiy robbed sff4 V One may employ the time during these stops to speak with the emigrants or the prisoners. Long files of coaches contain ing them pass sadly and niserably. The emigrants are those who have devoured their poor portion of earth and have had to lease it for an Incalculable number of years. since they have not the right to sell Without resources, entire families depart to colonlse siberia. They know only that lumber for the construction of their isba will be granted them and small scrap of arid. uhenltivated land. Others. driven out by famine. safe kept | up by the hope that bread will grow more easily In that far off territory The coaches for animals form the fourth class in Russia. Eight horses or lforty-seven men may be aecommodated. And therein they are huddled one against 1 another in a condition impossible to de- ! ccribe. The little children have scarce ly a human appearance under the thick. blackened skin of their faces, which are never washed.
 Impressive Scenery. .
 The clear Northern nights, when ob- jects seem enveloped in a silver light. resemble a beautiful Tartar woman in her "chadra." We travel over the des- ert. and steppes of Siberia. over frozen rivers, toward horizons that never vary. in monotonous and desolate succession
 The great Taigo, that profound suc- cession of virgin forests. is mysterious. Nature seems as.deserted as in the first stages of the earth in all their wild fam tasy. Thither flee hunted and escaped beings who are desperate and incapable of longer enduring their chains; impen- itent vagabonds are concealed, preferrins the chances of the wild, the fear of soil tude and the peril of pursuits; the bold contraband. driving a commerce of gold with the miners; in short a whole fright ful exodus of fusltiyes. tramplng at night in the midst Of danger, only, sus- tained by the sharp desire of liberty,
 Over all this scene lies the magic of sparkling snow, the brilliant fretwork Of branches glittering in winter jewels. The