Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-26
mobile AND PEASANT
They Have Very Little in
Common in Russia.
CLEAR CUT EXTREMES
in THEIR PLEASURES THE DIFF
FERENCE is MOST EVIDENT.
THE Aristocrats Are Gay Lot, but the
Poor Have Mighty Little
CLEAR CUT EXTREMES
Epecial Correspondence of The Evening Star.

Epecial Correspondence of The Evening Star.
ST. PETERSBURG. March IA. 1904.
Russian life presents two clear cut ex-
tremes These are the peasants and the
mobility" Between these two classes ex-
lists a gulf as deep and wide as though the
masses were still in the bondage of serf-
dom.
In their pleasures more than in any other
phase OF their life Is this difference evil
dent. As a matter of fact, the peasants
have practically no pleasures except their
eternal vodka drinking. a vice so common
that 1t has ceased to be so regarded by the
Russians.
On the other hand. the mobility" which
includes the middle and upper classes.
seem to live in an almost continual wh!rl
OF pleasure.
All the year round, in winter and sum-
mer, the masses, those who were released
from serfdom and those who have always
been peasants. are toiling In their fields or
are engaged in some other heavy labor
suitable to the season. while their more for.
'tunate fellow countrymen or the mobility
help swell the crowds that throng the race
tracks In summer or in winter, or race IN
their sleighs over the snowy, frozen pros
pekts" with others as lighthearted as them
selves.
? II Is recognized fact that the aristocracy.
like the smart sets of the occident, should
spend their time from morning till night,
and far into the night, In the pursuit OF
pleasure but that the nobility should go
to one extreme by initiating the examples
of their superiors and the peasants to
the other by having practically no pleas
ures at all is state of affairs that finds
no sympathy nor understanding In the west.
Center of Gayety.
Society always follows the car and
on that account st. Petersburg Is the CEN
ter of gayety and pleasure. principally in
summer when the fairs dear to the Rus
SLAMS heart are in full swing.
Summer comes upon the city and the
people without warning. They go to bed
one night thinking OF the winter that has
Just passed with the breaking up or the ice
and the melting of the snow. over which
they had SKINNED so often in the juggling
"troikas," buried in furs to protect them
selves against the piercing cold-and IN the
morning they awake to find the trees fairly
bursting into bloom, so that they can al
most see the foliage and blossoms growing,
and the heat Is almost as great as 1t be-
comes in the middle of summer.
The end of May and the beginning OF
June is the period, like that of Norway, or
the shining of the midnight sun. For two
or three hours only during the whole TWEEN
ty-four hours does the sun disappear below
the horizon, and then its glow suffuses the
sky. that sunset and sunrise are merged
into one.
Then it is that those who have nothing to
do but to enjoy themselves take advantage
OF the long established custom of going on
excursions to the islands to watch the sun
slowly sink into the waters of the Neva. to
meet and chat with their friends on various
questions of the day, or to hear the latest
bit of court news or gossip, and then to
drive back in the hour of dawn to their
homes to invite sleep and refreshment be-
fore the pleasurable duties of the coming
day.
In the Open Air.
Houses are thrown wide open during all
this gay season. and everything in and
around st. Petersburg teens with summer
life and pleasure. Every one dimes in the