The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-03-27

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 quently happened that one train will oYertake another which has started tWen- ty-four hours ahead.
 In such a case the passengers of the | second train are treated on the ear ahead principle, and the first train, car rying both loads, completes the journey alone Under the most favorable condi- tions the road is incapable of handling
 more than half a dozen trains day In | the winter season. when the road is Ike | y to be blocked by snow and ice or from l breakdowns of one sort or another, even
 this traffic Is out of the question. But
 at all times the people who make up the passenger traffic are most interesting | From the first the travelling companions | established themselves as if in their own | houses They change their clothing, range | their shoes under the seats, pass sausages
 from hand to hand, and with the touch | ing confraternity of the Russian charae-
 ter they drink from the same cup, con
 ta,ning a hot and pale colored drink, their national tea.
 Social Life Abroad.
 This little band of passengers, becom- | ing very well acquainted, advances as a
 nucleus of civilization over the desert | land. Nothing could be more striking than | the group of animated, living, cultivated persons, carried on and through the
 cold moonlight nights and the cold white l daylghts over the terrible solitude of the ] great wintry steppes. After the town of
 Tomsk is passed the travellers become ' even more united, quite like large fam
 fly.
 In their promenades during the stops of
 the leisurely train they chat with one an- | other. making inquiries and comments
 on trivial matters for many find them i selves with old acquaintances of their
 frequent journeylngs over the line. The rnf fn lafr tatf tan noe
 among these ladies by the color of the costume or other personal appearance, as: You know know the blue gown who
 went to Moscow last month";" and then fellow details of personal interest as to blue gowns"-where she is now, when she returns, what she is doing or any
 other bit of gossip imaginably interest ing to young and worldly persons whose | lives are at times so intensely isolated and changing
 At Tomsk the physiognomy of the train becomes more characteristic. En- gineers. officials with braided caps in- stall themselves as in a conquered coun- try. The questions: Where are you from?" Where are you going?" What are you doing now?' are heard on every 1 side as they roll on over this hyper borean desert. The conductor, an amiable young man, whose features are of the ! undecided and harmonious character of
 his race, is the son of a general Certain
 gambling episodes and folles were com-
 mitted when he was an officer and he directs the train and personnel of his
 rolling ship as well as the amusements
 of the travellers with an equal mastery.
 Travellers Make Music.
 In the evening the travellers make music, bringing into acquisition any musicians and instruments that may be on board, and concert Is improVised. The national accordion is in evidence, usually played by some student, who improvises or sings those strange tunes of impromptu character that belong to the Slavic race And thus the night passes, with familiar phrases from the compositions of Tschal- kowsky, or echoes of a similar charac- ter are elaborated, taken up by one or an- other, and one by one the travellers cease talking and laughing little by little in the immense quiet.
 The stops are always the same, more or less prolonged, according to the whim of the station master. he travellers de- scend and stretch their legs in a prom-
 enade the length of the train, awaiting the third blowing of the whistle and cast ing anxious glances from time to time their baggage although in each compart- ment one person Is always set apart to guard it. For the country Is unsafe, and
 whole coaches have been known to be mysteriously robbed
 One may employ the time during these stops to speak with the emigrants or the i prisoners. Long files of coaches containing
 them pass sadly and miserably. The emil grants are those who have devoured
 their poor portion of earth and have had to lease it for an inealculabe number of years, since they have not the right to sell. Without resources entire fam lilies depart to colonize Siberia They know only that lumber for the construc- tion of their isba will be granted them and small scrap of arid cultivated , land. Others. driven out by faminine, are kept up by the hope that bread will grow , more easily in that far off territory.
 In Coaches for Animals.
 The coaches for animals form the fourth class in Russia. Eight horses or forty seven men may be accommodated. And therein they are huddled one against an- other in condition impossible to de- scrlDe. The little children have scarcely human appearance under the thick
 blackened skin of their faces, which are never washed.
 The Trans-Siberia journey over the steppes of Russia is like a sea voyage. As far as Omsk, which is several days from Moscow, the ordinary trains are filled, but little by little the passengers have alighted, until Lose who are left are not too many to form a small and in- CiItles Iuty DecOIne acquainted, visit each others coaches, gather at evening for cards and music, gossip with and about each other at the frequent stops People who are forced into each others company in this manner, especial ly where nature is so forbiding so un- gracious, find themselves far more con versant with the lives of those they meet,
 who are apt to be entirely different from
 themselves. than do those who live in | the same houses in less isolated places. l After the station at Tomsk few pas
 sengers remained in the train except
 those who were going to 1rkoutsk or Vladivostok. Before we arrived at Omsk l however, the hunger for news was most
 evident in the avidty with which every
 one devoured stray newspapers But lit- | tie by little as we penetrate the heart of ] Asiatic Russia the interest in the civil | ized world disappears, and in the Siberian | villages political exies are plunged in 1 the silence of ignorance slowly on the route in this immense white solitude of clear nights over the infinite waves of snow.
 On leaving Tomsk the farther apart the stations become. the more deserted. En- l tire days pass without the traveller seeing | anything but the majestic forest-the l somber Taiga. with its enormous red | pines. On each side of the railroad are great tree trunks. split or uprooted by the
 tempest, ends and stumps of frs whose several generations are piled in every stage of decay. Giant corpses of the for
 est are lying or standing dead on the | route.
 t- Torr TQafl f1oI I1.-