The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1907-08-03
Copyright. by 1osepf B. Bowles.)

IL 70 AGeo |ellsloneiSt
II :: 4 !
| e0oDyF'sht by 'osspf & B. BS~'ss''
{Mme: Sophie ,Radfan de Meissner,
/ ford, Of the United Stats navy, has lived
Of the time in Russia, where her husband
twas long attached to thsE diplomatic corps.
Snss bis 6sss{ death ss~eq,, has
her novels of Russian Ke have won wide
popularity. Among heH books may be
hs fr rne of sad Men Enss
translation of TolstOi' play, 1.-The Death
| of Ivan the Terrible. ")gE,
The brief summers in Russia do
not allow of prolonged @sojourns in the
country, but no matter how limited
the means OF Russian family two
or three months yearly visit to a
datcha is considered 4 utterly indis-
pensab1e. Should the male members
of the family be unable to absent
themselves wholly from town this
datcha will be taken Somewhere in the
environs sufficiently near to admit Of
| their going to and froz each day.
ed with porches, both upstairs and
down, and each one Of these verandas
is gay with bright-hued plants and
draperies, the latter generally consist
ing of long strips of white linen COW
cred with red cross-stitch embroidery,
or, as is the style in Little or South
ern Russia, with embroidery Of every
hue.
Most of the fine. estates in Russia
have number Of these datchas of diff
ferent dimensions, built in a part of
the grounds especially reserved for
them, and they are rented at very
moderate prices in order that the
clerks and other city workers whose
means are limited may with their fam
lilies enjoy the benefits Of the country
air and have the advantage of the
beautiful parks and forests.
During my summers in Russia
have visited at some of the most beau.
tiful country places there and of these
the most typical was certainly that be-
longing to<afriends whose home, was
one hour distant by rail from Moscow
I should rather have said that the lit
tie station of Podolsk, at which we
alighted, was one hour distant from
the former home of the czar, but when
we had left the train there was a
good hours drive in a troika with
swift galloping horses, during which
we followed for some distance the
great turnpike road over which Ma
poleon led his doomed army to Mos
COW. Leaving this, we dashed along
a country road between great fields o1
ripening grain, with no houses visi-
BILE other than a few peasants cot
tages, which might well have beer
mistaken for good-siZed hay stacks
with their circular, straw-thatcheG
roofs reaching to within a few feet
of the ground.
| Suddenly the road curves rapidly
downward, leaving on our right mill
owned by an Englishman, about which
stand neat-looking workmen's cot,
tages. Then the way is across a broad
shallow, swift-f1owing stream, the
wooden planks of the bridge trembling
and reechoing beneath our coursers
hurrying hoofs. A further onward
rush brings us to wide sweep upward
between grassy hillOcks. Then we en-.
ter the monumental gateway crowned
with two huge stone lions, and onward
with never slowing of speed a1ons
the circuitous drive until we reach
the marble steps of the broad terrace
where our host and hostess are wait
ing to receive us: There the horses
come to a sudden stand, but witha
7 50 skilfully that there is no shock O,
Jerking discontinue Of any sort what
4 ever. :. :
i =. That house, in which: spent some
very happy day VS., is welt worthy of&de.
scription. It. dates from the time OF
Empress Catherine II, by whom III
was presented to Count .Marmonoff
from whom it descended in direct line
4 until, the last Of that name expiring
F. it came into the possession of his
nephew, the present owner.
/ It is built in the Italian STYLE. I
fashion greatly in vogue in Russia a.
that day, and is entirely OF. white
stucco,: with marble. porches, ter
races and .colonnades:sS The rooms
are vast in size, as Is indeed usual: il
all the fine, houses in Russia the cell
T. ings lofty, and the whole most beau.
! stifully <proport rtioned: Everything ii
the house lis of the: time Of the .imperi
i al donor. 81 IN the allrooms stands 8:
D huge mirror Nth ma gnifc cent bronze