The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1907-06-27
(COpyrigAt. ~ Joseph b. BOWIsSI

(AIme Sophie Radford de Neissner.
daughter of the late Rear Admiral Rad
ford, of the United States navy, has lived
abroad since her marriage, spending most
OF the time in Russia, where her husband
was long attached to the diplomatic corps,
Since his death, Nine. De Metssner has
devoted herself to literature. Several Of
her novels of Russian life have won wide
popularity. Among her books may be
mentioned The Terrace of Mon Desir,
The Tcherkesse Prince and an English
translation of Tofstoi's play, The Death
or Ivan the Terrible'O
The brief summers i'm Russia do
not allow of prolonged sojUnrns in the
country, but 10 matter how limited
the means Of Russian family a two
or three months yearly visit to a
datcha lis considered utterly indis-
pensable. Should the male members
Of the family be unable to absent
themselves wholly from town this
datcha will he taken somewhere in the
enviTons sufficiently near ito admit of
their going to and fro each day.
These ,datchas are all amply prOvid-
ed with pOrches, both upstairs and
down, and each one Of these verandas
is gay with bright-hued plants and
drHperfes, the latter generally consist
ing of long strips of white linen cov-
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
oof1N h,,i1t iv1 M
the grounds especially reserved Tor
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
flies 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.
tfful country places there and of these
the most typical was certainly that be
longing to friends whose home was
one hour distant by rail from Moscow
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 ezaT, 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 OF
ripening grain, with no houses visi-
bic other than few peasants cot
tages, which might well have been
mistaken for good-sized hay stacks
with their circular, straw-thatched
roofs reaching to within a few feet
Of the ground.
Suddenly the road curves rapidly
owned by an Englishman, about which
stand neat-looking workmen's cot
tages. Then the way is across a broad
shallow, swift-1owing stream, the
wooden planks of the bridge trembling
and reechoing beneath our coursers
hurrying hoofs. A further onward
rush brings us to a 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 along
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 sudden stand, but withal
so skilfully that there is no shock or
Jerking discontinue Of any sort what
ever.
That house, in which l spent some
very happy days, is well worthy of de-
scription. 1t dates from the time of
Empress Catherine H., by whom it
was presented to Count Marmonoff,
from whom it descended in direct line
until, the last of that name expiring,
1t came into the possession of his
nephew, the present. owner.
It Is built in the Italian style, a
fashion greatly in vogue in Russia at
that day, and is entirely of white
stucco, with marble porches, ter
races and colOnnades. The rooms
are vast in size, as is indeed usual in
all the fine houses in Russia, the cell
lngs lofty, and the whole most beau
tifully proportioned. Everything in
the house is of the time of the imperi-
ii donor. In the ballroom stands a
huge mirror with magnificent bronze