Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1917-11-29
his ability to safely pilot us over these.

VIC COClA AAiANCd dL Luc uOIGI, VI dS
they called it The Novya dome
Prease, meaning New home for
travellers. l was shown my rooms of
which there were three. The house
was built of logs as all are the houses
| in this section Of the country, and the
interior was rough and unfinished just
the same as the outside. Moss laid
between the logs filled up the open
places and helped greatly in keeping
| the place warm. Guide as it was in
! appearance it was clean and very COM
fortably furnished. A large stove
about ten feet in height and six feet in
diameter furnished sufficient heat al
though it was built in such a way, in
the corner of four rooms, so that there
was only one quarter Of it exposed IN
the rooms which occupied.
Shortly after arrived the maid came
in and handed me the plan of the
building and also asked for my pass
port which is pronounced the same in
Russian as in English 1t is absolutely
necessary that this be turned in to the
police Immediately upon arrival and
they register it and hold it in their
possession until you are ready to leave.
Further thar this there did not seem to
be any introduction necessary, or at
least | did not get any. AS it was
nearing 80 p. N. and [ was feeling
rather hungry | began to investigate
to find out where the dining room was.
This found and seated around long
table were about a dozen men all in
uniform-army officers, mining engi-
neers, mechanical engineers and stu
dents. Of course, [ was rather reluc-
tant about breaking in upon this as
sembly, stranger as [ was and unable
to speak their language, but I was hun
cry and that helped considerably.
AS soon as entered the dining room
all talking ceased, it being apparently
up to me to introduce myself, which [
did by handing them each q card and
shaking hands. After this [ was given
seat at the head Of the table alongside
Of the big "Semovar," this being an
table. In this semovar, water is heated
for making tea. Of all the people here
with one exception no one could speak
anything but Russian. The exception
was a Russian general who spoke Ger
man, but explained to me later that he
was afraid TO on account of it being
forbidden.
The surroundings here were ideal for
learning the Russian language as you
can imagine, but the Inconvenience
one has to go through on the start is
something you will not forget very
quickly.
The Russian people are great fo1 en-
tertaining and enjoy a good time as
much as any other people I have ever
come in contact with. They, however.
in this rs in other things carry it 10 the
extreme. Card parties, dancin; and
sleigh riding form their favoritc pas
times in the winter, and while here I
had the pleasure, as we'll as the exper
fence, of being present at several of
each of these occasions. AT the dances
the dress Of the people is interesting
enough to amuse you even though you
do not take part in the dance. Style, in
this part of Russia, is anything you see
proper for a man to be in full dress
with pair of boots on, or he may have
claw hammer coat and trousers which
are raveled out at the bottom. The
women in most part depend upon the
postal cards from Paris for their styles.
POSSIBLY the best sport is sleighriding.
After the middle Ct October they have
snow in abundance. Three horses are
hitched to a. sleigh something on the
order Of our cutter only much larger,
and six people may sit rather comfort
ably This sleigh in Russian is
'Troika" One horse is hitcAed in
shafts and the other two run alongside.
| The Russian is a hard driver and stops
| for nothing The horses are also tough
and go a. top speed all the time. The
inhumane part Of it, however, is that
no matter how cold the weather, or
! how hard the horse may have been
driven, the Russian never puts blan
ket on MIN. [ have seen them left
standing all night without a blanket in
thirty to thirty five degrees below zero.
And yet they can stand this sort of
treatment, it does not seem to iDjure
them one bit.
On account Of 90 per cent Of the
common class, or peasants, not being
able to read, the stores are obliged to
hang every thing they have for sale on
the outside, and when they advertise it
is always by showing a picture of the