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American asked Astrakhan bargain beautiful birch blue boots bread carriage cathedral censor cloth coat colored Count Tolstoy countess cross door Emperor eyes Fair fashion foreign forest fresh friends furnished galoshes girls hand head holy horse ikóna imperial izvóstchik Kazák Kazán kerchief Kieff kopeks Kremlin kumys land linen live looked merchants milk Minsk monastery monk Moscow Nevá never Névsky Nízhni Novgorod o'clock Old Believers ourselves Palace passports peasant person Peter Petersburg police priest Prince Prospékt replied river round rubles Russian Church saints salted cucumbers Samára samovár seemed serf shops sian Siberia sledge sort steamers steppe sterlet stood street summer Tatár thing tiny tion told took town Tzárskoe Vánka versts village Virgin Volga walls winter Winter Palace woman women yellow
Popular passages
Page 34 - Garden Street—reminds us. Not far away is the site of the tunnel dug under the Prospekt by the revolutionists, which, however, was fortunately discovered in time to prevent the destruction of one of the fairest parts of the city, and its most valuable buildings. With the next block we enter upon the liveliest, the most characteristic portion of the Nevsky Prospekt, in that scant fraction over a mile, which is left to us above the Anitchkoff Bridge.
Page 35 - in the ancient acceptation of the word ; but we may claim, nevertheless, that it presents a compendium of most purchasable articles extant, from samovars, furs, and military goods, to books, sacred images, and Moscow imitations of Parisian novelties at remarkably low prices, as well as the originals. The nooks and spaces of the arcade, especially at the corners and centre, are occupied by booths of cheap wares. The sacred image, indispensable to a Russian shop, is painted on the vaulted ceiling...
Page 16 - Apathy and lack of interest can always be relied upon to brand one as aristocratic. In this case, however, as in many others, I considered myself repaid for following Poor Richard's advice : " If you want a thing done, do it yourself ; if not, send ! " To sum up the passport question : If his passport is in order, the traveler need never entertain the slightest apprehension for a single moment, despite sensational tales to the contrary, and it will serve as a safeguard. If, for any good reason, his...
Page 1 - IN RUSSIA. WE imported into Russia, untaxed, undiscovered by the custom-house officials, a goodly stock of misadvice, misinformation, apprehensions, and prejudices, like most foreigners, albeit we were unusually well informed, and confident that we were correctly posted on the grand outlines of Russian life, at least. We were forced to begin very promptly the involuntary process of getting rid of them. Our anxiety began in Berlin. We visited the Russian consulgeneral there to get our passports visid....
Page 47 - His legs are too fat to enter the sledge, — that is to say, if his master truly respects his own dignity, — and his feet are accommodated in iron stirrups outside. He leans well back, with arms outstretched to accord with the racing speed at which he drives. In the tiny...
Page 48 - ... lined with curled white Thibetan goat, or feathery black fox fur, close about her ears. An officer holds her firmly with one arm around the waist, a very necessary precaution at all seasons, with the fast driving, where drozhkies and sledges are utterly devoid of back or side rail. The spans of huge Orloff stallions, black or dappled gray, display their full beauty of form in the harnesses of slender straps and silver chains ; their beautiful eyes are unconcealed by blinders. They are covered...
Page 40 - — For Christ's sake. People of all classes turn in here for a moment of prayer, to " place a candle " to some saint, for the health, in body or soul, of friend or relative : the workman, his tools on his back in a coarse linen kit ; the bearded muzhik from the country, clad in his sheepskin...
Page 55 - Nevd,, and inclosed on three sides by low wooden structures, surrounded by stone-faced earthworks, moats, and palisades. Hither Peter was wont to come of a morning, after having routed his ministers out of bed to hold privy council at three and four o'clock, to superintend the work and to lend a hand himself. The first stone buildings were erected in 1726, after his death. In the early years of the present century, Alexander I. rebuilt this stately and graceful edifice, after the plans of the Russian...
Page 28 - ... behind which, in a spacious courtyard, after the Moscow fashion so rare in thrifty Petersburg, the main building lies invisible to us. If we look to the south, we find the long ochre mass of the Anitchkoff Palace, facing on the Ne"vsky, upon the right shore ; on the left, beyond the palace of Sergie"i...
Page 54 - The occasional temporary obscurations produced by the steam from relays of samovdri do not interfere materially with the neighbors' view of the card-parties and the final exchange of big bundles of bank-bills, which takes place at five o'clock or later the next morning.