in the streets of st. petersburg.—isvoshchiks and droskies.—counting in russian.—passports and their uses.—on the nevski prospect.—visiting the church of kazan.—the russo-greek religion.—unfavorable position of st. petersburg.—danger of destruction.—great inundation of 1824.—statue of peter the great.—admiralty square.—the sailors and the statue.
a commissioner from the h?tel de l'europe was at the station. doctor bronson gave him the receipts for their trunks, and after securing their passports, which had been examined on the train during the ride from gatchina, the party entered a carriage and rode to the hotel. frank and fred were impatient to try a drosky, and wondered why the doctor had not secured one of the vehicles characteristic of the country.
"you'll have abundant opportunities for drosky-riding," said doctor bronson, in reply to fred's query on the subject. "for the present the vehicle is not suited to our purposes, as we have our hand-baggage and other trifles; besides, we are three individuals, while the drosky is only large enough for two."
the youths confirmed with their eyes the correctness of the doctor's assertion as the little vehicles were whizzing around them in every direction. the drosky is a stout carriage on low wheels, somewhat resembling the victoria of western europe, and is drawn by a single horse. the isvoshchik, or driver, is seated on a high box in front, and somehow he manages to get an astonishing speed out of the shaggy animal that forms his team. frank afterwards wrote as follows concerning droskies and isvoshchiks:
"it is astonishing to contemplate the swarm of droskies with which st. petersburg and every other russian city abounds. they are to be found everywhere and at all hours. no matter where you may be, or at what hour of the day or night, you have only to call out 'isvoshchik!' or 'drosky!' and one of the little carriages appears as if by magic. not only one, but half a dozen will be pretty sure to come forward. the drivers contend, and not always very politely, for the honor of your patronage;[pg 59] but as soon as you have made your selection the rejected ones drop away and leave you undisturbed.
isvoshchiks in winter.
"there is something interesting in the manner of the isvoshchik, especially in the marked contrast before and after he has made a bargain with you. until the transaction is closed, he is as independent as the hackman of new york or the cabby of london. the moment the bargain is settled and he has accepted your offer, he is your willing slave. offer him forty copecks an hour, and he refuses, while demanding fifty or sixty; you walk on, and he pretends to go away, and if your offer is unreasonably low he will not trouble you again. suddenly he reins up his horse close to the sidewalk, springs from his seat, and with the word 'poshowltz' ('if you please') he motions you to enter the carriage. he is now at your service, and will drive just as you desire; your slightest wish will be his law.
drosky drivers.
"doctor bronson told us we must learn how to count in russian, and also acquire a few phrases in common use; the more of them we could learn the better. while on the train from warsaw to st. petersburg we learned to count. i think we did it in about two hours, as it was really[pg 60] very simple after we had gone through the numerals up to ten and fixed them in mind. perhaps you would like to know how it is done; well, here it is:
"the numerals from one to twelve are o-deen, dva, tree, che-tee-ri, pyat, shayst, sem, vocem, de-vee-at, de-ci-at, odeen-nat-zat, dva-nat-zat. for thirteen, fourteen, and so on, you add 'nat-zat' to the single numerals till you get to twenty, which is 'dva-deciat,' or two tens. twenty-one is 'dva-deciat-odeen,' or two tens and one, and so on. you go up to thirty, which is 'tree-deciat,' or three tens, but generally shortened in pronunciation to 'treetsat' or 'tritsat.' all the other tens up to ninety are formed in the same way, with the exception of forty, which is 'sorok.' ninety is 'deviat-na-sto' ('ten taken from hundred'), and one hundred is 'sto;' two hundred[pg 61] is 'dva-sto.' the other hundreds are formed in the same way to five hundred, which is 'pyat sot;' six hundred is 'shayst sot,' and the other hundreds go on the same way; one thousand is 'tis-syat-sha.' you can now go ahead with tens and hundreds of thousands up to a million, which is 'meel-yon'—very much like our own word for the same number.
"it helps us greatly in getting around among the people without a guide. we can bargain with the drivers, make purchases in the shops, and do lots and lots of things which we could not if we didn't know how to count. any boy or man who comes to russia should learn to count while he is riding from the frontier to st. petersburg, and if he takes our advice he will do so. he can find it all in murray's or any other good guide-book, and he will also find there the most useful phrases for travelling purposes.
"in driving with the isvoshchiks, we have found them very obliging, and both fred and i have been many times surprised at their intelligence when we remembered that very few of them were able to read or write their own language. when they find we are foreigners, and do not speak russian, they do not jabber away like french or german drivers, or london cabbies, but confine themselves to a very few words. take one we had to-day, for example: as he drove along he called our attention to the churches and other public buildings that we passed by, pronouncing the name of the building and nothing more. in this way we understood him; but if he had involved the name with a dozen or twenty other words we should have been in a perfect fog about it.
sledge of a high official.
"in winter the drosky makes way for the sledge, which is the tiniest vehicle of the kind you can imagine. two persons can crowd into a sledge, though there is really room for only one. whether you are one or two, you sit with your face within ten or twelve inches of the driver's back, which forms almost the entire feature of your landscape. the sledges in winter are even more numerous than are the droskies in summer, as many persons ride then who do not do so when the weather is warm.
"everybody rides in a russian city in winter—at least everybody who claims to have much respect for himself; and in fact riding is so cheap that it must be a very shallow purse that cannot afford it. for a drive of a mile or less you pay eight or ten copecks (ten copecks equal eight cents), and you can ride a couple of miles for fifteen copecks, and sometimes for ten. by the hour you pay forty or fifty copecks; and if you make a bargain you can have the vehicle all to yourself a whole day for a dollar and a half, and sometimes less. they go very fast; and if your time is[pg 62] limited, and you want to see a good deal in a little while, it is the best kind of economy to hire an isvoshchik to take you about."
we left our friends on the way to the hotel when we wandered off to hear what frank had to say about the droskies and their drivers. the ride along the streets was full of interest to the youths, to whom it was all new; but it was less so to doctor bronson, who had been in st. petersburg before. they drove up the vosnesenski prospect, a broad avenue which carried them past the church of the holy trinity, one of the interesting churches out of the many in the city, and then by a cross street passed into the nevski prospect, which may be called the broadway of the russian capital. we shall hear more of the nevski prospect later on.
at the hotel they surrendered their passports to the clerk as soon as they had selected their rooms; the doctor told the youths they would not again see those important documents until they had settled their bill and prepared to leave. frank and fred were surprised at this announcement, and the doctor explained:
"the passports must go at once to the central bureau of the police, and we shall be registered as stopping in this hotel. when the register has been made the passports will be returned to the hotel and locked up in the manager's safe, according to the custom of the country."
"why doesn't he give them back to us instead of locking them in the safe?" one of the youths inquired.
"it has long been the custom for the house-owner to keep the passport of any one lodging with him, as he is in a certain sense responsible for his conduct. besides, it enables him to be sure that nobody leaves without paying his bill, for the simple reason that he can't get away. when we are ready to go we must give a few hours' notice; the passports will be sent to the police-office again, with a statement as to our destination; after we have paid our bills and are ready to go, the passports will be handed to us along with the receipt for our money."
"that makes hotel-keeping a great deal more certain than it is in american cities, does it not?" said fred.
"and you never hear in russia of a man running away from a hotel where he has contracted a large bill, and leaving nothing but a trunk filled with straw and stove-wood as security, do you?" frank inquired.
"such a thing is unknown," the doctor answered. "i once told some russian acquaintances about the way hotel-keepers were defrauded in america by unprincipled persons. one of them exclaimed, 'what a happy country! and how cheaply a man could live there, with no police officers to stop his enterprise!'"
[pg 63]
[pg 64]
"when you go from one city to another," said the doctor, "the formality to be observed is slight, and the hotel people will attend to it for you without charge. when you are going to leave russia, a few days' notice must be given at the police-office; and if any creditors have filed their claims against you with the police, you must settle them before you can have your passport. if any one owes you money, and you have reason to believe he intends leaving the country, you can stop him or get your money by leaving your account with the police for collection. absconding debtors are nearly as rare in russia as absconding hotel-patrons, for the simple reason that the law restricts their movements. in spite of what our english friend said of the passport system, there are some excellent features about it. another thing is—"
they were interrupted by a servant, who came to ask if there were any friends in st. petersburg whom they wished to find. the commissioner was going to the police bureau with the passports, and would make any inquiries they desired.
the doctor answered in the negative, and the servant went away.
"that is what i was about to mention," said doctor bronson, as soon as the door was closed. "the first time i came to st. petersburg i was riding along the nevski prospect, and saw an old acquaintance going in the other direction. he did not see me, and before i could turn to follow him he was lost in the crowd of vehicles. but in two hours i found him, and we had a delightful afternoon together. how do you suppose i did it?
"why, i sent to the police bureau, paid two cents, and obtained a memorandum of his address. for a fee of two cents you can get the address of any one you name, and for two cents each any number of addresses. in numerous instances i found it a great convenience, and so have other travellers. if you wanted to find a friend in new york or london, and didn't know his address, you would have a nice time about it; but in moscow or st. petersburg there would be no trouble whatever."
as soon as they had removed the dust of the journey our friends went out for a stroll before dinner. the h?tel de l'europe is on the corner of the nevski prospect and one of the smaller streets, and only a short distance from the kazanski sobor, or church of kazan. but before they enter this celebrated edifice we will look with them at the grand avenue, the nevski prospect.
"it is straight as a sunbeam for three miles," said fred in his note-book, "with the admiralty buildings at one end, and the church of st. alexander nevski at the other, though the latter is a little way from the[pg 65] line. it is perfectly level from end to end, like a street of new orleans or sacramento. st. petersburg is built on a marsh, and through its whole extent there isn't a hill other than an artificial one. it is a broad avenue (one hundred and thirty feet in width), reminding us of the boulevards of paris, and the crowd of vehicles coming and going at all hours of the day and far into the night makes the scene a picturesque one.
russian workmen on their way home.
"all classes and kinds of russians are to be seen here, from the mujik, with his rough coat of sheepskin, up to the officer of the army, whose breast is covered with decorations by the dozen or even more. the vehicles are of many kinds, the drosky being the most frequent, and there is hardly one of them without the duga, or yoke, over the horse between the shafts. the horses are driven furiously, but they are completely under[pg 66] the control of their drivers, and accidents are said to be very rare. perhaps this is owing to the fact that a driver is liable to severe punishment if he causes any injury to a pedestrian.
russian officer with decorations.
"somebody has remarked that the nevski prospect ought to be called toleration avenue, for the reason that it contains churches of so many different faiths. there are of course the russo-greek churches, representing the religion of the country, and there are catholic, lutheran, dutch, and armenian churches, standing peacefully in the same line. it is a pity[pg 67] that the adherents of these diverse religions do not always agree as well as do the inanimate edifices that represent them.
"the buildings are very substantial in appearance, and many of them are literally palaces. the military headquarters are on the nevski, and so is the palace of one of the grand-dukes; then there are several palaces belonging to noble families. there is the institution of st. catherine, and the gostinna dvor, or great market-place, with ten thousand merchants, more or less, transacting business there. we'll go there to make some purchases and tell you about it; at present we will cross the nevski to the church of kazan.
"it reminds us of the church of st. peter at rome, as it has a colonnade in imitation of the one which attracts the eye of every visitor to the eternal city, and takes its name from "our lady of kazan," to whom it is dedicated. kazan was once a tartar city, and the capital of the tartar kingdom of the same name. it was fortified, and stoutly defended, and gave the russians a great deal of trouble. in the sixteenth century john the terrible conquered the kingdom and annexed it to russia. the last act in the war was the capture of the city of kazan. the russians were several times repulsed, but finally the kremlin was carried, and the tartar power came to an end. a picture of the virgin was carried in front of the attacking column, and this picture, all devout russians believe, gave the victory over the moslem. the church was built in memory of the event, and the sacred picture from kazan is preserved and worshipped here.
"it is a beautiful church, in the form of a cross, two hundred and thirty-eight feet long and one hundred and eighty-two feet wide. from the ground to the top of the cross above the cupola is more than two hundred and thirty feet, and the cupola is so large that it is visible from a long distance. as we entered the church we were struck by the absence of seats. we were told by the doctor that russian churches contain no seats, and all worshippers must stand or kneel while at their devotions. to this there are no exceptions; the same requirement being made of the emperor as of the most obscure peasant.
"there is no instrumental music in the greek church, and church choirs composed of male and female voices are unknown here. all the singers in the churches are men; the prayers are mostly intoned, and all the congregation joins in the responses. there are no pews, or reserved places of any kind, except a standing-place for the emperor, all worshippers being considered equal; neither are there any fees to be paid by those who come to worship.
[pg 68]
"the picture of our lady of kazan, which has such a miraculous legend connected with it, is richly covered with precious stones, said to be worth nearly a hundred thousand dollars. there are other costly pictures in the church, but none to equal this one. there are a good many flags, and other trophies of war, along the walls and around the pillars; and, to tell the truth, it has almost as much the appearance of a military museum as of a cathedral. there are the keys of hamburg, leipsic, and other cities which at various times have been captured by russia, and the church contains the tombs of several russian generals who were killed in the war with france in 1812.
a russian priest.
"we observed a curious effect in the pictures in this church which we found afterwards in a great many holy pictures in russia. the hands and face, and any other flesh, are painted on a flat surface, but the dress and ornaments are often raised in gold, silver, or other metal, and studded with precious stones, according to the will or financial ability of the owner. the church rejects all massive images of the saviour or saints as idolatrous, and says they violate the commandment "thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image." it does not exclude mosaics, and anything produced in low relief, but the rule that flesh shall be represented by a flat surface is imperative.
"we afterwards attended service in the kazan church, and were impressed with its solemnity and simplicity. the vocal music had an admirable effect as it resounded through the vast building, and we have never anywhere seen a congregation more devout than this. nearly every one held a candle, and carefully guarded the flame from the draughts that occasionally swept over the congregation. illuminations have a very important place in all church ceremonies, and there are no weddings, betrothals, funerals, or any other sacred services, without candles or tapers.
[pg 69]
"lights are kept burning in front of the principal pictures in the churches. throughout the empire there is an eikon, or sacred picture, in the principal room of every house whose owner is an adherent of the church of the country, and often in every room of consequence. on entering a room where there is such a picture, every devout russian crosses himself; and so great is the respect shown to it, that when russian thieves enter a room for the purpose of stealing, they spread a handkerchief over the picture so that the saint who is represented upon it cannot see them.
"religion has a more important part in the practical life of the russians than in that of any other people of europe. the blessing of the church is invoked upon every undertaking. steamboats, ships, and all other craft are blessed by the priest at their launching or before being put into service; the locomotives and carriages of a railway are similarly treated; and the same may be said of every vehicle, machine, or other thing of consequence. so with cattle, horses, sheep, and other live-stock; and so, also, with the furniture and adornments of the house.
"in the theatres the government does not allow the representation of any kind of religious ceremonial as part of a performance, lest it might bring religion into ridicule, and under no circumstances can an actor be dressed to personate a priest. the czar, or emperor, is the recognized head of the church, and among the common people he is regarded as only a little less than a divinity.
"those who have lived long among the russians, and ought to know them, say the venerative feeling among the common people is very great, and more so among the higher classes than in the latin countries of europe. they are devout church-goers, and the feasts and fasts of the church are carefully observed. they form a serious drawback to business matters, as there are certain days when no man or woman can be induced to work at any price. the owners of establishments which require to be kept constantly in operation manage to get around this custom by keeping their employés constantly in debt, as the russian law and custom compel a man to work steadily to discharge such indebtedness.
"pilgrimages to monasteries and shrines are more common among the russians than any other christian people, and the poorer classes often go on long and painful journeys through their religious zeal. a large number of russian pilgrims can be found in jerusalem every year at easter, as well as at other times. so important is this pilgrimage that the russian government maintains a convent at jerusalem for lodging its subjects; and the crimean war practically grew out of a quarrel which was brought about with reference to the holy places of the famous city.
[pg 70]
convent of solovetsk in the frozen sea.
"great numbers of pilgrims go every year from all parts of russia to the convent of solovetsk in the frozen sea, seven or eight hundred miles to the north-east of the capital.
"we may have more to say on religious matters before leaving russia, but for the present we will drop the subject and continue our walk on the nevski."
as they strolled in the direction of the neva, the river that gives its name to the long avenue, fred asked how it happened that st. petersburg was built on a marsh instead of upon elevated ground.
"it was because peter the great wanted a capital city that could be a seaport, and this was the best site that could be found. moscow was inland (it is four hundred miles from here to that city), and peter realized that no country could be great and important without communication over the sea to other lands. so he came here and founded the city which bears his name. it was a forbidding place, but his will was law, and the city grew and lived though a hundred thousand men perished in the first year of its construction. the first house was built in 1703. in 1712 peter declared it his capital, and the imperial court was moved here from moscow. for a long time the place was very unhealthy, and even down to the present day it is not by any means the best location in the world for a city. the drainage is defective, the drinking-water is not good, especially in the summer season, and the city has several times suffered from inundations.
"for many years every vessel coming to the port, and every cart entering the city, was required to bring a certain number of stones for filling the marsh and paving the streets. where the large buildings stand, fabulous amounts have been expended in making foundations, and many of them have cost more than the buildings that stand upon them. the foundations of the church of st. isaac are said to have cost four millions of dollars, and twenty-five years were spent in their construction."
frank asked about the inundations mentioned by the doctor.
"there have been some eight or ten of them," the doctor answered. "the most serious inundation of this century was in 1824, when the water of the neva rose thirteen feet and four inches above its ordinary level. observe that line," said he, as he pointed to a mark upon a building: "that is the point to which the waters rose in the inundation of 1824."
the inundation of 1824.
the mark was nearly four feet above the level of the sidewalk where they stood. frank and fred regarded it with astonishment, while the doctor continued:
"in a single night (november 17th) property to the value of twenty[pg 71]
[pg 72] millions of dollars was destroyed, and it was estimated that not less than eight thousand people lost their lives. the flood was caused by a strong westerly wind which combined with the tide and forced the waters in from the gulf of finland, which is here formed like a funnel. now suppose the flood had occurred in april, at the time when lake ladoga breaks up and pours its accumulated ice and water through the neva, what would have been the result?"
"would the city have been destroyed?" queried one of the youths.
"so it is said, by many who have studied its position. they aver that[pg 73] when a high tide, a westerly wind, and the breaking up of the ice in lake ladoga shall all come together, the streets of st. petersburg will be not less than twenty feet under water, and russia will be obliged to select another site for her capital. but as it is not likely that all these things will happen during our visit, we won't borrow any trouble about the matter."
"i have read," said fred, "that in that inundation the prisoners in the fort were drowned in their cells. the lower part of the fort was flooded, was it not?"
"yes," the doctor answered; "but so many romances have been written on the subject that it is difficult to get at the exact truth. it is very likely that the prisoners in the lower cells of the fort were drowned, and i believe the authorities admit that such was the case. in the paris exhibition of 1867 there was a startling picture representing the death of a russian princess who was imprisoned there at the time. she is represented standing on her little bed surrounded by rats that have been driven from their holes by the flood. the water is nearly up to the level of the bed, and is pouring in at the grated window. the picture haunted[pg 74] me for years after i saw it, and even now it occasionally comes up in my dreams. i haven't thought of it for some time, but this question of yours has revived it."
statue of peter the great.
they continued their walk towards the neva, with an occasional glance at the needle-like spire that rises above the admiralty buildings. they came out into admiralty square, a large open space, which gave them a view of the admiralty buildings, the church of st. isaac, the equestrian statue of peter the great, and the winter palace, together with one of the bridges spanning the neva to the islands opposite.
"which shall we see first?" queried the doctor of his young companions.
"whichever you think best," answered frank, to which fred nodded approval.
"our time just now is limited," said the doctor, "and perhaps we will satisfy ourselves with the statue of peter the great. but as we walk about we must not fail to take in the general view, which is of unusual interest."
the statue is well known through its frequent representation in engravings, and is one of the most remarkable monuments of the imperial city. it was ordered by the empress catherine, and was cast by falconet, a frenchman. the inscription upon it reads—
"petru pervomu.—ekaterina vtorya."
(to peter i.—by catherine ii., mdcclxxxii.)
evidently catherine had a sufficient idea of her consequence, as the letters which make her name are considerably larger than those of her illustrious sire's.
"the horse," said fred, in his note-book, "is on the brink of a precipice, where he is being reined in by his rider. peter's face is towards the neva, while his right hand is directed to the city which he built. under the horse's feet is a serpent, which typifies the difficulties the czar has overcome. the horse is balanced on his hind legs and tail, his forefeet being clear from the rock. it is said that the weight of the statue is about ten thousand pounds.
"the statue stands on a block of granite that originally weighed fifteen hundred tons, and was brought from finland. the block is fourteen feet high, twenty feet broad, and forty-three feet long. it consists of two pieces that have been carefully joined together, and the operation of moving it was a triumph of engineering skill.
"i have read a good story apropos of this monument—about two boys[pg 75] who belonged to an english ship that was lying at the quay beyond the statue. they had wandered off into the city and lost their way, and in order to get back they engaged a carriage. but after engaging it they were in trouble, as they could not tell the driver where to go.
"two sailors from the same ship happened along, and to them the boys told the story of their perplexity. the sailors were in the same predicament, as they wanted to get back to the ship, and didn't know which way to go.
improvising a statue.
"'if we only knew what the russian is for that statue,' said one of the boys, 'we could make him understand.'
"they tried all the words they knew, but to no purpose. suddenly an idea occurred to one of the sailors. he asked the other to get down on all-fours, which he did, wondering what was the matter with his comrade. jack mounted his friend's back as though he were a steed, and took the attitude of peter the great as nearly as he could remember it. the other sailor caught at the idea, and reared slightly on his feet in the position of peter's horse. the isvoshchiks comprehended what was wanted, and roared with delight; the two sailors jumped into a drosky, which followed the carriage containing the boys, and in due time the party arrived safely at its destination."
