Part 18 (1/1)
”To-
”Your affectionate son--
”Fred Markham”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Last Letter fro--Ceremony at the Kazan Church--Picnic into Finland--Visit to Peteroff--The Palace of the Czar--Villas of Peter the Great and Catherine--Beautiful Fountain--Leave Saint Petersburg--Cronstadt-- Voyage down the Baltic--Copenhagen--Journey fro, 20th October, 1856
”My own dear land, and we hope within a week to be with you In the ive you an idea of e have done since I last wrote from Moscow We journeyed back fro from the coronation fetes, and took up our old quarters at the Gostiniza Benson We looked in the nextat the Kazan church, which we had not before seen The coluranite, and their bases and capitals are gilt; there are long rows of them in each cross Banners, tattered, blackened, and pierced byfro Shylock, in spectacles, sat at a counter just inside the entrance, and sold wax-tapers to , bearded officers and thin striplings The votaries then advanced and bowed and crossed themselves Some were so devout as to kneel down and kiss the horribly dirty floor, on which beggars were spitting Harry and I feltfellow so eht to have known better Having genuflected to their heart's content, they advanced to the altar, and stuck their tapers into a frae candlestick placed before soreat favourite, had got his candlestick inconveniently full, but an old soldier--evidently in charge of the altar, and to who to stick in one took the opportunity to slip out four or five others, so that there was always rooue with each other, and that the sarateful that I was not brought up in the Greek Church Cousin Giles says we ought to be thankful that we are Englishmen and Protestants
”The Monday before we left, some friends invited us to a picnic in Finland, the borders of which are distant only a fair drive fro We started early and drove in a northerly direction past a nue style, very picturesque and very dae of Mourina, fifteen versts off, where our friends have a villa The property belongs to Prince Woronzoff, as brought up in England; but instead of following the exaood landlords, he iet into a very tumble-down condition They are built of wood, so the lower part becomes rotten, and the rest sinks Were they placed on foundations of stone, they would last far longer They now offer no unfit epitome of the state of Russia Our friend's villa was very pretty, with all sorts of Chinese-looking ins-and-outs, verandahs, and passages There was a gauze covering to the verandah, which effectually kept out the flies and s A streaarden, and close to it was built a vapour-bath, and a dressing-house for a plunge-bath After breakfast, a carriage and several little country carts--telegas they are called--came to the door to take us to our destination The carts were drawn by one horse in the shafts and another in the left side, with traces secured partly to the wheels and partly to a rough bar of birchwood fastened across the cart
They are in shape like boats with stem and stern cut off, and the ribs outside instead of in Each holds two persons seated on horse-cloths and sheepskins, with their feet in straw Cousin Giles called the bar to which the traces were fastened, a sprit-sail yard The drivers were boys, who sat in front of the carts Off we rattled down a steep hill, and through a bog, and were quickly in Finland The boys tried to keep ahead of each other, and galloped down hills and up hills, and along the road at a tremendous pace;--it was rare fun The road was so After a little time we had some pretty vieith a chain of lakes on either side of us
Then we reached the village of Toxova, with its Lutheran church and parsonage, situated on a wooded hill above the lakes We stopped at the village, and went to a cottage with a large roo down on the lakes Here we hired a samovar, and spread our eatables The chief dish was a salmon-pie, and a capital dish it is A whole salmon (or another fish s, and rice or other grain, first well boiled, and then covered with a coating of bread-dough, which is next baked like a loaf of bread It is eaten cold After dinner alked through woods of birch and elder to a hill with a cross on it, above a lake, whence we got a view of Saint Petersburg
”We altogether had one of the pleasantest days we passed in Russia, for though cities and fine sights are very interesting, there is nothing like the country after all, in my opinion Another day we received an invitation froe formed by a collection of villas and palaces on the south side of the Gulf of Finland It can be reached by land, but we preferred going there by water Stea several tie, we embarked in a boat, built in the far-off Clyde, and now called by a Russian nae between the shallows all the way is very narrow, and the bar at the mouth of the Neva has often not more than ten feet of water on it I have already in our journal described Peteroff, with its golden do Cronstadt, so I will say no -pier we found our friend's carriage waiting, and in it, over a good road, aroves of birch and lime-trees, ere driven to his very picturesque sus, and weather-boarded, with a verandah running all round it, and at each angle is a wide space roofed over, so that shade and air can at all times of the day be procured After an early dinner, we drove to the chateau of the E, half Oriental, half Italian-looking edifice, with a gilt roof, and white and yelloalls On one side are gardens, laid out with long gravel walks, grass-plats, and trees; on the other the high road Between the road and the sea are the smaller and still more ancient royal villas of Marly and Montplaisir, in the ilt statues and urns, and flowerpots and marble fountains, and water-spouts and tanks, and seats and rows of trees, and flower-beds all of one colour, the whole having a very glittering, dazzling effect From one of the fountains the water comes down an inclined plane, and ere told that the E a party of the cadets of the military schools defend the top of the waterfall, while others had to stor up the inclined plane, over which the water was rushi+ng down
It ood fun on a hot day, with the therreeable when a sharp north-easter was blowing
”The villa of Marly was built by Peter, and here he used to go to watch the ulf below hiht-cap are shown Indeed, nothing has been altered in the cottage since he passed away from the scene where his wonderfully active e of Montplaisir was built by the Ee, where she used to a dinners for herself and any of her -room was a table, the centre of which could be lowered and raised, so as to remove and replace the dishes without the presence of waiters In the gardens is also a large bathing-house, of truly i for their historical recollections; but by far the ardens is a fountain, which throws up water exactly in the shape of a Gothic cathedral As the sun shone on the sparkling jets, the effect was excellent
”We spent aat our friend's house, and returned the next day to Saint Petersburg We sawwhich I will tell you about e et on board the steaen The town consists of several very broad streets and places, but not many houses within the fortifications, and quays, and a harbour full of shi+pping
”We were not sorry to get out of Russia Cousin Giles says that he felt as if there was so freely We liked the Russians very well They do not live exclusively on train-oil, ill-s fish, and black bread, as we fancied before ent there; but their greatest adhly civilised people
”I wish that I could tell you soe It sounds very soft and musical, but is very difficult to speak, and the characters e of an alphabet utterly useless We left Cronstadt on the afternoon of Wednesday, where neither was our baggage nor e exaled theot aithout difficulty We had fine weather all the way down the Baltic, and caen, on the afternoon of Sunday Here we landed in a pilot-boat, with soentleed a char-a-banc, and drove to Copenhagen the sa numerous objects of interest I will not attempt to describe them now Cousin Giles says I must write a book about Denlishen in the afternoon, and the sa reached by railway the town of Kirsoor, about sixty miles to the south of it Here we embarked on board a stealish fleet were stationed last winter Here another railway conveyed us, in a little n travels are almost over for this year We have enjoyed them very much, as we hope you have our letters, and that you will allow us to accept Cousin Giles' invitation to accompany him next summer to some other country
”Your affectionate son--
”Frederick Markham”
THE END