Sketches of Russian Life and Customs, made during a visit in 1876-7

Front matter

THREE NEW NOVELS AT ALL LIBRARIES. RIVEN BONDS. By E. Werner, Author of "Success, and How He Won It," " Under a Charm," &c. Translated by Bertha Ness. 2 vols., 21s. " We would advise the reader, if he have any taste for novel reading, to lose no time in making acquaintance with this charming book." — Court Circular. HEIR TO TWO FORTUNES. By the Author of "The Life of the Moselle." 3 vols., 31s. 6d. " It has dash, and go, and promise." — World. THROUGH THE BREAKERS. By the Rev. Richard Bulkeley, Vicar of St. John's, Dukenfield. 3 vols., 31s. 6d. " The Crimean episodes are treated with a good deal of spirit." Athenæum. " It is always an advantage to get hold of works of a superior tone, and this is one of them, and for that reason alone would deserve to be recommended ; even had it, as we are far from asserting, no other merit." — Morning Post.

REMINGTON & CO., 5, Arundel Street, Strand, W.C. SKETCHES OF RUSSIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS, MADE DURING A VISIT IN 1876-7. BY SELWYN EYRE. REMINGTON AND CO., 5, Arundel Street, Strand, W.C 1878. [All Rights Reserved].

Preface

. ■JI^HE simple Preface — that I have only in the following pages sought to delineate facts and pictures as they have been presented to my view — that I have not trenched unduly upon the imagination. THE AUTHOR. March, 1878. EUSSIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS MADE DURING A VISIT IN 1876-7.

Chapter I. Alexandrovna

— A RUSSIAN CUSTOM-HOUSE — A GLIMPSE AT POLISH NATIONALITY — EAPID CON- VERSE AND SLOW TRAINS — SPECIAL CORRES- PONDENTS EN ROUTE FOR SERVIA — WARSAW. Warsaw, July 17th, 5th Russian style, 1876. Ah, what a burning, scorching sun ! " Alexandrovna," shouted the guard, and then we one and all glanced curiously out of the carriage windows, and realised the fact that we had at last — in very deed, if I may he permitted so to speak — arrived at our starting-point. "We had reached the western frontier town of Russia — had achieved, there- B fore, feat number one ; a feat, however, only to be immediately supplemented by another, calling for an infinite share of patience, and likewise inevitable of accomplishment — the stern examination of our baggage. Surely if feat number one had been the means of causing us satisfaction, the very prospect of the last-named had done precisely the re verse, as regarded some members of our party at any rate.

Herein I speak personally. Having unluckily lost my keys en route, I had simply been compelled at various preceding stages to take refuge in stating the melancholy fact, and such statement had been as simply accredited; but at this identical spot, as a sort of penalty it may be presumed for my temerity in having set foot for the first time on Russian soil, I must e'en " bide the bent" of my small slice of misfortune. In we trudged, in the greatest haste imaginable, helter-skelter, however wearily, one after the other, something after the fashion of a flock of sheep urged on at the point of the bayonet, into the monster custom-house.* It would be bordering on cruelty to torture you with the RUSSIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS. Russian appellative. Not even a shabby, well-worn, unobtrusive little handbag had we been permitted to leave behind, lest it might possibly contain contraband goods.

We simply lodged each and all of our worldly chattels upon the broad counter before us, as if we literally loathed the possession thereof, and yielded them, a humble tribute, at the feet of His Imperial Majesty Alexander II. Marvellous blunder ! Our passports also — we duly handed them over, and then awaited the result. Would the vise, duly appended to my own by the Russian Consul in London, vouch amply for my general respectability ? Would also statement as regarded bunch of keys afore said prove equally availing? "No." This to the last-named query. Decidedly not. Russian power, as also superiority, was strictly vindicated, and the innocent baggage opened, thanks to the intervention of a long black-skirted Muscovite in the shape of a blacksmith. The scene meanwhile was Russian to the backbone, as regarded not only the dress of all those present, but in at least fifty different characteristics.

The hall was crowded with uniformed officers and employes, each wearing beards and heavy moustachios, who one and all went on chattering at the very top of their voices — for the greater part, of course, in pure Russ — and, as it seemed, all at once. No pause ; no cessation whatever. One of my companions, a master of the Polish language as well as of Russ, remembered, as he afterwards told me, that though now in territory owning Russian sway, we were yet, so to speak, on Polish ground, and adapted his language accordingly. The self-suggestion was, however, evidently ill timed. Although comprehended, the mode of intercourse adopted was certainly not deemed an admissible accomplishment. Russ must here not only be in the ascendant, but supreme. At the buffet, however, matters took a some what different turn.

Polish in this quarter seemed equally as acceptable as Russ, if not more so. The Polish sense of nationality, as we soon found out at other buffets, also at the hotels at which we stopped en route, is still marvellously strong, and oftentimes it ■5 RUSSIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS. was with a sense of the utmost uncertainty as to what might, and what might not, in reality be regarded as his vulgar tongue, that we addressed this " waiter" and that. Some, if spoken to in Polish, looked forthwith supremely edified, others responded moodily ; and this case as frequently held good in the matter of Russ. " Polish — heart and soul," exclaimed my companion, again and again, in delightful and harmonious English, " and Russian by the fate of war." And now a deep bass voice heralded my name, as described upon passport, from the top to the bottom of the hall, only that so ex cessively Russian had it by this time become in its verbal expression, that I scarcely recognised it.

But the document was again my own, and I was once more happy. I might now travel whithersoever I wished within those Imperial dominions, only not precisely on such terms as seemed most natural. Politics, to begin with, I found, as we con tinued our journey, to be ordinarily avoided ; or, if touched upon, approached within wide limits. No one evidently dared to trench far into the minutiæ of either this or that act of diplomacy. All fully comprehended, even if they did not duly respect the knowledge of the fact, that some political agent might, after all, be then and there present, taking, to say the least of it, mental notes, and that it was therefore infinitely safer to be ordinarily prudent. Our party consisted of a curious medley ; all, in spite of the political inhibition just noted, talking loud and fast, French and German filling in the gaps at every odd mo ment, but not one word of English.

Two clever and amusing special correspondents, as I soon found, going direct to Servia — Bel grade — and in the utmost haste to be there too, for time, as they remarked, was flying, and the train was not. Never, either, did men speak more truly. Never did trains on this earth, I venture to say, travel more slowly than do these Muscovitish ones. Jog, jog ; jerk, jerk ; and yet every one seems supremely satisfied. The " specials " referred to were already RUSSIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS. hard at work as regarded taking notes on their journey. MSS. came boldly to the front, and we began to be interested. A Polish lady was my immediate com panion — a highly cultivated one evidently — and a study to boot. She smoked inces santly, inserting her cigarettes in the dain tiest of silver rings attached to a small silver tube.

She sat with one arm akimbo — with, too, the most nonchalant air imaginable — ■ puffing away the smoke from between her lips, and yet chatting unintermittingly. Bus great was my subsequent respect for her on finding that, true to the power ordinarily ac corded to those of her nation, she was an adept, not only in her own tongue and in English, but also in Russ, French, German, and Italian, speaking each like a native, as we had hereafter full opportunity of testing. Each individual in the carriage enlarged, to their hearts' content apparently, upon his or her own personal history, not only with out the least shadow of reserve, but as if in tensely gratified at the opportunity thus afforded them of being discursive on said point. I listened quietly. Had we had weeks in which to travel instead of only days, the con versation could not, I felt sure, possibly have flagged.

But with the fall of evening we had now reached a point in our journey where I intended crying " quarter " and pausing for a while. We had reached Warsaw. The City of the Jews it may indeed be termed, for the place simply swarms with them. The dear old city, so richly fraught in the long past with story and romance — I may also say with tales of danger, intense suffer ing, and flight. I was glad that I had determined on re maining there, if only, perhaps, for this — that I might recall as far as might be the scenes so long ago pourtrayed by a now dead hand, in the fortunes of " Thaddeus of Warsaw." Yes — I say this in spite of the state of the roads and pavements so called, both nothing but a long and painful series of coggly and sharp stones from beginning to end, wearing out EUSSIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS. one's boots in ignominious fashion, and making one's feet ache distressfully to boot — no pun whatever intended.

And yet War saw is in some respects an admittedly minia ture Paris. If some of its streets are narrow it has also its magnificently wide ones — witness the Rue Marshalkovsky, .through which carriages and " trams " perform their part every bit as energetically as in London itself. The houses therein are certainly of all shapes and sizes — odd and uneven, so to speak ; the shops, of which it would seem to form the main centre, are diminutive and un pretending, and the street itself is straight instead of curved ; but it is certainly the width of our Regent Street, and infinitely longer. The streets are literally crowded with Jews and Jewesses from morning till night, and rarely could a more miserable set of men and women be seen, although most of the tribe in question, as I was told, are the wealthiest people in the place.

But who would think it simply to look at them ? Their cast of face would alone serve, as a matter of course, to tell their descent ; but there is, if possible, yet further indication of their birth. They dress uniformly in the shabbiest of black, greasy-looking, coats reaching down to their heels, beneath which appear large, shambling, hugely-creased boots extending to their knees. They walk slouchingly, with the head bent down, as if wrapt in thought. And well they may, seeing that they are the money-lenders of the community, and therefore it need not be added that the future of many and many a Varsovien rests absolutely in their merci less hands, the rate of interest demanded by them being at times pitiless. And yet as kings they reign — dirty, greasy, and un combed. All the married women wear wigs, it being a rule that after marriage their heads must be like that of the monk in the old story-book — if not " all forlorn," at least " shaven and shorn."

" Look ! There goes another wigged woman," exclaimed my guide. " Don't you see ? " I turned round ; but only for a moment. A far more beautiful and pleasing sight met RUSSIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS. my eye. We had already entered the ex quisite Jardin de Saxe, with avenues of trees leading in various directions, many of the latter meeting overhead and forming a pro tecting and at once, as it were, triumphant archway, and through which gaily-dressed citizens were promenading, for this was the fashionable hour. Truly, fashion holds its own everywhere, even in the once famous and ancient capital of patriotic, though unfortu nate Poland.

Chapter II. En Route For Moscow

July 20th — 8th, Russian style. And now with what a curious amount of grow ing interest we pursued our course day by day on Russian ground. The train jogged on slowly, in tiresome, aggravating fashion, past forest and plain, plain and forest, all level, and wholly undiversified — not even the vestige [of aught approaching to a hilly country — and sometimes, to our utter amaze ment and at once small dismay, it would stop entirely, as if in sulky mood, at this or that point on the journey, as the case might be, where not even a shadow of a station was to be seen. On one of the occasions just referred to, some member of our party ventured to ques tion the guard thereupon. " You do not, surely, mean to tell me that the engine is RUSSIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS. again in need of water ? " he submitted, some what desperately.

And then came that well nigh perpetually recurring response, " Da, da" — "Yes, yes" — abroad grin extending itself meanwhile over the face of the official appealed to, as if he, too, saw the fun of all this unnecessary delay, and therefore quite appreciated the sally. Perhaps he would fain have insinuated, could he only have done so without trenching unduly on his dignity, that the consumption of wood in lieu of coal called also for the consumption of a larger amount of the watery element in question. We do not know, and therefore, of course, cannot say. We merely throw out the suggestion en passant. Forest and plain, plain and forest, we have said. Yes ; and well-nigh nothing else, either, to be seen en route. If coal has never as yet been discovered in Russia — with, by the way, the exception of the due southern district — at any rate there is an ample amount of wood in every direction to meet the de mand.

The forests are simply endless in number, well-nigh boundless also in extent, and hundred upon hundreds of piles of tim ber are grouped together, laid ready for use, at frequent recurring intervals along the line of road. If, however, I have noted the excessive slowness in travelling in these regions, it is also fair that I should note the correspond ingly excessive luxury combined therewith. Not ordinary first-class carriages as in Eng land and most European countries, but literally regal ones. Nine crimson velvet armchairs, also crimson velvet sleeping ac commodation in the carriage assigned us ; with gilded ceilings, mirrors, and every corresponding luxury that even royalty itself might claim. And apropos of royalty, with which term is appended nobility. As only those belonging to this special rank ever even dream of travellingfirst-class — this as I was O afterwards told — we had the carriage allotted to us entirely to ourselves, and felt propor tionately edified ; elevated also in the social scale, so to speak.

But perhaps the main interest attaching to our present journey, setting aside the fact that we were now nearing the Holy City of All the Russias, lay in the circumstance that we were traversing the exact route followed by Napoleon's army in 1812, on the never to be forgotten retreat from Moscow. Strange, possibly, it may seem that any railroad engineer should have thus been moved in spirit as it were, however un wittingly, to select the very ground so richly fraught with deep historical interest ; but so it is. After Brest — in Lithuania — came Beresa and Minsk, the latter rich with old association, and as regards present interest, boasting a station well worthy of note. Nearly all the other stations on the line are small and un pretending in point of style, but exquisitely attractive in that of beauty.

Built entirely of wood as a matter of course, in all sorts of fantastic modes, with latticed windows and a superabundance of white muslin curtains adorning each, they at a moment's glance bespeak themselves Russian, evren did not other details serve to remind one of the fact. Oh, how these people gabble and chatter — scream, too, at times — as it seems to us, poor benighted English folks that we probably are. At all points of the compass — by which is meant, in this particular instance, extent of platform erected at the various stations — the scene pourtrayed might fitly serve to represent Babel, only that perhaps the builders of the tower referred to lacked one of the, in the present case, prevailing characteristics — that of vehement gesticulation. Were they all in a state of the greatest ire and dudgeon one "with another, I many and many a time wondered ?

Were some of them, in fact, to be explicit, just on the eve of perpetrating a duel — settling a point in dispute by means of single combat ? It would really seem so. Only that I was laughed at, and that not specially mercifully either, for even hazarding the notion. No, on the contrary, they were all on the very best terms possible with each other. Nothing could have been more amicable. A question had arisen amongst them — I refer to one particular occasion — with regard to an unmitigatedly trivial point as to whether some special house in Chicago — or group of houses it might possibly have been for aught I know to the contrary — had at the date of the great fire there, some years ago, been built of wood or not. By a coincidence I was in a position, on being referred to, to speak confidently in the affirmative.

The house in question was, I averred, built of wood undoubtedly — not stone. And then arose such a discussion as it behoves me to own I have seldom listened to in the whole course of my life. It was really astounding. One might readily have imagined that the ultimate fate of each member of the combative crew depended upon the due discussion of said, if inglorious, at any rate wooden topic. They battled it out vigorously, all speaking vociferously, and at once, sparing neither words, gesticulation, nor power of lung. The perspiration stood high upon their foreheads, ay, over the whole of their faces indeed. But what mattered it ? Not one bit. The cause of " wooden house " in Chicago must be duly ventilated conte qui coute. What might not depend upon the issue thereof ! They had each and all set their hearts upon carrying his or her own a particular point of view of the question in dispute, and would rather die than yield.

That wooden house in Chicago ! Shall I ever forget it ? An apt type indeed of the wonted mode of -dissertation adopted in re spect to every topic mooted, whether of moment or the reverse. But Borisoff, which we shortly reached, with the river Beresina creeping leisurely beneath. Yes ; I even tried to hold my breath a moment — for there is a station here, and all was, as it surely ought to be, marvellously still, there not being a single passenger at this identical point either awaiting our arrival or taking his departure. I wished, if possible, fully to think out the chapter of the story now lying open before me — and yet by a sort of paradox, the reader will say, so long since sealed — and picture everything as it had in reality once been. I could yet see the bleeding, worn and weary Frenchmen, but brave still, even in the days of their defeat, step sternly and defiantly, if in straggling, yet in large masses, up to the river's brink.

The bridge lies before them. Why hesitate ? Only that instinct tells them it is too narrow, all-powerless to bear the weight of such a sudden inroad. And they know it — and yet venture. And then when its centre has been reached by the foremost in the throng, and others are pressing madly onwards — for are not they all in close retreat — the span suddenly yields, and ruin again follows quickly in the train. Luckless expedition ! A crash is heard, the timbers have given way, and the brave Frenchmen are already struggling in the waters beneath. And in this hour of renewed, though it might be looked-for horror, those behind, yet on the eve of pressing forward to meet death, are equal to the emergency. They see at a glance what is before them — certain death ; or it may be, mark you, possible life.

God only can tell. They plunge boldly into the stream, wade it by scores and hundreds ; and the strength of some proves equal to the occasion — they reach the opposite bank ; others sink to rise no more. What wonder, then, that we now stand beside the stream silently a moment ! The train has, as luck would at any rate have it in this instance, remained here more than twenty minutes, and we have had full time meanwhile in which to find our way to the river's bank. Yes, we reverenced that episode in the world's ever-eventful history — the yet undaunted though defeated troops wading through the River Beresina. And then again past Orscha, Smolensky, Vyasima, and Gshatsk, each with their green and gilded domes, however simple, and spires pointing hopefully to heaven ; and still with each of these halting places was associated some tale connected with that one self-same story — that grand retreat, never to be blotted out from the world's history.

Two days and nights spent thus, recalling well-nigh hourly such scenes, had scarcely served, as it may be taken for granted, to damp our ardour. We had, on the contrary, become enthusiastic in no ordinary degree. Poor worn travellers that we were, we were nevertheless not wholly mentally impervious to all that came before our minds' eye, and when within seven hours of reaching Moscow we passed slowly by the field of Borodino, where death and slaughter had once been so busy, and where so many brave true hearts had lay a-dying, we involuntarily rose to our feet in the carriage, and peered wistfully, for very sympathy's sake, upon the spot pointed out. But I am forgetting. Those days are now, it is true, associated only with a far past — the tale itself, as far at any rate as it would appear to the outer world, is a sealed book.

But the fruits, I say, of such victory — also, I would add, of such defeat — still live in the hearts of those who -were then unborn, and who still, with patriotic hearts, repeat it to their children's children. And then the last hour of our long journey was ended. At Moshaiska, the last station on the journey, we had heard the bell ring thrice — the nevervarying number of tinklings dealt in on this line ere the train will ever make up its mind to start again — and we were in Moscow at last — nearly 1,700 miles distant from our starting point, London. Moscow, the ancient capital of All the Russias, and, as has been already said, reckoned the most holy city ; where the Russians love so well to be buried, and where also superstition abounds in a pre eminent degree. But of this, more hereafter.

Moscow, away, as it seemed to me, on first setting foot therein, from all the rest of the world ; a veritably Eastern city — Eastern to the backbone ; as widely different in each aspect from aught in the western hemisphere as, to use a vulgar metaphor, chalk is from cheese, and yet scarcely a hundred years old as regards even the commencement of civili sation. Perhaps this last fact is the most marvellous point of all, for a stride has been made therein from utter barbarism to — well, then, the present state of things, be that state what it may, and the next century will possibly witness a yet greater one. How disappointing, and at once of the earth earthy, to recognise the truth that it is only, after all, given unto a poor mortal to surmise such a stride in future, and that I, too, must be come of the earth earthy long ere the realisation of such surmise can ever be an accomplished fact.

But I am moralising. Is it to be wondered at, seeing that I am literally in a new world ? Instinctively I had realised the fact during the past four days' march, so to speak, that I was in very deed leaving the old world quite behind me, and dropping down into a new. Instinctively, also, I now felt the same, although human beings were clustered thickly all round, and porters and the drivers of droshkys — carriages answering in some fashion to English cabs, only some what lower, and almost invariably open — were in the most hospitable manner possible trying to make me feel that they welcomed, not only myself, but my baggage. Nearly four hundred miles distant from St. Petersburg, I mused — the latter at least a European city in character, however Russian in some respects. But this is Eastern, in every essential item even ; such a city as one has only read of in fairy-books in childhood, and in the actual existence of which we then even scarcely believed.

Moscow, with its beauteous domes and gilded minarets, its nearly six hundred churches promising such marvels as it would at first sight seem for the holiness of those dwelling within their shadow, and with its RUSSIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS. numerous monasteries and convents. Yes — and then I began to think hard. Was I not mistaken ? Only that statistics supported me on every side. Moscow boasts the possession of well-nigh a hundred more churches than does even the Eternal City itself built upon seven hills — Rome. And yet, to com pare the two cities one with the other — how vain a task !

Chapter III. Royal Visitors From Italy The Streets Ablaze With Excitement Collecting

FOR THE SERVIANS AMIDST SILENCE PHILIPOVO's . GURIN IN HIS GLORY— OPINIONS — SELF-CON- GRATULATION — MOSCOW STREET PENCILLING^ — AND VARIOUS NATIONAL CHARACTERS. Moscow, July 31st — 19th Russian style, 1876. The city is to-day one entire scene of splendour and excitement. Prince Humbert, son of the King of Italy, and the Princess Marguerite, arrived from St. Petersburg early yesterday morning, and are this evening dining at the Governor-General's, Prince Dolgorouky's, in the Tverskaiya. Crowds of people are clustered in all directions wherever the Royal party are likely to pass on their return, but nevertheless the greatest order prevails. The large area immediately in front of the Governor's house was, as I arrived upon the scene, carefully guarded by soldiers and policemen, all appearing in their wonted costume as regards nether garments — - white trousers ; but I had the good fortune — if in such things the commodity in question consists — I am sometimes disposed to doubt it— to be allowed to pass onwards in a direct line, and could catch a glimpse at intervals, and this with no little amount of interest, at several members of the stately and regal party feasting within.

Were they happier than the more humble gazers without, I marvelled ? They were dining on what is termed the bel Stage. Large preparations had evidently been made on the score of illuminations as the hours of darkness approached, and a large triumphant archway opposite the house in question glittered even more gaily under its weight of countless artificial coloured lamps. The streets around, and for some miles distant, were nothing but one bla2e of flag and brilliant colour. The handsome Sadova Street, though I cannot speak as regards its entire length, seeing that it extends for about RUSSIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS. twenty miles ;, the broad and also handsome thoroughfare, the Blacksmith's Bridge by name, thronged with wayfarers and vehicles — and how many others. Close to the Governor- General's residence, and on the same side of the street, stands the English club-house, assuredly not one whit behindhand, as regards elegance, any of those occupying the large area in Waterloo Place, its balcony being, at the instant I passed it, crowded with officers and others in various uniforms.

But another group, not so bright in colour, and yet infinitely more attractive in reality, attracts the attention. The object of those forming it was indeed fraught with interest — their motto, as a rule, silence. Behold them, then — a group of Moscovites — ladies and gentlemen — who moved onwards amidst the crowd, everywhere received with respect. A large collecting-box, with slit in the centre thereof, was suspended from the neck of some of the ladies by means of a riband. " Collecting for the Sclavonians," " For the sick and wounded." They passed slowly, and witlr solemn air, along the streets, pausing leisurely, and with petitioning glance, before each passer-by ; and rarely did the mute petition fail to meet with some response. The men responded invariably, were it only to the extent of a five kopeck piece ; the women, to be frauk, were somewhat more chary in the distribution of their coin.