SIGHTS IN ST. PETERSBURG.
"Appointed by the captain!" sneered De Forrest, as the students left the steerage.
"I wonder what that's for," added Beckwith.
"I don't know; it's a puzzler to me. But the principal seems to be trying to make Cantwell as big a man as he can."
"Well, I don't think you ought to find any fault about it. You worked this thing up, and made him captain," interposed Sheridan, the new fourth lieutenant, who had been raised to his present rank from first midshipman, by the votes of the Bangwhangers.
"I made him captain!" exclaimed De Forrest.
"Certainly you did; his merit-rank would only have made him fourth lieutenant. We don't always do just what we intend," laughed Sheridan. "It was your idea to make the captain dependent upon the crew for his office."
"I think it's a good thing to do so," replied De Forrest.
"Then it's a good thing also to make the crew dependent upon the captain. If he can appoint one of the party for the Volga excursion, his favor is worth something," added Sheridan, good-naturedly.
"I would give fifty dollars out of my spending money for the privilegeof going," said De Forrest.
"Suppose you make the captain the offer?"
"I! Humph! Do you think I would go down on my knees to Cantwell?" sneered De Forrest.
"Don't you do it! There's no law to compel you to do so," laughed Sheridan.
"Of course the captain will reward some one of his friends," said Beckwith.
"Yes, I suppose he will."
"Would you appoint a fellow that had worked against you?" asked Sheridan.
"I should try to be fair," answered the first purser, with a struggle to look dignified.
"Precisely so! Just as you nominated yourself over the heads of Judson and Norwood, and tried to cut them out."
"They worked for themselves, and I only did the same."
"If every fellow works for himself, we shall not come out anywhere."
"You needn't say anything, Sheridan. You went from first middy up to fourth lieutenant by the voting," said De Forrest.
"I went just one place higher than my merit-rank, while you were No. 11, and tried to get into No. 3."
"Never mind that now," interposed Beckwith. "Whom shall we elect? That's the question."
"I don't think we need trouble ourselves much about that matter," replied De Forrest, gloomily. "The fellows in the steerage will attend to all that, and neither of the two will be taken from the cabin."
"I will venture to say that one of the two will be elected from thecabin," said Sheridan.
"Do you belong to that secret society, Sheridan?" asked Beckwith.
"I do not; but I think that the fellows that manage it mean to be fair."
"Humph! They lifted you up."
"That's so. They did; but I never asked them to do it, or electioneered with any of them," responded Sheridan.
"But can't we do something?" suggested Beckwith. "The vote for captain stood forty-eight to forty; and Cantwell's vote was the strength of the opposition. If we can change five votes, we can elect our men."
"Very true; but can you unite your forty votes on two candidates."
"Yes; why not?" asked De Forrest, encouraged by this presentation of the subject.
"Who shall the candidates be?" inquired Sheridan, with a twinkle of the eye. "You want the two most popular fellows in the ship."
"Lincoln for one," said Beckwith.
"Good! He runs well with both parties. You can elect him. Who next?" continued Sheridan.
"I should like to go for the other," said De Forrest.
"I thought so," laughed Sheridan.
"Why shouldn't I go, as well as any other fellow?" demanded the first purser.
"And why should you in preference to any other fellow? If you want to carry your ticket, you must nominate the other candidate from the steerage. That's fair."
"I don't believe in it," protested De Forrest. "I won't vote for afellow in the steerage."
"Precisely so. Then you, and such fellows as you, will throw the election into the hands of the secret society. That's the whole of it. Be fair, and the steerage will go with you."
"Whom do you say in the steerage?" asked Beckwith.
"Any good fellow; say Scott."
"No, sir!" exclaimed De Forrest, decidedly. "I would jump overboard before I would vote for him."
"Suppose the captain should select Lincoln," continued Sheridan, his eye still twinkling merrily.
"Then we should have to take some other fellow from the cabin," replied Beckwith.
"There your chance comes in, De Forrest," winked the fourth lieutenant.
"I think I have just as good a right to go as any other fellow."
"Say De Forrest and Scott; and Scott's name on the ticket will carry the other name," chuckled Sheridan, though he spoke as soberly as he could.
"That alters the case," added De Forrest, musing. "If Lincoln is not to be on the ticket, it makes it altogether a different affair."
"But if you are going to scratch Scott's name, and jump overboard, rather than vote for him, it's no use of talking."
"I should like to have all these differences healed up, so that my plan may have a fair trial," said the first purser.
"Well, think of it," continued Sheridan; "and if the fellows concludeto nominate the ticket I suggested, I have no doubt it can be elected."
"I think, under the circumstances, I should conclude to vote for Scott."
"Well, that would be a great concession on your part," laughed Sheridan, as he went forward to talk with others about the matter which so deeply interested all hands.
Of course he spoke with Scott first on the subject, and suggested a general caucus of officers and seamen, to which the joker readily assented, and promised, if the business was fairly conducted, to keep it out of the secret society. The matter was talked over till the lights were put out.
The next morning, after the decks had been washed down, and breakfast disposed of, a small steamer, which had been engaged by the principal, came alongside, and all hands went on board of her. All the students from the consorts, with their instructors, joined them, and the steamer started. Though she was Russian, she was not very different from any other of her class. After passing out of the harbor, the boat entered the broad estuary which forms the mouth of the Neva. It was shoal water, and the channel was narrow and very crooked, and the craft twisted about almost as much as on one of our western rivers. As the distance from Cronstadt to the capital is only seventeen miles, the expectant excursionists were soon in sight of St. Petersburg. Though the city is built on low, level ground, the aspect of it, seen from the sea, is very striking. It was different from any other city the students had seen.
"There's a gilded dome," said Commodore Lincoln.
"That's St. Isaac's Cathedral," replied Dr. Winstock. "And you see blue, green, and white domes."
"There is one with stars on it."
"A very common decoration," added the doctor, as the steamer entered the Great Neva.
At the city the river divides into several branches, and forms half a dozen large islands, and some forty smaller ones, on which a portion of the town is built. The southern branch is called the Great Neva, on which are most of the landing-places of the steamers. Another branch is called the Little Neva, and the two on the north are the Great and Little Nevka.
"This is the English Quay," continued the surgeon, pointing to the right as the steamer approached the long iron bridge, which takes the name of Nicholas, in whose reign it was built, and is eleven hundred feet long.
"This seems to be about the end of this cruise," added Lincoln, as he glanced at the bridge.
"The steamer stops at this floating stage on the left; but there is a draw in the bridge, by which vessels may go up into Lake Ladoga."
The boat came up to the stage, on which was a house. Mr. Fluxion, the first vice-principal, was there, for he had been sent up the day before to make the arrangements for the visit. A dozen omnibuses stood in the broad street, in and on which the students bestowed themselves. The surgeon and the commodore took places with a driver. The two horses at the pole were harnessed as in America; but on the nigh side was a third horse attached to the carriage by an extra whiffletree. Some of theomnibuses had four horses, but they were all abreast. The two wheel horses were driven by four reins, while the outsiders had only a single rein. Half a dozencommissionaires, who spoke very indifferent English, had been engaged, and one of them was with the surgeon. The procession started, and crossed the Nicholas Bridge, near which is the English Church. At the north end of it is the Academy of Arts, an immense structure, which conveys a good idea of the general size and splendor of the public buildings of the city.
Turning to the left, after crossing the bridge, passing Nicholas Palace, the Senate, and Synod, the line entered St. Isaac's Square, in the middle of which stands the church, one of the most imposing in the world. Admiralty Square is opposite, in which is the equestrian statue of Peter the Great. The great Czar is represented as reining in his horse at the verge of a precipice. The artist modelled his design from a bold Russian officer, who rode a spirited Arabian steed up an artificial slope. The horse is gracefully poised on his hind feet, beneath which is a serpent, emblematic of the difficulties that Peter overcame. The tail of the animal appears to rest lightly on the serpent, but is in reality part of the support of the figure. The rock upon which the statue is elevated was brought from a Finnish village, four miles from the city, and weighs fifteen hundred tons. It is forty-three feet long, fourteen feet high, and twenty feet wide.
Passing the immense Admiralty building, the procession paused for a few moments in front of the vast edifice called Hôtel de l'Etat Major, which is the headquarters of the army. The front is semicircular, and in thecentre of the building is a triumphal arch, over which is the chariot of Victory, the horses of which are headed towards at least half the points of the compass, though the team is only a pardonable exaggeration of those which draw the omnibuses.
In the vast square in front of the structure is the Column Alexander I. Opposite this monument are the Hermitage and the Winter Palace, which are on the river. Looking across the Great Neva, where the Little Neva branches off, the Exchange may be seen on the point of land between the two streams. It is an imposing structure, with lofty columns around it, and flights of steps leading down to the river. On each side of it is a lofty pillar, one hundred feet high, adorned with the prows of ships, which project from the sides, and give it a very singular appearance when seen from a distance.
The omnibuses turned, and went back to the Admiralty, some of whose windows command a view down the Nevski Prospect, which is the principal street of the city. As the procession passed down this avenue, which is wider than Pennsylvania Avenue, at Washington, in places, the students had to keep their eyes wide open, in order that nothing should escape them. The droskies were as thick as snow-flakes at Christmas, and rattled at great speed through the streets. Every driver wore the long pelisse and the bell-crowned hat. A horse railroad extended through this street. There were plenty of omnibuses, drawn by three or four horses abreast, the driver having a whole handful of reins. The wagons, on which merchandise is conveyed from one part of the city to another,were really ludicrous to the students, and seemed to be constructed so as to give the horses the greatest possible amount of work. The wheels were quite small, and ran on wooden axletrees, with at least six inches' "play" between the hub and linchpins, so that, in rough places, the body slid on the wheels from right to left. From the end of each forward axletree, a rope, or a wooden bar, extended to the shafts. The vehicle was very heavy and clumsy, and evidently ran hard. The bow or arch over the ends of the shafts was very large and heavy, adding a useless burden to the labor of the poor horses.
"That's a singular-looking building," said Lincoln.
"That is the Cathedral of Kazan," replied the doctor, "or the Church of Our Lady of Kazan. It is a poor imitation, on the outside, of St. Peter's. There is a Don Cossack."
The surgeon pointed to "a solitary horseman," who was riding slowly along the sheet. He wore a short jacket, with stripes across the front, and secured by globular buttons. He had on a Tartar cap, and carried in his hand a lance.
"He don't look like the terrible being we have read about," laughed Lincoln.
"No; the Cossacks are a well-disciplined body; but perhaps, in their wild condition, they are all you imagine."
A canal crossed the Nevski Prospect, under a stone bridge near the church. At one side of it was moored a vast flat-boat, as it would be called on the Mississippi, loaded with firewood, sawed and split readyfor use. Several canals like this one extend quite through the city, so that the merchandise from the Caspian Sea, the White Sea, and almost every part of the interior of Russia, may be delivered at the very doors of the warehouses.
Opposite the Great Market, which is the business centre of the city, the conductor stopped the omnibuses, to enable his charge to see the several objects of interest which were presented at this point. TheGostinnoi Dvoris an institution in every Russian city, but is more like the Bazaar of Constantinople than anything to which other Europeans apply the name of market. In St. Petersburg it is a vast structure, occupying an immense square, in which every article of commerce is exposed for sale. It consists of little shops and stalls, in front of which the merchant stands, ready for a trade. He importunes the passers-by to purchase, and it is not always prudent to stop and examine the goods, unless one wishes to be dragged into the shop. The bazaar itself has outgrown the building, large as it is, and extends into the neighboring streets; indeed, the whole territory in the rear, and to the eastward of it for a considerable distance, is appropriated to its uses. The Nevski Prospect, in front of the great market, is very wide, and a large portion of it is used for booths and stands, at which every conceivable article is offered for sale, such as provisions, fruit, fancy goods, furs, clothing, boots and shoes.
"You can see here the national costume of the Russians, commodore," said the doctor.
"I don't see anything very peculiar," replied Lincoln.
"You observe that every man here has his pants stuffed into the tops of his boots. I don't know of anything that is more national than this, though in the interior you will see something more peculiar. Look at that fellow," added the surgeon, pointing to a fruit-seller. "He doesn't indulge in the luxury of a shirt, but has under his coat a calico tunic, which he wears outside of his pants."
"They don't look particularly clean."
"The common people are not; but the higher classes are as neat and refined as any people in Europe."
"What is this tower?" asked Lincoln.
"That is on the Town Hall, in which the business of the city is transacted. It is a watch-tower, and those poles upon it are for the purpose of hoisting signals, to indicate the location of a fire. Men are on the watch on that tower at all times of day and night. The street opposite is St. Michael Place, in which the Hôtel de Russie, commonly called Klée's Hotel, is situated. Next to the tower is one of the street chapels, which you will see in every Russian city. It is a church in miniature, erected by the contributions of the people in the bazaar. You see within it pictures of the saints, with lights burning before them. There is generally a priest on duty there, and you perceive that many people enter, or pause in front of the door, and salute the representatives of the holy persons."
"Yes, and even on the other side of the street," added Lincoln, whohad been observing the devotions of the Russians.
Men paused on the sidewalk of the crowded avenue, knelt, crossed themselves many times, and bowed low, with their faces towards the chapel. The poorer and the more humble the individual, the lower he bowed, and the more earnest were his devotions.
The drive in the omnibuses was continued for a couple of hours longer, until the students had seen the principal streets of the city and the public buildings. Finally, the line stopped at the Taurida Palace, a long, low building, near the Neva, at the eastern extremity of the city. It was built by Catharine II., and presented to her favorite Potemkin, who conquered the Crimea, the Russian name of which is Taurida. The party entered the great ball-room, which is about all that is shown of the palace, for it is occupied by the superannuated ladies of honor of the court. It is an enormous apartment, the ceiling supported by columns covered with plaster. In this hall Potemkin gave balls in honor of his imperial mistress, when it was lighted by twenty thousand wax candles. On the columns were hoops to contain candles, for the room is occasionally used at the present time for balls and feasts. At one end was a full-rigged brig, of miniature proportions, formerly in the water, but now set in the floor, and used for the amusement of the royal children.
The party had entered this room, which certainly had the appearance of "some banquet hall deserted," for a purpose, and the students were collected around the little brig, upon the deck of which, as a rostrum, Mr. Mapps took his place.
"The region in which St. Petersburg is situated was formerly Ingria, andbelonged first to Novgorod, and then to Moscow," said the professor. "The Swedes obtained it in 1617; but it was reconquered by Peter the Great, who laid the foundations of this city in 1703, in order, as he expressed it, to have 'a window looking out into Europe;' or, in other words, to obtain a seaport by which he could carry on commerce with other parts of the world. He gathered together a vast number of Russian and Finnish peasants, and went to work, drafting forty thousand men annually, some of them from the most distant parts of his vast empire, to perform the labor. Peter superintended the laying out of the city himself, living in a small cottage, which exists at the present time, and which we shall soon visit.
"As I have said before, the location is most unfortunate. The Neva is the outlet of Lake Ladoga, and when the ice breaks up in the spring, the city is peculiarly liable to an inundation, if a westerly storm forces in this direction the waters of the Gulf of Finland; and at other seasons there is great danger from these storms. It is said that Peter was warned of this peril. After he had laid the foundation of a portion of the city in the marshes, he happened to see a tree with a ring cut around the trunk. He asked a Finn what the mark meant, and was told that it indicated the height to which the water rose in the inundation of 1680. He angrily told the man that he lied, for what he said was quite impossible, and with his own hand he felled the tree. It was practically saying, 'So much the worse for your facts,' when they conflicted with his theory. There have been seven terrific floods in the city, the lastof which was in November, 1824. A driving westerly storm heaped up the waters in the Neva till they overflowed the low banks, and swept in floods through the streets. Wooden houses were lifted from their foundations, and floated about still occupied. Carriages had to be abandoned in the streets, and the horses were drowned. The Emperor Alexander I. gathered together a few resolute men in a large boat, and went himself to the relief of the sufferers, exposing his own life, and saving many from destruction.
"After the water subsided, many buildings fell, and much sickness followed from the dampness in the houses. The damage was estimated at a hundred million rubles. A gardener, surprised by the storm, sought a place of safety on the roof of a summer-house, to which also an army of rats was driven, and he was fearful that they would devour him; but a cat and a dog swam to the roof, and neutralized his dangerous enemies, so that all of them passed the night in safety. A Protestant merchant hauled in at his second story window, from a fragment of a bridge, an Orthodox Greek, a Jew, and a Mohammedan Tartar, supplying them with food, raiment, and shelter."
The professor finished his remarks, and the party, after a glance at the handsome gardens of the palace, resumed their places in and on the omnibuses. Looking down the street, the students could see the Smolni Church, on the bank of the river, which here makes a sharp turn to the south. The structure is of white marble, with fine blue domes, spangled with golden stars. At one side of it is a large building, in which thedaughters of citizens are educated; at the other, one in which those of the nobles are educated. The procession moved through several streets, and passed between the Michael and the Summer Palace, attached to the latter of which are the gardens of the same name, forming the park most used by the people of the city. The middle one of the three openings at the grand gateway is now occupied by a small chapel, dedicated to St. Alexander Nevski, for on this spot an assassin attempted to take the life of the present emperor in 1866. Over the principal entrance is placed, in gold letters, the text, "Touch not mine anointed." The chapel was built by subscription, as a token of the love of the people for their sovereign.
The omnibuses crossed the river on the Troitsa, or Trinity Bridge, which is built of boats, and removed in winter, when the people cross on the ice, and stopped at the cottage of Peter the Great, where the students alighted. The original house is contained within another, built by Alexander I. to preserve it from decay. It is fifty-five feet long by twenty in breadth, and has three rooms. One of these is now used as a chapel, and contains the miraculous image of the Saviour which Peter carried with him in his battles, and to which he ascribed his victory at Pultowa. In front of it is a circular board, full of holes of all sizes, in which the faithful place their lighted candles, as a votive offering to the picture. Near the door is a stand for the sale of these candles, which are in size from twice the thickness of a pipe stem, up to double the ordinary size. They are sold at from five to twenty-five copecks apiece. Near the picture are some glass cases, in which are a great manysmall legs and arms of silver, and other valuable articles, presented by people who had recovered from various maladies, in token of their gratitude. These cases were robbed by a soldier in 1863, who murdered the two keepers of the house. The building contains many relics of the great Czar.
A short ride brought the tourists to the fortress and Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul. The fortress is separated from Petrofski Island, on which Peter's cottage is situated, by a moat crossed by two bridges. It is completely walled in, and has been used as a state prison. In one of its gloomy dungeons, Alexis, the son of the great Czar, perished by the hand of his father, and the rebels of 1825, who conspired against Nicholas, were confined, tried, and some of them executed in this castle.
In the centre of the enclosure rises the cathedral, the spire of which is tall, slender, and tapering, so that it looks like a needle in the air, and is really one of the curiosities of the city. The spire itself is one hundred and twenty-eight feet high. It is crowned with a globe, five feet in diameter, on which is an angel supporting a cross, twenty-one feet high, though no one would suspect them to be of these dimensions, for they look like toys in the air. The summit of the cross is three hundred and eighty-seven feet from the ground. The spire is covered with copper, and gilded, and twenty-two pounds of pure gold were used upon it. The students gazed with wonder and admiration at the shadowy spire, and listened eagerly to the explanations given by Mr. Mapps.
"What do you think of climbing that spire, as you would go aloft?" askedMr. Mapps, with a smile.
"I don't aspire to do it," replied Scott.
"It has been done," added the instructor. "In 1830 the angel on the ball was out of repair, and it was found that the stage for the purpose would cost an immense sum of money."
"Did the man who did it think of going up in a stage?" asked Scott, demurely.
"No; he intended to go up on the outside of the stage," replied the professor.
"He might have leaped up, if he could only have taken a spiral spring," said Scott.
"Among those who looked at the spire was a Russian workman, a roofer of houses, by the name of Telouchkine."
"I should think he would have 'gone up,' if he had such a name."
"This man offered to make the repairs without staging or assistance, on condition that he should be well paid, and his offer was accepted. Provided with a quantity of strong cord, he went as high as he could go in the interior, and then stepped out at the highest window. He had cut off two lengths of his cord, and made loops in the ends. The heads of the nails which secured the sheets of gilded copper projected enough to enable him to fasten a loop of each cord upon them. In these stirrups he placed his feet. Clinging to the edges of the copper, where the joints were made, with one hand, he raised one of the stirrups with the other hand, until he passed the loop over a nail head higher up. Repeating the process for the other foot, he slowly ascended till he could clasp thespire in his embrace and finally reached the ball, where his troubles seemed to begin. Passing the cord around his waist, he made it fast to the spire, with a considerable spare line between it and his body. Planting his feet against the needle, he dropped back, and straightened out, with nothing but the cord to support him. In this position, his body at right angles with the spire, he threw a coil of line over the ball, and with it hauled himself up to the summit of the globe. Then Telouchkine stood by the side of the angel, and listened to the applause of the vast crowd which had gathered below to witness the feat. Fastening the cord securely above the ball, he descended with comparative ease. The next day he carried up a rope ladder, by the aid of which he was able to make the needed repairs at his leisure."
"Bully for Telouchkine!" said Scott. "I shouldn't think any cord he could carry up that height was strong enough to bear him."
"But it seems it was."
"It must have had some of the Russian bear in it, else it wouldn't have held him."
"I hope your bear will eat up your bully," added the professor. "Now we will go into the church."
Several soldiers offered their services as guides, and conducted the students to the interior. The walls are nearly hidden by the standards, flags, shields, battle-axes, and other trophies taken from the French, Poles, Turks, Persians, and Swedes. All the sovereigns of Russia, since the foundation of the city, with the single exception of Peter II., have been intombed in this church. Their remains are placed in the vaultsbeneath the pavement, but the situations of their several resting-places are indicated by white marble sarcophagi, with gilded corners, crosses, and other ornaments. The tomb of Peter the Great is near the south door, opposite an image of St. Peter, which is just the size of the Czar at his birth. Next to him is Catharine I. Near the tomb of Paul is an image of St. Paul, of this Czar's size at his birth. The diamond wedding-ring of Alexander I. is affixed to an image by his tomb. On that of the Grand Duke Constantine, who waived his right to the throne in favor of Nicholas, are placed the keys of the Polish fortresses he captured. On the tomb of Nicholas there was a quantity of flowers, and also upon that of his daughter, who died in 1844.
"This is the tomb of the present emperor's oldest son, Nicholas, who died at Nice in 1865," said Dr. Winstock. "It has been erected since my last visit, and you see it is covered with fresh flowers. He was only twenty-two, and had just been betrothed to the Princess Dagmar, of Denmark."
"I thought Mr. Mapps said she was married to the present heir of the throne," added Lincoln.
"That was quite true also. She was only engaged to Nicholas, and was married to his brother two years after the death of the former. It is said that the Czarwitz, on his death-bed, expressed a wish that his brother Alexander might succeed him in all things, including his intended wife."
The party were then conducted to a building where the boat of Peter the Great is kept. As he built it with his own hands, it is a great curiosity, and the students were willing to believe that the Czar haddone his work well. The excursionists returned to the omnibuses, and were driven to the Hotel Klée, where dinner had been prepared for them. The meal was not at all Russian, for the people in the hotel are German in their tendencies. It was at this hotel that Mr. Burlingame, of the Chinese mission, died; and several of the students visited the room in which he breathed his last.