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 privilege
of 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 the
cabin," 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 a
fellow 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 conclude
to 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
the omnibuses 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 dozen _commissionaires_, 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 the centre 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 ready
for 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. The
_Gostinnoi Dvor_ is 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, who
had 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,
and belonged 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 last of 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 the
daughters 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 many small 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?"
asked Mr. 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 the spire 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 vaults beneath 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 had
done 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.