GOOD-BYE TO RUSSIA--AND THEN?
Prince Oldenburg, the Czar's cousin, was the only member of the Royal
Family who could be called a patron of music and had himself composed
more or less. On his seventy-fifth birthday the Imperial Opera organised
a concert in his honour, that took place at the Winter Palace; and we
were really quite _intriguee_, having heard of the Winter Palace for
years. I said to Nordica:
"If you'll find out how we get there, I'll send my carriage for you and
we will go together."
She found out, and we arranged to have the hotel people instruct the
coachman as to the particular entrance of the palace to which he was to
drive us, for he was a Russian and did not understand any other
language. Once started, he had to go according to instructions or else
turn around and take me back to the hotel for new directions and a fresh
start. More than once have I found myself in such a dilemma. However, on
this occasion, he seemed to be fairly clear as to our destination and
showed gleams of intelligence when reminded that he must make no
mistake, since there were only certain doors by which we could enter.
The others were open only to the Royal Family and the nobility.
Among the five _prime donne_ who had been invited, or, rather,
commanded, to appear at this function, there had been some discussion as
to our costumes. All of them except myself sent for special gowns, one
to Paris, one to Vienna, one to Berlin, one to Dresden--for this concert
was to be before members of the Imperial Family and extra preparations
had to be made.
"What are you going to wear?" Nordica asked me.
"Well," said I, "I'll never be in Russia again--God permitting--and I
shall wear a gown that I have, a creation of Worth's, made some years
ago, without period or date." It was really a gorgeous affair and quite
good enough, of an odd, warm, rust colour that was always very becoming
to me.
We arrived at the palace before anyone else and were driven to the door
indicated. There we were not permitted to enter, but were directed to
yet another entrance. Again we met with the same refusal and were sent
on to another door. At last we drove in under a porte-cochere and an
endless stream of lackeys came out and took charge of us. When they had
escorted us inside, one took one golosh, and one took another, and then
they took off our furs and wraps, and there was no escape for us except
by mounting the beautiful red-carpeted marble staircase. At the top of
it we were met by two very good-looking young men in uniform, who
received us cordially and escorted us to the ballroom, leaving us only
when the other artists arrived. The other artists looked cross, I
thought. At any rate, they looked somewhat ill at ease and conscious of
their elegant new clothes. It was the crackling, ample period, in which
it was difficult to be graceful. About the middle of the evening Dr.
Thomaschewski came up to me and said:
"The Grand Duchess Olga desires me to ask who made Mlle. Kellogg's gown.
She finds it the handsomest she ever saw!"
So much for my old clothes! I was thankful to be able to say the gown
was a creation of Worth's; and I did not add how many years before! The
next day, after the affair of the concert was pleasantly over, Nordica
came into my room like a whirlwind.
"There's the d---- to pay down in the theatre!" she exclaimed
breathlessly. "All the other _prime donne_ are threatening to resign!
And, apparently, it is our fault!"
"What have we done?"
"It seems," she went on with an appreciative chuckle, "that we came up
the Royal Staircase and were received as members of the Imperial Family,
while they had to come in the back way as befitted poor dogs of
artists!"
"Nordica," said I, "isn't that just plain American luck! Such a thing
could never happen to anybody but an American!"
We learned in due course that our handsome young men, who had been so
agreeable and courteous, were Grand Dukes! But the other _prime donne_
recovered from their mortification and thought better of their project
of resigning.
We began to be frightfully tired of Russian food. The Russian
arrangement for cold storage was very primitive. They merely froze solid
anything they wanted to keep and unfroze it when it was needed for use.
The staple for every day, and all day, was _gelinotte_, some sort of
game. We lived on it until we were ready to starve rather than ever
taste it again. It was not so bad, really, in its way, if there had not
been so much of it. Some of the Russian food was possible enough,
however. The famous sour milk soup, for instance, made of curdled milk
and cabbage and, I think, a little fish, was rather nice; and they had a
pretty way of serving _bouchers_ between the soup and fish courses. But
my mother and I began to feel that we should die if we did not have some
plain American food. In fact, we both developed a vulgar craving for
corned-beef. And, wonder of wonders! by inquiring at a little shop where
garden tools were sold, we found the thing we longed for. As it turned
out, the shop was kept by an American and his wife; so we got our
corned-beef and my mother made delicious hash of it over our alcohol
lamp. She was famous for getting up all manner of dainty and delicious
food with a minute saucepan and a tiny spirit flame.
The water everywhere was horrid and we were obliged to boil it always
before we dared to take a swallow. And all these things told on my poor
mother, whose health was becoming very wretched. She came to hate Russia
and pined to get away. So I tried to break my contract and leave
(considering my mother's health a sufficiently valid reason), but,
although money was due me that I was willing to forfeit, I found I could
not go until I had sung out the full term of my engagement. I was so
wrathful at this that I went to see the American Minister about leaving
in spite of everything; but even he was powerless to help us. Apparently
the Russians were accustomed to having their country prove too much for
foreign singers, for the Minister remarked meditatively:
"Finland used to be open, but so many artists escaped that way that it
is now closed!"
It proved to be even harder to get out of Russia than it had been to get
in. One mother and daughter whom I knew went to five hotels in
twenty-four hours, trying to evade the officials, so as to leave without
the usual red tape; but they were kept merciless track of everywhere and
their passports sent for at every one of the five. Such proceedings must
be rather expensive for the government. Some Russian friends of mine
once came to Aix without notifying their governmental powers and were
sent for to come back within twenty-four hours. Fancy being kept track
of like that! I am devoutly thankful that I do not live under a
_paternal_ government. In time, however, we did succeed in obtaining
permission to leave Russia; and profoundly glad were we of it. I had but
one desire before we left that dark and frigid land forever, and that
was to see the Czar just once. My friends of the English Embassy told me
that my best chance would be on the route between the Winter Palace and
the Military Riding Academy, where the Czar went every Sunday to
stimulate horsemanship. So I started out the following Sunday, alone, in
my brougham.
There were crowds of the faithful blocking the way everywhere--well
interspersed with Nihilists, I have little doubt. Russian men are, on
the whole, impressive in appearance; big and fierce and immensely
virile. They are half-savage, anyway. The better class wear coats lined
and trimmed with black or silver fur; while a crowd of soldiers and
peasants make a most picturesque sight. On this occasion the cavalry and
mounted police patrolled the route, and ranks of soldiers were drawn up
on either side. Yet there was such a surging populace that, in spite of
all the military surveillance, there was some confusion. I was driven up
and down very slowly. Then I grew cold and got out of the carriage to
walk for a short distance. I had gone but a little way and was turning
back when I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was an official who informed
me that I might drive but could not be permitted to walk! So I
re-entered the brougham and was driven again, up and down, bowing
sweetly each time to the officer who had halted me and dared to take me
by the shoulder. And, finally, I caught only a glimpse of the Czar,
through the hosts of guardians that surrounded him like a cloud. I could
not believe that he cared for all that pomp and ceremony, for he was a
weary-looking man and I felt sorry for him. I believe that he would have
been as democratic as anyone could well be if he could only have had
half a chance. The wife of the shop-keeper who sold garden tools told me
that the Czar was perfectly accessible to them and very friendly. He
liked new inventions and patents and ingenious farming implements and
American machine inventions. A man I once knew had been trying for
months to obtain an official introduction at Court in order to exploit a
patent which he thought would interest His Majesty, and in vain. But,
when he chanced to meet a friend of the Czar's in a picture gallery and
told him about his idea, he had no further difficulty. His Minister, who
had told him it was hopeless to try to get access to the Czar, was
amazed to find him going about at the Court balls in the most intimate
manner.
"How did you do it?" he demanded. "How did you manage to reach the
Czar?"
"Just met him through a friend as I would any other fellow," was the
reply.
We were in Petersburg at the Christmas and New Year's celebrations,
which are held two weeks later than ours are. The customs were odd and
interesting--notably the one of driving out in a sleigh to "meet the
New Year coming in." This pretty custom was always observed by Mme.
Helena Modjeska and her husband, Count Bozenta, even in America. I went
to services in several of the churches, where I heard divine singing,
unaccompanied by any instrument. The vibrations were very slow and
throbbed like the tones of an organ. Nothing can be more splendid than
bass voices. The decorations of the churches were strange and barbaric
to eyes accustomed to the Italian and French cathedrals. The savagery as
well as the orientalism of the Russians comes out in a curious way in
their ecclesiastical architecture. The walls were often inlaid with
lapis and malachite, like the decorations of some Eastern temple, and
the _ikons_ were painted gaudily upon metals. There were no pews of any
sort; the populace dropped upon its knees and stayed there.
The little wayside shrines erected over every spot where anything tragic
had ever happened to a royal person are an interesting feature of
worship in Russia. As the rulers of Russia have usually passed rather
calamitous lives, there are plenty of these shrines, and loyal subjects
always kneel and make them reverence. I could see one of these shrines
from my window in the Hotel d'Europe and marvelled at the devout fervour
of the kneeling men in their picturesque cloaks, praying for this or
some other Emperor, with the thermometer far below zero. It was always
the men who prayed. I do not remember ever seeing a woman on her knees
in the snow.
Our experiences in the shops of Petersburg were sometimes interesting.
Of course in the larger ones French was spoken, and also German, but in
the small places where "notions" were sold, or writing materials, only
Russian was understood. To facilitate the shopping of foreigners,
little pictures of every conceivable thing for sale were hung outside
the shops. All one had to do was to point to the reproduction of a
spool, or a safety pin, or an egg, or a trunk, and produce a pocketbook.
One day my mother wanted some shoe buttons and we wagered that she could
not buy them unaided. I felt sure there would be no painting of a shoe
button on the shop wall. But she came back victoriously with the
buttons, quite proud of herself because she had thought of pointing to
her own boots instead of wasting time hunting among the pictures.
It was the collection of Colonel Villiers that first awakened in me an
interest in old silver, and the beginning I made in Russia that winter
ended in my possessing a collection of value and beauty. Villiers was a
member of the Duke of Buckingham's family and was a Queen's Messenger, a
position of responsibility and trust. And I had several other friends at
the British Embassy. Lord and Lady Dufferin I knew; and one of the
secretaries, Mr. Alan, now Sir Alan Johnston, who married Miss
Antoinette Pinchot, sister of Gifford Pinchot, I had first met in
Vienna. The night that Villiers arrived in Petersburg (before I had met
him) some of the English _attaches_ had been invited to dine with us;
but the First Secretary arrived at the last moment to explain that the
Queen's Messenger was expected with private letters and that they had to
be received in person and handed in at Court promptly.
"It's the only way they have of sending really private letters, you
see," he explained. "Alexandra probably wants to tell Dagmar about the
children's last attacks of indigestion, so we have to stay at home to
receive the letters!"
Well--the glad day did finally come when my mother and I turned our
backs on Russia and its eternal twilight and repaired to Nice for a
little amusement and recuperation after the Petersburg season. A number
of our friends were there, and it was unusually gay. I was warmly
welcomed and congratulated, for Petersburg had put the final _cachet_
upon my success. Although I might win other honours, I could win none
that the world appraised more highly than those that had come to me that
year. In a letter to my father, from Nice, my mother says:
The Grand Duke Nicholas has been here in our hotel a month, and his
two sons and suite, doctor, _Aide-de-camp_. and servants. There is
an inside balcony running two sides of the hotel which is lovely:
but the whole is square with other rooms--this width
carpeted--sofa--chairs--table--a glass roof. We all assemble there
after dinner, and sit around and talk, take _cafe_ and tea on
little tables.... We sat every day after dinner close to the Grand
Duke (the Czar's brother) and his suite; knew his doctor and
finally the Duke and his sons. I was sitting on the balcony,
because I could see everybody who came in or who went out, and I
was looking down and saw the Grand Duke receive the despatch of the
assassination--and the commotion and emotion was the most exciting
thing I ever witnessed. The Grand Duke is a most amiable gentleman,
sweet and good as a man can be; his son, sixteen, was the loveliest
and most gentle and affectionate of sons. I looked at the Duke all
the time. I was almost upset myself by the excitement. Despatches
came every twenty minutes. I looked on--sat there _seven hours_. As
the Russians outside heard of it they would come in--I saw two
women cry--the Duke stayed in his room--I heard that he had
fainted--he is in somewhat delicate health.... It seemed as if the
others were looking around for their friends and for sympathy, as
was natural. I had not talked much with the Doctor because I never
felt equal to it in French--especially on ordinary subjects of
conversation--but he looked up and saw me on the balcony and came
directly to me. I took both his hands--the tears came into his
eyes--and we _talked_--the words came to me, enough to show him we
were his friends. I said America would sympathise with Russia. He
seemed pleased and said, "Yes; but Angleterre, no!" I did not have
much to say to that. But I did him good. He told Louise and me the
particulars. We both knew the very spot near the bridge where the
Czar had fallen. Our sympathy was mostly with the man whose brother
had been murdered and his friends. There was a long book downstairs
in which people who came in wrote their names from time to time. I
do not understand it exactly, but Louise says it contains the names
of those who feel an allegiance. Many Russians came in the day of
the assassination and wrote their names. Our Consul wrote his, and
a beautiful sentence of sympathy. He wanted to lower our flag, but
dared not, quite. Louise and I went down and wrote ours--and, while
standing, the Duke's physician said to us that there had not been
one English name signed. The hotel is all English, nearly. It was
an interesting, eventful day. The Duke was pleased when Louise told
him his people had been very kind to her in Russia at Petersburg.
They all left day before yesterday at 6 P.M.
The assassination of the Czar took place three weeks to the day from
that Sunday when I had seen him. It all came back to me very clearly, of
course--the troops, the crowding people, and the snow. No wonder they
were watchful of him, poor man!
The bottom dropped out of the season at Nice and people began to flit
away. The tragedy of the Czar's death spread a shadow over everything.
Nobody felt much like merry-making or recreation, and, again, I was
becoming restless--restless in a new way.
"Mother," I said, "let's go back to America. I have had enough of Nice
and Petersburg and Paris and Vienna and London. I'm tired to death of
foreign countries and foreign ways and foreign audiences and foreign
honours. I want to go home!"
"Thank God!" said my mother.