The floor was painted and highly varnished, and flower-pots were
at the numerous windows on little stands. It was scrupulously neat
everywhere.
"There was very little ceremony at dinner; we had the delicious wild
strawberries of the country in great profusion; and the talk, the best
part of the dinner, was in German, Russian, and English.
"Madame Struve spoke German, Russian, and French, and complained that
she could not speak English. She said that she had spent three weeks
with an English lady, and that she must be very stupid not to speak
English.
"I noticed that in one of the rooms, which was not so very immense,
there was a circular table, a small centre-carpet, and chairs around the
table; I have been told that 'in society' in Russia, the ladies sit in a
circle, and the gentlemen walk around and talk consecutively with the
ladies,--kindly giving to each a share of their attention.
"They assured me that the winters were charming, the sleighing constant,
and the social gatherings cheery; but think of four hours, only, of
daylight in the depth of the winter. Their dread was the spring and the
autumn, when the mud is deep.
"Everything in the observatory which could be was built of wood. They
have the fir, which is very indestructible; it is supposed to show no
mark of change in two hundred years.
"Wood is so susceptible of ornamentation that the pretty villages of
Russia--and there are some that look like New England villages--struck
us very pleasantly, after the stone and brick villages of England.
Pages:
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225