zbolovo, there was a long,
tedious ride of about eight hours. As the day continued to be dull and
foggy, very little could be seen through the windows. Besides, no one
seemed to care or to be interested in anything. Sleepy and tired as we
all were, we got little rest, except the younger ones, for we had not
yet got used to living in the cars and could not make ourselves very
comfortable. For the greater part of the time we remained as unsocial as
the weather was unpleasant. The car was very still, there being few
passengers, among them a very pleasant kind gentleman travelling with
his pretty daughter. Mother found them very pleasant to chat with, and
we children found it less tiresome to listen to them.

At half past twelve o'clock the train came to a stop before a large
depot, and the conductor announced "Verzbolovo, fifteen minutes!" The
sight that now presented itself was very cheering after our long,
unpleasant ride. The weather had changed very much. The sun was shining
brightly and not a trace of fog or cloud was to be seen. Crowds of
well-dressed people were everywhere--walking up and down the platform,
passing through the many gates leading to the street, sitting around the
long, well-loaded tables, eating, drinking, talking or reading
newspapers, waited upon by the liveliest, busiest waiters I had ever
seen--and there was such an activity and bustle about everything that I
wished I could join in it, it seemed so hard to sit still. But I had to
content myself with looking on with the others, while the friendly
gentleman whose acquaintance my mother had made (I do not recollect his
name) assisted her in obtaining our tickets for Eidtkunen, and attending
to everything else that needed attention, and there were many things.

Soon the fifteen minutes were up, our kind fellow-passenger and his
daughter bade us farewell and a pleasant journey (we were just on the
brink of the beginning of our troubles), the train puffed out of the
depot and we all felt we were nearing a very important stage in our
journey. At this time, cholera was raging in Russia, and was spread by
emigrants going to America in the countries through which they
travelled. To stop this danger, measures were taken to make emigration
from Russia more difficult than ever. I believe that at all times the
crossing of the boundary between Russia and Germany was a source of
trouble to Russians, but with a special passport this was easily
overcome. When, ho