ouses, and, after all, we
can only feel that they are built upon the necks of an enslaved
people; that the mightiest Czars of Russia, in common with the poorest
serfs, are but "as grasshoppers upon the earth."

The _istrovoschik_ (sneeze and you have the word)--in plain English,
the drosky drivers--are a notable feature in St. Petersburg. When I
saw them for the first time on the quay of the Wassaly Ostrow, where
the steamer from Stettin lands her passengers, the idea naturally
impressed my mind that I had fallen among a brotherhood of Pilgrims or
Druids. Nothing could be more unique than the incongruity of their
costume and occupation. Every man looked like a priest; his long
beard, his grave expression of countenance, his little black hat and
flowing blue coat, gathered around the waist by means of a sash, his
glazed boots reaching above the knees, his slow and measured motions,
and the sublime indifference with which he regarded his customers,
were singularly impressive. Even the filth and rustiness which formed
the most prominent characteristics of the class contributed to the
delusion that they might have sprung from a Druidical source, and
gathered their dust of travel on the pilgrimage from remote ages down
to the present period. It is really something novel, in the line of
hackery, to see those sedate fellows sitting on their little droskys
awaiting a customer. The force of competition, however, has of late
years committed sad inroads upon their dignity, and now they are
getting to be about as enterprising and pertinacious as any of their
kindred in other parts of the world. The drosky is in itself a
curiosity as a means of locomotion. Like the driver, it is generally
dirty and dilapidated; but here the similitude ends; for, while the
former is often high, his drosky is always low. The wheels are not
bigger than those of an ordinary dog-cart, and the seat is only
designed for one person, though on a pinch it can accommodate two.
Generally it consists of a plank covered with a cushion, extending
lengthwise in the same direction as the horse, so that the rider sits
astride of it as if riding on horseback; some, however, have been
modernized so as to afford a more convenient seat in the usual way.
Night and day these droskys are every where to be seen, sometimes
drawn up by the sidewalk, the driver asleep, awaiting a customer, but
more frequently rattling full tilt over the pavements (the roughest
in the world) wi