a rate of speed that threatens momentary destruction
against some bridge or bath-house. It is now two o'clock A.M. The rays
of the rising sun are already reflected upon the glowing waters of the
Neva. Barges and row-boats are hurrying toward the city. Carriages are
rolling along the shady avenues of the islands. Crowds are gathered at
every pier and landing-place awaiting some conveyance homeward. Ladies
are waving their handkerchiefs to the little steamer to stop, and
gentlemen are flourishing their hats. The captain blows the whistle,
and the engineer stops the boat with such a sudden reversion of our
screw that we are pitched forward out of the seats. Some of the
passengers clamber up at the landing-places, and others clamber down
and take their places. The little engine sets up its terrific scream
again; the hot steam hisses and fizzes all over the boat; involuntary
thoughts of maimed limbs and scalded skins are palpably impressed upon
every face; but the little steamer keeps on--she is used to it, like
the eels, and never bursts up. Winding through the varied channels of
the Neva, under bridges, through narrow passes, among wood-boats,
row-boats, and shipping, we at length reach the landing on the Russian
Quay, above the Admiralty. Here we disembark, well satisfied to be
safely over all the enjoyments and hazards of the evening.

Evening, did I say? The morning sun is blazing out in all his glory!
We have had no evening--no night. It has been all a wild, strange,
glowing freak of fancy. The light of day has been upon us all the
time. And now, should we go to bed, when the sun is shining over the
city, glistening upon the domes of the churches, illuminating the
windows of the palaces, awaking the drowsy sailors of the Neva? Shall
we hide ourselves away in suffocating rooms when the morning breeze is
floating in from the Gulf of Finland, bearing upon its wings the
invigorating brine of ocean, or shall we,

"Pleased to feel the air,
Still wander in the luxury of light?"

CHAPTER III.

VIEWS ON THE MOSCOW RAILWAY.

The St. Petersburg and Moscow Railroad has been in operation some
eight or ten years, and has contributed much to the internal
prosperity of the country. In the summer of 1862 it was extended as
far as Vladimir, and now connects St. Petersburg with Nijni Novgorod,
one of the most important points in the empire, where the great annual
fair is held, where tea-merchants and other