the _psetz_, make beautiful
evening wraps for women, under velvets of delicate hues, and are used by
day also, though they are attended by the inconvenience of requiring
frequent cleaning. Cloth or velvet is the proper covering for all furs,
and the colors worn for driving are often gay or light. A layer of
wadding between the fur and the covering adds warmth, and makes the
circular mantle called a _rotonda_ set properly. These sleeveless
circular cloaks are not fit for anything but driving, however, although
they are lapped across the breast and held firmly in place by the
crossed arms,--a weary task, since they fall open at every breeze
when the wearer is on foot,--but they possess the advantage over a
cloak with sleeves that they can be held high around the ears and head
at will. The most inveterate "shopper" would be satisfied with the
amount of running about and bargaining which can be got out of buying a
fur cloak and a cap!

The national cap has a soft velvet crown, surrounded by a broad band of
sable or otter, is always in fashion, and lasts forever. People who like
variety buy each year a new cap, made of black Persian lambskin, which
resembles in shape that worn by the Kazaks, though the shape is modified
every year by the thrifty shopkeepers.

The possibilities for self delusion, and delusion from the other
quarter, as to price and quality of these fur articles, is simply
enormous. I remember the amusing tags fastened to every cloak in the
shop of a certain fashionable furrier in Moscow, where "asking price"
and "selling price" were plainly indicated. By dint of inquiry I found
that "paying price" was considerably below "selling price." Moscow is
the place, by the way, to see the coats intended for "really cold
weather" journeys, made of bear skin and of reindeer skin, impervious to
cold, lined with downy Siberian rat or other skins, which one does not
see in Petersburg shops.

The furs and the Russians' sensible manner of dressing in general, which
I have described, have much to do with their comfort and freedom from
colds. No Russian enters a room, theatre, or public hall at any season
of the year with his cloak and overshoes, and no well-trained servant
would allow an ignorant foreigner to trifle with his health by so doing.
Even the foreign churches are provided with cloak-rooms and attendants.
And the Russian churches? On grand occasions, when space is railed off
for officials or favored guests, cloa