an whom he
respects to drive in one. Had I foreseen that there would be any
occasion for inspiring respect by my equipage, I would have gone to the
trouble and expense of hiring a closed carriage, a thing which I did as
rarely as possible, because nothing could be seen through the frozen
window, because they seemed much colder than the open sledges, and had
no advantage except style, and that of protecting one from the wind,
which I did not mind.

VI.

A RUSSIAN SUMMER RESORT.

The spring was late and cold. I wore my fur-lined cloak (_shuba_) and
wrapped up my ears, by Russian advice as well as by inclination, until
late in May. But we were told that the summer heat would catch us
suddenly, and that St. Petersburg would become malodorous and unhealthy.
It was necessary, owing to circumstances, to find a healthy residence
for the summer, which should not be too far removed from the capital.
With a few exceptions, all the environs of St. Petersburg are damp.
Unless one goes as far as Gatschina, or into the part of Finland
adjacent to the city, Tzarskoe Selo presents the only dry locality. In
the Finnish summer colonies, one must, perforce, keep house, for lack of
hotels. In Tzarskoe, as in Peterhoff, villa life is the only variety
recognized by polite society; but there we had--or seemed to have--
the choice between that and hotels. We decided in favor of Tzarskoe, as
it is called in familiar conversation. As one approaches the imperial
village, it rises like a green oasis from the plain. It is hedged in,
like a true Russian village, but with trees and bushes well trained
instead of with a wattled fence.

During the reign of Alexander II., this inland village was the favorite
Court resort; not Peterhoff, on the Gulf of Finland, as at present. It
is situated sixteen miles from St. Petersburg, on the line of the first
railway built in Russia, which to this day extends only a couple of
miles beyond,--for lack of the necessity of farther extension, it is
just to add. It stands on land which is not perceptibly higher than St.
Petersburg, and it took a great deal of demonstration before an Empress
of the last century could be made to believe that it was, in reality, on
a level with the top of the lofty Admiralty spire, and that she must
continue her tiresome trips to and fro in her coach, in the
impossibility of constructing a canal which would enable her to sail in
comfort. Tzarskoe Selo, "Imperial Village:" well