as the name fits the
place, it is thought to have been corrupted from _saari_, the Finnish
word for "farm," as a farm occupied the site when Peter the Great
pitched upon it for one of his numerous summer resorts. He first
enlarged the farmhouse, then built one of his simple wooden palaces, and
a greenhouse for Katherine I. Eventually he erected a small part of the
present Old Palace. It was at the dedication of the church here,
celebrated in floods of liquor (after a fashion not unfamiliar in the
annals of New England in earlier days), that Peter I. contracted the
illness which, aggravated by a similar drinking-bout elsewhere
immediately afterward, and a cold caused by a wetting while he was
engaged in rescuing some people from drowning, carried him to his grave
very promptly. His successors enlarged and beautified the place, which
first became famous during the reign of Katherine II. At the present
day, its broad macadamized streets are lighted by electricity; its
_Gostinny Dvor_ (bazaar) is like that of a provincial city; many of its
sidewalks, after the same provincial pattern, have made people prefer
the middle of the street for their promenades. Naturally, only the lower
classes were expected to walk when the Court resided there.

Before making acquaintance with the famous palaces and parks, we
undertook to settle ourselves for the time being, at least. It appeared
that "furnished" villas are so called in Tzarskoe, as elsewhere, because
they require to be almost completely furnished by the occupant on a
foundation of bare bones of furniture, consisting of a few bedsteads and
tables. This was not convenient for travelers; neither did we wish to
commit ourselves for the whole season to the cares of housekeeping, lest
a change of air should be ordered suddenly; so we determined to try to
live in another way.

Boarding-houses are as scarce here as in St. Petersburg, the whole town
boasting but one,--advertised as a wonderful rarity,--which was very
badly situated. There were plenty of _traktiri_, or low-class
eating-houses, some of which had "numbers for arrivers"--that is to
say, rooms for guests--added to their gaudy signs. These were not to
be thought of. But we had been told of an establishment which rejoiced
in the proud title of _gostinnitza_, "hotel," in city fashion. It looked
fairly good, and there we took up our abode, after due and inevitable
chaffering. This hotel was kept, over shops, on the first and par