r, a big blond
fellow, with ruddy cheeks and dazzling teeth. Planting his peakless
white cloth cap with its yellow band firmly on his head, he stepped
forward, grasping in each hand a serried pyramid of brass bells, which
chimed merrily as he squatted, leaped, and executed eccentric steps with
his feet, while his arms beat time and his fine voice rolled out the
solo of a rollicking ballad, to which the rest of the company furnished
the chorus as well as their laughter and delighted applause of his
efforts permitted. His tightly fitting dark green trousers, tall boots,
and jacket of white cloth trimmed with yellow set off his muscular form
to great advantage. A comrade stood by, shaking the _buntchuk_, an
ornamental combination of brass half-moons, gay horsetails, and bells,
--the Turkish staff of command, which is carried as a special privilege
by several Russian cavalry regiments. There is nothing that a company of
Russians likes better than a spirited performance of their national
dances, whether it be high-class Russians at a Russian opera in the
Imperial Theatre, or the masses on informal occasions like the present.
This soldier, who danced with joy in every fibre, was quite willing to
oblige them indefinitely, and seemed to be made of steel springs. He
stopped with great reluctance, and that only when his company was
ordered peremptorily to march off to barracks at the appointed hour.

How many weddings resulted from that day's dress parade I know not. But
I presume the traditional "match-makers" did their duty, if the young
men were sufficiently impressed by the girls' outfits to commission
these professional proposers to lay their hearts and hands at the feet
of the parents on the following day. They certainly could not have been
hopelessly bewitched by any beauty which was on show. The presence of
the soldiers, the singing, music, and dancing, framed in that exquisite
park, combined to create a scene the impression of which is far beyond
comparison with that of the same parade in the Summer Garden at St.
Petersburg.

This grand terrace of the Old Palace is a favorite resort for mothers
and children, especially when the different bands of the Guards'
regiments stationed in the town furnish music. But not far away, in the
less stately, more natural park surrounding the Alexander Palace, the
property of the Crown Prince, lies the real paradise of the children of
all classes. There is the playground, provided with