away before it could
be secured, had been borne down by the stream and jammed against and
under the solid granite and iron of the Nikolai Bridge. There was a
terrible crowd and confusion at the latter place; all travel was
stopped, and we could get neither forward nor backward. Presently,
however, the Emperor appeared upon the scene; order was the instant
result; the slow officials worked with a will; and we finally reached
our host's residence half an hour behind the time. As we returned, at
night, there was twilight along the northern sky, and the stars sparkled
on the crystal bosom of the river.

This was the snapping of winter's toughest fetter, but it was not yet
spring. Before I could detect any sign of returning life in Nature, May
had come. Then, little by little, the twigs in the marshy thickets began
to show yellow and purple and brown, the lilac-buds to swell, and some
blades of fresh grass to peep forth in sheltered places. This, although
we had sixteen hours of sunshine, with an evening twilight which shifted
into dusky dawn under the North Star! I think it was on the 13th of May
that I first realized that the season had changed, and for the last time
saw the noble-hearted Ruler who is the central figure of these memories.
The People's Festival--a sort of Russian May-day--took place at
Catharinenhof, a park and palace of the famous Empress, near the shore
of the Finnish Gulf. The festival, that year, had an unusual
significance. On the 3d of March the edict of Emancipation was finally
consummated, and twenty-two millions of serfs became forever free: the
Polish troubles and the menace of the Western powers had consolidated
the restless nobles, the patient people, and the plotting
revolutionists, the orthodox and dissenting sects, into one great
national party, resolved to support the Emperor and maintain the
integrity of the Russian territory: and thus the nation was marvellously
strengthened by the very blow intended to cripple it.

At least a hundred thousand of the common people (possibly, twice that
number) were gathered together in the park of Catharinenhof. There were
booths, shows, flying-horses, refreshment saloons, jugglers, circuses,
balloons, and exhibitions of all kinds: the sky was fair, the turf green
and elastic, and the swelling birch-buds scented the air. I wandered
about for hours, watching the lazy, contented people, as they leaped and
ran, rolled on the grass, pulled off their big boots