and aired their
naked legs, or laughed and sang in jolly chorus. About three in the
afternoon there was a movement in the main avenue of the park. Hundreds
of young _mujiks_ appeared, running at full speed, shouting out, tossing
their caps high in the air, and giving their long blonde locks to the
wind. Instantly the crowd collected on each side, many springing like
cats into the trees; booths and shows were deserted, and an immense
multitude hedged the avenue. Behind the leaping, shouting, cap-tossing
_avant-garde_ came the Emperor, with three sons and a dozen generals, on
horseback, cantering lightly. One cheer went up from scores of
thousands; hats darkened the air; eyes blazing with filial veneration
followed the stately figure of the monarch, as he passed by, gratefully
smiling and greeting on either hand. I stood among the people and
watched their faces. I saw the phlegmatic Slavonic features transformed
with a sudden and powerful expression of love, of devotion, of
gratitude, and then I knew that the throne of Alexander II. rested on a
better basis than tradition or force. I saw therein another side of this
shrewd, cunning, patient, and childlike race, whom no other European
race yet understands and appreciates,--a race yet in the germ, but with
qualities out of which a people, in the best sense of the word, may be
developed.

The month of May was dark, rainy, and cold; and when I left St.
Petersburg, at its close, everybody said that a few days would bring the
summer. The leaves were opening, almost visibly, from hour to hour.
Winter was really over, and summer was just at the door; but I found,
upon reflection, that I had not had the slightest experience of spring.

NEEDLE AND GARDEN.

THE STORY OF A SEAMSTRESS WHO LAID DOWN HER NEEDLE AND BECAME A
STRAWBERRY-GIRL.

WRITTEN BY HERSELF.

CHAPTER VII.

I have already mentioned that the little holding of forty acres, which
my progenitor took up when he came to Philadelphia, had in process of
time been subdivided into many smaller ones. These had been successively
improved as the new owners entered upon them, some very indifferently,
some quite respectably,--many of them being devoted to gardening for the
city markets. The occupants were not much of neighbors to us, though
friendly enough in their way; among them, however, was a family by the
name of Tetchy who claimed to have some acquaintance with us. This name,
Tetchy, always struck me as a sing