a thorough system of
scrubbing and boiling prevails, the human cuticle must present a very
extraordinary aspect of cleanliness. Perhaps this is so in certain
cases, but it is not a national characteristic. A Russian bath, in the
genuine style, is rather a costly luxury. There are, to be sure, in
St. Petersburg and Moscow, public bath-houses for the rabble, where
the filthiest beggar can be boiled out and scrubbed for a few kopeks;
but people who wear a coating of dirt habitually must become attached
to it in the course of time, and hate very much to dispose of it at
any price. At least there seemed to be a prejudice of this kind in
Moscow, where the affection with which this sort of overlining is
preserved is quite equal to that with which the Germans adhere to
their old household furniture. It may be, perhaps, that the few summer
months which they enjoy are insufficient for the removal of all the
strange things that accumulate upon the body during the long winters.
The poorer classes seldom remove their furs or change their clothing
till warm weather and the natural wear and tear of all perishable
things cause them to drop off of their own accord. I have seen on a
scorching hot day men wrapped in long woolen coats, doubled over the
breast and securely fastened around the waist, and great boots,
capacious enough and thick enough for fire-buckets, in which they were
half buried, strolling lazily along in the sun, as if they absolutely
enjoyed its warmth; and yet these very articles of clothing, with but
little addition, must have borne the piercing winds of midwinter. A
suspicion crossed my mind that they were trying in this way to bag a
little heat for winter use, as the old burghers of Schilda bagged the
light to put in their town hall because they had no windows. These
strange habits must have something to do with the number of ferocious
little animals--I will not degrade their breed and variety by calling
them, vermin--which infest the rooms and beds. But the Russian skin is
like Russian leather--the best and toughest in the world. Something in
the climate is good for the production of thick and lasting cuticles.
It is doubtless a wise provision of nature, based upon the extremes of
heat and cold to which these people are exposed. There is no good
reason why animals with four feet should be more favored in this
respect than bipeds. I doubt if an ordinary Russian would suffer the
slightest inconvenience if a needle we