The Project Gutenberg EBook of Russian Rambles, by Isabel F. Hapgood

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Title: Russian Rambles

Author: Isabel F. Hapgood

Release Date: April 13, 2006 [EBook #18165]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUSSIAN RAMBLES ***

Produced by James Rusk (jrusk@excite.com)

RUSSIAN RAMBLES

BY

ISABEL F. HAPGOOD

AUTHOR OF "THE EPIC SONGS OF RUSSIA"

BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 1895

TO RUSSIA AND MY RUSSIAN FRIENDS

I DEDICATE THESE NOTES OF MY SOJOURN WITH THEM. THEY MAY REST ASSURED
THAT, THOUGH MANY OF MY MOST CHERISHED EXPERIENCES ARE NOT RECORDED IN
THESE PAGES, THEY REMAIN UNFORGOTTEN, DEEPLY IMPRINTED ON MY HEART.

PREFACE.

The innumerable questions which have been put to me since my return to
America have called to my attention the fact that, in spite of all that
has been written about Russia, the common incidents of everyday life are
not known, or are known so imperfectly that any statement of them is a
travesty. I may cite, as an example, a book published within the past
two years, and much praised in America by the indiscriminating as a
truthful picture of life. The whole story hung upon the great musical
talent of the youthful hero. The hero skated to church through the
streets, gazed down the long aisle where the worshipers were assembled
(presumably in pews), ascended to the organ gallery, sang an impromptu
solo with trills and embellishments, was taken in hand by the enraptured
organist who had played there for thirty years, and developed into a
great composer. Omitting a mass of other absurdities scattered through
the book, I will criticise this crucial point. There are no organs or
organists in Russia; there are no pews, or aisles, or galleries for the
choir, and there are never any trills or embellishments in the church
music. A boy could skate to church in New York more readily than in
Moscow, where such a thing was never seen, and where they are not
educated up to roller skates. Lastly, as the church specified, St.
Vasily, consists of a nest of small churches connected by narrow,
labyrinthine corridors, and is approached from the street