cabman drives him wherever he pleases."

Nowadays, it is advisable to be vulgar and know the geography of Moscow,
if one is really enjoying it independently. It is a trifle less
complicated than the geography of the Balkan Principalities, and, unlike
that of the Balkan Principalities, it has its humorous side, which
affords alleviation. The Moscow cabby has now, as in the time of Mrs.
Booby, the reputation of being a very hard customer to deal with. He is
not often so ingenuous, even in appearance, as the man who drove close
to the sidewalk and entreated our custom by warbling, sweetly: "We must
have work or we can't have bread." He is only to be dreaded, however, if
one be genteelly ignorant, after Mrs. Booby's plan. I cannot say that I
ever had any difficulty in finding any place I wanted, either with the
aid (or hindrance) of an _izvostchik_, or on foot, in Moscow or other
Russian towns. But for this and other similar reasons I acquired a
nickname among the natives,--_molodyetz_, that is to say, a dashing,
enterprising young fellow, the feminine form of the word being
nonexistent. A Russian view of the matter is amusing, however.

"I never saw such a town in which to hunt up any one," said a St.
Petersburg man in Moscow to me. "They give you an address: 'Such and
such a street, such a house.' For instance, 'Green Street, house of Mr.
Black.' You go. First you get hold of the street in general, and
discover that the special name applies only to one block or so, two or
three versts away from the part where you chance to have landed. Moscow
is even more a city of magnificent distances, you know, than St.
Petersburg. Next you discover that there is no 'house of Mr. Black.' Mr.
Black died, respected and beloved, God be with him! a hundred years ago
or less, and the house has changed owners three times since. So far, it
is tolerably plain sailing. Then it appears that the house you are in
search of is not in the street at all, but tucked in behind it, on a
parallel lane, round several corners and elbows." (I will explain, in
parenthesis, that the old system of designating a house by the name of
the owner, which prevailed before the introduction of numbers, still
survives extensively, even in Petersburg.)

"The next time you set out on a search expedition," continued my
informant, after a cup of tea and a cigarette to subdue his emotions,
"you insist on having the number of the house. Do you get it? Oh yes!
and with a saf