is the best way to take out the frost.

There are many kinds of houses in Russia. The houses have to be made
very warm. So they are built with double walls. In rich people's
houses they have stoves like ours. But in the poor people's houses the
stoves are built of brick. They always burn wood, for coal costs too
much in Russia. The stoves are sometimes built very high. Often they
are as high as the ceiling. Sometimes people lie on top of the great
stove to keep themselves warm.

[Illustration: A Russian Carriage.]

In most of the houses in the country, they have no beds. There are
benches along the wall, which they use both for chairs and beds. In
some houses the children sleep on the floor on pieces of felt.

Most of the people in Russia are farmers. They raise a great deal of
wheat. The people in many other countries get wheat from Russia.

[Illustration: A Russian Farmer and his Family.]

The children have to wear very warm clothes because it is so cold the
greater part of the year. Their coats are lined with fur. In winter
the children in the towns have great fun on the ice hills. Ice hills
are made in all the towns.

First they build a high tower, and down from the top of it they make a
steep hill. Blocks of ice are laid on this hill and water is poured
over them. The water freezes, and thus the ice hill is made. On one
side of the ice hill there is a place to draw up the sleds. The boys
and girls start at the top, and down they go with merry laughing and
shouting! So you see they have fine sport on their ice hills.

When the children are not playing on the ice hills, they go skating or
sleighing.

In some parts of Russia they have funny ferryboats. When the rivers
are frozen over in winter, the boats cannot sail on them. Then the
people use chairs instead of boats. There are warm covers on the
chairs, and men on skates push them across the ice. It costs less than
one cent to ride across a river in one of these chairs.

In St. Petersburg they build an ice palace every winter. St.
Petersburg is the largest city in Russia. It is the place where the
emperor lives. The Emperor of Russia is sometimes called the Czar.

They make the ice palace with square blocks of ice. They put the
blocks together and pour water between them. When the water freezes,
the wall is solid like a wall of brick or stone. Everything inside the
palace is made of ice. There are ice stairs and ice table