one can wash, shave, and almost have a sponge
bath, for--though without the luxuries of the Trans-Siberian
express--there is more room.

There is usually a restaurant-car on the long-distance trains--and
practically all the trains in Russia are for long distances--and, if
not, there is plenty of time to get food at the stations on the way.
Conductors will take every care and trouble to get what is necessary,
and first and second-class compartments are never overcrowded, as far as
my experience goes. I believe, indeed, that not more than four people
may be put into a compartment for the night, and, as the cushioned back
of the seats can be lifted up, all the four travellers can be sure of
being able to lie down. The first-class compartments on a post train are
divided into two by folding-doors, and one is allowed to buy a
_platzcarte_ and so have the whole compartment to one's self. Every
accommodation too is provided for lying down comfortably in the
third-class, and the travellers there are always the happiest-looking on
the train.

Another consideration shown to the public is that the scale of charges
falls in proportion to the distance to be traversed. The stations are
specially spacious, particularly along the routes beyond Moscow, where
emigration continually goes on into the great pastoral lands of Siberia.
In the summer months the traffic is very great, and it is one of the
most touching and appealing experiences I can recall to pass through one
of the great waiting-halls of such a station as Samara, at night, and
pick one's way amongst the sleeping families of peasants waiting to get
their connection with another line, and resting in the meantime. Their
little possessions are all about them, and father and mother and sons
and daughters lie gathered close up together, pillowing their heads upon
each other, good-looking, prettily dressed, and fast asleep--as
attractive a picture as any one could wish to see.

There is a great freedom of movement everywhere in Russia, and I do not
remember having seen the word _verboten_ (the German for "forbidden"),
or its equivalent, in any part of a Russian or Siberian station. The
rule of having three bells to announce approaching departure is a most
excellent one, whether the pause is long or short, the first ringing
very audibly about five minutes, the second one minute, and the third
immediately before departure. If travelling long distances, the
ten-minutes' stop at all