Another calls out, “Warm boots, shoes, slippers!” A third assails one with “Fine bonnets of the newest fashion; velvet, silk, satin, whatever you wish!” A fourth with “Brooches, rings, scissors, knives (real English), bracelets,” &c. &c. All this is pronounced with inconceivable volubility, which, at the first hearing, seems to be some interminable word peculiarly Russian. The shops that strike a foreigner most forcibly are those filled with pictures of the saints, household gods, and crosses. Here a St. Anthony or St. Serge, a Virgin and Child, or a Catherine, as the purchaser may require, can be bought at any price, from sixpence to fifty guineas. These portraits are highly ornamented with an immense quantity of gold and pearls, or tinsel, according to the sum the buyer may wish to give for his patron and guardian angel, and make a glittering show in the warehouse.
Having arrived at the shop to which the stranger has been directed, the purchase is made somewhat in this fashion:—
Lady. “I wish, if you please, to look at some French ribbons.”
Shopman. “Horro sha, Sudarina” (very well, lady).
The shopman takes down a box, the contents of which are undeniably of Russian manufacture.
L. “These are not French—I want French ribbons.”
S. “These are real French: they are from Paris.”
L. “No, I am sure they are not.”
S. (After again most energetically repeating his assertion) “Well! how much do you want?”