Our Little Russian Cousin

	List of Illustrations PAGE Petrovna[Frontispiece] Baby Brother and His Nurse[17] A Very Grand Building[32] In the Peasant Village[44] Marfa and Frost[59] The Great Fair of Nijni-Novgorod[74]
	PAGE
Petrovna	[Frontispiece]
Baby Brother and His Nurse	[17]
A Very Grand Building	[32]
In the Peasant Village	[44]
Marfa and Frost	[59]
The Great Fair of Nijni-Novgorod	[74]

Petrovna is a dainty little floweret of the cold lands far away. She is your little Russian cousin. Her home is in the largest country of this great round ball, the Earth. How fair are her cheeks, how blue her eyes, and what long, beautiful, yellow hair she has! Her hands are so white and soft and plump, I know you would like to squeeze them.

She is very gentle and ladylike. Her mamma has taught her that is the right way to behave. Yet she is full of fun, and laughs at every joke that her brother Ivan makes. They have great sport together, these two children. Petrovna is ten, and Ivan eight years old.

Sometimes they play they are grown up, just as you do. Then Petrovna puts on her mother's gown with a long train, and Ivan dresses himself up like a soldier. Petrovna "makes believe" that she is a princess at the court of the Emperor. She powders her hair, and puffs it on the top of her head, and places feathers in it. Ivan cuts shining ornaments out of a sheet of tin and fastens them on his coat. He pretends that these were given him for bravery in battle.

These little children live in a fine city near the sea. Its name is St. Petersburg. The streets look very much like those of Chicago and New York. There are many grand palaces, however, and the churches are quite different from ours.