The trains stop from ten minutes to half an hour at these stations, and most of the students got out of the cars, anxious to see what they could of the place and the people. The principal room was a large hall, in which was a table set for meals. At one end was a bar, and in other places were minor stands for other refreshments. One was for dispensing tea, which may be said to be the national beverage of the Russians, though they drink vodka—a strong liquor, not unlike the finkel of the Swedes—to excess. A woman usually serves the tea in the station. In front of her is an array of tumblers, in which the people drink their tea, with a bowl filled with square lumps of sugar. Little pitchers of milk are available, but the Russians seldom use this article. There is also a plate of thinly sliced lemons. The traveller takes one of the glasses, puts about three lumps of sugar in it, and the woman fills it with the beverage, upon which is placed a slice of lemon. The tea is quite yellow, and its flavor is excellent. It is brought from China over land, and without doubt is the best to be had in Europe. The Russians drink their tea very hot, and in enormous quantities. In the course of his journey to Moscow, a passenger often drinks half a dozen glasses of strong tea before he goes to sleep, and then the mystery is, how he can go to sleep at all. The lemon is not squeezed in the beverage, but is simply stirred about with the spoon. One not skilled in the art of tea-drinking would hardly know that the lemon had been added.
Coffee may be obtained at the same stand, but not one in twenty calls for it. The tables are well supplied, and excellent roast beef is served, with a variety of other simple dishes. At another station, similar to the first, the students had their supper, or more properly their dinner.
"Can we eat Russian provender?" asked Scott.
"Why not? It doesn't seem to be at all different from the diet of other Europeans. Here is roast beef, and there are veal cutlets. The bread, you perceive, is most excellent," replied Dr. Winstock. "Indeed, I think the whitest and best bread in Europe is to be had in Russia."
"But I had an idea that the Russians ate strange messes," added Scott.
"There are peculiarly Russian dishes, but you do not find them to any great extent in the restaurants on the railroads. Kvas is a beverage of fermented rye. From this they make an iced soup, into which they put meat, chopped herring, and cucumbers."
"Whew!" whistled Scott, as the party seated themselves at the table.
"They have cabbage soups and fish soups, which we should call chowder. The finest fish in Russia is the sterlet, which is very expensive. The poor people live on buckwheat and other coarse grains, and among them the common dish is cabbage soup thickened with buckwheat or barley meal, with meat or fish when it can be afforded, which is not often among the poorest."
"I shouldn't like that kind of grub."
"Probably not; but you need not starve while you can get roast beef as good as this, though it is a little tough."