The Boy Travellers in The Russian Empire / Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey in European and Asiatic Russia, with Accounts of a Tour across Siberia, Voyages on the Amoor, Volga, and Other Rivers, a Visit to Central Asia, Travels among the Exiles, and a Historical Sketch of the Empire from Its Foundation to the Present Time

by Thomas Wallace Knox

RUSSIAN BEGGARS.

Many of the patrons of the place were taking nothing but tea, and the samovar was everywhere. Frank and Fred thought they had never seen waiters more attentive than at this traktir. They seemed to understand beforehand what was wanted, and a single glance was sure to bring one of them to the table. They did a great deal more than the waiters do in Western Europe. They offered to cut up the food so that it could be eaten with a fork, and they poured out the tea, instead of leaving the patron to pour for himself. Frank observed that nearly every one who entered the place said his prayers in front of the holy picture. There is a picture in every room of the establishment, so that the devout worshipper is never at a loss.

Another day they went to the "Moskovski Traktir" a large restaurant similar to the Troitska, and containing an enormous organ which is said to have cost more than fifty thousand dollars. The Russians are very fond of music of the mechanical sort, and their country is one of the best markets of the Swiss makers of organs and music-boxes. In the best houses all through Russia expensive instruments of this kind can be found, and sometimes the barrel-organs are large enough to fill a respectably-sized room with machinery and fittings, and an entire house with sound. Probably the most costly mechanical musical instruments are made for Russians, and some of them give the effect of a whole orchestra. While the instrument in the traktir was in operation, both the youths said they could have easily believed the music to have been produced by a dozen skilled performers.

As they left the Moskovski Traktir the guide suggested that they would go to the restaurant of the Old Believers. Fred thus describes the visit:

"I must begin by saying that the Old Believers are a Russian sect who prefer the version of the Bible as it was up to the time of Nikon, rather than the one he introduced. The Government persecuted them greatly in past times, and even at present they are subjected to many restrictions. They are scattered through the Empire, and are said to number several millions, but the exact statistics concerning them are unattainable.

"In addition to their adhesion to the old form of the Scriptures they abhor smoking, refuse to shave their beards, attach particular sanctity to old ecclesiastical pictures, and are inveterate haters of everything not thoroughly Russian. They despise the manners and customs of Western Europe, which they consider the synonyme of vices, and associate as little as possible with those who do not share their belief. In the country they form communities and villages by themselves, and in the cities they live in the same quarter as much as possible. They are an honest, industrious people, and thoroughly loyal subjects of the Emperor.

"In the traktir of the Old Believers we found the waiters wearing dark caftans instead of white ones, and the room was filled with Russians of noticeably long beards. Smoking is not allowed here under any circumstances; and as nearly all Russians who are not Old Believers are confirmed smokers, this curious sect has the place all to itself. We were politely treated by the waiters, and, at the advice of the guide, ventured to eat a blinni, for which the place is famous. It was so good that we repeated the order. Of course we had the inevitable samovar, and found the tea the best that any restaurant has thus far supplied. This traktir has an excellent reputation for its tea and cookery; the bill of fare is not large, but everything is of the best kind.

"There is a Tartar restaurant where horse-flesh is said to be served regularly; but whether this is true or not we did not try to find out. The place is kept by a Russian, so that the assertion is open to some doubt. Any one can go to the Tartar restaurant, but it is not frequented by Russians. The Tartars do not associate freely with the Russians, though there is no hostility between them. They seclude their wives after the Moslem fashion, and a Russian gentleman tells me that he has rarely had a glimpse of a Tartar woman, though he has lived near these people ever since he was born."