WARSAW—ITS LIFE & PEOPLE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2552, 28 August 1915, Page 11

WARSAW—ITS LIFE & PEOPLE

/ 'A Sydney lady who for some time was governess in a Polish nobleman's family in Warsaw, sends her ; impressions whidli have .been published in the "Syd--nev Morning Herald." .. _ . .- , When I heard that Warsaw had really fallen to the enemy at last, after the Russians had made such a . sallant stand, I wept; for I knew the city well,: and-remembered kind the :Russian. aristocracy' had-been td me, and the many pleasant times I had had,, botn m ; Warsaw and Moscow. , . ■ '(The'tridge across the :beautiful River : Vistular—whicli tho Russians themselves Mew up—l have crossed often, and have' been' present -at the cersmony . of, "Blessing tho Waters,'' that is, when, the priests in their ..white Tones, surrounded by crowds of people, thank the' river each: year for. inundating .the land, and making it fertile for tho growuig. of ; beet, corn, and flax. I have travelled muoh, but _ have found tho Russian ladies more ing 'than any others —even the French. Thev certainly have strong likes and dislikes,-but if .you-please .them,, they 'take you right to'their hearts, and even the princesses treat you, as an eaual, for they look on rank -there. a-s an accident of hirt-h. ._ • The Russian ladies of the upper classes ' are .'particularly' light-hearted, and - though they have their, moments of depression—their "fits of the 'blues" pccasionally, yet the next moment they are up, all smiles—into. their rich furs, an<l away staijzbiiift over tk© firm snow in the briglht, orisp air, under a blue, blue sky. Oh, it was good to see them so happy! . '/ ■- Entertaining was done on a masnifioent scale in Warsaw:; At, one, "small dance, at-, which- I was present, tho balustrades round tho gallery wero festooned with -srapps and • vines ..(leaves and friiit); which had been-broueht all the Way from France ait a cost of £200! .The rest, of the entertainment was on an equally lavish'scale.. ~ t ■ ': Some of the voumrer women are intellectual to. a, hitjh degree, and one froouently meets girls who can converse fluently ;ia' eight, diflerent , languacres. Tliey iearii a: hew > language thorouehly ,in three ,m6nflis;t.&n3. are ..particularly bright 1 at music..' If I hummed little Fremi' orEnglish'.,'sones'- about ■ -my rooms or balcony, I would hear the.girls soon afterwards playing them correctly off.bv ear. 1 . ~v , _ • 'The pride of Warsaw is its theatre in the Fazienki Gardens, laid out in a valley of'the Vistula, and. containing fine' oliestnut trees, : heantifull shady "alleys;, artificial .excellent fmintains.' ■Hie gardens .were: cay with the smart uniforms of'the military, the brieht na-. tional costumes of tho people, and were the - re'sort - 'of tho Warsaw aristocracy.-'