THE SKETCHER.

Otago Witness, Issue 1819, 1 October 1886, Page 34

THE SKETCHER.

M. BE STRUVE AND HIS WIFE. HOW THE RUSSIAN MINISTER OUTWITTED SIB HENItY PARKES AT TOKIO. The most popular and at the same time the cleverest of the foreign envoys at Washington is the Russian Minister (writes a correspondent of the New York World) and it must be admitted that the Czar gave a proof of the immense importance which he attaches to the friendship of the United States when he appointed so distinguished a diplomatistas M.de Struve to represent his interests in this country. A son of the celebrated Orientalist and astronomer Frederick yon Struve, and brother of the present chief astronomer of the Government, the Minister at Washington's oonnection with that science has been limited to the stars of Russian and foreign orders which cover his breast. He began his career in the marvellously-organised Asiatic department of the Russian Foreign Office, and won his spurs as principal sectary to the Governor-general of Toorkistan, where, <*wing to his unceasing activity and widespread influence, he soon became the bete noire of the British Indian Government. Both at the foreign office at Calcutta and at the Indian office in London the mere mention of M. de Struve's name causes an unpleasant little shiver and the conversation is changed. All of a sudden, to the astonishment of everybody, he was removed from the sphere of action where he was doing such excellent service and entrusted with the comparatively unimportant Japanese mission. Many of his friends looked upon the appointment as a kind of disgrace, and much surprise was expressed at his accepting it. E-stablishing himself in the pleasant legation building at Tokio, he gave everybody the impression that he had thrown diplomacy to the dogs and that his sole aim in life .was to excel in oroquet. Garden parties, dinners, picnics, and all kinds of frivolities were the order of the day. As to his clever wife, she appeared to devote the whole of her attention to the collection of Japanese teapots. The English Minister, Sir Henry Parkes, who had been warned about his colleague, was perfectly thrown off his guard, and used to smile contemptuously when de Struve's name was mentioned. I was in Japan at the time, and one thing which always used to strike me at the Russian Legat : ou was the special attention and courtesy with which the chiefs of Bureau of the Japanese Foreign Office were treated by both the Minister and M. de Struve. The English envoy considered himself far too great a man even to notice the existence of such unimportant people as these chiefs of Bureau, and even treated the Japanese Ministers of State themselves as if they were mere children. Suddenly one day a telegram arrived -from London addressed to Sir Henry Parkes stating that information had been received from St. Petersburg that the Russian Government had succeeded in getting the Japanese to exchange their half of the Shanghalien Island for the barren Kurill Islands previously belonging to Russia. In order to appreciate the immense importance of this exchange, the following facts must be taken into consideration : — The Island of Sanghalien until then had been divided into two distinct parts, the northern and absolutely barren and useless portion belonging to Russia, while the southern part, with its magnificent coalfield, its vast 'mineral wealth and extensive natural harbours, belonged to Japan. The only port which the Russians have on the Pacific Coast is Vladistock, which is frozen up and useless during eight months of the year. Therefore, in case of a war with England, and of the strict observance of neutrality by Japan and China, the Czar's Government would have been unable to maintain a fleet in the Pacific Ocean, owing to the impossibility of obtaining regular snpplies of either fuel, ammunition, or provisions. By the acquisition of the southern portion of Shanghalien they have now remedied this want, as the British colonies in Australia and elsewhere will find to their cost in the event of a war with Russia. A vast number of convicts have been set to work in the coalfields, harbour works are being constructed, and ammunition stored in the island. Considering the enormous trade of Great Britain in the Pacific, it is impossible to calculate the effect of t his little piece of diplomacy on the part of M. de Struve. Needles'! lo add that Sir' Henry Parkes, who knew nothing about the matter until cabled to him from London, was severely censured by the British Government for his inconceivable negligence. The Japanese Chief of Bureau, through whom the negotiations for the exchange had been carried on, was shortly afterwards appointed as Envoy of the Mikado to St. Petersburg. His name is Hanabusa. M. de Struve, who, besides his diplomatic rank, is also one of the Czar's chamberlains and Privy Councillors, has been powerfully assisted in all his successes by his extremely clever wife. Mdme. de Struve is not beautiful, and her dresses are simply outrageous in their cut and ugliness, but as soon as over she begins to talk all her homoliness and eccentricity of toilet are absolutely forgotten, and in every saloon she will always be the most entouree of the ladies present, while far more 'beautiful women will be coldly neglected. A Princess Galitzin by birth, she was before her marriage a maid oC honour to the hito. Empress. In intimate correspondence with almost every statesman of any importance in Russia she is of the greatest assistance to hor husband, whose own cleverness is apt to be forgotten in the admiration which his wife's talents and statecraft call forth.

MARVELS OF MAGIC Ben Jonson may tell us of one so light of foot that Her treading would not bend a blade of grass, Or shake the downy blow-ball from hia stalk j" Scott may credit his Lady of the Lake with such a sprightly step that E'en the slight barbell raised its head Elastic from hor airy trend ; but it would have astonished them could they have seen these, their poetical fancies, realised by an Eastern native, solid and substantial, who had the knack of walking on thin linen that was held slightly stretched over the hands of four of his confederates. We. can remember the steady steps of Blondin on the high rope, and the gliding grace of Zazel upon the slender wire ; we have seen the man-serpent, who might well have inspired Bon Gaultier's ballad of the matchless chieftain, whom he pictures thus — In a knot 'himself lie ties, With hia grisly head appearing in the centre of his thighs ; Till the petrified spectators ask, in paralysed alarm. Where may be the warrior's body — which is leg, and which is arm ? but none of these experts excel in balance, or surpass in posturing, the supple natives of Madras. One of these will start a slender ring j whirling on each forefinger and on each great toe; then, throwing his body backwards, he will stand a sword on its point upon his forehead, and With his mouth string many small beads on a hog's bristle, while /all the time the rings are spinning merrily. Another, after making preparations for five minutes beneath a shawl, will appear sitting crosslegged in the air, with no visible support, just resting his right arm on the end of a roll of skin, which communicates horizontally with a hollow bamboo fixed upright on a stool. Here he will sib composedly for half an hour, counting his beads ; and so strange is theillusion that it seems almost an unkindness to suggest the presence of a series of steel rods, which pass up the bamboo, through the roll of skin, along the performer's sleeve, and down his body, until they end in an unseen ring, on which he sits. See next a nimble-fingered master of sleight of hand, who throws a succession of brass balls into the air, none of which seem to return ; he pauses for a minute, and then, with much wagging of. the head, he grunts forth a barbarous chant, and one. by one the brass balls descend and are caught by him as they fall. Many of us can keep a couple of balls or oranges up, tossing and catching them alternately with one hand, and we have often seen several balls thus kept in motion by some circus rider on his ample saddle, or even on a bare-backed steed ; but such poor efforts are as nothing when we compare them with the marvels of the East. There a tall, athletic fellow will stand suddenly upon his head, and with the utmost ease and grace start and maintain in motion as many as 16 brass balls. Presently a slighter comrade will spring on to his upturned soles and start on his own account a second and similar set of 16 more, so that the sun shining on the 32 bright balls as they fly round and about seem to clothe the two jugglers in a shower of gold. Surely such manual dexterity could never be surpassed. No two balls ever clash as they flash and glitter in such rapid succession that the eye can scarcely follow them. ' • More extraordinary, because the method is more hidden, are the various tricks which .these jugglers seem to be able to perform without the aid of any apparatus and on the level sand. The most celebrated of these are the production of flowers and trees and fruit from trees freshly sown, and the basket trick ; both of which were imitated to some extent about 30 years a,go by Anderson, famous among modern conjurers as the " Wizard of the North." An Indian emperor, early in the 17th century, recorded his personal experiences among a troupe of Bengalese jugglers, whose astounding performance he at once ascribed to supernatural agency. He tells us that these men planted 10 mulberry seeds in the simple sand, and that in a few moments there sprang up from them 10 trees, each spreading forth branches as it grew, upon which ripe fruit was found. He adds that other trees such as apple, walnut, and mango were produced with equal ease, and that among their branches birds appeared of brilliant plumage and sweet song, and that at last " the foliage, as in autumn, was seen to put on varied tints, and the trees gradually sank into the earth from which they had sprung." The ordinary mind must fail to follow such seeming miracles as these, which are not made any clearer by the conjecture of an officer who saw performances of the same sort, that the jugglers " had the trees about them in every stage, from the seedling to the fruit." Such a harrowing description of the great Indian basket trick as is commonly given would be unsuited to these pages, and as no one is really hurt, the horrible details of pretended murder are quite out of place. The main features of the performance are these : — A child, selected often for her beauty and supple grace, is placed beneath a common wicker basket on the open sand. She is heard to speak in reply to the questions and threats of the juggler, who presently, in a well-aoted pretence of passion, thrusts his sword again and again throngh the wicker covering. Then when the spectators stand aghast, and can scarce refrain from seizing the man by force, he quietly pronounces a few cabalistic words, and turning over the basket, shows them that there is no one underneath ; in a few moments the child, in perfect health and high spirits, is seen" bounding 1 towards the circle from the distant crowd. I well remember a clever imitation of this trick with which Anderson astonished a London audience. He placed a comical black page, who accompanied him, and was generally useful on the stage, upon a table, and over him he sat a large extinguisher of wickerwork. Then, taking up a pistol, he fired at the covering, which fell over, and revealed nothing but, the flat and apparently substantial surface o£ the table. Before we could recover from our surprise, we heard the chuckline laugh characteristic of the negro

race, which sounded behind our backs, and, turning round, we saw the young black, with his woolly head, grinning at us from a distant corner of the gallery. Let us close this section of our subject by two more extracts from records written by the Indian emperor — one o£ them attesting the powers of jugglery, the other the perfection of balance, displayed by his fellow-coun-trymen. The scene of the first experiment was as usual the open plain ; the time was midnight. One of a band of seven conjurers came forward, and, after spinning round and round, slipped suddenly beneath a sheet, and in a moment issued, bearing in his hands a mirror that shed abroad so dazzling and intense a light that quite an expanse of country was illuminated by its rays. Afterwards, this same company of jugglers set a large brazen vessel on the ground, with no fire under, and filling it about half full with water, threw into it a few handfuls of rice. Soon, though no cause for this could be detected, the" water began to boil ; and from within the vessel they produced a quantity of platters, each heaped high with perfectly cooked rice, on which a stewed fowl was temptingly displayed. Many an English audience has cheered a conjurer who has apparently cooked a pancake in a borrowed hat ; with what enthusiasm would they greet such wonders as these natives can produce without the advantage of platform, table, and accessories, if but half these travellers' tales are true ? We will now round off! our notices of Eastern feats with the description of a veritable marble of acrobatic skill and strength from the same imperial source. One of seven stood straight up before them, a second passed upwards along his body, and head to head, raised his feet in the air ; a third climbed until he stood in his turn upon those feet, prepared to support upon his head the fourth, whose position was again reversed, and so they arranged themselves alternately with perfect steadiness, until a living pillar of seven was complete, when the man at its foundation lifted one foot as high as his shoulder, and standing thus vipon one leg upheld the other six upon his crown. It has been suggested that such illusions as that of the dog and the other' animals, which seemed" to run up a chain and vanish in the air, were in truth optical illusions cleverly contrived. Many of my readers may remember a curious puzzle of this sort at the Polytechnic which was so managed as to upset all our preconceived ideas of gravity, stability, and size. Weird figures were seen reflected on the well-stretched sheet, walking on walls and on the ceiling, with deliberate, composure ; then suddenly one or other of these figures would spring up, and float away into dim space, or leap apparently towards the darkened room, growing in his progress from a mere pigmy to a monstrous giant ; and then the rest, of all sorts and sizes and shapes, would run riot in a wild leap-frog, appearing and disappearing, swelling and dwindling, at the will and fancy of him who worked the lantern with such magical effect. Another strange optical illusion which was introduced at the same place, and at a later period than Pepper's ghost, was of a still more startling character. A lecture was given on Sir David Brewster's studies in optics, and when mention had been made of his " Letters on Natural Magic," a curtain rose, and the head of Socrates, after due invocation, appeared floating in mid-air, without its body or any other visible support, and with impressive elocution and considerable play of eyes and lips delivered a short speech in verse. Then the head of the sage vanished, and its place was occupied by a charming group of cherubs : winged heads, which sang as sweetly as though furnished with a full supply of Langs. Less wonderful, perhaps, though not less puzzling to the uninitiated, was the sphinx produced by Stodare, about 1867, at the Egyptian Hall. Upon a three-legged table, which seemed to stand simply on the centre of the stage, there was a human head which indulged in portentous winks and grimaces, and at 'last broke forth into speech. Those who were 'in the secret knew that the legs of this table were united by two mirrors, which camp to a point towards the audience, and were so arranged that the reflections in them seemed to represent that portion of the stage which was behind ; and that, concealed by their friendly shelter, a man knelt at his ease upon the floor, and by simply thrusting his head through a hole in the table produced the " mysterious sphinx." Here, in fact, we have the secret of a large variety of mystic performances of the same type. A little consideration will show the immense variety of startling effects which can be produced by mirrors so arranged that the objects reflected in them give no indication of their presence. — Rev. A. Cyril Pearson, M. A. MACAULAY' S LOVE FOX CHILDREN. " Though Macaulay," says Lady Trevelyan, '•was very easily bored in general society, I think he never felt ennui when he was alone or when he was with those he loved. Many people are very fond of children, but he was the only person I ever knew who never tired of being with thorn. Often has he come to our house, at Clapham or in Westbourne terrace, directly after breakfast, and, finding me out, has dawdled away the whole morning with the children ; and then, after sitting with me at lunch, has taken Margaret a long walk through the city which lasted the whole afternoon. Such days are always noted in his journals as especially happy." . It is impossible to exaggerate the pleasure which Maoaulay took in children, or the delight which he gave them. He was beyond all comparison the best of playfellows ; unrivalled in the invention of games, and never i wearied of repeating them. He had an inexhaustible repertory of small dramas for the benefit of his nieces, in which he sustained an endless variety of parts with a skill that at anyrate was sufficient for his audience. An old friend of the family writes to my sister, Lady Holland:— "I well remember that there was one never-failing game of building up a den with newspapers behind the sofa, and of enacting robbers and tigers; you

shrieking with terror, but always fascinated and begging him to begin again: and there was a daily recurring observation from him that, after all, children were the only true poets." Whenever he was at a distance from his little companions he consoled himself and them by the exchange of long and frequent letters. The earliest in date of those which he wrote in prose begins as follows :—: — September 15, 1842. My dear Baba, — Thank you for your very pretty lotter. lam always glad to make my little girl happy, and nothing pleases me so much as to see that she likes books. For when she is as old as I am she will find that they are better than all the tarts, and cakes, and toys, and plays, and sights in the world. If anybody would make me the greatest king that ever lived, with palaces, and gardens, and fine dinners, and wine, and coaches, and beautiful clothes, and hundreds of servants, on condition that I would not read books, I would not be a king. I would rather be a poor man in a garret with plenty of books than a king who did not love reading. Five years later on he writes :— I must begin sooner or later to call you " Margaret," and I am always making good resolutions to do so, and then breaking them. But I will procrastinate no longer. Procrastination is the thief of time, says Dr Young. He also says — Be wise to-da}'. "Tis madness to defer, and — Next day the fatal precedent will plead. That is to say, if I do not take care, I shall go on calling my darling " Baba " till she is as old as her mamma and has a dozen Babas of her own. Therefore I will be wise to-day and call her " Margaret." I should very much like to see you and Aunt Fanny at Broadstairs : but I fear, I fear, that it cannot be. Your aunt asks me to shirk the Chelsea Board. lam staying in England chiefly in order to attend it. When Parliament is not sitting, my duty there is all that I do for £2400 a year. We must have some conscience. Michaelmas will, I hope, find us all at Clapham over a uoble goose. Do you remember the beautiful Puseyite hymn on Michaelmas Day ? It is a great favourite with all the Tractarians. You and Alice should learn it. It begins — Though Quakei-3 scowl, though Baptists howl, Though Plymouth Brethren rage, We Churchmen gay will wallow to-day In apple sauce, onions, and sage. Ply knife and fork and draw the cork, And have thebottle handy ; For each slice of goose will introduce A thimbleful ot brandy. Is it not good ? I wonder who the author can be. Not Newman, I think. It is above him. Perhaps it is Bishop Wilberrorce. His poetical, no less than his espitolary style was carefully adapted to the age and understanding of those whom he was addressing. Some of his pieces of verse are almost perfect specimens of the nursery lyric. From five to ten stanzas in length, and with each word carefully formed- in capitals — most comforting to the eyes of a student who is not very sure of his small letters, — they are real children's poems, and they profess to be nothing more. They contain none of those strokes of satire, and allusions to the topics and personages of the day, by which the authors of what is /now called Juvenile Literature so often attempt to prove that they are fit for something better than the task on- which they are engaged. But this very absence of pretension, which is the special merit of these trifles, renders them unworthy of a place in a book intended for grown-up readers. There are, however, few little people between three and five years old who would not care to hear how Thf>re once was a nice little girl, With a nice little rosy face ; She always said •• Our Father," And she always said her grace: and how as the reward of her good behaviour They brought the browned potatoes, And winced veal, nice and hot, And such a good bread-pudding Alf smoking from the pot ! And there are still fewer who would be indifferent to the fate which befell the two boys who talked in church, when The beadle got a good big stick, * Thicker than uucle's thumb. Oh, what a fright those bova were in Te see the beadle conic ! " * And they were turned out of the church And they were soundly beat : And both those wicked, naughty boys Went bawling down the street. * — Trevely.in's •• Life of Macaulay. LIFE IN THE RUSSIAS. This Pooe Russians. — The Country Absolutely Non - Progressive. Struggles of the Peasantry under tub Burden of Heavy TaxationCustoms op the People. The life of the Russian peasant is the most pitiful, the most wretched that the reader can imagine. -At the time when the ' people of the western countries* of Europe arc advancing towards a more favourable stage of lifo, the peasant remains in his primitive state. The causes for such a stagnation are obvious —the barbaric oppression of the Government in till imaginable and unimaginable ways and forms on one hand, and on the other the absence of knowledge, t lie only condition of individual and social progress. "So long as the rays of knowledge are obstructed by the thick and impenetrable veil of ignorance, so long as the apostles of the truth are kept in prison cells and Siberian mines, so long as our rising generation is trained in traditional ways, our population will never be relieved of their wretched life " wrote one of the most prominent Russian critics in 1865. Twenty years have passed, and what advance has the peasantry made 1 Absolutely none. I have lived among the Russian peasants for over 12 years, during which time I had a favourable opportunity of studying their life in all its phases. The Russian peasant, although hardened by his circumstances, is naturally kind. No stranger has as yet met with a refusal of hospitality, be it to a dry piece of bread or a night's lodging in a little hut. ♦• We must divide what we possess," says a simple Russian proverb, which, be it said to the credit of the majority of the population, is strictly adhered to. The life of the Russian peasant is

Wll of misbey akd wretchedness, The constant care and hard struggle for his daily existence, the heavy taxes that he is burdened with and which he is bound to pay under any circumstances, all this is sufficient to deprive him of all the enterprise and ambition that are peculiar to the more civilized and consequently more happy nations. Total darkness and blind superstition are the mainfeatures of his character. Thebelief intiie evil spirit as a mighty power, having a great deal to do with the fate of every individual, has taken deep root in his mind, and no reason seems able to extricate it. Any tale of the supernatural is taken as a matter of fact, and any matter of fact is looked upon rather sceptically. I can recall facts of shocking superstition that will to a certain extent illustrate the character of the peasant. One happened in a small village in the vicinity of Kief. On one dark rainy autumn night a poverty-stricken old man threw an infant into the river, or, as he said, HANDED IT OVER TO THE DEVIL in exchange for a purse of gold that he supposed was hidden in a certain secluded place, and that could not be fdund unless some innocent human being were sacrificed* In another village a sick woman was choked to death by her kind neighbours in their desperate efforts to' squeeze the devil out of her throat. Furthermore, an old woman, a supposed witch, was beaten to death by the villagers for bringing a pestilence upon the cattle through the aid aud influence of the evil one. These are a few of the incidents that occur daily in the peasant's life. The reader can- hardly imagine anything more miserable, more wretched' than the little hut in which a family averaging six or seven members is often found living Imagine a little cave of 5 by 9, half of which is cut off by a primitive large stove, dark and gloomy, and that will be the sweet home of the Russian peasant. Every inch of space is inhabited, so that as a matter of course, the air is made poisonous and intolerable, and this explains the frequent fatal diseases prevailing among the Russian peasantry. Their DAILY HABITS AND METHODS OF LIFE are of the simplest character. Five o'clock in the morning, in all seasons, is generally the hour at which the family rises. The woman immediately begins to prepare breakfast, which generally consists of a mixture of sourkrout, beets, and potatoes, called " oorshtch," and coarse rye bread. A large trunk, the only piece of furniture to be seen in a peasant's hut, which at the same time serves as a table, is spread with a coarse cover, and after saying prayer the head of the family, followed by the rest of the members, occupies his seat. After the " borshtch " pot iB emptied everyone goes out to his work. If it is winter time the men are engaged in feeding the cattle and the women in gpinmng their flax. Everyone has his hands full. A l2 o'clock dinner is announced. Again borshtch on the trunk table, followed by a potfull of boiled potatoes and plenty of coarse rye bread. Supper consists of the remnants of dinner. On Sundays, however, or days of festival, an epicurean piece of salt \ pork or mutton and fresh rye bread— which the peasant, and still more his better half, is very fond of — adorn the table. White bread, tea, or coffee is looked upon as A LUXURY BEYOND REACH of the peasantry. It is only on very rare ocoasions— if, for example, any one of the family is sick— that such a luxury finds place in the peasant's home. After a day's work is over the peasant goes out for recreation. The tavern, which is the only plaGe of attraction for him, is generally crowded in the evenings. The most burning J topics of the day are discussed there. What strikes a stranger who is present at one of such meetings is the alsomte confusion which characterises its proceedings. All speak at once, no one listens, and the debates are scenes of wild disorder. But there is no rule without an exception : an orator may sometimes command general attention. In 'such cases utter silence prevails, and those who interrupt are ordered to "shut ivp." As a general thing, however, everybody is arguing at the top of his voice, and a wild uproar goes on, which oftentimes ends j in a fight.. Balloting is unknown in the Russian vil- j lage assemblies. Every question of whatever character must be settled unanimously. The settlement of a question mostly depends on the proposal of the starosta (village official), or any other important person of the Village, whose influence CONCILIATES ALL INTERESTS and wins the suffrage of the entire gromada I (community). To reach this consummation, however, thorough debates and a good threshing of the subject discussed are indis- j pensable. Everyone must freely express his '• opinion and shout at the top of his arguments before any concesssions are made. In August 1874, on my return from Kief to Perciasiof, I happened to be detained in a village for several hours. As it was a Sunday I went over to the tavern, where I was told I should find the gromada in its full assemblage. I was glad of the opportunity, and soon found myself face to face with a ■ lively crowd, such as I had never seen before. As far as I can remember the election of a convener, or town crier, was going on. Arguments pro and con were freely and loudly expressed, and everyone seemed to be taking quite a lively and active part in the general uproar. At first I was at a loss to ' know what was going on, but soon a communicative old peasant explained everything to me. What interested me most was the starosta, a strong and hearty fellow of 4Q. His philosophical calmness, deliberate and explicit style of speech, that distinguished him from all the other fellows, commanded for awhile general attention, and I was right in concluding at once that the gromada would soon find itself on the starosta's side. The final SGene consisted of a Jiberal partaking of vodki, which was furnished by the starosta from the reserved funds of the gromada. Wishes for the prosperity of the living and eternal peace of the dead — a very popular wish among the peasantry — were expressed, and thus a day of joy and excitement drew to a close.— Phila? 4plpW* Times.