AN AMERICAN TRAVELLER IN RUSSIA.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1402, 12 June 1883, Page 2

AN AMERICAN TRAVELLER IN RUSSIA.

The Rev. Dr John Hall, who travelled in Russia last summer, has been • ■ describing his impressions of the country to an audience in Now York. The following are- extracts from his address :—" One of the first lessons that . .-•: I learnt in Russia was humility. 1 confess to havo been guilty often of boasting of the maguitude of'theUnited States; but when we think of. • the extent of Russia we have to drop our swagger and boasting and become meek and moderate. From east to westKussiais 6000 miles across, and : ' from north to south 3000 miles, or, in round numbers, Russia has double the extent of territory possessed by the United States. In the matter of unoccupied land", too, Russia is our ' superior. In some parts the population is only two persons to the square mile, and the average for the entire : country is only 10 to the square mile.' It is easy to see, therefore, the enormous facilities Russia has for producing cereals, and you can imagine the mighty power in the public policies of the world possecsed by this people. The physical surroundings in Russia are not dissimilar to those in New Jersey. The land is only partly cultivated: it is mostly flat, in many places marshy, and in others covered wich a prowth of inferior wood Imagine New Jersey magnified by 10,000, and you can form a picture of Russia, The temperature in July and August is very like that experienced by the people of New Jersey in May or June, Any of you will be surprised to learn that Siberia about which we have heard such terrible stories, is the best and richest province in Russia. Several of the exiles have become rich and prosperous. I havo hope for Rusia. We have known how slowly , ■5,000,000 of freed men have risen, surrounded, as they have been, by every favourable circumstance. The progress is necessarily slow. Men in masses go down easily, but is not so . easy to lift them up, We must remember that it was only in 1860 that 40,000,000 of Russian serfs were set ■ free. But schools have" become more plentiful; trade is becoming a factor; • the sense of freedom among the people is growing; the power to read and the demand for books are increasing; and the process of raising is surely going on, Russia looks out upon Europe through the eye of St Petersburg; but Europe also looks in through that and lam one of.those that believe that) a Government at once limited and. liberal for Russia is within the mea-■ surable distance of realisation."

Colonel Toni Clark, of Brooklyn, once owned a cat) on whichheshowered all the affection of his bachelor heart, And the shower took the shape of a pound of mincemeat every pay. One morning the colonel noticed that his feline namesake had wasted away to a mere skeleton, and immediately he summoned his boy Bill to appear before the bar. "Didn't I tell you to give that cat a pound of meat every day i" asked the colonel, "Yes sir, and that's what I give him every morning before you're out of bed," answered Bill, " I don't believe a word of it. \ My opinion is that you either pocket the money or eat the meat yourself. Bring me the scales and the cat." The scales and cat were brought: the latter was placed on the former, and the marker stopped at the onepound mark. " There 1" exclaimed the boy in triumph, "didn't I tell you I gave him a pound of meat this morning f "There's the.pound of meat sure enough," said the colonel, stroking his chin j" but where the devil's the cat f A million and a half of kangaroos, 178,000 rabbits, besides wallaroos, wallabies, paddy melons, and native dogs, were destroyed during the past twelve months in New South Wales, •' The throne used at the Czar's coronation cost £2OOO. It was of black oak, richly carved in antique Slavonic patterns, with a canopy supported by columns 10ft high, and ornamented with Imperial eagles, and with a scroll-work bearing the coats of arms of the 56 Governments of Russia; l '' The cnairs 'of , the t Emperor,, and Empress were placed on a dais hung with crimson velvet riohly trimmed with gold.