Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/214

208 "It is quite a shock to the system," said the Doctor, "to pass from in doors to out, or from out doors to in, during the Russian winter. The houses are generally heated to about 70° Fahrenheit; with the thermometer at zero, or possibly ten, twenty, or more degrees below, it is like stepping from a furnace to a refrigerator, or vice versa. But the natives do not seem to mind it. I have often seen a mujik rise from his couch

on the top of the stove, and after tightening his belt and putting on his boots and cap, mount the box of a sleigh and drive for two or three hours in a temperature far below zero."

"I have read somewhere," said Fred, "about the danger of losing one's ears and nose by frost, and that it is the custom in St. Petersburg and Moscow to warn any one that he is being frozen. Did you ever see a case of the kind?"

"It is a strange circumstance," replied the Doctor, "that nearly every tourist who has been in Russia, even for only a week or so, claims to have seen a crowd running after a man or woman, calling out Noss! noss!