Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/215

Rh and when the victim did not understand, seizing him or her and rubbing the nose violently with snow.

"One writer tells it as occurring to a French actress; another, to an English ambassador; another, to an American politician; and in each case the story is varied to give it a semblance of truth. I was in Moscow and St. Petersburg during January and February; and though constantly watching to see somebody's nose pulled, was doomed to disappointment. I asked my Russian friends about it, and none of them was wiser than I. One said it might happen once in a great while, but it was safe to conclude that everybody knew enough to take care of his own nose."

Frank asked how one could tell when his nose was freezing, or how observe the freezing of another's.

"The nose and ears become numb and turn white," was the reply, "and that indicates the beginning of the freezing. When this is the condition nothing but a vigorous rubbing to restore the circulation will prevent the loss of those organs. It is for protection from the frost that the Russians keep their faces wrapped in furs; and if a man has any doubt about the condition of his facial attachments he will touch them occasionally to make sure. When you pinch your nose and do not feel the pinch, it is time to rub with snow, promptly and with energy.

"Severe cold is very inconvenient for the wearer of a mustache, as he speedily gathers a great quantity of ice there by the congelation of the moisture of his breath. A man's beard becomes" a frozen mass in a little while. Beard and furs frequently freeze together, and render a sudden turn of the head a matter of great annoyance. Ladies find their veils stiffening into something like wire gauze when the thermometer runs low. They disdain the bonnet of London or Paris, and sensibly enclose their head in hoods lined with fur, and having capes descending well into the neck.

"Horses become white in a short time, no matter what may be their real color, from the formation of frost all over their bodies. Their breath suggests steam more than anything else, and the long hairs around their noses are turned into icy spikes. In the severest weather pigeons have been seen to fall to the ground paralyzed with the cold, but it is quite likely that their nights were forced, and the birds were half frozen before taking-wing."

Frank asked if it often happened that people were frozen to death in these Russian winters.

"Occurrences of this kind probably take place every year," was the reply, "but from all I have been able to learn I believe the number is