Page:The Tsar's Window.djvu/29

 the wind. It contained the Emperor and the Tsarevitch; there was no one on the box except the coachman. They were followed by about two hundred officers on horseback, but they went by so rapidly that I only got a confused idea of brass helmets, waving feathers, Cossack caps, and long spears. Then came several carriages from the palace, coachmen and footmen in the imperial livery of scarlet and gold, and then many scattered horsemen. The Tsar went at once to the church and thence to the palace. Perhaps you are astonished to hear me say they went in carriages. Before I came here I never imagined a carriage in St. Petersburg—certainly not in December. But the truth is, the snow, which is constantly falling, is not allowed to accumulate; it is continually being taken up and carted off to the Neva, so that it is not more than an inch or two deep in the street, and the sidewalks are comparatively clear. What a contrast to New York! One can always use a carriage here with comfort.

I think there is but one opinion about the Tsar, as far as he is personally concerned. Even his enemies acknowledge that it is only the power he represents which they wish to destroy. It seems to me no one could look at this Emperor, and not acknowledge that, if expression indicates anything of character, he is a good and conscientious man. His position is by no means an enviable one, nor should I care to be one of his ministers. They receive threatening letters all the time, I hear; and the Chief of the Third Section—appointed in the place of General Mezenzeff, who was