USA > Oregon > The Oregon native son, 1900-1901 > Part 24
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by a moat which can be flooded. from the river. Entrance to the enclosure is had by five different gaets. From each of the four corners of the walls rises a mas- sive tower of considerable magnitude, and along the intervening spaces there are sixteen smaller towers, all intended for defense; though, of course, worthless as against modern artillery.
Within the Kremlin enclosure are the Great Palace, the Little Palace, the Ar- senal, the Law Courts, three churches in which the emperors are respectively crowned, baptized and married, (and up to Peter I, were buried) one Convent, one Monastery, the Tower of Ivan IV, a Statue of Alexander II, and the "Big Bell of the Kremlin." This bell is about 25 feet in diameter and 30 feet high. It formerly hung in a wooden tower in front of the original little monastery al- ready mentioned. Its weight is said to be 200 tons; and 7 tons is the weight of a comparatively small section of it lying by its side. This fragment was broken out of the bell when it fell, years ago, the tower itself being burnt.
The palaces in the Kremlin enclosure do not require elaborate reference, though each is important as being the place where one of the various ceremon- ies of an imperial coronation is conduct- ed. What is called "The Treasury" in the royal buildings, contains a great number and variety of valuables and costly gifts of all kinds presented to the royal family-but I shall mention only one, that of the Japanese Government to the present emperor at his coronation, a large ivory eagle, settling or alighting upon a mammoth Cryptomaria stump. The distended wings must be eight feet from tip to tip. The carving of the plumage is exquisite, and the entire piece is magnificently executed in every respect. In view of the magnitude of the Emperor's domains, the prowess of the Muscovite people, and the commanding position of the Russian Government in the affairs of the world, the Japanese conception of a fitting memento seems exceptionally felicitous.
The three churches, already referred
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to as within the enclosure-viz: the As- sumption, the Annunciation, and that of the Archangel St. Michael-are not at- tractive specimens of architecture view- ed from the outside, and inside the walls and ceilings are literally covered with paintings, some of them undoubtedly of artistic merit, but marred and defaced by the application of barbaric ideas re- lating to Icons-i. e., they are largely covered by gold sheets, gold leaf, or gold foil; and the effect produced is something like the combination of colors and figures in a soiled and faded crazy- quilt. A grotesque and amusing wall decoration of one of these churches por- trays the incident of Jonah and the Whale. The mammal is pictured as asort of flattened-out, tailless salmon, with the head of a goose, its bill widely open to swallow Jonah head first. As he like- wise emerges head first from this singu- lar nondescript, my guide very aptly re- marked: "He go in head first; he come out head first; so he turn around in- side."
Looking from any of the towers with- in the Kremlin walls the stranger is struck by the number of spires and min- arets which are visible in all parts of the city, and I was told there are no less than four hundred and fifty public churches in Moscow, to say nothing of private chapels, shrines, etc.
The church of St. Basil, with its eleven towers and eleven chapels, just outside the Kremlin walls, i deserving of mention. It was built in the time of "Ivan the Terrible," and pre- sents a grotesque appearance. The com- pleted structure so highly pleased that amiable monarch that by way of showing his appreciation of the work he had the architect's eyes put out in order to pre- vent the possibility of his constructing another which might eclipse this church.
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The "House Romanoff." not far dis- tant, an unpretentious building, is inter- esting as being the birth-place of the first of the present Russian dynasty. In it are still to be seen the cradle, toys. etc., of Czar Michael, who was the first to
proclaim himself "Emperor of all the Russias."
Another feature of Moscow deserving of mention, is the old city wall, outside that enclosing the Kremlin. The foun- dations of this old wall rest upon that originally constructed and maintained by the Tartars, during their period of supremacy in Russia-i. e., the latter part of the twelfth and up to the latter part of the fourteenth century.
A pleasant relief from the distortions on the walls of the Kremlin churches and the gruesome spectres conjured up by the church of St. Basil are the fine paint- ings which adorn the modern church of St. Savior, located in another part of the city and built in commemoration of the defeat of the allied French forces, when they marched upon Moscow in 1812. The church is a single cross in form, and while its exterior is not particularly imposing-though of magnitude-the interior is singularly fine, stately and impressive. To the height of probably thirty feet the walls are finished in high- ly polished stone work-marble, jaspar, porphyry, etc .- and above this height, including the ceiling and the interior of the magnificent dome, they have been decorated by three of the best living Russian artists-Verestchagine, Mak- ouffsky and Semaratzky. "The Last Sup- per," by Semaratzky, immediately in the rear of the chancel, bears no resemblance in design or treatment to that of Leon- ardo da Vinci, but it is strikingly effect- ive in its own way. In addition to other admirable features of this noble struc- ture the effects of light. as introduced, are unusually good. Some fifty feet above the floor, at each of the four ex- tremities of the cross, are large and beau- tiful stained glass windows which shed a flood of softened light throughout the whole interior.
The palaces, the churches, the monas- teries and the convents of the city all con- tain paintings of merit and interest, but the most modern and the most pleasing are those to be found in the church of St. Savior, and in a notable private col-
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lection donated to the city by the Trit- jakoff brothers, merchants of Moscow- now both dead. These gentlemen occu- pied themselves with business affairs most successfully, but were possessed also of cultured taste, and in the splen- did gallery of paintings which they de- vised to the city while living are to be seen some of the finest specimens of Russian pictorial art. In this collection there are many, many pictures of notable excellence, indeed.
Two places of interest that we visited just outside the city are Sparrow Hill and Petrofsky Palace. The former is to the south and there Napoleon had his headquarters, in a two-story stuccoed brick house which is now used as a "vodke"-shop for peasants. From here he issued his demands for the surrender of Moscow, which were answered by the burning of the city. The condition of the road we traveled from Moscow to Sparrow Hill was such as to suggest that the thousand cannons of Napoleon's now in the Kremlin might recently have been dragged over it. The Petroffsky palace is on the north side of town, and here, after the burning of Moscow, Napoleon declared himself Emperor of Europe. Five days later. however, began that world-memorable retreat, of the awful disasters attending which between nine hundred and a thousand French cannon in the Kremlin but faintly intimate the story.
But of far more interest to me than the relics of by-gone dynasties and evi- dences of the throat-cutting proclivities of the human race, was the presence in Moscow of a distinguished man whose life has been one long struggle and sac- rifice to mitigate the evils, privations, and hardships of his fellow-beings. I re- fer to Count Leo Tolstoy. Sending him my card. he very promptly and courteous- ly invited me to call in the evening, which I did. During the interview I had the pleasure of meeting him and two of his sons, each of whom-father and sons- speak good English : hence there was no bar or hindrance to our conversation. Count Leo Tolstoy asked various ques-
tions relative to our country in general and California in particular; but his chief interest, from first to last, was centered in the attitude of the United States toward the Philippines. This lie profoundly deplored, because, as he said, it is in effect a nullification of the posi- tion our country has hitherto occupied amongst the nations of the world.
BERLIN Berlin, December 4, 1899.
Having despatched my letter on Mos- cow. I will record a few observations on Warsaw, the next city of especial inter- est along my line of travel. A glance at a map will illustrate this, Warsaw being situated on the main route from Mos- cow to Berlin, to which city my course was directed. The country traversed before leaving Moscow presented much the same general features as that be- tween it and St. Petersburg. We passed successively the towns of Smolensk, Minsk and Brest. The last named be- ing near the borders of Poland, the country thereabouts already begins to assume a much more inviting appear- ance. There are beter farm improve- ments, finer timber tracts, more and bet- ter farm lands, more comfortable cabins for the peasantry, etc., and there is ap- parent on all sides a more advanced stage of civilization and progress; though in none of these particulars is it to be compared with the carefully cul- tivated farms, pleasant homes and vil- lages of Scandinavian countries. About the latter there was an all pervading neatness and tidiness which dis- tinguishes the rural scenery of eastern Canada and those of our own New Eng- land states, and to which Russia fur- nishes no parallel whatever.
The city of Warsaw is located on tlie river Vistula, (Weichsel) which, rising in Hungary, finds its way through Cra- cow, Warsaw, etc., to the Baltic at or near Elbing and Danzig, in northeastern Germany. Two fine bridges spanning the river connect the east and west sides of Warsaw-the one upstream being for ordinary passage and that lower down for railroad crossing. The city is built
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mainly on elevated ground, the greater and best part of it being from 50 to 75 feet higher than the districts immedi- ately adjoining the river. Its popula- tion is said to be over 600,000; of whom 150,000 are Jews, chiefly congregated in one particular quarter, and in that quar- ter may be seen a community as weird- loking and diversified in costume and calling as can be found on Hester Street and its vicinity in New York City-but not more so. Having visited both lo- calities I make bold to say that Hester Street and the courts and alleys which together constitute the so-called Rus- sian-Jewish quarter of New York, present quite as strange and un- canny aspects as the Jewish quar- ters of Warsaw; or, for that matter, of any other European city I have yet visited; and I believe the density of pop- ulation in the New York locality men- tioned is greater than that found in the "Ghetto" of Warsaw.
The old royal palace of Poland, in Warsaw, has been divestd of its interior trappings and valuable belongings, and hence had no attractions to offer; but even if it had, there is a tiresome mono- tony about the contents of palaces that eventually palls upon the interest of a traveler. What remains visible and at- tractive here of the former royalty of Poland is the summer palace of King Poniatowsky, which is kept in perfect repair and maintained as he left it over one hundred years ago (about 1795), and is still utilized during the summer as a visiting place of the Russian Em- peror. This cozy little abode 'of royalty is the most home-like of any of the pal- aces I have ever visited, and they have been comparatively numerous. There isa unique feature of the grounds surround- ing it that deserves mention-viz .: an out-door summer theatre. The stage and settings of this are on a tiny island in a little lake not far from the palace walls, while the auditorium consists of seats arranged along the opposite shores near- by. the whole being located within the confines of a park which must be very beautiful in the summer season. Not far
from this charming retreat is one of the newly extended and most fashionable avenues of the city,-the Champs Ely- sees. This is a broad, well-paved thor- oughfare, line don either side by hand- some modern houses. In this connec- tion, it may be stated that there is little or no odor or appearance of antiquity to any of the principal cities of Northern Europe. That has passed away. The growth and improvements during the present generation have been as remark- able in Europe as in America. There are important cities in Northern Europe that in fifty years have increased 400 per cent in population : and while all the ma- terial evidences of this growth and pros- perity are as modern and fresh as in New York City, Chicago or San Fran- cisco, architecturally they are far more symmetrical, artistic, and pleasing than those of our American cities.
However, the subject matter of this budget is Warsaw, sole and in particular, not Northern Europe, which will be considered later. One of the main streets of Warsaw, and next in import- ance to the Champs Elysees, is known as Jerusalem avenue, a lively commer- cial thoroughfare. Here, as well as in other cities visited, all streets are clean and tidy; for there is exercised that con- stant supervision that obtains under a government paternal in its chief char- acteristics. This paternalism finds some most admirable manifestations,-as I shall possibly mention in a future letter. While Warsaw has collections of art, those visited are not important enough to require special comment, and the churches, practically as numerous as elsewhere, may be placed in the same category. It may be noted, however, that the Roman Catholic, not the Rus- sian-so-called "Greek" churches- largely predominate. The opera and the circus are deserving of special mention, for the performances attended in both places were very good. In all these cit- ies I have made it a rule to attend the opera, circus, varieties, etc .. as well as the churches, for they all afford oppor- tunities of seeing the habits, dress and
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demeanor of the people in-doors, which I wish to observe as well as their walk and conversation out of doors. I think it not unfair to say that to a casual ob- server the Poles give evidences of greater cultivation and refinement than do their northern neighbors. The opera, "Ernani," presented at the Warsaw opera house, being one with which I am familiar, afforded me an opportunity of making comparisons, and the general excellence of the performance was scarcely second to that of the Copen- hagen company, which is decidedly the best operatic troupe I have heard in Europe. In its own peculiar way the circus performance was not less good and enjoyable.
There is the usual display of monu- mental statues scattered about the city, but none meriting special comment, be- cause whatever commemorates the achievements of Poland is minimized by Russian authority, and that which ex- alts and glorifies Russian domination is not pleasant for an American to con- template. I will not indulge in senti- ment, and therefore refrain from dwell- ing upon the several partitions of Poland (the process of carving it having thrice been repeated between 1770 and 1795), whereby a gallant people now number- ing 25,000,000 to 30,000,000 have been deprived of national existence. In these days regret over such a mournful vicissi- tude in a nation's history is out of fash- ion: the trend of our times being in the direction of the poet Pope's dictum: "Whatever is, is right!" Hence nothing disreputable that ever happened was wrong; and "the cry of the little peo- pies" is not to be heeded for a moment. However, the political advancement of Austria and Germany during the past fifty years has undoubtedly exerted a re- flex influence and given to the Poles within their jurisdiction a reasonable measure of representation, as viewed from the standpoint of European im- perialism. Whether as much may be said of Russia and its slice I am not so sure : but even there the status of citizen- ship is better than it was.
Considering the direct relations of
Moscow and Warsaw to the tragical events of 1812 in the career of Napoleon Bonaparte, one of the most intensely in- teresting sights in the latter city is the panorama or cyclorama of the crossing of the Berezyna river by Napoleon's army during its dreadful retreat from Moscow in midwinter. It presents a ghastly spectacle of human suffering, distress and agony, so realistic in its general and detailed execution that it caused me to shiver with horror at the thought of the awful misery and overwhelming disaster that overtook Napoleon and his grand army in its effort to impress upon all Europe the advantages, benefits and ennobling and elevating influences of "the strenuous life," as it is now called in America. No picture ever drawn by historian, poet or painter can convey an adequate sense of the indescribable hor- rors of that retreat. Of Napoleon's in- vading army, 300,000 were sacrificed in that ill-fated campaign,
I had contemplated going from War- saw to Cracow, the ancient capital of Poland, some distance further south, but dead kings and potentates having been served up to me in every style, every day, for the previous three weeks. I concluded not to have the repose of the kings of Poland intruded upon, and so continued my journey due westward to Berlin, where I am now, and find much to engage my highest interest,
BERLIN
Berlin, December 12th, 1899.
My last budget, the topic of which was Warsaw, bore date Berlin, Dec. 4th, and here I still am, having occupied two weeks in looking in a desultory way at the city and its environs.
From Warsaw to Berlin, the country traversed was not dissimilar from that met with in Scandinavia. the stretch of land extending southeast from the shores of the Baltic is principally rolling, similar to that of Northwestern Illinois or Iowa. and practically all of it is under cultiva- tion. The farm houses. farms, etc., are neat and tidy, and the people, so far as seen, are healthy, robust-looking speci- mens of humanity.
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The city of Berlin forms a subject of greater magnitude than any yet treated of in this correspondence, and all its di- versified and notable features are too numerous to be mentioned within the narrow limits of a letter. Topographic- ally it occupies a dead level, though the ground has an ascent toward its south- ern boundary, reaching an elevation in that quarter of about 100 feet above the valley. Including its several suburban annexes of late years, there are now probably 2,500,000 people congregated in and about what is one of the hand- somest great cities of continental Eu- rope-a phenomenal growth attained within the last forty years, its greatest impetus having been acquired from the war indemnity exacted from France. The river Spree with its several branches flows through Berlin, and contiguous thereto forms a junction with the Havel, that river in turn emptying into the Elbe, and it into the Baltic sea. It is therefore not lacking that pleasing fea- ture so noticeable in other cities of Northern Europe, - namely, canals; which here, as elsewhere, connect with the rivers traversing the various sec- tions of the city and still continue to serve in a measure the needs of com- merce, to which in times past they sus- tained an all-important relation.
An item of special interest attaching to this water transportation is the apple traffic from Bohemia carried by boats, that country being drained by branches of the Spree. These apple boats are to be seen daily throughout the city dis- charging their cargoes. They are about the width and twice the length of an ordinary American canal-boat, and are usually propelled with long poles, both men and women performing this fatigu- ing labor.
A region of country called the Spree Forest lying along the river not far from Berlin is populated by a primitive but very estimable people, in part of Slavon- ian origin-Wendisch, so-called-who amongst themselves speak a dialect un- intelligible to the aristocratic Germans of Prussia. Their settlements or com- munes have no regularly laid-out streets,
the houses being built along the paths, roadways, or streams winding through the woods. The products of their toil are conveyed to market on canal boats such as described, though often of smaller size, so as to accomodate them- selves to he lessening volume of water in some sections whence they come. These boats, whether large or small, are usually sold after their cargoes are dis- posed of, and the late owners-or- chardists, truck farmers and others- when they again have occasion during the following season to market their crops, come with a new boat built dur- ing the interval of waiting. Another reason for speaking of the Spree forest and foresters in connection with Berlin is to mention the popular nurse girls who hail from there. Their quaint cos- tume at once arrests the eye of the vis- iting tourists, and intelligent citizens have told me that this locality furnishes the city relatively a greater number of children's nurses than any other of sim- ilar population in Germany. The lives and habits of this peculiar people are simple and wholesome to a notable de- gree.
Returning to Berlin: The central avenue of its social and business activ- ity-the thoracic artery, as it were, of its circulating humanity is the famous broad boulevard located in the center of the city and known as Unter den Linden (Under the Lindens), with its four rows of lime trees separated from each curb by about 50 feet of roadbed, and alto- gether quite 300 feet in width and nearly a mile in length. It was laid out orig- inally by the Great Elector Frederick William, over 200 years ago, but did not assume its commanding prominence un- til Frederick the Great gave it his per- sonal attention. Its entrance is from the wooded park known as the Thier- garten or Animal Enclosure through the Brandenburg Gate, which faces west- ward. What claim this shady tract of land has to its suggestive title beyond the probability that wild animals once infested it, I have not learned; the name Animal enclosure, (more literally, Ani- inal Garden) suggests the idea of its
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having been utilized for a time as a royal zoo. At present it is simply a finely wooded park of several hundred acres within the city limits, its western bound- ary extending to Charlottenburg, an in- dependent municipality of about 150,000- people.
Reverting briefly to the Brandenburg Gate, the grand entrance to Unter den Linden at its western extremity: This shapely, classical structure is surmount- ed by the famous and spirited bronze group-a figure of Victory, standing erect on her triumphal car, guiding and urging forward her four impetuous steeds-one of the popular idols which Napoleon Bonaparte carried off after the campaign of 1807, when Germany lay prostrate at his feet, and which seven years later was returned to the city, in what might be called the general resti- tution of all things looted by that im- perial despoiler. Unter den Linden ex- tends eastward from this splendid gate- way nearly a mile, and terminates at the base of the finest equestrian monument in Europe that of Frederick the Great, where the fashionable avenue is succeed- ed by an irregular plaza or open space in the heart of the city, on one side of which flows the Spree, spanned here by several bridges, the finest of which, the Great Elector's bridge (Frederick Will- iam of Brandenburg) is ornamented with a number of notable statues.
All along Unter den Linden, from one end to the other, is lined on both sides with remarkably handsome buildings- business houses, princeiy residences, hotels, etc., most remarkable of all·being the public bulldings on and near it, many of them possessing great histori- cal interest. About the plaza (Lust- Garten) succeeding the street, the group of government buildings looms up at once bold and majestic. On the north side is, first, the National Gallery, open- ed 1886; and fronting this, with ample intervening space. is what is termed the Old Museum and Gallery, opened 1855; while a little to the west of it on the same line is the University of Berlin. Not far distant from the Museum on the
same street to the westward, is the pal- ace of Emperor Wm. I, (Kaiser Wil- hielm") and the Arsenal-the latter building justly famous for the many in- teresting objects it contains relating to the martial achievements of Germany, its warlike equipments and trophies of war; and in the same vicinity is the old Prus- sian castle or citadel, the city residence of the present Emperor Wm. II., which is also filled with objects of highest in- terest- historical and artistical. On the side of the plaza due west is the palace of unfortunate Emperor Frederick III ("Unser Fritz," of Franco-Russian War fame.) On the east side of the Spree, facing the plaza is the Bourse or Stock Exchange, a very imposing and sym- metrical building about 300 feet long by 100 feet wide. Its interior is divided into three rooms separated only by fine granite columns-two tiers of them, one above the other- extending from floor to ceiling, which is probably fifty feet in height at the walls, rising to a greater height toward the center of the roof, which is supported by arched iron-gir- ders. Beyond this, somewhat parallel with Unter den Linden ,are other nota- ble structures; while on the west side of the river and more nearly facing the eastern extremity of that street and its remarkably effective equestrian monu- ment of Frederick the Great is the new cathedral. Judiciously interspersed here and there throughout the city, in the numerous "breathing places," or little squares with which it abounds, are fine monumental groups and statues-among the rest that of Martin Luther, which is noted as occupying a spot which was formerly set apart for public executions. Near by is the Marien Kirche (St. Mary's Church) which was founded 1000 years ago, quite the oldest church edifice in Berlin. Next to the Prussian Castle (the Schloss), westward, is the National Memorial Monument to Em- peror William I .- unveiled March 27th 1897-a grand equestrian statue of that distinguished Emperor ("Kaiser Wil- helm") in bronze, on a lofty pedestal. with an attendant female figure bearing
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