Our Little Russian CousinWade, Mary Hazelton Blanchard
General
Our Little Russian Cousin
Wade, Mary Hazelton Blanchard
Children -- Russia -- Juvenile literature
When Petrovna takes out the red dress for the little girl and a large
package of buckwheat which mamma has sent to the family, every one in
the house shouts with delight. It seems as though they could not thank
her enough. Even the dogs wake up and begin to bark in excitement. In
the midst of it all Petrovna's papa calls for her. She must go back
to the grand city and her fine home. She will forget for a time that
all children in the world cannot be as well dressed and well fed as
herself.
Petrovna has never yet been far away from St. Petersburg. She longs to
go to the beautiful white-walled city of Moscow. Her mamma has been
there, and has described its beauties over and over again.
It is a long journey from St. Petersburg. As you draw near the city,
a blaze of colour is spread out before you. Domes of red and gold and
purple are shining on the hilltops in the glorious sunlight. Churches
and towers and palaces are without number, and differ from each other
in shape and beauty. Moscow is a mass of colour made of countless
gems and countless tints. In the midst of the city is the Kremlin or
citadel. But the Kremlin is not one building. It is really a fortress
surrounded by a massive wall that encloses many palaces and cathedrals,
beautiful gardens and stately convents. Great gates open into it, and
each has its story. One of them is called the Nicholas gate. A picture
of St. Nicholas, whom the Russians worship, hangs over it. At one
time the French were at war with the Russians. They stormed this gate
and split its solid stonework, but the picture was unharmed. "It is a
miracle," the people said.
There is a picture of the Virgin over another gate. The French tried to
get this picture, but they did not succeed. This was another miracle,
all thought, and no one passes through that gate now without taking off
his hat. Within the Kremlin are other sacred pictures, which the people
believe can work miracles.
The oil of baptism is prepared and blessed by the high-priest in a
certain cathedral in Moscow. It is sent to every church in Russia, that
all new-born children may be baptised with it.
Petrovna's mamma went to the city of Moscow when the Czar was crowned.
He could not be formally made Emperor in St. Petersburg. That was
not to be thought of. All Czars must be married as well as crowned in
Moscow, and, until the time of Peter the Great, all have been buried
there.
The coronation of the present Czar was the greatest spectacle of modern
times. Petrovna hears her mamma sigh when she tries to describe it.
Everything was so grand and shining and gorgeous,--processions and
fireworks, music and feasting, everybody pleased and gaily dressed;
men in silk and velvet, ladies sparkling in satins covered with pearls
and diamonds; the double-headed eagle, the bird of Russia, showing its
gilded crowns everywhere.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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