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There Is a simple little word—
Oh! ne'cr its charms destroy—
Throughout the universe 110 heard,
And nowhere but with joy:
There's music in Its magic flew
Wherever we may roam,
The dearest. sweetest sound below;
That little word is Borne.
The Soldier in the brittle's huto
May all things else forget; '
'Mid hornets' flash, and I cut of drum,
Ills home's remembered yet,
The exile, doom'd on foreign lands •
Through hopeless years to toll,
May do the despot's stern commands,.
Yet sighs for home the while.
Isere not where maybe Its site,
Or roof 'd with straw or tile,
So that the hearth,fire burns more bright
'Neath woman's radiant smile:
AtTectiOn on her fondest wing
Will to its portals fly,
And hope will far more sweetly sing
When that blest place is nigh. .
It may be fancy, it may be
Something far nobler—far;
But love is my divinity,
And home my polar star.
Oh! cover not home's sacred ties;
They are not things of air ;
The great, the learned and the wise,
All had their trainim there.
"411ter15ting
RUSSIA AND THE RUSSIANS
BY AN ENGLISH LADY
An English lady, who, for ten years, was
domesticated among the Russians, and did
not quit their country until Krne time after
the commencement of the present war, has
just published, under the title of "Au Eng
lish woman in Russia"—three hundred and
fifty pages of information upon the actual
state of society in that empire. The book
confims- ideas familiar to many people , but
insomuch as it does this in the most satisfac
tory way, wholly by illustrations drawn from
personal experience or information of a trust•
worthy kind, its value is equal to its interest/.
Having read it, we lay it down, and Idre
=like note of some of the impressions it, has
left . upon us.
Unless, from'ime who has been for a long
time an English resident, and who can speak
without passion, it is not easy to got clear
views of the internal state of Russia. Des
potism has established there so strict a con
learns as much of his own country as the em
peror shall please, and a learned traveler as
sured our countrywomen that, of an account
written by him t f his journey in the North of
Asia, only those parts were allowed to be pub.
Halted wherein nothing was said tending t.
expose the desolation of the land. The re
glens of the barren North were no more to bs
confessed than a defeat in arms. The great
historian of Russia—Karamskin—was obliget,
to read his pages to the Emperor before h.
was allowed' to publish them. Not only s
certain class of facts, but also a certain class
of thoughts are rigedly kept from the public
mind.
The Czar of Russia practically stands be.
fore the greater number of his subjects as a
little more than God. " The Czar is near,—
God is far off," is a common Russian saying.
" God and the Czar knows it," is the Russian
for our " Heaven knows!" A gentleman de
scribing one evening the Emperor's reception
on the route to Moscow, said, " I assure
you, it was gratifying in the extreme ; fur
the peasants knelt as he passed, just as if it
were the Almighty himself."
And .who shall contradict the - decision ?
Our countrywoman was once at the opera
when the Emperor was graciously disposed
to applaud Madame Castellon by the clapping
of his hands. Immediately some ono hissed.
He repeated his applause ;—the hiss was re
peated., ,Ilis majesty stood up—looked round
,the house with dignity—and, for the third
time, solemnly clapped his bands. The hiss
followed again. Then a tremendous scuffle
overhead. The police bad caught the impi
ous offender. An example of another kind
was made by a young lady whose brother was
killed, at Ralafat, and who, on receiving news
of his death, smiled, and said, she was re
joiced to bear it, as he had died for the EM•
peror." Imperial munificence rewarded her
with a splendid dowery, and the assurance
That her future fortune should be cared I°9.
There is need now to encourage a show of
patriotism. The Englishwoman who, on her
return found London streets as full of peace
ah when she quitted them ; bad left St. Pe
tersburg wearing a far different aspect. Long
lines of cannon and amanition wagons drawn
up here and there ; parks, of artillery con.
tinually dragged about)
_outworks being con
structed; regiments marching in and' out;
whole armies submitting to inspection and.de
parting on their mission, told of the deadly
MIMI
struggle to which the Czar's ambition had
committed him. There was no hour in which
recruits might not be seen tramping in wearily
by hundreds and by thousands, to receive the
Emperor's approval. It is hard for us in this
country to coneieve the misery attending the
terrible conscriptions which plague the subjeCts
of the Russian empire. Except recruits, hard
ly a young man is to be seen in any of the
villages; the post roads arc all being mended
by women and girls. Men taken from their
homes and families, leave behind them among
'the women. broken ties and the foundation of
dreadful mass of vice and immortality. It
is fearful enough under ordinary cireumstan
eei:...!.." True communism," said a Russian
noble, " is to be found only in Russia."
One morning a poor woman vent crying
bitterly to the Englishwoman, saying that her
two nephews had just been forced from her
louse to go into the army. tried"—we
leave the relator of these things to speak in
her own impressive words—" I tried to con
sole her, saying that 'they would return when
the war was over; but this only made her
more distressed. 44 No, no !" exclaimed she,
in the deepest sorrow, " they will never come
back any more ; the Russians are beaten in
every place." Until lately the lower Classes
were always conthiced that the Emperor's
troops were invincible ; but it seems by what
she said, that even they have got to know
something of the truth. A foreigner in St.
Petersburg informed me that he had gone to
see the recruits that morning, but there did
not seeth to be much patriotism among them ;
there was nothing but subs and: tears to be
seen among those who were pronounced
for service, whilst the rejected ones crossed
themselves with the greatest gratitude." Re
views were being held almost daily when the
Englishwoman left, and she was told that, on
' one occasion, when revicwing-troors destined
for the South, the Emperor was struck with
the forlorn and dejected air of the poor sheep
whom he was sending to the slaughter.
" Hold yotir heads up • l'' ho exclaimed tin
grily. " Why do you look so miserable?--
There is nothing to cause you to be so?—
There is something to cause him to be so, we
arc very much disposed to think.
But wo did not mean to tell about the War.
The vast empire over which the Cznr has rule
is in a half-civiliezdit would be almost more
correct to say—in an uncivelized state. Great
navigable rivers roll useless through exten
sive wilds. Except the excellent roads that
connect St. Petersburg with Moscow and
with Warsaw, and a few fragments of road
serving as drives in the immediate vicinity of
those towns, there are no roads in Russia that
are roads to any sense. The post roads of
the empire are clearings through wood, with
boughs of trees laid here end there, tracks
over steppes and through morasses. There
is everywhere tho grandeur of nature but it
is the granduer of its solitudes. A few huts
surround government post stations and small
brick houses at intervals of fifteen or twenty
miles along the teats are the halting, places
of gangs destined for Siberia. A' few log
huts, many of them no better than the wig
wams of Indians, some of them adorned with
elegant wood tracery, a line of such dwellings
and commonly also a ro,w of willows by the
way side, indicate a Russian village. A nno•
ber of churches and Tonasteries with domes
and cupolas, green, gilt, or dark blue, studded
with golden stars, and, surmounted each by a
cross standing on a crescent ; barracks, a go
vernment school and a post office ; a few good
houses, and a great number of huts—consti.
tuto a Russian provincial town, and the our- .
rounding wastes of forest shut it in. The
rapid traveller who follows one of the two
good roads and seas only the show places of
Russian civilization, may be very much de
ceived. Yet oven here he is deceived only by
a show. The groat buildings that appear so
massive aro of stuccoed brick, and even the
grandeur of the quays, like that of infinitely
greater 'works, the Pyramids. is allied closely
to the barbarous. They were constructed at
enormous sacrifice of life. The foundations
of St. Petersburg were laid by •levies of men
who perished by hundreds of thousands in the
work. One hundred thousand died of famine
only.
The civilization of the:Russian capital'is not
more than skin deep. Ono may see this any
day in the streets. The pavements are abom
inable. Only two or threo.streets are lighted
with gas; in the rest oil glimmers.---The oil
lamps are the dimmer for being subject to the
speculation of officials. Three wicks are char-
ged for and only two are burnt; the difference
is pocketed by the police. All the best shops
aro kept by foreigners, the native Ru-sian
shops being tuostly collected in a central IA-
zaar, Gostinoi Dwor, The shop keepers rip
peal to tho ignorance of a half-barbarous ua
tion by putting pieturos of their trades, over,
their doors; and in his shop a Russian tries. to
cheat with oriental recklessness. Every shop
in St. Petersburg contains a mirror for thei,ihe
of the customers..—.•.!Mirrors.," says the
lishwoman, "holil the same l osition in Russia.
as clocks, do in England. With us time ismal...l
usbie ;. *with them appearance. They care
though it be mainly false appearance." , They
USIT:IIZb A3la#ll3o
even paint their faces. The lower classes o"
women nse a groat deal of white paint, and,
as it contains mercury, it injures alike health
and skin. A young man paying his court to a
girl generally presents her with a box of red
and white paint, to improve her looks; and in
the upper classes, ladies are often tobeseen
by one another, as. they arrive at a house, Co
penly rouging their faces before entering the
drawing room.
These are small things indicative of an ex
tensive principle. rob r the Great undertook
to civilize Russia by a coup de main —A walk
is shown at St Petersburg along which he
made women march unveiled between files of
soldiery to accustom them ; to go unveile.
But civilization is not to be introduced into a
nation by imperial edict, and ever since Peter
the Great's time the Russian empire has been
laboring to stand for what it is not, namely,
the equivalent to nations that have become
civilized in the slow lapse of time. It can on
ly support, or attempt to support, this repu
tation by deceit. It must hide, or attempt to
bide—and it had hidden from many dyes with
much success its mass of barbarism, while by
clever and assiduous imitation, as well as by
pretensions cunningly sustained, it must put
forward a show of having what it only in some
few directions even strives to get.
The elements of Civilization Russia . , has, in
a copious language, soft and beautiful without
being effeminate, and a good-hearted people,
that would become a nobler people under bet
ter government: Their character is sustained
chiefly by ignorance and fear The best class
of Russians—especially those who are not
tempted by poverty to the meanness that in
Russia is. almost the only road to wealth—are
boundlessly hospitable, kindly, amiable almost
beyond the borders of sincerity, but not with
the design of being insincere. They aro hu
mane to their serfs ; and although this class
suffers in Russia troubles that surpass- those
of the negro slaves, it is not from the proper
gentleman and ladies of the '.cmintry that this
suffering directly comes. When the noble pro
prietor himself lives in the white house that
peeps from among tLe tree 8, bide by side with
the gilt dome tf its church, the slaves ell the
estate arc reasonably happy. It is not true
that a Russian gentleman is freaucthly
cuted. A Ittn•sian lady is 1:10V41' so. Of the
government functionaries, who form a large
class of the factitious nobility and gentry of
the empire, no good is to be said : they are
tempted to pillage and extortion under a syl . ,
tern that all radiates from a great centre of de
ceit. Ostentation is the rule. A post toaster,
a colonel in tank, receiving forty pounds
year, and without private °stet; is to be seen
keeping n carriage, four horses, two footmen
ZI:o 6.....a.avagant
ly dressed : she has two or three children, a
maid and a cook to keep ; but she can afford
to pay a costly visit every 'season to the capi
tal, This system of false pretensions ruins
the character of thousands upon thousands‘
It makes of Russia what it is,—a land eaten
up with fraud•and lying. Living near such a
colonel postmaster, the Englishwoman could
observe his mode of operation. He was about
to pay a visit to St. Petersburg, but wanted
money. His expedient was to send an tutor;
mous order for iron, for the use of govern
ment, to a rich iron-master in the town. The
iron-master knew that gold, not iron, was the
metal wanted ; and as ho dared not expose
himself to the anger of a government official, I I
he was glad to compromise the matter by the I
payment of a round sum of Silver roubles as
6ne for default in execution of the order. The
habit of ostentation—Larbarous in itself, which
destroys the usefulness and credit of the_em
ployeee of government tempts the poor nobles
aleo to a forfeiture of their own honor and self
respect.
It runs into everything. Even in the most
cultivated ()lasses, few Russians who have not
gone out of Russia The their knowledge are
really well informed. They have learned two
or three modern languages, and little else.
Yet they cultivate a tact in conversing with an
air of wisdom upon topics about which they
aro wholly uninfOrmed, an after an hour's sus
taiument of a false assumption show, perhaps,
by some senseleis qUestion that they cannot
have underatcood properly a syllable upon the
points under diacussicn.—Their.Amptiness of
mind is a political institution. "If three Rut
sians talk together, one is a spy," stands with
them as a social proverb. They are forbidden
to eXpreas their own opinions upon great move
ments in the world ; their censorship Oxcludes
from; them the 'noblest literature; they have
no common ground of conversation loft but the
Merits of actors and actresses, the Jests of the
lust farce or trashy comedy, or the state of
the Opera, in which place, by-the -by, such
, . ...
/
(Tors as, William Toll and Massanielo are per
hue d.with new libretti, from which all taint
lif -II 'or ty , harCbeen expunged.
.reeling the
l i t
wea nits of this the men shrug their shoulders
-dud thy,•,'l 4 What . would you have? We must
'l4 kiriLsznd talk , of the odd trick." While
ear, ,cenriti,fitortinn 1;a - ,s staying, with a friend
ly itnattin' iridy, eh 'Old gentleman called .to
blir'iow a few roubles, got them; and departed.
?'.kb, poor man, said thedadrorlaen he was ,
gone, "think bow unfortunate he has been.
He once possessed fourteen thousand 'slaves,
and he has lost them all at carda."-The Enr,„
lish visitor expressed regret that a man of his
years should he the prey of such a vice. "How
old do you think him?" was then asked. "Oh ,
sixty at the lemit.'"•Sixty ! lie is past
eighty, only he wears a wig, paints . his eye
brows, and rouges to make himself look
younger."
Dnmorotio.
Getting in at Night Without Making a
Noise:
'.The door was locked when I got home,"
said Tom, "a x -id how to get in without waking
up 'the governW was the difficulty. I knew
he'd give me 'particular fits' if he knew I was
out after ten, and the clock had just struck
one. The, back yard was an , impossibility,
and but one chance remained. There was a
porch over the front door, the roof of which
was a .few feet below two windows. One-of
them I knew was fastened down, and the
other opened from a bedroom, which might
or might not be occupied. An old maiden,
sister of -Jim's wife had arrived on the same
day, and it was Very probable that she was in
that room ; but I knew the bed was in a corner
the farthest from the winch w, and hoped I
would be able to get in and through the room
without awakening her, and then 1 had a com
paratively easy thing of it. So getting a plank
from a neighboring board pile, I rested it a
gainst the cave of the shed, pulled, off my shoes;
put them in my pocket, and then 'cooned up.'
All right so far, but I thought a necessary, in
order not to arouse any suspicion in the morn
ing, to remove the plank ; so dragging it up,
I threw off the end, and down it went with an
awful clatter on a stray dog that bad followed
me for two or three squares, who immediate
ly set up the most awful howl a whipped hound
ever gave tongue to. That started half a do
zen other dogs in the neighborhood barking :
a mocking-bird in the window above commen
ced singing as if he intended to split his throat
at it, and an old woman, in her night clothes,
with a candle in her hand, appeared at a win
dow across the street. I knew I was safe as
far es she was concerned, but if any one came
to our windows, the candle gave enough light
to very probably discover me. Nobody did
come, however, and the old lady, after peering
up and down the street for a minute or more,
popped her head in and retired.—The mock
ing-bird still kept up his eternal whistle, and
it was fully half an hour before it and the dogs
settled down to give me a chance to move.
Creeping slowly along the wall, till I reached
the window, I put my hands on the silt, sprung
up, and, with my head and shoulders within,
and my legs hanging out, stopped to listen.
Yes, she was in that room, for I could hear her
breathing. After waiting for a minute, I cau
tiously drew up ono leg, then the other, stewed
them round, and putting them down to the
floor, was just conscious that I had stepped on
something soft and yielding, and was about
withdrawing, them, when another yell broke
out at my feet; the old maid jumped up f om
herbed crying 'murder! murder!' and the dogs
and mocking-bird started again. I saw through
it all ; I had put my foot in it in more ways
than one. A little darkey woe lying on her
blanket, under the windoW, and I had stepped
on her face, and, of course, woke her up. I
decided in- a flash what to do. The house
would be aroused, and I caught, to a certain.-
ty, unless I could get to my room before the
governor was up, but I hadn't a moment to
lose, for the little nigger was yelling, and the
woman screaming, so I started for the door,
made three steps, and struck a chair; tumbled
over it, of course, made the awfullest racket
you over heard of in the 'dead hour of night,'
in a peaceable house; the nigger and the old
maid screamed louder than ever, the mocking
bird whistled like a steamer whistle, and the
dogs fairly made a chorus as loud as Julien's.
I reached the door, however, swiftly and qui
etly opened it, and just got outside in tirno to
see the old gentleman open his door, with a
candle in his band, and come hurrying up the
stairs. Not a moment was to be lost. There
was a wardrobe near where I stood,
l and I
sprang behind it. Up came the 'governor,'
reached the door, opened it, wont in, and in
the meantime there was all sorts of confusion
and inquiry as to what was the matter. No
body olso came up, though, and from where I
stood I beard every word of inquiry and ex
' planation in the room. Of course they couldn't
make much out, of it. The little darkoy was
too much frightened and too sound asleep at
the titan to understand the truth, and the Up
shot of the business was, that they concluded
she had been dreaming, and the 'governor,'
after giving her a sound spanking, and ex
plaining the matter to the aroused:neighbora,
from the window, .wont-down to • hie - roorit 'a
gain
"So far, so good. I now, had to go down
stairs, roach the back door, unbar it, get into
the yard, and make for my room, which was
in the second story of a back building that'
:d unconnected with it, and about a dozen
yards from the main one. After giving every
body another half hour to settle down again,
I started.--Boys, did you• ever try to go up or
down a pair of stairs, at midnight; without
waking a noise ? You- may- try all 'Sorts, of
ways, but every step is sure to crack, each
with a peculiar noise of its own, and loud e
nough, you are certain to waken everybody.
I had got nearly to the bottom, when a little
fists dog came trotting up the entry towards
me, yelling furiously. A suppressed 'Come
here, sir, you Zip,' silenced him, for ho recog
nized me ; but the fiste started the mocking
bird, and the dogs in the neighborhood hav
ing horned to take the cue. of course all join
ed chorus for the third time I ran along the
passage, reached the door, and • unlocked it.
just as the 'governor' aroused the second time,
opened his door.,ancl seeing a men escaping
from the house, by the back way, of course
cried 'Thieves ! Thicvs !' and made a rush af
ter me. I was too quick for him though, o
pened the door, sprang out,' broke for the door
that opened into the room below mine, and had
just reached it, When crash! within 'a foot of
my head went brick, and another voice, that
.1 knew belOnged to our next door neighbor.
Tomkins, joined the "governor" in the cry of
'Thieves! Thieves ! Murder ! Thieves ! I was
safe, though. Rushing up the stairs, I 'shell
ed' myself quicker than I ever did before or
since, and was in bed and sound asleep in less
than half a minute. Wasn't there a row
though ? I never heard so many dogs before,
the mocking-bird, of course, was outdoing all
previous efforts,' the chickens even began to
crow, Tornkins, next door, was hallowing
'Thieves !' and calling the 'governor,' I could
hear4Creams and all sorts of talking and noi
ses among the neighbors, until at length the
old gentleman's voice was beard in the yard
calling 'Tom ! Tom I' ,
"Tom was sound asleep—snoring !
"'Tom !' cried the old man in a voice that
would have roused a man from an epileptic fir.
"I judged it prudent to wake then, and
jumping from my bed raised the window, and
rubbing one eye, and looking particularly
frightened, (which I was) asked :
~ Why, father, what in the e the mat-
tor ?'
"'There's thieves in the house !' was the
reply ; 'get your gun and come down and be
quick !'
"'He's in that room below you, Tom !' hal
lowed Tomkine, 'l'm certain of it. I saw es
ho ran down, and throw a fire brick at him. I
know ho didn't pass that door, hl P. Jones'
"I was directed to look out for myself t' the
'governor' E tor d sentinel at the door below,
armed with a club, while Tomkins had ftvo
minutes to collect aid from the neighbors, and
in less than half the time so thoroughly was
every house alarmed, there was a dozen or
more men in the yard armed with guns, pis
tols, and sticks.
"The governor led the attack. Opening the
door, ho called, 'come out here, yon house
breaking scoundrel ! If you -attempt to run
or resist, I'll blow your brains out! Nobody
came, however.
"'Watch the door,' was the order, 'while I
go in;' and I was to 'look sharp,' and 'shoot
the rascal if he came up stairs.' A momenta-
ry search was sufficient to satisfy everybody
that the thief was not in that room.
"'He's up stairs, then,' cried Tomkins, 'for
I'll take my Bible Oath ho didn't pass that
door.'
"So up stairs they trdoped, but I hod lit a
candle by that time, and there was no bugbear
there. The strictest search, even to looking
under a bootjack, didn't show the faintest
trace of him. The yard was next examined,
then the house, and everybody being at length
tolerably well satisfied that ho had escaped,
the neighbors dispersed to their several homes,
but I was appointed as sentinel for the rest of
the night, and ordered not to go to sleep on
my post•under penalty of a flogging.
"The articles missing, on a thorough inves
tigation next day, were two pies, and the old
lady's silver thimble. The thimble turned up
in a week or two, being discovered under a
corner of the carpet, but the pies have never
been accounted for to this day.. On oath. I
could have given very materiel testimony as
to the disposition of the stolen property, but
as the case didn't come before any court, I re•
roamed quiet. •
"Didn't the local editors Zoom, though ! One
of them elongated himself through a quarter
of a column,-and headed the item, '4 Diaboli
cal and Alton - Out Antral)! at Burglary and
Murder P describing, with graphic particulars,
the 'fiendish attempt to throttle Miss—and
her servant.' complimented . the 'coolness and
resolution of R: Tomkins, Esq.,' and perorate('
with a Ivithering anathema on the want of vigi•
lance displayed by the pelice„
“It was fun for me to see with what wide 11:.
wake sagacity. the watch 'used to atop at tbo
front door and listen, during their nightly
rounds, for a month after ; and you oouldn't
have bribed a youngster to go; under tlitt porch,
'on any account', after dark; :,The excitement
died away,
.thougb, after a while,
or forgot the night I tried to. get in 'without
making a noise.' "-- ” 'O.`A. P.
•Lchnsvium,
Gil