64 RUSSIA THEN AND NOW 



repast, including wine, beer, or vodka at the outset. 

 When everyone has finished, the hostess asks if the 

 party would like to spend the hour before the ensuing 

 breakfast in the garden or on a stroll. Then one 

 discovers that the feast just ended is only preliminary 

 and that the real lunch is yet to come. I may mention 

 that the usual form among Russians is to thank the 

 hostess at the end of the repast and to kiss her hand. 

 It is allowed to degenerate foreigners to substitute 

 the handshake, if preferred. 



From Tovorkova we started on a tour through 

 a number of districts in the Government of Tula 

 and Kursk, in an ancient phaeton drawn by three 

 stout horses. My companion was Count Paul 

 Bobrinskoy, a handsome fellow, twenty-four years 

 of age. We visited peasants, their fields, cows, 

 horses, and workers. Over dreadfully bad roads 

 we were jolted and knocked about, going through 

 Suckromna, Buturke, Muravlauke, Beresevka, 

 and Karidzena to Orlovka. In all these places 

 there were evidences of extreme poverty and of 

 welcome relief through the past three months. 



At Muravlauke a stop made at a public house 

 for change of horses I utilized for a little personal 

 refreshment. Our lunch, which we had brought 

 with us, was unfolded in the midst of a curious, 



