CHAPTER XXXVIII 



OFFICIAL LIFE IN ST. PETERSBURG 1892-1894 



THE difficulties of a stranger seeking information in 

 Russia seem at times insurmountable. First of 

 these is the government policy of suppressing news. For 

 eign journals come to ordinary subscribers with para 

 graphs and articles rubbed out with pumice or blotted out 

 with ink; consequently our Russian friends were wont to 

 visit the legation, seeking to read in our papers what had 

 been erased in their own, and making the most amusing 

 discoveries as to the stupidity of the official censorship: 

 paragraphs perfectly harmless being frequently blotted 

 out, and really serious attacks on the government un 

 noticed. 



Very striking, as showing control over the newspaper 

 press, was an occurrence during my first summer at Hels- 

 ingf ors. One day our family doctor came in, and reported 

 a rumor that an iron-clad monitor had sunk, the night be 

 fore, on its way across the gulf from Reval. Soon the 

 story was found to be true. A squadron of three ships 

 had started; had encountered a squall; and in the morn 

 ing one of them an old-fashioned iron-clad monitor- 

 was nowhere to be seen. She had sunk with all on board. 

 Considerable speculation concerning the matter arose, 

 and sundry very guarded remarks were ventured to the 

 effect that the authorities at Cronstadt would have been 

 wiser had they not allowed the ship to go out in such a 

 condition that the first squall would send her to the bot 

 tom. This discussion continued for about a week, when 



101 



