148 TAMBOF AND KIRSANOF 



of the higher classes, and Lettisch that of the peasants. The 

 family gradually lost their French ties and are now thoroughly 

 German. He has strong English sympathies, as his father 

 was educated in England, and greatly prefers European 

 modes of thought and life to those of Asia. He is a tall, 

 good-looking and rather slight man of about sixty-six years 

 of age, and is broad-minded, kind-hearted, and a lover of 

 horses. With about forty-nine years' service, he is the oldest 

 colonel in the Russian army, and he and his most excellent 

 wife are eating their hearts out in their four or five rooms in 

 the dreary barracks of Tambof (Fig. 30), till the military 

 authorities see fit to make him a general. One of his sons 

 is an officer in a Russian cavalry regiment ; another is at 

 a military college ; and his two daughters are away with 

 friends in their far-off Lifland home. As compensations for 

 a monotonous life of petty detail and for an exile in an out- 

 of-the-way spot void of social intercourse and intellectual 

 recreation, he receives 200 guineas a year and the distinc- 

 tion of being a colonel. I was sorry for him, and still 

 more so for his good and charming wife, who is a thorough 

 German lady of the best sort in her fond admiration for her 

 worthy husband. While I was at Tambof, Colonel Hubbenet 

 never ceased in his kind endeavours to make my stay 

 pleasant, and he succeeded admirably. When I was leaving, 

 he said that he looked upon me as an old friend, and hoped 

 that I would bear them both in remembrance, which I 

 certainly shall always clo. Among the many other nice 

 officers at Tambof, I may mention the names of Rotmistr 

 Schevschenko, who draws well and photographs, and Stab 

 Rotmistr Baumgarten, who gave me a great deal of practical 

 assistance at my breaking, in which he was much interested. 



With the kind countenance of Colonel Hubbenet and 

 the goodwill of the other officers, I did a lot of nice work 

 at Tambof, especially in breaking in a couple of difficult 



