JOURNEY FROM ST. PETERSBURG. 3 



region, engaged in works of engineering, which brought 

 him into an extensive knowledge of the treatment of 

 forests there as this appeared seen from outside the 

 forest service, placed at my service copious notes preserved 

 by him of what he had witnessed, and he was a man of 

 close, accurate, and deep observation ; a Russian nobleman 

 also for whom I have a high esteem, who is the owner of 

 valuable mines and extensive forests in the Government 



Church of England to the more simple ritual followed in the British and American 

 Chapel, spent day after day, week after week, translating with me and for me reports 

 and papers relative to forests and forestry in all parts of the empire. And in my 

 residence among them in the summer of 1882 we had periodical botanical lectures and 

 excursions attended by young men and maidens, old men and children, in numbers rang- 

 ing from twenty to forty on the excursions, and from fifty to eighty at the lectures. In 

 these excursions we visited numerous localities within thirty miles of the city, easily 

 reached by river steamer or other conveyance ; and usually provision of tea and cake 

 for all was made by some member of the congregation, the partaking of which was 

 generally followed by the doxulogy, sung spontaneously at one of the first gatherings, 

 and afterwards continued : 



' Praise God from whom all blessings flow ; 



Praise Him all creatures here below ; 



Praise Him above ye heavenly host ; 



Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.' 



And some time after I had got home Ireceived from the secretary of the; church a letter, 

 of which the following is a copy : 



' British and American Chapel, St. Petersburg, December 2nd, 1332. 



' Dear Dr Brown. At our monthly meeting held last evening I was directed by the 

 unanimous voice of the church to convey to you an assurance of its gratitude for the 

 services which you so willingly and ably rendered it last summer during the absence 

 of our esteemed pastor. 



'The pleasure which I feel in the performance of so agreeable a task would be com- 

 plete were I not conscious of a sad dearth of terms in which to give expression to the 

 deep sense of obligation towards you under which the church feels itself placed. It 

 does not forget that it owes its existence and its privileges in a great measure to \our 

 untiring energy and devoted zeal in the great work of binding together in the bonds 

 of Christian fellowship the members of the Christian church. It also remembers with 

 gratitude that during its somewhat chequered existence you have remained a true 

 friend and a loving counsellor. It wa^ remarked by one of our oldest members last 

 evening that you built the church. This was a happy metaphor, and it must have 

 occurred to the minds of many present that you had never failed to embrace every 

 opportunity to lend a helping hand towards keeping the church which you built in 

 good repair. 



' Your last visit perhaps more than any which preceded it has been the cause of 

 heartfelt thanksgiving to Almighty God for His goodness in preserving to the church 

 so trusty a friend and so willing a helper. The record of your prayers, your counsel, 

 and your sympathy, is kept within us. The recollection of your visit refreshes and 

 encourages us. It will, perhaps, be a matter of special interest to you to learn that 

 the pains you bestowed in introducing the younger members of the community to the 

 beauties which botany reveals have not been lost ; your happy application, to each 

 individual life, of the truths which nature teaches told upon your audience, and the 

 members of it are grateful to you for opening their eyes to much that is loveable and 

 instructive in the world around them, and which formerly they heedlessly passed by. 



' We, as a church, earnestly pray that you ruay long be spared to continue your 

 labours in the cause of Christ, and for the advancement of learning, that your declining 

 years may be years made bright and joyous by theconvut m that you are approaching 

 a haven of rest rest from trouble, from sorrow, not from work, for 



