ST. PETERSBURG. 9 



however, refuses to accept this practical view of the 

 matter in all cases. And there certainly passed by the 

 cafe window many a couple who, oblivious of the public 

 eye, betrayed a decidedly sentimental interpretation of 

 the relations between waist and arm. So prevalent is 

 this custom that an exception excites attention. 



About five per cent, of the ladies, old or young, who 

 passed by the cafe window were victims of the tooth- 

 ache and had a swollen and bandaged jaw. Tooth- 

 ache is the commonest malady of the St. Petersburg 

 fair sex. The St. Petersburg girl of the period stays 

 up late, lies abed till noon, takes no exercise, and lives 

 on sweets and pickles. Her punishment is the tooth- 

 ache, dentist's bills, a toothless old age, and a very bad 

 complexion. Good teeth are rare with city ladies, and 

 a fresh complexion is seldom seen on the streets. 



Half the men who passed were in uniform and, warm 

 as it was, like the isvoshchics, wore big overcoats. 

 The wearing of overcoats in summer is a Russian 

 peculiarity. One of our popular impressions of the 

 Russian is that he can stand more cold than a polar 

 bear. Such, however, is not the case, at all events with 

 the city Russian. An American or European who 

 visits St. Petersburg or Moscow in the winter can stand 

 the cold better than a resident. He can stand it out- 

 doors with thinner clothes on, and is altogether less 

 sensitive to the nose-nipping Russian frost. The Rus- 

 sian becomes a polar bear in winter, not because he 

 can stand the cold, but because he cannot. 



All the people in military uniforms who passed by, 

 however, were not soldiers. You see little shavers of 

 ten or twelve years old trudging along in military over- 



