PLANNING THE RIDE. 43 



" Because if one man kills another, you hang him. 

 If a Russian commits murder, we only put him in 

 prison and we don't care much if he escapes alto- 

 gether ! " 



"But you send political offenders to Siberia." 



" It is true, for to plot against the Czar is treason, 

 and treason in other countries is punishable with 

 death." Strange to say, I had heard this same view of 

 the case several times since my arrival in Russia. It 

 is curious logic from our point of view that a govern- 

 ment is good because it lays a light hand on the mur- 

 derer and a heavy one on a political offender. 



But I am wandering away from the railway. 



The result of the Emperor Nicholas's arbitrary 

 survey is that many of the stopping places are nothing 

 but platforms for the taking on and putting off of pas- 

 sengers and freight for distant points. Such stations 

 as there are, are of wood, comfortable and artistic 

 structures, where painters with yellow paint seem to be 

 always painting the sides, and painters with red paint 

 always painting the roofs. Small parks and gardens, 

 and even fountains, embellish the two or three more 

 pretentious stations along the route. 



At all the stations the buffets are excellent, and the 

 service reasonable. The railway buffets are one of the 

 best things in Russia. In the larger cities, a great 

 many people go there to eat instead of to restaurants. 

 The privileges of the buffets are let out to large 

 caterers, like the Spiers & Pond railway buffets in 

 England. The results in Russia are excellent. 



The waiters are chiefly Tartars, — bright, attentive 

 young men, — who, I believe, receive no salary, but 



