CHAPTER XII. 



MEMORIES OF THE NEVA. 



| NE of the new sensations a stranger visiting St. 

 Petersburg for the first time experiences, is a diffi- 

 culty in reckoning time. In chronology, if in- 

 nothing else, Western Europe is a fortnight ahead of the 

 great Russian Empire. It thus falls to my lot for the first 

 time to celebrate two New Year's Days within the space 

 of a month. It is New Year's Day in St. Petersburg, and 

 the people are blithe and merry, as is their custom on the 

 occasion. . Thirteen days ago— although in these strange 

 surroundings it seems as many years — I " saw in " the New 

 Year amongst my own English kith and kin, and now I 

 have, a second time watched the departure of one - year and 

 the advent of another, not -under mistletoe and holly, but in 

 a sledge. We literally rang out the Old and rang in the 

 New, but it was with the musical tinkle of sledge bells as we 

 bounded over the snow. 



Three individuals make a very comfortable party for 

 sleighing, that is to say, comfortable, if the three are of the. 

 same sex, and there is no necessity to remember that s. 



