182 By Stream and Sea. 



square of soldiers and suddenly sombre forms would leap a 

 foot up and down with a decidedly Jack-in-the-box effect. 

 In front of every regiment at the march-past rode four or 

 five mounted gendarmes, their horses always being par- 

 ticularly good. First came a regiment of cadets whose 

 march soon became a scramble, and the marine cadets 

 were not a whit superior. Prince Oldenburg's regiment of 

 Imperial Guards was the first real specimen of Russian 

 soldiery which passed. The marching of the Russian soldier 

 — and no better example could be given — is not so free 

 and swingy as either the English or Prussian steps, but it is 

 good, solid, steady tramping, and the dressing is generally 

 all that the most critical officer could wish. It is to-day a 

 work of some difficulty to march the troops off the ground 

 through different outlets, and perhaps it is well that the 

 Emperor should not see the rough-and-tumble manner in 

 which some of the men wheel and form. 



The regiments carried a number of small flags affixed to 

 their bayonets for the purpose of marking position on parade-, 

 and the gay-coloured little bannerets were some relief to the 

 everlasting brown-grey masses. The second, the Simon 

 regiment, came by at the double, as if glad beyond measure 

 to get back to barracks and rations. The Finlanders ran 

 by the Emperor and his party with a sharp shout. The 

 sharp shouts of course are precisely as numerous as the 

 regiments, and if you were not aware that it is the pre- 

 scribed formula of invoking a blessing on the Czar, you 

 would take them to mean applause from an admiring public. 

 The- Finlanders were fair, strong, bony-faced men, who 

 plunged along like elephants. By this time it snowed hard, 

 and the regiments were white-bearded and powdered. 



In the second division there was the famous ' Moscow 

 regiment, the Emperor Paul's regiment of Guards, wearing 



