Big People and Little People of Other Lands Part 5

RUSSIA.

"Your nose! your nose, sir!" This is a cry often heard in the streets of Russia.

Russia is a very large country. Part of it is in Europe. A great part of it is very cold. When a person in the cold part of Russia goes out riding in winter, he has to cover his face, all except the nose and eyes. Sometimes his nose gets very cold, and would freeze if some one did not cry out, "Your nose, sir!" Why? When one's nose gets so cold, it becomes numb. It has no feeling. One would not know that it was freezing if some person did not cry out. The cold nose must then be rubbed with snow. You would think this a strange way to keep it from freezing, but it is the best way to take out the frost.

There are many kinds of houses in Russia. The houses have to be made very warm. So they are built with double walls. In rich people's houses they have stoves like ours. But in the poor people's houses the stoves are built of brick. They always burn wood, for coal costs too much in Russia. The stoves are sometimes built very high. Often they are as high as the ceiling. Sometimes people lie on top of the great stove to keep themselves warm.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Russian Carriage.]

In most of the houses in the country, they have no beds. There are benches along the wall, which they use both for chairs and beds. In some houses the children sleep on the floor on pieces of felt.

Most of the people in Russia are farmers. They raise a great deal of wheat. The people in many other countries get wheat from Russia.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Russian Farmer and his Family.]

The children have to wear very warm clothes because it is so cold the greater part of the year. Their coats are lined with fur. In winter the children in the towns have great fun on the ice hills. Ice hills are made in all the towns.

First they build a high tower, and down from the top of it they make a steep hill. Blocks of ice are laid on this hill and water is poured over them. The water freezes, and thus the ice hill is made. On one side of the ice hill there is a place to draw up the sleds. The boys and girls start at the top, and down they go with merry laughing and shouting! So you see they have fine sport on their ice hills.

When the children are not playing on the ice hills, they go skating or sleighing.

In some parts of Russia they have funny ferryboats. When the rivers are frozen over in winter, the boats cannot sail on them. Then the people use chairs instead of boats. There are warm covers on the chairs, and men on skates push them across the ice. It costs less than one cent to ride across a river in one of these chairs.

In St. Petersburg they build an ice palace every winter. St.

Petersburg is the largest city in Russia. It is the place where the emperor lives. The Emperor of Russia is sometimes called the Czar.

They make the ice palace with square blocks of ice. They put the blocks together and pour water between them. When the water freezes, the wall is solid like a wall of brick or stone. Everything inside the palace is made of ice. There are ice stairs and ice tables, and ice chairs, and beautiful flowers made of ice. Warm rugs of fur are put on the chairs so that people who sit on them may not be cold. Often there are grand b.a.l.l.s and parties in this beautiful palace of ice.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Russian Family.]

In summer, too, the boys and girls in Russia have a good time. The boys have wrestling matches, for they are strong.

The girls have a game like ring-around-a-rosy. They also have a game much like our seesaw. A girl stands on each end of a board. Then one girl jumps up and comes down on the board. This sends the other girl up, and in her turn she comes down on the board and sends the first girl up. And so they play on, going up and down. This is not an easy game to play. It is some time before the girls can do it well. Some girls are so skillful at this game that they can keep jumping a long time without falling.

Some people in Russia have very queer cradles for their babies. One kind of cradle is a basket which hangs by ropes from the ceiling.

Another kind of cradle is made of cloth sewed to a wooden frame. This cradle also hangs from the ceiling.

In some places in Russia the nurses who take care of the babies wear dresses to show whether the baby is a girl or a boy. If it is a boy the nurse wears a blue dress. If it is a girl the nurse wears a pink dress.

There are not schools in all parts of Russia, but in some places there are good schools, and the children learn to read and write.

I must not forget to tell you of the great bell in Russia. It is the largest bell in the world. It is in Moscow, a very old city of Russia, and it is called the great bell of Moscow. But it has never been rung, for it was cracked in the side when it was being made. It is nearly twenty feet high, and is now used as a chapel.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Great Bell at Moscow.]

The next largest bell in the world is also in Moscow. This bell is hung up in a church; and when they ring it, the sound is heard all over the city like the rolling of thunder.

SWITZERLAND.

Switzerland is a land of mountains and hills and valleys and beautiful lakes and streams. Every year many people go from all parts of the world to see the beautiful Swiss mountains and valleys.

Sometimes large ma.s.ses of snow and ice, mixed with earth, fall or slide down the sides of the mountains with a loud crash. As they slide, they tear away rocks and trees, and bury houses and villages beneath them.

These ma.s.ses of snow and ice are called avalanches.

[Ill.u.s.tration: An Avalanche.]

Snow falls all the year round on the tops of the mountains in Switzerland. As the snow falls, it packs down hard and changes into ice. At last it becomes a great ma.s.s of ice, and slides very slowly down the sides of the mountains into the valleys. These ma.s.ses of ice are called glaciers. They move so slowly that you cannot tell they are moving by looking at them. But by driving a stake down, you can see, after a long time, that the ice has moved a little way.

A great many of the people in Switzerland live by keeping cattle and sheep and goats. Their houses are in the valleys. But in spring, when the snow begins to melt and the gra.s.s begins to grow, the men drive their flocks up the mountain sides to feed. There they stay till the end of summer. The men take with them a supply of food, and they sleep in huts on the mountain side.

There is a kind of goat in Switzerland called the chamois. It lives high up in the mountains. It is very hard to hunt the chamois, for it can go into places where a man cannot follow it. It can leap very nimbly from one rock to another. It can go up and down a rough mountain side.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Chamois.]

In the summer the chamois feeds on herbs and flowers. In winter it eats the shoots and buds of pine trees. It is very fond of salt.

There is a kind of stone in the mountains that is partly made of salt.

The chamois licks these stones to get the salt.

The chamois feed together in herds of fifteen or twenty. One of them is always on the watch to give notice if anybody comes to hunt them.

When it sees any one coming, it stamps on the ground with its fore feet and makes a sharp cry. Then all start off. They leap from crag to crag till they are far out of danger.

The skin of the chamois is very soft. It is made into a fine, soft leather. This leather is called shammy leather. Have you ever seen a piece of shammy leather? The flesh of the chamois is very good to eat.

The people in Switzerland use a great deal of milk and b.u.t.ter and cheese for their food. They also have potatoes and bread and fruit.

They eat very little meat.

The Swiss houses are made of wood. Stones are often put on the roofs.

The stones keep the s.h.i.+ngles from being torn off by the wind. The Swiss are very neat and clean. On every window sill there are flowerpots, for the Swiss are very fond of flowers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Swiss House.]

In every village in Switzerland there is a school. The Swiss have very good schools. The boys and girls must go to school when they are six years old. They learn all that we learn in our schools. There are also schools where the boys are taught trades. The boys and girls go to school only eight months in the year. So they have four months'

vacation.

After school, the boys help to take care of the sheep and goats and cattle. The girls help about the housework. All find plenty to do.

But the Swiss boys and girls have some time for play as well as for work and school. They often have holidays. One of their greatest holidays is the day that the men come home from the mountains with their flocks. The boys and girls go out to meet them. They sing songs. The bells ring, and flags wave. Everybody is merry and happy.

The children in Switzerland have a great many pretty toys. Some of their toys are made to play music. The Swiss make all kinds of music boxes.

In Switzerland, instead of a king, they have a president, as we have.

And in past times they had brave men who fought to make their country free. One of their great men was William Tell. The Swiss love his name as strongly as we love the name of George Was.h.i.+ngton.