A CITY OF CONTRASTS.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 7752, 22 July 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

A CITY OF CONTRASTS.

PETROGRAD IN WINTER AND SUMMER. The contrast between summer anl winter is more acute in Petrograd than n any other capital in the world. Peter the Great ordained that the rew capital of Russia should be built on tho mudy delta of the Neva —a position so swampy that whole forests of pin?? trunks had to he driven into tho soil before even the plans for the new city < oitld he contemplated. It would-he difficult to say exactly what induced tho Czar to choose this spot for his capital, but the fact that the Neva commands the whole of the Baltic was doubtless prominently before h's mind. Yet in summer the climate of Petrograu is so unpleasant that only those who are unable to rent a country villa reside in tho civ during that period. The melting of the winter snows in the upper reaches of the Neva render the c»tv , tremely unhealthy and severe floods are of frequent occurrence. Indeed, so serious ar? these periodical inundat'ons thftt a gun is fired at the fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul for every metro the water rises, so that citizens living in low-lying areas may have time to move to other levels. As r* other northern cit es the sun never really s* ts during the summer months, and in the winter it only rises above the horizon for a very brief space each day. For five short months the trade of the ,-ity is in full swing, and then comes that dreary period when the Hal tic is frozen over, and the waters of the river cv.se to flow between the Neva Quays: V LONG WINTER NIGHT. It is in the latter part of September that winter makes ts first appearance in Petrograd. Scarcely have the floods subsided when slight night frosts oc- ’■ -lit Imcasue a i<cmger&» t f tu nty degrees below aero u by no means unusual during a Russian v, inter. The arrival of frost, however, rks the period when preparations or i 1 , ong dn i k winter must begin. As is the case in many Alpine villages Russian houses ore provided with double windows and doors ; and tho “ e!os r ng of the windows’* is an all-im-portant measure to which every Petro- •_ radian must attend the moment the first indication of winter appears. The operation consists in hermetically sealing the outer casements so as to exc!ud ‘ all possihil ty of draughts, and a layer of MMid is then sprinkled on the I tgs which separates it from tho framework of the inner panes. A small ire ib left of course, for purposes <>f ventMation, hut with this exception the windows are kept dosed until the (•Hewing spring. Variations of temperature occur suddenly 'n tliis part Russia ; autumn weather may continue for a few more weeks, hut one day tho thermometer drops far below aero, tho sky becomes overcast, aud small lim'd flakes begin to fall. In an hour, tho i ity is covered with a mantle of white, luit the storm continues for whole dnj/r and nights without ceasing. Then t is that tho stoves are lit in the housed, to Im* kept burning until the arrival i f aw and the «inter may ho saM to have begun ill earliest. The arrival of the snow signifies h complete change in the life of tho cP-7 Tho tram-lines aiv only kept free by the constant use of snow ploughs, and with tho exception of a few taxis and an occasional carriage all wheeled traffic is suspended. Heavy wooden rollers are trundled up and down the streets to render the surlmjo of tlm k ids hard and smooth, and temporary < urhs. made t*l pine trunks lashed t•,iit laid near the pavements to kidding sleighs from injuring i.edestnans. But alter good roads have I, mad.* all further snow-falls are , h ared away, so the respective levels of the roadway and tlu* pavement may rei,|||(, ,;ime, Wvr* it not for tho n, m l»!o of tramcars and the tinkle of thesl eigh bells the noise of the traffic would t.'as<* entirely. A's it is Petrograd is probably the quietest city in the world at ths season, the sloigh runner-? making only a pleas'ng “sing as they glide over the snow. Everyone, of course, is attired in furs, and it s often so cold that the drosky-dnver lias to provide some protection for Ins " Xs in otlier Russian cities the street* and squares of Petrograd are wide and spacious, and when the cold becomes very severe braziers of tire two placed at : ntcrvals in the Nevsky Prospect and other important thoroughfares so that the police and city officials ought warm tliems?lvps from tme to tunc. But wli.it would at first appear strange to tho Britisher, with his very limited experience of severe winters, is that tailings and all other street uonwork are in fully covered with leather. Ibis ;s lon oiha I people may not let their handa com© into contact with the as the cold is often so intense that their flesh would freeze to its surface. It is for a similar reason, too, that, the Petrogradian never smokos a. pipe in the open at this season, '* h'*.ng welt-known that the mouth-piece would literally freest' to his lips. A FROZEN HIGHWAY. Anyone glancing at the swiftly-flow-ing w it.'i-Hof the Neva during the summer months would arrive at the court listen that it would never freeze. Ihe liver swirls itself into foam as t rushes mb r the bridges in its anxiety to r. nr li tin* son, but in spite of tho efforts .f I «iwerlu! mod.‘ill ice-breakers it has • 1 , been found p< fusible to keep a narrow «luinnel opvn hetwv*en Pc frograd and Schlisselburg for it lew' Mouths of the winter. Once tile suriiicr of the river has frozen tho th ek--11, -> of the ici* increases so rapidly that id :i .-lmrt time tram-lines may be laid acrovs it' surfai *, near the bridge of >t. Nicholas. The frozen river a.t once Min s tho grout highway for traffic. \[\ ria.-scs avoid tile streets of tile cuv win never possible. They prefer llio : wrlace of the river, i.long w h i li lamps are placed at intec\a!s. It is owing to the freezing of the Nc\.!. that only two permanent iron l.i'tlgvs span its surface; in the sum- , pontoon bridges ano swung across i at various points, but they arc re- . ived the moment winter arrives, . v the force w th whic lithe ice-floes arc carried down the rver is sufliefeut tJ ■all lief ore them. In times of peace, winter is a gay P rograd. It is then that • he Court arrives, and the Czar spends •;»,.'st of his time at the Winter Puluce, ! is luxurious home, facing the fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul, hut wh'ch is mow doing >,<*rv : oo as the Czarevitch Alexis Hospital. Winter sports are indulged in by all classes. Tobobggan ■ • “hills” of a kind with which every Canadian is familiar are set up in the parks and squares, and the noise of doites resounds at all hours of the dnv and light from the frozen Nova. But tlv*r is no gaiety in Petrograd to-day. AH Russia is working ns one to help tho wounded who arrive de.dy from its w. 1 stern battlefields, and even the tramcars in Petrograd are now’ being ••mployed to convey them from stnt'on to hospital. General Winter lias taken command of the Russian front, and it is to Im lioped that ere the sun aga : n gilds the domes and peristyles of the Cathedral of St. Inane our Ally’s hosts will tf'nce for all have turned the tide of invasion in the Fast.