Provincial Russia . nse watch for a greyish-brown bodymoving heavily but rapidly through the snow, withhead turned toward the terrifying red flags. Insuch a case, if a fox appears first, you let it pass;on the other hand, if a ring is made for a fox, anda wolf appears, you shoot. It is sometimes usefulto know that a skilled beater can drive a wolftowards whatever gun he pleases. Clear, calm days come often in the course ofa Russian winter. It would be difficult to namea preference for any one of the Russian seasons—the winter ; or the spring; or the summer, with itswhite nights in this norther
Provincial Russia . nse watch for a greyish-brown bodymoving heavily but rapidly through the snow, withhead turned toward the terrifying red flags. Insuch a case, if a fox appears first, you let it pass;on the other hand, if a ring is made for a fox, anda wolf appears, you shoot. It is sometimes usefulto know that a skilled beater can drive a wolftowards whatever gun he pleases. Clear, calm days come often in the course ofa Russian winter. It would be difficult to namea preference for any one of the Russian seasons—the winter ; or the spring; or the summer, with itswhite nights in this northern country, and its dustyroads ; or the autumn, with its shooting and fishing,with the forests turning gorgeously yellow, whenfirst the nightingale, then the quail, and then thecorncrake, cease crying. Many would declare forthe spring, when the woods sound afresh with thelong-silenced notes of birds; when the rivers aretransformed from stagnant pools to brown massesof swirling water; when grass and bushes and trees. THE NORTH 33 grow and bud wath a rapidity, especially in thenorth, almost visible to the human eye, and adornthemselves in ever more and more brilliant greenery;when there is a never-ceasing movement on thewater, in the fields, the forest, and the sky, untilat last, as Aksakoff says, Nature attains her fullmagnificence, and, as it were, of herself grows for country dwellers in Russia, though theyare spared the changing agony of the doubtfulspring familiar to inhabitants of these isles, thisseason has one great drawback. It is the time ofrasputitsa, when through melting snow the roadsare impossible for either wheels or sledge, andmany villages can be approached only by am half disposed to decide for the winter. Itis true that Russia is rightly termed the Land ofthe North, for by climatic conditions it is virtuallyshifted several degrees nearer the pole than itsactual geographical position. The Lapps havereason for including in their vocabulary twenty
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Keywords: ., bookauthorstewarth, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1913
