As all these caresses are given and received with the greatest cheerfulness, and amidst smiles and handshakings, as if they saw each other for the first time after a long separation, or after some hea^^ and long-endured misfortune, it may be easily imagined how many gay and amusing scenes are passing in the streets and houses. " Christohs vosskress, Yefim Stephanovitsch' (Christ is risen, Euphem Stephen's son), bawls one bearded fellow to another. ^^ Voyst venno vosskress T' (Is he really risen ?) Then they seize each other's hand, embrace heartily, and finish with '^ Padyom v'kahak hraV (Let us go to the pubhc-house, brother) ; and to the publichouse they go, where the brandy runs as freely as the clear water in Mahomet's paradise. It is an exaggeration, however, to assert, as some travellers have done, that, under the shield of " Christohs vosskress," any stranger is at liberty to salute any unknown fair one. It is true that even in the higher circles some elderly gentlemen will take advantage of the season, and give occasion for some badinage among the young ladies, though it is never taken amiss. I once saw in a provincial town in Russia the sentinel at the gate, after he had examined the basket or cart of the peasant girls, salute every one in a very grave and business-like manner, and he assured me that he did so throughout the week. The coachman and other male servants kiss the children of their masters without ceremony, but oidy the hands of the grown-up daughters ; the domestics on these occasions fill their pockets with painted eggs, one of which is presented to every one they salute, or from whom a trifling doucem may be expected in return.
That all scenes at Easter are not quite so cheerful or so peaceable may be well imagined, when we consider how freely the eau de vie (it might more properly be named eau de mort) flows during this period. To be intoxicated at Easter finds excuse every where, and it is carried so far, in Little Russia particularly, that whole villages are often drunk at once. Of course, much scandal is caused thereby. Servants run away, or are sent away, on account of excesses committed at Easter. The German families complain sadly ; many are left at this time altogether without domestic assistance, as there is no bridling a Russian at Easter ; and yet, with all this universal uproariousness, there is certainly less crime committed than there would be any where else. A Russian Easter in England or Italy would be a regular period of bloodshed ; but, owing to the natural good temper and peaceableness of the Russian national character, there is here far more to excite laughter or repulsion than fear or indignation.
In the capital of the Ukraine, I was once passing the gate through which a crowd of persons of both sexes were staggering, and all as drunk as they could well be. As I stood stiU to look at them, and shook my head, one of the hindmost, in the same condition as the rest, approached me, and taking off his hat, " Drunk, sir; "it is a holiday; forgive them, sir — pray forgive them; pray, sir, don't be angry — forgive us! God has given us a holiday." There was no getting rid of him till I gave him my hand, and promised to forgive what I as a foreigner could have no right to punish. Another time I saw, in another city, a drunken man take off his hat to the governor in the public square, fall on his knees, and, seizing the dignitary's hand, exclaim, " Ah, I'm drunk, your excellency; it is a holiday, but I beg you will have me beaten; I have drunk too much, indeed; pray, your excellency, do punish me!" Nor could the governor get rid of his singular petitioner till he had given him a reprimand.
But enough of these grosser matters ; turn we rather to the countless throng of brilliant equipages that fill the streets, all driving, hurrying, flying to court, to kissing, to church, and to the Katsheli. Yes, the Katsheli, for in Easter week it returns again with all its whirling, twirling, swinging, and nut cracking. The ice-mountains and sledges are no more, but in their stead come oranges and ices !
In fact, to judge from the immense quantity of oranges that are to be seen heaped upon the stalls at Easter, one would think that the garden of the Ilesperides lay directly before the gates of St. Petersburg, or that they grew throughout Russia like birch and pine trees. Whence they all come to be sold at so reasonable a rate, I know as little as I do how all the Champagne is procured that is drunk in Russia as freely as if that province had been long a part of \q Russian empire. It is a certain fjict, however, that in Russia, to the very frontiers of Siberia, all the places where the fairs are held at Easter, seem inundated with oranges and lemons.