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Show A DArtING PEAT. Remarkable lor its spire, the loftiest of St. Petersburg, is the church of St. Peter and St. Paul. An anecdote connected with this church and not known, I believe, out of Russia, is worth telling. I lie spire, which rises l.ofty, and light, and small," And is probably represented in an engraving en-graving as litdius away almost into a point iu the sky, is in reality' terminated termina-ted by a globe of considerable dimensions, dimen-sions, ou which an angel stands supporting sup-porting a large cross. This angel was out of repair, and some suspicions were entertained that he designed visiting, vis-iting, uninvoked, the surface of the earth. The affair caused some uneasiness, uneas-iness, and the government at length became greatly perplexed. To raise a scaffolding to such a bight would cost a large sum of money, aud in meditating meditat-ing fruitlessly on this circumstance, without knowing how to act, sometime was suffered to elapse. Among the crowd of gazers below, who daily turned their eyes aud thoughts toward the angel was amujik called Telouchkine. This man was a roofer of houses (a slater, as he would bo called iu countries where slates wero used); and his speculations by degrees assumed a more practical character than the idle wonders and conjectures of the rest of the crowd. Tho spiro was entirely covered with sheets of gilded copper, and presented to the eye a surface as smooth as if it had been one mass of burnished gold. But Telouchkine knew that the sheets of copper were not even uniformly closed upon each other, and, above all, that there were large nails used to fasten fas-ten tbeiu, which projected from the side of the spire. Having thought of these circumstances till his miud wis made up, Telouchkine went to the government and offered to repair the angel without assistance, on condition of being reasonably paid for the time expended iu the labor. The offer was accepted. The day fixed for the adventure arrives. ar-rives. Telouchkine, provided with nothing more than a coil of ropes, ascends as-cends tho spire in the interior to the last window. Here ho looks down at the concourse of the people below and up at the glittering "needle," as it is called, tapering far above his head. But his heart does not fail him, and, stepping bravely out upon the window, bo sets about his task. He cuts a portion of the cord in the form of two large stirrups, with a loop at each cud. The upper loops he fastens upon two of the projecting nails above his head and places his feet in the others. Then digging the fingers of one hand into the interstices of the sheets of copper, he raises one of the stirrups with the other hand, so as to make it catch a nail higher up, The same operation is performed on behalf of the other leg, and so on alternately. And thus he climbs, step by step and strrup by stirrup, till his starting point is undistinguished from tho golden surface, sur-face, and the spire dwindles in his embrace em-brace till he can clasp it all round. So far, so well. But he now reached the ball a globe of between nine and ten feet in circumference. The angel, the object of his visit, is above this ball, and concealed from his view by its smooth, round and glittering expanse. Only fancy tho wretch at this moment, turning up his grave eyes, and graver beard, to an obstacle that seems to defy tho daring and intrepidity of man! But Telouchkine is not dismayed. Ho is prepared ibr the difficulty; and the means ho used to surmount it exhibits ex-hibits tho same remarkable simplicity as the rest of tho feat. Suspending himself in his stirrups, he girds tho "needle" with a cord, the end of which he fastens around his waist; and so supported, he leans gradually back till the soles of his feet are planted against the spire. In this position he throws, by a strong effort, a coil of cord over the ball; and so coolly and accurately is the aim taken, that at the first trial it falls in the required direction, and he sees the end hang down on the opposite side. To draw himself into hia original position, to fasten the cord firmly around the globe, and with the assistance assist-ance of this auxilary to climb to the summit, is now an easy part of his task, and in a few minutes moro Tclo-ouchkine Tclo-ouchkine stands by tho side of the angel, and listens to the shout that burst liko sudden thunder from the concourse below, yet comes to his car like a faint and hollow murmur. The cord, which he had an appor-tunity appor-tunity of fastening properly, enabled him to deccend with comparative facility; fa-cility; and the next day he carried up with him a ladder of ropes, by means of which he found it easy to effect the necessary repairs. Ex.. |