| Show R v it or ol a 11 journal to B thit great city ID 0 ij avri 11 cormons mormons ia all earsia des ripton sis cof the people their grand hit hirchet wi their minner of lup I 1 journal included I 1 ded i in in stockholm conference are ei eight ht balies of latter day dav i saints seated throughout fin finland land and one coo in st Peters petersburg bum having t had ad a an nex extended tended arili through se places place I 1 send you these few rs concerning our trip in n company with prest erik jen ieiri I 1 left stockholm i on june and after a i ery pleasant beasant lea sant voy of two days and two nights r the baltic sea we arrived at city of the czarn where we by our friend lindelof we ionized each other oilier instantly ough we had never met before i he conducted us 0 to o his home ne te we te were warmly welcomed his good wife we made his biz ae our headquarters while we e in russia and it nab a n g a for us that wo found some who could talk Itus russian sian bee ae that language is unlike other obber I 1 have bet ct heard it was 11 ji harac ader r to than Z fo f r b li r t r a P an and ills his wife the only Alor cormons mormons mons in the whole 1 russia and i they liev though they 0 been in st petersburg over uty year are not russian kussian so see that there is yet rauch much to be ie before the gospel is preached all the woi aa the time spent there was well ut lit as st petersburg is by far most interesting erestine int ity aty I 1 have ir er visited and interesting as the is the people fire are far bore more in esting ts ting the city itself would be be so EO interesting were it not its people and churches as it is new though the be tv itself is tot many hundred ye years r I 1 i I 1 dare pay fay the there are dusanda of years of age the isaiaa laborer hrs has a sort of a thery smell emell which is as lecul as it is unpleasant st peters rg is a very large city contain i about 11 five ve times as many peo e as the whole of utah it was iby by peter the great who sired ared to Is have a window looking t over el europe drope the streets are s abight ig lit and very broad giving city a roomy appearance the is is very massive but ain ain except for the three hundred arches which are very beautiful ese churches are open all day d are very interesting bg ill the e eel eek catholic faith is the religion Po issia sia and all russians are they say eay true believers beli evera leir ir divine worship consists of layrus and ceremonies and is a ery cry novel eight for the ed although the bible teaches that there Is one mediator be cen god and man m in the man irit in jeus jesus the russia Kusa I 1 ians ils offer thier prayers to all tho the old ints and especially to the irgin mary and to represent lw heir persons they have in their lurches countless images made different kinds of metal vent great maw many of them beins being made 1 pure gold and silver The they have n preaching no benches iu their cir hil relies but bet there is a constant arram troarn of won dippers going in and at t it at all hours hour as there is no me to worship on entering burbes one is surprised at it ifa w before bina they are treasure r houses and the gaze of the visitor i rests upon a magnificent I 1 display of gold old silver and aimel the images are everywhere and 1 bea re each image is ia no an immens immense candlestick usually adly of silver to say that the interior of a rusian church is inal magnificent munificent ent is to express it in too mild a torm form tile the wor shipper upon lent entering ering goes to a corner where they have wax candles for sale and buys according to his means then proceeds to the image he likes best aud and after lighting the caudle candles and placing them in the candle candlesticks ticks he be begins 1 i his worship lie ile makes the sign of ofal the e cros from fore forehead hlad to lo heart thi e times bowing each time then falling on Ms liis knees ho he repeats t hit ha s agn of the cross croes and mu mumbles robles his hib prayers after abich lie ho bows his head bead against the floor and remains in ill that position as long as his conscience tells him he should lie ile then ben irises and kisses the image a few times and after repeating the cross maneuvers a few times he fie goes his way a wore more satisfied if not a better man eich image sometimes has a half duzen dozen worshippers wor shippers before it in different I 1 positions position and it is a curious sight I 1 ito to see them some come boning ing some kneeling and some with th their r I 1 head against ainest the stone floor I 1 grouped around a lead dead image ei silently making their signs 0 and moving ng their lips in player regardless gard less of the spectators they have inia images q ca on the streets also band and a person can hardly go a block block without passing passim some of them I 1 when the true believer comes t to 0 such an image he never passes without first tajiu taking off his hat and apkin the sign biall of oc the tha cross asay a I 1 0 I 1 Z ar VL od 1157 T ord protect me it is e though hough a ru rusian sian i is fo 0 o intoxicated that lie he cannot see the persona he meets yet lie he always sees top the holy mage mage A at neaily every image e is to lo bo be found either solite nuns or monks dressed in their peculiar black rabes begging os ten lens ibay for the church cf but rumor davs says that the church never receives their leggings begg ings we spent a day in st isaacs cli church which is the largest and nd most costly in st Peterm petersburg burg it is 13 built in the form of a cross cros and lid i no money was spared in rs its 0 cin 0 some of the in i it cost roubles coubles i ea earb h it is full of gold and i ilver and precious stones one cotui lid adoue beina beim valued pt roubles coubles we were very anxious to climb to the top of the gilded dume dome but were informed ip informed formed that it would be permitted only after we had bad obtained a pass fro from the police we tried persuasion we tried money but it helped not I 1 had my kodak with me and thought as a last resource I 1 would let it talk for me to so brother L asked them if we could go up provided that we first took a photo ot of them photographs are seldom peen in russia so the scheme v ot ked like magic and I 1 soon eoon had the fifty red shifted long haired tierce fierce looking church guards in front of me in a group all trying to look pretty I 1 made a couple professional s wings swings with my cimera and pushed the button and it was done then one of them after procuring a lantern guided us up Kli the dark passage ways and after clial climbing g lan r iron ladders we reached the top and had a magnificent view of city a regular birdseye birds eye view the harbor tile shipping the forts the neva river the parks palaces palace sand and churches only to seen in russia the long rows houses the masses of people the landscape in the distance all unfolded to our view like a panorama the city was gaily decorated honor of the azars czars crowning ceremonies in moscow and the aho photo 0 graph of the czar and adorned nearly every window we also visited the fortress where the church conta containing inina the remains of the azars czars and their wives nivea ia n situated and ne ae mere lucky enough to tn get permission to go through gh of all the graves th chertin then ertin iii that ot nt P peter e t er the great is the most neglected nearly all of the others other s beino being 0 i cover covered ed with fresh cut flowers better pens liens flinn irine have endeavored deavo red to describe the life auty of I 1 that thai church and failed to ao 10 do it justice so go I 1 will not arv places visited by bv us ua were the world famed Ial ralerf arp of lh czar the government buildings the convents the zoological gardens the ioor part of tb tho a city where we had an excellent opportunity to study the deop people e the imperial shipyard ship yard and we also two short trips up up in the country coun tty my time will not permit me meto to describe Je scribe these things at length nor will your space allow you on to gite roe me so EO much room so go I 1 will aca acas 0 you here and tell you so something methin of finland and its people in my mv next A B at SO 80 stockholm sweden july 20 1896 |
