Identifier: allrussiastravel01norm (find matches)
Title: All the Russias: travels and studies in contemporary European Russia, Finland, Siberia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia
Year: 1902 (1900s)
Authors: Norman, Henry, 1858-1939
Subjects: Tolstoy, Leo, graf, 1828-1910 Eastern question (Central Asia)
Publisher: New York, C. Seribner's sons
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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The Tower of the Fire-watch, Irkutsk. work of sidings begins, and, after the manner of Siberian trains, you steal very slowly into the electric-lit station of Omsk. A neat and pretty brick building greets you, the silent, impassive figures of peasants in sheepskins grouped about its doors. You pass into the usual hall which is waiting-room and restaurant combined; well-set tables with tall palms— imitation palms of course—standing in them, and tall crystal candelabra veiled in red muslin. At one side is the tea-counter, its brass samovar purring softly; at another a display of hot dishes to tempt the hungry, with a chef of smiling face and much-starched The proffered142 linen waving his knife above the baked meats
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I SIBERIAN CIVILISATION 145 meal was so attractive that we took it here instead of in the res-taurant-car, and nothing could have been better. The town ofOmsk is only Tomsk on a smaller scale, and Tomsk has a mysteryof its own. It was originally selected for the administrative andeducational centre of Siberia, and its public buildings were erect-ed on this scale. Its university is splendidly housed; it has an am-bitious theatre; one of the three Government gold laboratoriesis there; the prison was the principal distributing station of Si-beria; it is lighted by electricity; it is the focus of a great agri-cultural district; it has over 50,000 inhabitants; there was everyreason to suppose that its happy development would be parallelwith that of the railway itself. To-day it is going down-hill, forthe simple reason that the railway is fifty-four miles away—ajourney of five hours—and that even then the station is a longdrive through the woods from the town. I heard many explana-tions

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