In some parts of Russia they have funny ferryboats. When the rivers
are frozen over in winter, the boats cannot sail on them. Then the
people use chairs instead of boats. There are warm covers on the
chairs, and men on skates push them across the ice. It costs less than
one cent to ride across a river in one of these chairs.
In St. Petersburg they build an ice palace every winter. St.
Petersburg is the largest city in Russia. It is the place where the
emperor lives. The Emperor of Russia is sometimes called the Czar.
They make the ice palace with square blocks of ice. They put the
blocks together and pour water between them. When the water freezes,
the wall is solid like a wall of brick or stone. Everything inside the
palace is made of ice. There are ice stairs and ice tables, and ice
chairs, and beautiful flowers made of ice. Warm rugs of fur are put on
the chairs so that people who sit on them may not be cold. Often there
are grand balls and parties in this beautiful palace of ice.
[Illustration: A Russian Family.]
In summer, too, the boys and girls in Russia have a good time. The
boys have wrestling matches, for they are strong.
The girls have a game like ring-around-a-rosy.
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