ABSTRACT

The rockets, and the rising and falling flames of the burning theatre, lit up the white walls of the room every few minutes like summer lightning. This destroyed the last possibility of rest and sleep and led the thoughts ever and again to the same dominating question—what new experiences, what fresh horrors the morrow would bring to people and the town. The peculiar charm of Riga lay in its intermediary position between Western Europe and Russia and the mingling of two cultures; along with a purely Western environment and civilization there prevailed a truly Russian spirit of sociability and hospitality. There had always been an abundance of supplies of every kind; and so the people of Riga, like their Russian neighbours, had always understood how to eat well and drink well and enjoy life in a careless, peculiarly "Baltic" manner. Their tables were richly supplied, and their hospitality had been renowned for centuries.