194 MY AMERICAN FRIENDS

minutes it is handed back to you ready to be
despatched to the place where you are more likely
to need it. You then enter into conversation
with the lady or rather, you being English, she
enters into conversation with you; tells you
that she graduated at such and such a college;
how much her takings have been this morning
and yesterday (a considerable sum); that she is
saving up for a trip to England next year; can
you recommend her a good boarding-house in
London ? " And is that lady your wife ? and how
old is she? my! how well you English, wear 1
But here's another lot to be tied up. Good-bye
(shakes hands). Good-bye, honey (this to my
wife). Come again. In St. Petersburg we like
to see your face not your back. Yes, sir: you
did well to send off that overcoat, You won't
want it here. And now, madam (to the new-
comer with an armful of purchases), for your
lot. All those! My, you've been spending a
lot of money. I'd like to be the woman you're
sending that cute little thing to. Guess that
set you back seven bucks at least." In this
uniformly friendly country you will find the St.
Petersburg people among the friendliest and the
most cheerful in their friendliness. Those who
think that all the small cities of America are
exact copies of Sinclair Lewis' Main Street will
find, on coming to St. Petersburg, that they have
made a mistake. America is a large place* But
I am^anticipating.