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.  They also have a game much like our seesaw.  A girl stands on each end of a board.  Then one girl jumps up and comes down on the board.  This sends the other girl up, and in her turn she comes down on the board and sends the first girl up.  And so they play on, going up and down.  This is not an easy game to play.  It is some time before the girls can do it well.  Some girls are so skillful at this game that they can keep jumping a long time without falling.

Some people in Russia have very queer cradles for their babies.  One kind of cradle is a basket which hangs by ropes from the ceiling.  Another kind of cradle is made of cloth sewed to a wooden frame.  This cradle also hangs from the ceiling.

In some places in Russia the nurses who take care of the babies wear dresses to show whether the baby is a girl or a boy.  If it is a boy the nurse wears a blue dress.  If it is a girl the nurse wears a pink dress.

There are not schools in all parts of Russia, but in some places there are good schools, and the children learn to read and write.

I must not forget to tell you of the great bell in Russia.  It is the largest bell in the world.  It is in Moscow, a very old city of Russia, and it is called the great bell of Moscow.  But it has never been rung, for it was cracked in the side when it was being made.  It is nearly twenty feet high, and is now used as a chapel.

[Illustration:  The Great Bell at Moscow.]

The next largest bell in the world is also in Moscow.  This bell is hung up in a church; and when they ring it, the sound is heard all over the city like the rolling of thunder.

SWITZERLAND.

Switzerland is a land of mountains and hills and valleys and beautiful lakes and streams.  Every year many people go from all parts of the world to see the beautiful Swiss mountains and valleys.

Sometimes large masses of snow and ice, mixed with earth, fall or slide down the sides of the mountains with a loud crash.  As they slide, they tear away rocks and trees, and bury houses and villages beneath them.  These masses of snow and ice are called avalanches.