so as to leave the rooms free for the lower part of the walls to be
whitewashed and the marble floors cleaned. Of course, we try to use as
little water as possible, as it is scarce, but even so the floors must
be clean and look well polished, and the wooden furniture washed and
rubbed well with sand.

"Then the tea-urn and all the saucepans and trays, which are either
brass or copper, have to be cleaned and brightened; and, as we cannot
get brass-polish here, we rub them with fine sand. It needs plenty of
'elbow grease' to make them look bright, but the rubbing well repays us.
Since we came here I quite understand how brass or copper
looking-glasses were used by our ancestors, for, after rubbing very hard
with fine sand and a piece of lemon peel, you can see your face clearly
reflected in the trays. Some who had no mirror used the trays for
looking-glasses.

"Mother prepares our Sabbath meals, whilst we girls are doing the hard
work--hanging up our best curtains or putting our best covers on the
beds and cushions, and spreading the Sabbath table-cloth. These are put
away again on Saturday evenings. Those who have them also use special
Sabbath china, glass, and silver for their meals.

"This work keeps us busy nearly all day. About three hours before sunset
Father and the boys go to the public baths, and by the time they return
we are all dressed in our best clothes, the samovar (the urn) is placed
on a table in the porch, and we all sit there to rest and drink tea,
awaiting the coming in of 'Princess Sabbath.' A matter of an hour before
Sabbath a voice is heard calling out:

'Sabbath is in, friends! Sabbath is in!'