Omaha daily bee., 1889-11-11
HE WAS A PAGAN.
The Only Sober Man in TurinDovorto-
nnYa Was Not a Christian.

From George Remnants Adventures
in eastern Siberia" in the November
Century, we quote the following:
1--WE had no difficulty in getting post
horses until just before dark Monday
evening, when we reached the station
of Turinopovorotnaya (Too-rin -o-po-vo-
rote-nah-yah), about fifty miles from
Chita. and found the whole village in a
state of hilarious iutoXication.
Sleighs filled with young men and
boys were careering hither and thither
with wild whoops and h~alloos; long lines
of peasant girls in bright-colored calico
dresses were unsteadily ~promenading
back and forth in the streets with their
arms around one another and singing
khorovod songs; the station house was
filled with flushed and excited people
from neighboring settlements, who had
evidently been participating in q cele-
| bration of some kind and were about
starting for their homes; the station
master, who, perhaps, had not finished
his celebration, was nowhere to be
found; there was not a driver about the
| stables; and the ''starosta" (stah-ro-
like a burgher from Amsterdam, was so
| drunk that even with the aid of q cane
he could hardly stand on his feet.
In vain we tried to ascertain the rea-
sons for this surprising epidemic of in
| ebriation. Nobody was sober enough
to explain to us what had happened.
| From the excited and more or less in
coherent conversation of the intoxi-
Gated travellers in the station house /
learned that even the village priest
was so drunk that he had to be taken
home in u sleigh by the soberest OF his
parishioners.
i thu tntinn-v nCtnrs tho Etn -nGtn
the village priest, the drivers, and all
of the inhabitants were drunk, there
was evidently no prospect OF our being
able to get horses. In fact, we could
not find anybody who seemed sober
enough to know therdifference between
n horse and his harness. We therefore
brought our baggage into the crowded
station house and sat down in an unoc-
cupied corne to study intoxicated hui
manity and await further developments.
Every person in the house was drunk,
except ourselves and n small baby. y
n y About 8 o'clock the noise, tumult
and shouting in the village streets
began to subside; the station-master,
whose intoxication had taken the form
of severe official dignity, suddenly ap-
peared, and in a tone of stern menace
wanted to know whsre the post drivers
were and what all this disorder meant.
n + Finally, when we had almost
abandoned the hope of ever getting
away, n real sober man in n ragged
sheepskin oat emerged from the dark,
ness and reported in a business-like
manner to the statiOn-master that the
horses were ready for us. The drunken
and irate official, who seemed DESTROYS
of indicating his dignity and authority
in some way, overwhelmed the unfOrtu
nate driver with abuse, and ended by
filming him 50 REPRESENTATION fol-
being sober or having the horses ready
l do not know. We piled our baggage
/ nto the sleigh, climbed in upon it will
t thankful hearts. AS the last fain
sound of revelry died away in the dis
lance behind us | said to the driver:
"What's the matter with everybod,
in this village? The whole population
seems to be drunk"
church, - said the driver, soberly.
Soon secratipg a churchl"Iexclaime
in Amusement. sis that the way yOl
consecrste churches?"
81 don't know, he replied. "Some
times they drink. Alter the services
they had a gulainia Ia sort OF holida,
promenade with music and s~plrituOu
refreshmentsl, and ONE of then
crooked their elbows too often"
"Some of them!" I repeated. "All o
them, you mean. You're the only SO
Der man I've seen in the place. How
does it happen hat you're not drunkp'
'I'm not a christian" he replied
with quiet simplicity. SIN a Buriat.
AS a christian-lf not a member o
the holy orthodox church, was 81
fenced by the unceremonIous irony o
the reply. The only sober man in the
village OF three or four hundred inhab
itants proved to be a pagan, and he hat
tian official for not getting drunk will
! other good citizens and thus showShl
his respect for the newly oonsecrateC
ediice and his appreciation OF the be
nlgn influence OF the holy orthodo