Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-09-17

THE CANDLE BUSINESS IN RUSSIA
Speaking of candles, Russia burns more to
her population than any other country in
Europe. She uses about 60, 900 900 pounds OF
candles every year, and one Of the great sources
Of income of the churches is their candle
sales At the door of every great cathedral
there are candle peddlers, who have counters
before them and who sell candles to the wor-
shippers "a fast as they can hand them ont.
These men are dressed in the uniform of the
church, and they take in pennies by the bushel.
i watched q couple of them for long time al
the entrance of the Kazan Cathedral in St.
Petersburg, and In the course Of half an hour ]
saw at least 800 men, women and children buy
candles. II took two men to supply them and
the candles they bought were Of various sizes
and Of different prices. Some bought as many
as q dozen and others were satisfied with
one. l wondered what they would do with
them and walked in behind them. The interior
Of this church is as large as the hall Of the
House Of Congress. Its halls were hung with
icons on the pillars and set into
the solid silver altar Of the back Of the
church. Before each icon there was a silver
candlestick with a stem big around as
Grover Cleveland's thigh and rising from the
floor to about the height Of the spot on which
President Harrison's hat rests: The tops Of
these candlesttcks were in the shape Of a disc
and each top had a number of holes in which
TO stick candles. The worshipers whom I fol-
lowed trotted from one of these candelabra to
another, lighting a candle before each and
putting 1t up to burn before the picture.
While they stood and crossed themselves be-
fore the saints i saw other candles being
passed up from man to man, finally reaching
the hands Of the church officer who presided
over each candlestick and being Lit BY
him and put before the saint. There we're proba-
bly, 500 candles burning at one time in this one
church and when You remember that this goes
on all over Russia every Sunday and every holt
day and during most of the days Of the week
you can see where the candles go. A large
part Of the candles used are made in houses
and not In large factories, and in fact the house
industry Of Russia seems 20 surpass that of the
factories 1t is estimated that there are $50, 600
workmen in Russia who make things at their
own homes, and one authority states that these
people turn out $3.50, 000, 900 worth of goods
every year. These people IN many cases peddle
their goods themselves, and in some instances
they work for the factories
QUEER TRADES IN RUSSIA.
Russia has In fact many queer trades of which
we know nothing. Along the volga there are
colonies who make speciality Of breeding and
raising cats, which are sold for the fur and
which are usually disposed Of to peddlers
The cats bring from to Is cents apiece and
the peddler collects them in bag. kills them
as soon as he gets away from the villages in
which they have been bought and takes of theil
skins, which are shipped by him to the fui
centers Of the empire. In village not far of
from the home of Tolstoi, in lula, there are
eighty families who do nothing else but raise
canaries, and in Tamboff there is a section
where pigeons are bred for the sake of theil
skins, which are sold at the weekly
bazaars and at the fairs. The feathers are
Of course. left on the skins and they
eventually form a part of some lady's cloak OF
hat In riding down the volga at every station
come to the wharves with their wares for sale
At Kazan ragged, bsre-headed, barge-legged
Tartars trotted around with long bars of what
thought was beeswsx for sale, but which turned
out to be . soap which is much noted in Rus
siA- Here also found all sorts of Heather manufac