Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-02-11

refectory; a bell rang, and then there fed
out from the kitchen long procession of
serving lads, clad In blue linen cassocks,
and bearing huge bowls of soup No. 1.
This course was okroshka. 1t consisted OF
boiled salmon chopped fine. we'll mixed
with onions. cucumbers, eggs, sour cream,
and an infusion of the beloved kvas. We
raced through our bowl of this the bell
rang again. and then came the procession
from the kitchen-quite twenty strong
bearing bowls this time of stchi-soup No.
?. 1t was made of sour cabbage, sour
cream. sailed plaice, much pepper and
more liquor 1t was not bad. Again the
bell rang. and the third course proved to
he soup No. 3-fresh behring's broken up
in much curious liquid. Then came the
sweets-barley porridge, with melted but
ter and SKINNED milk. They were rather
better than the sOnD. And then, warned
by a pilgrim. I had just time to take out
two spoonfuls of kvas, when the bell
rang once more. This meant that we had
dined: for the old monk who had been
reading miracles from q pnipit in the cor
ner stopDed short and dumb and we all
got up, crossed ourselves, and sat down
again. For the last time the bell changed,
and we again got an, and moved out from
our seats into the broad ways of the
ira peza dining roou). and grace was sung.
Blessed bread was AGAIN handed round
and then the Archimandrte. with uplifted
hand in attitude of blessing. pasSed down
the crowded hall amidst bowling monks
ana Kneelln2 pilRrlrIS, ana we prepay GU
to follow him. Yes. we bad dined but not
to the satisfaction of hungry appetite.
Lead "A Busy Life.
The monks disperse. but not to idleness.
Farm houses. fishing stations, hay fields
and crofts of rye are numerous on the is
lands. and in the monastery of Solovetskoi
all industries converge Here ] find a
leather factory. and excellent leather it
ipna
srnitherv and engineers shop. a kvas brew
ery-and SoIovetskoi kvas is famous; the
great art school. where there are twenty or
thirty monks painting ikons for the
churches. chapelS. houses. shops and steam
boats of northern Russia: a great school
for the children left on the island-it is
the custom of the pilgrims to leave child
with the monks for year; a meteorologi-
cal station, with the most modern .instru-
ments: carving shops. where crosses. cruel
fixes and religious symbols are made in
tens of thousands as relies for the pill
grims, and so on and 50 on. No, there IS
little id'eness here
Yet the wealth of the monastery is great.
I should think that in the sacristry and
treasury alone there are articles of the
value of 1000 900. Crosses and cups of solid
gold numerous and they are incrusted
with diamonds, sapphires and rubies. There
are literally tons of silver ornaments, also
richly gemmed. The precious stones are
almost fabulous. On one vestment 1 calcu-
tIon emeralds. rubies and amethysts. The
miters of the abbots are also very rich,
Then there are the ikons-the many chap
els are whole galleries Of sacred art-and
the paintings are overlaid with gold and
gems. Even in a small chapel remote from
the monastery I noticed an ikon where
much of the painting was overlaid with
a solid god plate blazing with diamonds
and rubies, where the head of the Savior
had a halo composed entirely of diamonds,
and over the head of the Virgin Mother a
great star of diamonds cleaned blue and
white.
In the great ikon of the Mother and
Chld-copy of the famous "Our Lady of
Kazan-which is over the cathedral door,
there still rest the sacrilegious shot of the
English The monks attribute their immu-
nifty not to Sir Erasmus Ommanney's I'M
Willingness 10 destroy. but to the direct in
terventiou of the Virgin Mother, and no pill
grim leaves Solovetskoi without a high y
colored print depicting the English ships
Smelling the monastery, and the miraculous
appearance of the Virgin in the sky above,
causing the shot to fall where the least
harm would follow.