Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-08-24
som RU SSIAN TRAITS
GENTLENEss, UPRIGHTNEsS AND PA
TENT sTOLIDITY OF PEASANTS.
Interesting Sights Witnessed During
the Annual Pilgrimage to TrOitsa
Monastery Sacred Relics.

From the Saturday Review.
To me, when I was In Russia, in the sum-
mer of 1897, Russia seemed the country OF
freedom. / was foreigner. / did not con-
Germ myself in questions either Of politics
or religion / went at the time OF the
medical congress, and with a friend who
was member of that congress SO that l
had certain advantages In my favor. After
the stories 1 had heard Of the Russian GUS
tom house was in some anxiety for the
safety of my manuscripts. My bags were
not even opened at the frontier. My friend
was carrying a book by Edward Carpenter
for Count Tolstoi. book forbidden by the
Russian censor. and the book reached Toll
stoi in safety. I have never seen anything
so orderly or discreet as the collection. ex-
animation and return of passports at the
railway station on the Russian frontier.
Wherever l went. In Moscow and in st.
Petersburg. l found. so far as / was con-
cerned. a delightful absence of off1cialism.
I could go where / liked. do as I pleased,
was not expected at every moment to con-
form to some unknown regulation, one
Is expected in Germany, for instance. The
tho natives. Peasants would Chamber up
against the windows of royal palace the
coachman would turn to the prince whom
he was driving, and light his cigarette from
the cigarette of his master.
And think never saw people so friendly
with one another. except perhaps, In Spain.
And this friendliness In Russia goes some
what further, becomes a more definitely
helpful thing. than it does in Spain. No
doubt 1t Is partly due to the influence Of the
climate. to the necessary dependence Of
people upon each other in their struggle
against cold In winter and heat in summer.
But 1t has become an earnest helpfulnesS
which has stamped itself upon the very
faces of the people. And after all one has
heard OF Russian brutality 1t Is interesting
to note for ones self the signs Of gentleness
which are to be found not only in these
grave. bearded, patient faces. but in many
little unexpected ways. One hardly thinks
of Russia without thinking Of the knout.
Well the Russian cabmen drive without
whips, using only the end Of their reins,
and the reins finish in a mere bunch OF
ribbons.
Cruelty PersoniAed.
When the Russian Is cruel he Is cruel
just as the barbarin always Is, because he
is Indifferent to pain. his own or another's.
He does not spare because he would not
complain. And he has the Mahometan's
readiness 20 sacrifice everything for a cause
which to him Is that spiritual and temporal
power which Is his religion. and which has
taken far deeper root in him than any mere
sentiment, essentially a modern one, Of
tolerance or of sympathy with suffering
In the Roumiantsof Museum at Moscow
there Is the cage In which EmiIian Pou-
gatchef was imprisoned; II Is a cage only
very slightly higher and wider than the
height and size Of an average man: it has
chains for fastening hand and foot together
SO that the man can only stand upright
without even moving. inside the iron bars
OF his portable prison. But Pougatchef was
religious revolter, and to spare one who
had taken up arms against religion would
have been to spare dangerous enemy Of
God.
TIL
the main impression made on me by the
average Russian. the soldier the railway
porter. the laborer. is uprightness: and it
seems to me to contrast very favorably
with quality. perhaps equally strong.
which 10 to be seen In the face and the
bearing OF the average German To the
German discipline and obedience arc pain
ful duties; he appreciates them and he &C.
quires them. but he becomes something Of
an automaton in the process. To the Rus
sian they are the duty which is its own re-
ward. sort Of religion which 1t Is a de-
light to fulfill.
The Russian has genius for self-sacri-
nee. self-sacrff1ce has made him q martyr
and a ccnspirator: 1t has given him
strength and weakness. He can resign him
self to anything. and resignation can lust
as easily be heroism or mere apathy The
nereic side OF 1t We all know: the other, at
times comic. side may be seen any day In
the streets of Moscow by watching a cab
man who has been paid too small u fare
He does not explode into anger like a cab
man In any other part Of the world: he does
not contest the matter, he does not even re-
mCnStrate; he looks at the money In his
open hand with a woebesone expression.
closes his hand upon 1t In a gesture OF
weak despair. and seems to say. "Welb It
mas happened to me againr'
Annual Pilgrimage.
But II we would see what Is really at the
root or the national character. the actual
nature or the peasant, 1t IL not even In
MOSCOW that 1t must be sought, but In such
place as Sergievo. and on such an occa-
sion as the annual pilgrimage to the Troitsa
monastery. on the day OF the Assumption.
The monastery. dubious and angular With
its red walls and gold and green domes and
spires. Is set on the triangular point Of a
small hill; all about 1t are bright ooIore.i
sheds and shops and booths and little vii
iage houses OF painted wood: a village fair
was going on In honor of the nilerina 90
and a stream of men and women in hrighI
clothes wandered up and down all the roo To-
necessarily and gathered In groups about
the teashops and the booths Of the ratr
Inside he monastery walls. In the churnh..
and along all the paths. this immense
quiet, ugly crowd wandered on or waifei
patiently at gateways. 1t was made IN for
the most part OF women. and these women
We're all old. or looked old, and thew wers
all ugly and all shapeless, dressed In n
patchwork of bright colors their skirts
looped up about their red wrinkIed lees
bare TO the knee. or above their osier shoes
pound about with cords. They were shane
less and uncouth, with bodies that seemed
as II they had never known even the ant
NAL joys OF life but there was none OF the
dirt disease and violence of a French or
Italian pilgrimage of Lourdes or Casalbor-
dino They were clean and sturdy. and
they passed slowly, leaning on their slaves
or waiting two and two In long lines, TO
enter the church and kiss the relics with
logged patience without noise or talking
or laughter with a fixed sense of the duty
to be done. then of the need Of rest, and
then OF the long journey home. They went
In order into the large room by the refec.
tory. took their bread and salt. which they
ate In the refectory, and then sat down.
ike great grown up school children at
long wooden tables in the open air, where
the monks served them with bread and
soup. Then they flung themselves down on
the ground. wherever they happened to find
little free space. and slept heavily. They
lay there with their heads on their bundles
themselves like big bundles Of rags. Some
of them lay in the graveyard, upon the
graves and the turf. like a dead army wait
ing to be buried.
Simply Doing Their Duty
And in all this there was no feryor. no
excitement, a perfectly contained emotion.
a logged doing Of something which they
had set out to do. They had come from
all parts of Russia, walking all the way,