The suburban citizen., 1901-12-07
SOME RUSSIAN TRAITS
iENTLENEss, UPRlcHTNEss AND PA.
TENT SToLlDlTY OF PEASANTS.


terry Sacred Relios-How Russians DO
Their Duty in Religious Way.
To me, when 1 was in Russia, in the
summer of 1897, Russia seemed the
country of freedom, says a writer in
The Saturday Review. l was a for
.igner 1 did not concern myself in
questions of either politics or religion.
[ went at the time of the Medical Con
gress, and with a friend who was a
member of that congress, so that !
had certain advantages in my favor.
After the stories 1 had heard of the
Russian custom house 1 was in some
anxiety for the safety of my manu-
scripts. My bags We're not even
opened at the frontier. My friend
was carrying a book by Edward Car
penter for Count Tolstoi, a book for
hidden by the Russian censor, and the
book reached Tolstoi in safety. 1 have
never seen anything so orderly or dis
Greet as the collection, examination
and return Of passports at the railway
station on the Russian frontier. Wher-
ever 1 went in Moscow or in st.
Petersburg, l found, so far as 1 was
concerned, a delightful absence Of Of
ficlalism. / could go where liked, do
as l pleased was not expected at ey-
cry moment to conform to some un-
known regulations, as one is expected
in Germany, for instance. The same
freedom seemed to exist even among
the natives. Peasants would Chamber
up against the windows or a royal
palace, the coachman would turn to
the prince whom he was driving, and
light his cigarette from the cigarette Of
bis master.
And l think I never saw people so
friendly with one another, except, per-
haps, in Spain. And this friendliness
in Russia goes somewhat further, be-
comes a more definitely helpful thing,
than it does in Spain. No doubt it is
partly due to the influence Of the eli
mate, to the necessary dependence up
on each other in their struggle against
cold in winter and heat in summer.
But it has become an earnest help
the very faces of the people. And
after all one has heard of Russian
brutality, it is interesting to note for
ones self the signs Of gentleness that
are to be found not on,y in these
grave, bearded patient faces, but in
many little unexpected ways. One
hardly thinks Of Russia without think
ing of the llnout. Well, the Russian
cabmen drive without whips, using
only the end Of their reins, and the
reins finish in a mere bunch Of rib
bons.
When the Russian is cruel he is
cruel just as the barbarian always is
because he is Indifferent to pain, his
own or Gnothers He does not spare
because he would not complain. And
be has the Mahometan's readiness
to 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 es-
sentially a modern one, of tolerance or
Of sympathy with suffering. In the
Roumiantsof Museum at Moscow
there is the cage in which Emilian
Pougatchef was imprisoned; it is a
cage only very slightly higher and
wider than the height and size of an
average man; it has chains for fasten
ing hand AID foot together, so that
the man can only stand upright, with
out even moving inside the iron bars
of his portable prison. But Pougat-
chef was 4 religious revolter, and to
spare one who had taken up arms
against religion would have been to
spare one who was a dangerous enemy
Of God.
The word which 1 should use to
represent the main impression made
upon me by the average Russian, the
soldier, the railway porter, the laborer,
is uprightness; and it seems to me to
contrast very fayorably with a quality,
perhaps equally strong, which is to
be seen in tie face and the bearing Of
the average German. To the German
discipline and obedience are painful
duties; he appreciates them and he
acquires them, but he becomes some
thing Of an automaton in the process.
To the Russian they are the duty
which is its own reward, a sort of
religion which it is a delight to full
fill
The Russian has a genius for self
sacrifice; self-sacrifice has made him a |
martyr and a conspirator; it has given
him strength and weakness. He can
resign himself to anything, and resig-
nation can just as easily be heroism or
mere apathy, The heroic side Of it we
all know; the other, at times comic,
side may be seen any day in the streets
of Moscow by watching a cabman who
has been paid too small a fare. He
does not explode into anger like a
cabman in any other part Of the
world; he does not contest the matter,
he does not even demonstrate; he looks
at the money in his open hand with a
woebegOne expression, closes his hand |
upon it in gesture Of weak despair,
and seems TO say, "Well, it has hap
pened to me agamw