The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-26

Madonnas which yield the church enor- nous sums. One. for instance. is in a lit- tie chapel at the Iversky gate. near the Kremlin. The chapel Is always thronged, and even the emperor worships in 1t. It's annual contributions and candle sales are said to net $50,0OO a year. or as much as the salary of our President.
 Money in Candles.
 Talk about money to burn! The Rus sian Church has 1t. At least it gets it out of the smoke. In every chapel candles are kept continually .efore me altar, and the candles contributed to great church are numbered by thousands. Every man. woman or child who goes to prayers buys a candle to put in the candlesticks be- fore the altar. and many think that their sins are washed away according a. the flame burns long or short. The candles are of all sizes, from that of your fin- ger to as big as your leg. and they cost a good round sum. Some are wax and some tallow. Indeed, 1t is estimated that 5o,o00.000 wax candles are annually used and that in addition there are also con- stunned POO, 900 900 candles made of parafine. 5O,0oo,0O0 made of oil and glycerine, or in all a grand total of 350.0O0,00O candles This Is in European Russia alone. Now suppose each candle nets 2 cents. and you have a gross profit of T,00o.0Oo from the candles.
 This estimate I should say was remark ably small. Indeed I am told that it an- nually takes 100000 pounds of wax to supply the church candles, and that many of the convents have factories which sup ply the trade. The same candles are used over and over again. being blown out shortly after the worshiper leaves and fixed up for another customer. The ends are also melted down and recast. There is big profit in the crosses and images sold by the church. and also in the icons or sacred pictures. which are made in vast quantities and are used in every house, I might almost say, in every room in Russia.
 Pilgrims of 1908.
 We are accustomed to think of pilgrims as connected with the crusaders. and do not realize that there are millions upon millions who are m@.-ing pilgrimages to- day. There are tens of thousands of Rus sians who go from all parts of this em- pire to worship at Jerusalem. There are pilgrims from Africa, Greece and Ar menia who march on foot and by sea to the sacred places of Palestine and there is also a vast pilbrimage of Mo- hammedans to the city of the crucified Christ The pilgrimages to Mecca go on from all parts of the Mohammedan world. vast crowds of Hindoos wander up and down the Ganges worshiping at its shrines the Chinese make holy journeys t& the tomb of Confucius and you see bands of pilgrims throughout Japan going from one holy mountain to another to pray. Here fin Russia the pilgrims are millions. There are famous shrines in different parts of the country where they worship. A. Kiev such visitors numbers hundreds of thousands a year, and the same is tr,to nF NnSnOuy nd 0fhar OlpnaS
 They are Peasants.
 The Russian pilgrims are largely peas ants. They travel about in gangs of from three to twenty. with their baggage upon their backs and their shoes either tied around their necks or held in their hands. Both women and men are barefooted and usually bare legged, having unwrapped their stockings to keep them clean. l say unwrapped, for the Russian peasant has cloth which he binds about his legs and ankles in the place of a stocking covering the foot and leg well up to the calf.
 There are thousands of these pilgrims in Moscow at this writing You may see them walking through the streets. cross ing themselves at every church and now and then stopping and kneeling to mutter their prayers. They kiss the golden pie lures of the Savior, the virgin and the saints above the shrines, and as there are shrines in every block 1t Is quite a chore.
 In the Shadow of the Krer1Iln.
 Think of crowd of religious pilgrims so great that policemen are necessary to keep it in order as it hurries to prayers! Think of blocking the streets of Chicago with would-be worshipers. and you have some idea of what goes on here in Mos COW. I went tho other day into the walled | v1o rf of cif fU qtnnna1 hV tha throng at one of the shrines.
 The police had formed two long lines like those you see outside theater wait ing to get to the box office on an open ing night. The lines were made up of old and young. poor and rich, peasants and those of the middle classes. and numerous children. I walked along outside to see what the attraction might be. It was a picture of the Virgin looking out of gold clothes in a gold frame so propped up on table that 1t stood upright The pie ture was about four feet square. The clothes were carved out of gold plate, only the face. hands and feet being Dainted On each side of the picture was