The Opelousas courier., 1903-08-15

The tramp Instinct IS strong In
STA. It runs In the blood Of the Tartar
element Of the nation, whose religion
lists who are averse to 1asor as a pious
duty naturally take to the road and
become Runners" tneir o%stensible OBJ
ject being to spread the gospel. Leave
thy father and thy molher, and take
up thy cross and follow me-" is their
seriptural authority.
So they tramp from village to viii
lage, begging a. they go, like mendi-
cant monks of the Middle Ages. There
are two classes Of these people, the
actual tramps, OF the "elect," and the
residents who aid them in their jour-
neys. The residents sometimes are
found collected into villages, and keep
regular Quitting stations for the re-
lief Of their wandering brethren and
sisters-fcr women religious tramps
are almost as numerous as the male
nomads. Sometimes they travel in
couples, man and woman.
The Jumpers constitute the show
ing, hysterical, nervous, emotional ele-
ment In Russian religious life. They
believe in the Holy Ghost and look for
His presence in the form of religious
and nervous ecstacy. This physical
exaltation, they induce by chanting
and whirling, and dancing, for all the
world like the bowling dervishes of
Egypt. Sometimes a Worshiper Whirls
so rapidly that he looks stationary
like a spinning top, until like a top,
he sinks to the floor, utterly exhausted
to dream himself into communion with
the Holy Ghost. They look upon any
vice or excess committed during these
paroxysms Of ecstacy as being prompt
ed by the spirit, and, therefore, limo
cent. When this physical ecstacy is
aroused by self-chastisement. the de-
voices are called "Flagellants," or
stswitchers."
The Mutes think that all communica-
ton by words is sinful, and therefore
remain silent, even under torture. For
self-protection they frequently simu-
late idiocy.
The Sabbatarians, Or %Judaists, reject
the New Testament, and cling to the
old, and, of course, deny the trinity,
the divinity Of Christ, and redemp-
tion. They are polygamists.
The Atamites teach that God, the
Father, was born in the form of a man
Ia Peter the Greats time, and that
each nj of His numerous descendants
at the present day is a Christ.
The choicest farming region in the
Russian empire, namely, the southern
part of the coast OF the Black sea-, is
largely pecpled by Germans. One of
the most important dissenting faiths is
that of the Stundists, the majority OF
them of German blood. whose creed
and organization somewhat resembles
those of the Lutherans.
It is said that the rise Of the Stund-
list sect was a political trick of Prince
Bismarck to embarrass the czar's gov
eminent for the benefit of Germany.
Like the other dissenters, they partake
Of no sacraments as such, although
they observe the communion, and sub
nit to baptism by immersion. I'M
mersion is always in running water
and in the dead of winter, when a
hole must be cut in the ice for the pur-
pose. Theoretically they are opposed
to taxation, but in practice they SUBJ
nit to it.
Before leaving this subject let us re-
call the religious revival movement
that swept over Russian cities in the
| 70s. It was led by Lord Rashtock, an
| Englishman. He appealed not to the
| humber classes, who are usually more
impressionable to religious excitement,
but to the highest social circles, in
which he moved. At every social
gathering he would greet his high-born
friends with the question, do you feel
Christ within your" He preached
drawing room sermons at every OPP
portunfty until the highest and most
worldly society of st. Petersburg
caught the contagion of his zeal. Rash
toekism became a craze that spread
from city to city, like the ping pong
fad in America and England of later
years.