The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-02

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l.i thr characters arr ~ multltudia
e..r ls IN folslol'a historical
I.sv eofpe thfprgine with their hattafic
.ar al urtil the rtadef's sehana ache, and
,.ov ate all mad and voluhlc .
Tho Caritaa Martha had company
stsv bad I, IN her ho,ias w the banks
Of '.r Nrva This mad lady had locked
lrfarlf up Tor thirty years. She hated
.,ara brand rev city ~ ~, Petersburg
I.i would W., even look out n the window
y ~ Tho comrahy that ahe had In her
gousn IL described NJ page NJ. We read
Tho houso ,ccmcd with small cells, cham
Nrra sccrrt rooms, aldo rooms and cioseta,
They eholtered the old wives and daughters
pr nuvara. chambermaida. nurses. house.
kcriers. lanndres-es. furrierr. aaintly mad
mon. mondicants, wanderers. pilgrims.
fools and IDIOTS. orphaned girls, old story
'aIlera and musicians, who were skilled
lu accompany their ANCIENT legends by
melancholy string music. Decrepit ser
wants TN faded coats, griszled and shaggy,
well nigh mossRrown, caught hold Of
NlcSis's lapels, kissing his hand and his
shoulder. Blind, dumb, lame, gray with
age. almost featurelesa, they all followed
him, gliding along the walls like phantoms;
they ~thronRed. swarmed and crept about
in the dark passages like wood lice in damp
cracks. He met the fool Shamira, h
was always pinohing and grinning with
the fool Polly. The Oldest Of the boyars'
wives, ~Soundouleya vahramey evna, the
~favorite Of the Czaritsa, how In her second
childhood, like her mistress, and fat, yellow
trembling like a jelly, fell at his feet, and
for some reason or other began to bewail
him as though he were dead. Alexis felt
uncomfortable. He remembered his father
saying 'Czaritsa Martha house has been
transformed by piety into q hospital for
the MANNED and mad. for ~hypoorites and
rascals."
1t was quite as bad outdoors and In other
companies. We have quoted the passage
as indicating the impression of madness
that is general in the story. The chapters
about the setting up Of the statue of Venus
In the Summer Palace, about Anti-Christ
(who was thought to be Peter HIMSELF
about the food and the desolation Of the
holy places, and the were wolf. and the
red death are all full Of disturbance, men,
tai and physical, amounting to madness
The story is astonishing. 1t storms the
mind Of the reader. The preface says that
the bulk of the Russian population is the
same to-day as it was in the time Of Peter.
II that Ia 30, and IL the story is accurate,
the Russia that is now revealing its troubles
Is as mad as a March hare.