The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-02

turing Is the voice of the spirit of wan 4 derlust. It must be female spirit, 4 for 1t refuses to take no for an- swer and Is every ready with an apt 4 reply. Tell her that rolling stone 4 gathers no moss and she will imme- T diately remind you that setting hon never grows fat (adages always were sold in pairs anyhow), and suggest that < the knowledge gained by travel and the remeniscences stored up thereby for hours of retrospectlon are worth more 9 than chests of gold or cofers of prec- ious treasures.
 4l Whether this be true depends upon the temperament of the individual, but I it was in response to the siren voice of the wanderlust that I wandered into
 { land where the nights are white and the people cast no shadows.
 There are few of us who have not read with delight the story of Peter 3 Schlenihl. the Man Without a Shadow so charmingly told by Chamisso, and while this faultless work is the crea- \ tion of ina gination, there Is q period 2 of the day or night, whichever you may choose to call it, where men actual ly cast no shadow This is the hour when the crespuscule commingles with 4 the dawn; when the red hues of sunset 1 precede by only brief period the l roseate rays of sunrise and the people wandering around in the white night cast no shadow, but move as spectres in a misty haze. And many people do \ move around at this hour for the con- dition renders them nervous so that 4 they are unable to sleep and seek repose in motion
 was on my way to witness the l great annual fair at Mini -Novogorod, city whose odd name had appealed to I me from early childhood. At 10 years I of age I had hung with the fever of ! youthful imagination over the strange combination of letters that fashioned it's name and sticking a black pin in the d place on the map I registered VOW to some day see the great market. l used , a black pin because I then pictured 4 Russia as land of real darkness. and 3 when after some months the pin dropped 4 out I spent an entire afternoon in tears, 4 deeming the instance an omen that my I VOW would never be fulfilled. l, of ' course, thought of that pin and re- \ called those tears when I rolled into the < city of Nijni-Novogorod
 The city, with it's population of over 3 70,000 souls, Is situated at the june [ ture of the Oka with the Volga. and Is q nearly 300 miles from Moscow.
 8 The country between the two. cities Is q without picturesqueness and the sinfi- \ larity of the plain architecture of the farmhouses renders the journey quite 1 monotonous Those houses are long, 4 never over one story in height, and 4 are invariably built at right angles with the road Every house has two front doors, for the style is a relic of the period when the sexes, even of I household, were vigorously separated. ! The male apartments were at one end. the female apartments at the other and the neutral territory consisting of the salon and the dining room were In the jg NI Q ind Q have two doors. The kitchen always stands apart from the dwelling. owing, 1t is said. o avoid the fumes of cooking, which the
 universal employment of oil In that art renders almost intolerable. The stables, hay shed and granary stand on the II opposite side of the yard, but face the front doors of the dwelling. Though not so common as in the cities, icons are encountered at nearly every farm house. They are usually in the country found on the inside of the dwelling, placed high up in corner facing the door and every orthodox Christian bows in that direction upon entering, ma<- ing a the same time the sign of the 3 cross. It is opportune to state here that Russians reverse the Catholic 4 form of crossing themselves and mako the crucial form from right to left. The same ceremony Is performed before and after meals and upon the eve of fete days a small lamp is kept burning in front of least one of the icons in the house.
 An Icon Is a pictorial half length representation of the Savior of the Madonna or of saint, executed in archaic Byzantine style on yellow or gold ground and varies in size from a square inch to several square feet. Generally the entire picture, with the exception of the face and hands, is | xrit al n1a aul ! so as to depict the form of the figure : and the drapery, and where the lpaque | Is not used the crown and drapery are | adorned with precious stones, often of great value. Icons are of two kinds simple and miraculous or miracle working. The former are manufactured I in enormous quantities. chiefly in the province of Vladimir where whole vil- lages are employed in their making, and they are met with everywhere. The wonder working icons are kept In the churches and chapels, and are believed by the common people to have been mot made with hands" monk generally has vision that an icon may be found In a certain place and upon going to the indicated spot he discovers 1t, sometimes buried, sometimes hang ing on tree. They are sources of j great revenue to the church and the more celebrated ones have annual fete days instituted in their honor. The three most renowned are the Kazan Madonna the Vladimir Madonna and the Iberian Madonna. Our Lady of \ Kazan was for several centuries resi- I dent of Moscow, but is now installed In a St. Petersburg, and to her come the ! Tzar and Tzarina to make salute on their safe return from a journey and hither are brought imperial brides of S the Greek faith en route to the nuptial altar In the Winter Palace.
 The Vladimir Madonna once saved
 Moscow from the Tartars and the aid d of the Iberian Madonna was invoked 4 when the French drew night unto IIos- cow the people urging the metropoli- tan to arm them with hatchets and lead R them with the famous icon at their 4 head.
 The great fair at Mini -Novogorod takes place in the months of August d and September, and is known as the III Jahrmarker. It draws together over # goo, 900 people and while primarily a 3 | wholesale fair. it is in order to meet the 8 needs and accommodate the caprices of a so vast a throng, has many attributes d and characteristics of retail bazaar 3 The Russians speak of it as the N "Makary," from the fact that from 1924 d it was held at the convent of St. 4 Makary, some 60 miles down the Volga, A whence it was removed to its present site in 1877.
 MI It must be remembered that the d Volga runs course of 2300 miles and that by an extensive canal system it H connects with St. Petersburg, Moscow,