El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-09-02
RUSSIANS HAVE
RELIGIOUS FAITH
Peasants Have Implicit Con
fidence in God; Country
Not a Mad tumble.
BY SIDNEY DARK.

Paris, France. Sept. 2.-The Russian
people believe in God. This il the first
fact that strikes every competent OBJ
server. Stephen Graham is impressed
by this belief all the time Maurice
Barring never forgets ft. H. G. Wells
discovered il with some astonlshmenL
Let US quote Mr.. Barring. In his
book, What I Saw IN Russia he
says:
If you talk to a peasant for two
minutes you Will notice that he has a
fervent belief in a great, good and
inscrutable Providence he never &C
cuSeS man Of the calamites TO which
flesh is heir. When the railway strike
was at its height and we were held up
at small side station the train at
tendant repeated all day long that God
had sent US a severe trial which he
had
Yesterday I had talk with a man
who had returned from the war he
had been soldier and surgeons as
slsrant, and had received the cross OF
st George for rescuing a wounded
officer under fire / asked him if he
clothes were not even touched; men all
around me were wounded This was the
ordinance Of Sod. God had pity on the
orphans tears. II was all .prearranged
thus that I was to come home So II
was TO be-
Il also had tea with a stonemason
yesterday, who said TO me. l. and my
whole family, have prayed for you IN
your absence, because these are times
Of trouble, and we did not know what
bitter cup you might not have to drink
Then he gave me three new laid eggs
with which to eat his very good health
Policemen Pray at Street Corners
II is important 10 remember the
faith Of the great mass OF the Russian
people, because 1t implies most Of their
other essential characteristics, and be-
cause it is the real explanation Of
anti-RUssian feeling. Merely to be-
Ieve in God nowadays is 70 be almost
extensively eccentric. In Russia on
Palm Sunday the policeman prays at
the corner Of the street.
Peasant Greatest Russian Factor.
Russia is the land OF peasants The
growing industrial life Of the cities is
naturally colored and affected by Ger
man and French interests, but the
peasant still remains the greatest fac
tor in Russian life, and the peasant
IS still uniufluenced by eastern ideas.
He is musical intensely charitable. as
distrustful as nearly all cOuntrymen
are, and highly imaginative. Indeed.
the descriptions Of the Russian peasant
by Mr.. Barring and Mr.. Graham in
evitably remind one Of the peasants
one meets in Ireland
Fl. G. Wells says: In Russia things
are taken seriously. The Russians
soul, just as much a. his churches and
done in stronger. simpler. more en-
phatic colors. His religion IS real. his
monarchy is real. his life is passion
ate self examination. because he has
faith"
The Russians and the Irish are the
most religious people left in the world.
Not a Mad tumble Of CossacIzs..
Popular English fiction and drama
have filled our minds with a series OF
melodramatic pictures concerning Rus
STA and the Russians. but the land OF
the car is not really a mad tumble
Of CossacSs and knouts and pogoroms
and gentle nihilists and naughty grand
dukes It is a vast nation OF men and
women who have not forgotten how
TO dream In the last century II pro-
duced what is perhaps the most distinc-
tive literature in Europe Its music
is new and wonderful It is revolution
iZing theatrical art
Modern Germany sthe very epitorne
Of materialism, while Russia stands for
the spirit and It is well for Great
Britain that she is on Russia's side.
on the side OF the nation that produced
Tolstoy, and still holds TO the faith
once committed 10 the saints.