Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-11-20
RASPUTIN's POPULARITY
WITH THE PAIR ONES.


court favorite was all-powerful, and
Rasputin was held as such, especially by
those who had some personal interest
in representing him as the successor
to Menschikoff under Peter the Great,
Bren under the Empress Anne and Or
loft under Catherine II. He acquired a
far greater influence outside TZarskoie
Selo than he ever enjoyed in the impe-
rial residence itself, and he made the
best of it, boasting of a position which
in reality he did not possess. The in
numerate state functionaries, who in
Russia unfortunately always have the
last word to say everywhere and in
everything and whose rapacity is pro-
verbal, FASTENED to put themselves at
the service of Rasputin and to grant
him everything which he asked, in the
hope that in return he would make
himself useful to them.
A kind of bargaining established it,
self between people DESTROYS of making
a career and Rasputin, eager to enrich
himself no matter by what means. He
began by playing the Intermediary in
different financial transactions against
a substantial consideration, and at last
he thought himself entitled to give his
attention to matters of state. This was
the saddest side of his remarkable ca
reer as a pseudo-Cagliostro. He had d
good deal of natural intelligence, and
white being the first to laugh at fair
ladies who clustered around him, he un-
derstood at once that he could make
use Of them. This he did not fail to do.
He adopted toward them the manners
of a stern master, and treated them
like his humble slaves. At last he
ended by leading the existence of man
OF pleasure, denying himself nothing,
Iii linnnr nj
every kind. At that time there was
no prohibition in Russia and, like all
Russian peasants, Rasputin was very
fond of vodka to which he never missed
adding a substantial quantity of cham
payne whenever he found the opportu-
nifty.
I shall abstain from touching upon the
delicate point of the orgies to which II
is related that Rasputin was in the habit
of addicting himself. the more so De-
cause | do not really believe these ever
took place in those higher circles of So
ciety where it was said they regularly
occurred. That strange things may have
happened among the common people
who in fa" greater numbers than 1t has
ever been known used to attend the re-
ligious meetings which he held, l shall
not deny. I. must always be remember
ed that Rasputin belonged to the relig-
ious sect of the Khlysty, of whose as
semblies we have read the description
and it is quite. likely, and even probable
that the assemblies of these sectarlans
at which he presided were not different
from the others to which these heretics
crowded But 1 feel absolutely con-
WINGED that as regards the relations Of
the adventurer with the numerous ladies
of society silly enough to believe in him
and in his gifts of prophecy. these con-
sisted only of superstitious reverence
on one side and exploitation of human
stupidity on the other.
I must once more insist on the point
that the apparition of Rasputin in Rus
sian society had nothing wonderful
about it, and that the only strange thing
is that such a fuss was made. Before
his time people belonging to the highest
social circles had become afflicted with
religious manias of one kind or another
out Of that natural longing for some
thing to believe in and to worship which
lies hidden at the bottom of the charac-
ter of every Russian who has the leisure
or the craving, to examine seriously the
difficult and complicated problems of A
future life and of the faith one ought tc
follow and to believe in.
In 1917 there was discovered in the
very heart of St Petersburg, holding its
meetings in an imperial residence (the
Michael palace, a religious sect of most
pronounced mystical tendencies, presided
over by a lady belonging to the best cir
cles of the capitalize widow of col
onel, Madame Tatarinoff In her apart
ments used to gather officers, state func'
tionaries. women and girls of good fam
ily and excellent education who, with
slight variations. practiced all the re-
fligious rites of the Khlystys. One OF
the ministers of Alexander ], Prince
Galitzyne, was suspected of having hon.
ored these"assemblies with his presence
Thanks to a letter which accidentally
fell into the hands of the police, the gov
eminent became aware of what was go
ing on, and Madame Tatarinoff, this Rus
sian Madame Guyon, expiated in exile IN
a distant province of Siberia the costa
sizes which she had practiced and which
she had allowed others to practice under
her roof. Some of her disciples were
prosecuted, but the greater number es-
capped scot free. The authorities did not
care to increase the scandal which this
affair had aroused in the capital.
A NEW PROPHET
MAKES HTS DEBUT.
Much later, in 1873, after the Russo.
Turkish war, which, like the japanese