Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-12-14
lContinued from last Issuel

The door slammed again. and all re-
manned silent for a few minutes. Then
the elderly woman who had admitted me
came into the apartment where we were
sitting and beckoned me to follow her.
But this proved too much for the feel
inSS OF the old general who had accost-
ed me on my entrance. and he pushed
himself forward in front of me, cXclaim-
ing as he did so:
81 have been here a longer time than
she has been pointing at me with
his finger, land / must get in first
You cannot do So" replied the wom-
an; my orders are TO let this lady in
| first"
DO YOU know who / am, woman"
screamed the general at the top Of his
mugs; he was evidently i'm a towering
passion. GO at once, and tell Gregory
| Etimitsch that I must sec him at once,
have been waiting here for more than
an hour"
81 cannot do So" replied the woman,
u must obey the orders that have been
given to me-"
Then I shall do it myself" exclaim-
ed the general, and he rushed toward
the door. which he opened, when ne was
stopped by a whole torrent or inVec-
tives coming from the next room.
How dare you disobey my orders?"
cried out an angry voice. Thou pig
and son of a pig, 1 have said 1 wish
to see this person and no one else!
Thou idle creature! Chuck MIN out of
the room, that pig who dares TO con-
tradict me and that comes in here"
And the tall figure of Rasputin ap-
peared on the threshold of the room.
EIe rudely pushed aside the general and,
Selling my hand, pulled me into an
ether apar tment, which seemed to he
his dining room.
1t was a rather large corner room
with three windows, in which stood
quantity Of flowers and green plants.
\ round table occupied the middle, on
which was laid a striped whte-and-red
tablecloth. a sanovar was standing on
it, together with glasses on blue-and-
white saucers, slices of lemon, sugar
in silver sugar basin and quantities
of cakes and biscuits. Chairs were
placed, on one of which RaspUtin sat
down, facing the tea urn, after having
made me a sign to do likewise. / no
ticed that there was a large writing
table in one corner Uttered with books
and papers.
The prophet himself did not at all
strike me as being the remarkable in
dividual | had been led to expect. He
must have been about forty years old,
tall and lean, with a long black beard
ana lOlS ndlT, failing IOl Qulle uOWH
to his back. but considerably lower than
his ears. The eyes were black. singu-
larly cunning in their expression, but
did not produce. at least not on me, the
uncanny impression | had been told
they generally made on those who saw
them for the first time. The hands
were the most remarkable thing about
the man. They we're long and thin, with
immense nails as dirty as dirty could
in, oil irnN
tions as he spoke. sometimes folding
them on his breast and sometimes lift
ing them high up in the air. He wore
the ordinary dress of the Russian peas
ant, high boots and the caftan, which,
however was made of the best and fin
est dark-blue cloth. What could be
seen of his linen was also of the best
quality.
After having beckoned to me to sit
down, Rasputin poured out some tea
in a glass and proceeded to drink it,
slipping the beverage slowly out of the
saucer into which he poured 1t out of
the glass which he had just filled. Sud-
denly he pushed the same saucer toward
me with the word
Drink"
AS 1 did not in the least feel in
clined to take his remains, L declined
the tempting offer, which made him
brows with the remark:
Better persons than thou art have
drunk out of this saucer, but if thou
wanted to make a fuss it is no concern
of mine"
And then he called out, "Awdotia!
Awdotiav The elderly woman who had
opened the door for me FASTENED to
come into the room.
There" said Rasputn, this person
pointing toward me with his forefin-
ger-"this person refuses to drink out
of the cup of life; take it thou instead"
The woman instantly dropped on her
knees and Rasputin proceeded to open
her mouth with his fingers and pour
down her throat the tea which / had
disdained She then Frustrated herself
on the ground before him and revently
kissed his feet, remaining in this atti-
tude until he pushed her aside with his
heavy boot and said, there, now thou
canst 60"
Then he turned to me once more.
"c,reat ladies, some of the greatest in
the land but are. too happy to do as
this woman has DONE he said dryly.
Remember that, daughter.
Then he proceeded al once with the
question. Thou hast wished to see me.
What can I do for thee? / am but poor
and humble man, the servant of the
Lord. but sometimes it has been my
fate to do some good for others. What
dost thou require of me?'
REARDING THE LION IN HIS DEN.
| proceeded to explain that l wanted
nothing in the matter of worldly goods,
but asked this singular parsonage to be
kind enough to tell me for the paper
which I represented whether it was
true that but for him Russia would have
declared war upon Austria the year be-
fore.
WHO has told you such thing he
inquired .
at is a common sa! ing in St Peters,
burg" I replied, land some people say
mai Won have been right in doing So"
"Right? of course. I was right" he
answered with considerable irritation.
"All these silly people who surround
our car would like to see him commit
stimulates. They only think about
themselves and about the profits which
thcv can make. War is crime,
great crime, the greatest which ma
ton can commit and those who declare
war arc criminals | only spoke the
truth when ! told our czar that he
would be ruined if he allowed himself
To he persuaded to go to war. This
country is not ready for it. Besides,
God forbids war, and if Russia went to
war the greatest misfortunes would fall
I l.