Sidelights on Russia

Extract

In Russia the population is always mentioned in numbers by the word “ Souls.” A village counts so many “ Souls.” A man is not described according to his “ heart,” but according to his soul, and the soul with its needs and fluctuations is never overlooked. It is not unusual to hear of somebody who has disappeared from society that he is absent “ saving his soul,” a form of occupation like hunting, trading, or any other accepted as natural and seemly. The man who has suddenly gone “ saving his soul ” may have gone “ into the desert,” i.e. solitude, to bewail his transgressions for a time and return chastened, or he may never return, having made the sacrifice for ever. Anchorites are still found in Russia, happily in districts so remote that they remain undisturbed by the present chaos.

Revolutions, always hazardous, have seldom realized the immediate objective of their promoters. Sudden and violent methods are often deceptive in results.