90 RUSSIA THEN AND NOW 



them, and presently gave vent to a number of chuckles. 

 To an inquiry by one of his family as to what amused 

 him, he held up the paper, which certainly presented 

 a strange appearance. Large black ink blotches in 

 several places in each column disfigured its printed 

 matter, and made it look more like a black and white 

 checkerboard than a printed page. Turning to 

 me, he said that the blackening of his articles, or 

 parts of them, was nothing new to him. What 

 amused him was that the unsmeared parts were far 

 more radical than those which the censor's ink roller 

 had made illegible, proving to him conclusively that 

 publications of his were being blackened without 

 even being read, on the theory that anything he wrote 

 must of necessity be dangerous, and bear the censor's 

 mark of disapproval. "I believe, " continued he, "that 

 if I were to publish a copy of the Ten Commandments 

 under my name, half of them would be blotted out as 

 dangerous reading. The fools do not seem to know 

 that by blotting out parts, they whet the reader's 

 desire for perusing all, and incite him to obtain un- 

 tampered copies clandestinely. ' 



He then told me that that particular article was one 

 of a series he was publishing, under the title of " Chris- 

 tianity and Patriotism " in a London newspaper, in the 

 Daily Standard I believe, not having been permitted to 

 publish them in the Russian tongue in his own country. 

 In them he showed that Christianity and patriotism 

 are incompatible, that the latter is an artificial 

 creation, skilfully fostered by rulers for their own 

 benefit. On account of it wars are waged, and no end 



