418 Mr. Stephen Graham [April 16, 



" That is the effect of Russian Hterature. Its significance is not 

 a matter of the reviews of Western critics, not a matter of the noisy 

 fame which has overtaken it ; it lies not in its material triumph, 

 but in a direct and absolutely unhampered affinity to the soul of the 

 simple and universal reader. ' To some the Russian song is always 

 pleasing.' . . . No — bigger, better. ' There are souls to whom the 

 Russian song is the one thing necessary in life, to whom it is dearer 

 than anything else in life — as to the hurt one, his mother, ; as to 

 the sick child, again his mother, perhaps neither a beautiful nor 

 a virtuous one. ' Virtue ' — it is, of course, somewhat strange to 

 ask from Russians. . . . ' The Troika.' . . . But one thing there 

 always is in Russia — sympathy, responsiveness. Perhaps it sprang 

 up in Russia, and became exaggerated there just because so many 

 people were crushed by various ' troikas.' However that may be, to 

 be sung to sleep with Russia's cradle song many wish. ..." 



There is love towards the suffering one. It is part of a love 

 towards the destiny of the individual. There is a remarkable 

 absence of conventional standards. You are not looked at askance 

 because you seem poor. The tramps and pilgrims on the road are 

 never made ashamed of themselves. A contrast to America, w^here 

 the tramp is an object of mirth, where he is regarded almost as an 

 enemy of society. The Russian takes the tramp in. He has real 

 hospitality, and not only the hospitality of hearth and home, the 

 giving of food and a night's shelter, but also a more vital hospitality, 

 that of mind and heart. He wants to know all about you. He asks 

 you the human questions. He asks about father and mother and 

 brothers and sisters, about your home and your calHng and your 

 goal. In return he tells you the intimate things of his life. 



This is not only a matter of the road. How often the most 

 utter stranger, met in a railway carriage or a post-station or at an 

 inn, will after a remark about the weather or the crops begin to tell 

 you the whole story of his life. He assumes the hospitality of your 

 heart ; a sure sign that in general people's hearts are hospitable, that 

 in general there is a love towards destiny. 



As a wanderer and a seeker I have myself experienced the 

 ordinary material hospitality of hearth and home, and also this of 

 the heart, having often been poor, strange-looking, and enigmatical 

 enough. Russians have not looked askance ; they have been 

 brotherly. They have accepted a stranger naturally and simply as 

 they would one near to themselves. More than that, knowing 

 that I had a special quest, there have always been those who came 

 forward and helped me in the spiritual things. Mysterious beings 

 have, as it were, anticipated my coming, and have stepped out and 

 recognized and said : " Read this ; go to that one and talk to him ; 

 see this Russian picture." They love to preserve the mystery too. 

 I have known people who had the aspect of having dreamed of my 

 comintr. 



