i6o BORISOGLEBSK 



dismay one morning that the Madonna had been stripped 

 of the greater part of her jewellery, and suspecting the pilgrim 

 they had him arrested, with the result that the gold and 

 precious stones were found in his possession. When asked 

 for an explanation, he stated in the coolest possible manner 

 that the jewellery belonged to him ; because the Madonna 

 on observing his great piety had gratefully presented it to 

 him when no one was looking. As the priests could not 

 deny the plausibility of the defence, they allowed the pilgrim 

 to depart with his gifts, and they made what capital they 

 could out of the miracle, a repetition of which they prevented 

 their Lady from performing, by enclosing the shrine with 

 bars of iron. 



The inhabitants of Borisoglebsk, Kirsanof and of other 

 out-of-the-way places are only just beginning to open their 

 mental eyes, and to become aware that they have to take 

 part in the march of progress which Russia has begun. The 

 self-satisfied English globe-trotter is apt to regard the Russian 

 peasant as a savage or at least a barbarian, because the 

 moujiks dress is of an Oriental type, and is evidently 

 unacquainted with a clothes brush. But as far as personal 

 cleanliness goes, the Russian is far superior to the British 

 workman, who very seldom gives himself a wash all over. 

 Even the poorest moujik gets soaped and scrubbed in his 

 native steam bath at least twice a month, if not once a week. 

 I have often gone to a common banya of this kind, paid two 

 pence halfpenny (10 kopecks), and stripped a la Russe in 

 a room full of intending bathers. The first time I saw 

 their comparatively white skins, I noted that none of them 

 had missed the last year's outing, as did the historic Scotch 

 factory hand who, by that plea, tried to excuse the dingy 

 colour of his body, when about to take the customary dip 

 in the ocean on his annual holiday and trip to the seaside 

 with his mates. The Russian working classes, both men 



