162 FORESTRY IN EASTERN RUSSIA, 



not the only man whose conjugal affection was governed 

 by selfishness. 



' I went one evening to see their worship. I was told I 

 might stand in the porch where they leave their outer 

 shoes, but on no account must I dare to defile their inner 

 court of prayer. I thought of that passage in the history 

 of Moses " Draw not nigh hither ; put off thy shoes from 

 off thy feet, for where thou standest is holy ground." 

 Very slow and solemn were those prayers, commencing at 

 the door, all on their knees in straight, uniform rows ; 

 then at a signal from the mollah, they all rise, bow, and 

 advance a few steps farther, then fall down prostrate to 

 the floor, and so on up to the altar, such as it is. It 

 reminded me of the passage, " O come let us worship and 

 fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker." And I 

 asked myself whether we Nonconformists have not too 

 little devotion and worship in our services, and whether 

 our lazy, slovenly way of sitting and lolling in our pews 

 during prayers offered to the Deity be not an insult to 

 the Divine Majesty of our Lord and Master. We dare not 

 serve our employers so, much less our Queen. It was a 

 very quiet service still enough to suit even the Quakers. 

 No singing ; a few passages from the Alcoran, droned by 

 the mollah ; then all hurried back to their homes and their 

 business. And this is done five times a day. Once a 

 week is enough, and too much, for some of us. 



1 On the outskirts of the town, on the bank of the river, 

 is a fine long boulevard, commanding an extensive view 

 of the plain, the yarmonka, and the motley crew of caravans 

 and Asiatics there. There is a good orchestra playing in 

 the pavilion every evening. The aristocracy, the Cossack 

 officers, and the Russian officials, are all there with their 

 families promenading about. But those stolid, imperturb- 

 able Mahommedans sit there cross-legged on the grass 

 plots among the trees the whole evening talking stock, as 

 if they grew there, I should like to have known their 



