1 64 THRO UGH R US SI A ON A M US TA NG. 



Russia than might have been expected. There are 

 camps at every good-sized town — a tented field — for in 

 Russia the army goes into camp all summer. But gar- 

 rison towns are few and far apart, and it is only by 

 bearing in mind the vast extent of Russian territory 

 that one can come to accept as probable the numerical 

 claims of its army. 



It is curious to see soldiers in uniform working in 

 the harvest fields or mending the roads. The pay of 

 the Russian soldier is only seventy kopecks a month — 

 less than Uncle Sam pays his boys in blue per day. 

 As an offset, however, the Russians are permitted to 

 hire out as laborers or artisans — anything they can find 

 to do. In the cities, the soldiers of the garrison 

 usually have the preference over others as supers in 

 the theaters, and among them are often found amateur 

 actors, singers, and musicians of considerable talent. 

 In the provinces they work at harvesting, plowing, 

 ditch-digging, or anything the large landed proprietors 

 can find for them to do. 



In every village are young men who have returned 

 home from their three years' military duty. The Rus- 

 sian peasant dreads going into the army, 'but when he 

 returns is immensely proud of his service. He then 

 considers himself far superior to those whom three 

 years before he would have given an ear to change 

 places with in order to remain at home. The secret of 

 his exaltation is that while in the barracks he has 

 received a rudimentary education, and knows a thing 

 or two more than the rustics about him. 



The military burden, apart from the expenses of 

 keeping up the army, seems to sit lightly enough on 



