NUNS AND CONVENTS. 173 



While our churches ring with songs of triumph, praise, 

 and glory, the churches of Russia are filled with sweet, 

 sad plaints for mercy. 



By purchasing a small ikon from a grateful little old 

 Sister who kept a stall for the sale of holy pictures, we 

 gained admittance to the dining-room to see the nuns 

 at dinner. 



They filed in from church or from their cells, greet- 

 ing each other affectionately as they came into the 

 room, and stood up in rows along the walls. While 

 waiting the dinner hour they chatted and smiled, and 

 laid their heads together, and formed little gossiping 

 groups, the queer head-dresses bobbing and turning, 

 bowing and nodding. The novices had donned white 

 aprons. 



The table being ready, the nuns clustered together, 

 and, turning their faces toward Jerusalem, sang a 

 paternoster, afterward taking their seats. Four nuns 

 had to eat from one plate and drink from one glass. 

 Each had a square piece of black bread, a tiny cellar of 

 salt, and a wooden spoon. Decanters of kwass were 

 on the tables, and seemed to be in more demand than 

 anything else. Whether they were thirsty after their 

 singing, or whether the kwass was irresistible in itself, 

 those who got a first chance at the decanters gave 

 small heed to the rights of their sisters, many of whom 

 got next to none. Kwass, black bread and salt, cab- 

 bage soup, and a porridge of grain was the meal. Four 

 of the plumpest of the young novices were waiters, 

 while others handed in the bowls and dishes at a door. 

 Throughout the meal one of the nuns stood and read 

 aloud from the lives of the Saints, while another also 



