1 9 6 THRO UGH R US SI A ON A M US TA NG. 



He didn't seem in the least surprised or disconcerted; 

 didn't even give expression to an apologetic little 

 cough, nor bestow a single glance of acknowledgment 

 on the burlak, but just simply lowered the document 

 and the rubles a trifle below the level of his desk, and 

 when the document was spread out a moment later on 

 the desk the rubles were gone. Only this, and nothing 

 more. 



My heart began to warm toward this worthy gentle- 

 man, as to a doctor engaged in alleviating the suffer- 

 ings of the halt, the sick, and the blind, for which he 

 refuses to charge more than they are able and willing 

 to give. Bribery, as an abstract thing, may be detesta- 

 ble, but so long as the present form of government 

 obtains in Russia, by all means multiply the number 

 of baldheaded little tchinovniks with high collars and 

 large pockets. 



The petitioners who came to the police station while 

 we were in the office were a curious crowd. There 

 was an isvoshchic who came to complain that a man 

 had ridden in his drosky without having the money 

 to pay his fare. There was a poor old woman who 

 was waiting when we arrived and was still waiting, 

 without anybody paying attention to her, when we 

 left ; and there was a plump, good-looking young crea- 

 ture, who sailed in, was received with polite attention, 

 shown into a private office, and bowed out again, all 

 inside of ten minutes. 



But the most interesting character of any was a 

 loutish young moujik, of about twenty-five summers, in 

 a sheepskin overcoat warm enough for the north pole, 

 though he was in South Russia and it was July. This 



