ORTHODOX CHURCH AND PRIESTS. 303 



rascally dealer in spavined and broken-winded horses. 

 He broaches the subject cautiously and in a round- 

 about manner, lest by appearing too eager he betray to 

 the pope the fact that his services are urgently re- 

 quired ; a piece of indiscretion which he knows only 

 too well would result in an immediate inflation of that 

 gentleman's fees. 



On his part, the pope, by means of long practice and 

 an hereditary insight into the workings of the Russian 

 conscience, has acquired such an expertness in detect- 

 ing the very things that these would-be cheapeners of 

 the holy functions try to conceal that he invariably 

 gets the better of the bargain. It is this prostitution 

 of the holy office to a bargainingand haggling over ru- 

 bles and kopecks that is the secret of the pope's unen- 

 viable position. All business in Russia is transacted on 

 a low moral basis. Every Russian merchant cheats and 

 overreaches, as a matter of course, nor do customers 

 expect anything better of them. The moujik feels no 

 resentment against the man who tries to overreach 

 him in a bargain for a red shirt ; because if he fails in 

 his bargaining with one merchant he goes to another. 

 But with the dealer in masses and sacraments he is 

 deprived of this freedom by the government, which 

 has practically given the pope of his parish a monop- 

 oly. If the mass merchant refuses to chant and burn 

 candles for him, save at extortionate rates, which he 

 very often does, the extortionate rates have to be 

 paid. 



Russians will tell you that cases are common in the 

 villages of popes refusing to bury the dead and ad- 

 minister the sacrament to the dying until the prices 



