PASSING A SHRINK IN MOSCOW 



Photo by Gilbert H. Grosvenor 



Moscow is a city of shrines and churches. In every square and on every street corner 

 there is some holy picture before which the devout uncover and make the sign of the Russian 

 cross. This picture shows on the right one of these street shrines — an icon before which a 

 candle is burning and a tankard of holy water. The passer-by may take a sip of the holy 

 water from the common cup. The cab driver has uncovered and is making the sign of the 

 cross as he rattles by. 



a chance to grow until recent years. Her 

 geographical shape or condition was such 

 that for centuries her people were con- 

 stantly being enslaved or despoiled by 

 stronger neighbors. 



European Russia is an enormous plain 

 2,000 miles long and about a thousand 

 miles wide. In it there are no moun- 

 tains and no hills more than a few hun- 

 dred feet high. It is so flat that the 

 rivers are sluggish and tortuous, and 

 seem uncertain in which direction to flow. 

 For instance, its greatest river, the 

 Volga, 2,400 miles long, has an average 

 drop of only 4 inches to the mile. This 

 plain served as a highway for the suc- 

 cessive barbaric hordes on their way 

 from Asia to western Europe. 



The Russian Slavs, whose origin we 

 will not discuss in this brief article, were 

 among the last to come, settling in the 



western portion of the Russian plain. 

 On all sides of them were enemies — 

 Finns, Swedes, Lithuanians, Poles, and 

 Tatars. The plain offered a splendid 

 arena for fighting, and as there were no 

 geographical fences to keep them out, 

 these enemies were incessantly attacking 

 the Russians, devastating their fields and 

 burning their wooden cities, making it 

 necessary for the unfortunate inhabitants 

 continually to rebuild. As a result, there 

 is nothing old in Russia — no ancient 

 fortresses like the feudal castles of the 

 Rhine and the Danube, no walled cities 

 like Wisby, in Gotland, or some of the 

 noted towns of Germany. 



If the Russians had not been one of 

 the most prolific races the world has ever 

 known, they would have been obliterated 

 in those bitter years. Only a race of ex- 

 traordinary vitality, of extraordinary 



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