Chapter I: Preface

_Svobodnaya_ Rossia--_Free_ Russia--is a word on every lip in that great country; at once the Name and Hope of the new empire born of the Crimean war. In past times Russia was free, even as Germany and France were free. She fell before Asiatic hordes; and the Tartar system lasted, in spirit, if not in form, until the war; but since that conflict ended, the old Russia has been born again. This new country--hoping to be pacific, meaning to be Free--is what I have tried to paint.

My journeys, just completed, carried me from the Polar Sea to the Ural Mountains, from the mouth of the Vistula to the Straits of Yeni Kale, including visits to the four holy shrines of Solovetsk, Pechersk, St. George, and Troitsa. My object being to paint the Living People, I have much to say about pilgrims, monks, and parish priests; about village justice, and patriarchal life; about beggars, tramps, and sectaries; about Kozaks, Kalmuks, and Kirghiz; about workmen's artels, burgher rights, and the division of land; about students' revolts and soldiers' grievances; in short, about the Human Forces which underlie and shape the external politics of our time.

Two journeys made in previous years have helped me to judge the reforms which are opening out the Japan-like empire of Nicolas into the Free Russia of the reigning prince.

_February, 1870._ _6 St. James's Terrace._

CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE

I.--UP NORTH 11

II.--THE FROZEN SEA 16

III.--THE DVINA 20

IV.--ARCHANGEL 24

V.--RELIGIOUS LIFE 29

VI.--PILGRIMS 34

VII.--FATHER JOHN 40

VIII.--THE VLADIKA 46

IX.--A PILGRIM-BOAT 51

X.--THE HOLY ISLES 57

XI.--THE LOCAL SAINTS 62

XII.--A MONASTIC HOUSEHOLD 68

XIII.--A PILGRIM'S DAY 73

XIV.--PRAYER AND LABOR 78

XV.--BLACK CLERGY 84

XVI.--SACRIFICE 91

XVII.--MIRACLES 96

XVIII.--THE GREAT MIRACLE 103

XIX.--A CONVENT SPECTRE 110

XX.--STORY OF A GRAND DUKE 114

XXI.--DUNGEONS 118

XXII.--NICOLAS ILYIN 124

XXIII.--ADRIAN PUSHKIN 130

XXIV.--DISSENT 135

XXV.--NEW SECTS 142

XXVI.--MORE NEW SECTS 146

XXVII.--THE POPULAR CHURCH 151

XXVIII.--OLD BELIEVERS 158

XXIX.--A FAMILY OF OLD BELIEVERS 161

XXX.--CEMETERY OF THE TRANSFIGURATION 167

XXXI.--RAGOSKI 173

XXXII.--DISSENTING POLITICS 179

XXXIII.--CONCILIATION 183

XXXIV.--ROADS 187

XXXV.--A PEASANT POET 192

XXXVI.--FOREST SCENES 197

XXXVII.--PATRIARCHAL LIFE 202

XXXVIII.--VILLAGE REPUBLICS 208

XXXIX.--COMMUNISM 213

XL.--TOWNS 218

XLI.--KIEF 222

XLII.--PANSLAVONIA 225

XLIII.--EXILE 229

XLIV.--THE SIBERIANS 235

XLV.--ST. GEORGE 241

XLVI.--NOVGOROD THE GREAT 246

XLVII.--SERFAGE 250

XLVIII.--A TARTAR COURT 254

XLIX.--ST. PHILIP 257

L.--SERFS 262

LI.--EMANCIPATION 267

LII.--FREEDOM 272

LIII.--TSEK AND ARTEL 278

LIV.--MASTERS AND MEN 284

LV.--THE BIBLE 289

LVI.--PARISH PRIESTS 294

LVII.--A CONSERVATIVE REVOLUTION 299

LVIII.--SECRET POLICE 306

LIX.--PROVINCIAL RULERS 312

LX.--OPEN COURTS 318

LXI.--ISLAM 324

LXII.--THE VOLGA 330

LXIII.--EASTERN STEPPE 336

LXIV.--DON KOZAKS 341

LXV.--UNDER ARMS 346

LXVI.--ALEXANDER 351

FREE RUSSIA.