Stinghai, Mar, 7 One of the most" popular subjects among" welters of Europe ind America has tong been the ational Character of Russia, French novel: {Sts have so specialized themselves fon this subject that with them the: erin "Tame Slave" is full of a mysterious sort of contrast and feuriousity. Russians themselves, must be confessed, regard these [generalities about themselves in not especially favourable light, and treat with irony the attempts of Jothers to present Russia and the Russians in images familiar to! foreigners. Foreigners, in their opinion, often want to know Russia. only in terms of vodka, troika, Jsemovar, pogrom and, of recent years, Soviets.
Even in the 19th century, when, Russia was not yet the centre JAxed attention she came to be after the revolution of 1917, European novelists played with these simplified terms in any way they pleased, The result was rather surprising to Ri which spoke of juicy slices [scmovar—as st a samovar were a kind of watermelon—or of bird ftroikes that fitted lightly _from branch to branch, heralding spring Jwith melodious chirpings. If the book had a beautiful Princess, -her ame was unfailingly masculine—Feodor. Russian boyars never ate black "caviar with anything but spades, and funeral church-singing was always conducted at wedding feasts.
All these piquant peculiarities of Russian life, existing in the imagina-Hon of foreign writers, have long: singe been christened: Ielukva. A. klukva is one of the smallest of the berry family, and grows on thin, short stems, but many, many years Jago a certain French "expert" on Russian life gave a picturesque des cription of how Russian boyars while! away the hours in the cool shade: of overhanging branches of klukva, Russians Disagree Meditating in emigration, Russians themselves do not always agree in their definitions of the most characteristic traits of the Russian type. G. Fedotov is probably right when' he avers that when a Russian draws: 8 "portrait of a Russian," that portrait is coloured according to the political sympathies of its creator. From the point of view of a Russian Wberal, for instance, a Russian is! fan eternal seeker, an enthusiast giving himself up to everything with Dursts of zeal, but often changing] his gods and idols. He is a man completely devoted to his people, his art, his ideas, frst and foremost jin quest of something for which he jean suffer, something for which he jean give his life, He is an implacfable enemy of all compromise, all falsehood-—an extremist in the. service of an idea. He is only hazily Jeonselous of the earth and never gets down to earth—a sort of holy visionary splendidly disinterested all money matters. Of the four Jelements, the closest io him is fire, the furthest, earth, Yet he would Jserve earth; visualizing his service, however, in terms of blazes and devouring flames. More distasteful to him than anything else is moderation and neatness, the Pharisaism of jo. self-satisfied culture. To him fereativeness is more important than creation, the quest for truth more Important than truth itself, hereto Jdeath more Important than industrious life.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.