. Russian portraits . s going on and we mingled with thecrowd, which had an amazing preponderance ofmen. The richness of the church with its goldenand crimson robed priests seemed to throw intorelief the poverty of the people with their facesso full of sadness. What absurdly stupid thingsanimate ones thoughts in the most preciousmoments : for instance, when the priest madethe sign of the Cross with the three branchedcandlesticks in each hand, I instinctively lookedto see if he had dropped candle-grease on thecarpet—he had ! When the contribution platebegan to circulate I watched an old peasant
. Russian portraits . s going on and we mingled with thecrowd, which had an amazing preponderance ofmen. The richness of the church with its goldenand crimson robed priests seemed to throw intorelief the poverty of the people with their facesso full of sadness. What absurdly stupid thingsanimate ones thoughts in the most preciousmoments : for instance, when the priest madethe sign of the Cross with the three branchedcandlesticks in each hand, I instinctively lookedto see if he had dropped candle-grease on thecarpet—he had ! When the contribution platebegan to circulate I watched an old peasant nextto me. He drew out his pocket-book, and fumbledfor a few roubles. He held five of these like acard-hand and fingered them hesitatingly. Itwas obvious that he was trying to make up hismind whether he could afford to part with themall, or only with some of them. In the end heput them all into the plate, a little act of sacrificewhich I am sure will not pass unblessed. The choir singing without accompaniment was8?. RUSSIAN PORTRAITS very beautiful. The masses seemed to be veryfervent, one could see Faith and Hope in alltheir faces. It is surely the deep religious feelingin Russia that has sustained these people throughall their years of privation, and prevented agreater chaos. After church we walked along, rejoicing inthe sun, to the Tretiakovskaya Gallery, full ofvarious schools of painting. Among the picturesis the famous one of Ivan the Terrible killing hisson, but everything that I saw was obliteratedby the memory of three modern busts, the workof Konenoff, the sculptor I met at the StrogonoffSchool. These busts are carved out of blocksof wood. They are indescribable masterpiecesin conception, composition and carving. I re-mained for some time in admiration and wonder-ment over this modern work, and then wentaway, as I could not look at anything else. At 3 oclock I hurried to the Kremlin, asKameneff had telephoned telling me to expectZinoviev. I waited until four and th
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