the
round of the huts with the cross at Easter, took fifteen kopecks.

The old father did not believe in God, for he hardly ever thought about
Him; he recognized the supernatural, but considered it was entirely the
women's concern, and when religion or miracles were discussed before
him, or a question were put to him, he would say reluctantly, scratching
himself:

"Who can tell!"

Granny believed, but her faith was somewhat hazy; everything was mixed
up in her memory, and she could scarcely begin to think of sins, of
death, of the salvation of the soul, before poverty and her daily cares
took possession of her mind, and she instantly forgot what she was
thinking about. She did not remember the prayers, and usually in the
evenings, before lying down to sleep, she would stand before the ikons
and whisper:

"Holy Mother of Kazan, Holy Mother of Smolensk, Holy Mother of
Troerutchitsy..."

Marya and Fyokla crossed themselves, fasted, and took the sacrament
every year, but understood nothing. The children were not taught their
prayers, nothing was told them about God, and no moral principles were
instilled into them; they were only forbidden to eat meat or milk in
Lent. In the other families it was much the same: there were few who
believed, few who understood. At the same time everyone loved the Holy
Scripture, loved it with a tender, reverent love; but they had no Bible,
there was no one to read it and explain it, and because Olga sometimes
read them the gospel, they respected her, and they all addressed her and
Sasha as though they were superior to themselves.

For church holidays and services Olga often went to neighbouring
villages, and to the district town, in which there were two monasteries
and twenty-seven churches. She was dreamy, and when she was on these
pilgrimages she quite forgot her family, and only when she got home
again suddenly made the joyful discovery that she had a husband and
daughter, and then would say, smiling and radiant:

"God has sent me blessings!"

What went on in the village worried her and seemed to her revolting. On
Elijah's Day they drank, at the Assumption they drank, at the Ascension
they drank. The Feast of the Intercession was the parish holiday for
Zhukovo, and the peasants used to drink then for three days; they
squandered on drink fifty roubles of money belonging to the Mir, and
then collected more for vodka from all the households. On the first
day of the feast the Tchik