r booths where the stage-struck hero acts the leading part.
There are dwarfs, fat women, giants, and the renowned ubiquitous
Punch and Judy, merry-go-rounds, card-sharpers, cheap-jacks, and
a medley crowd of men and women all catering for the roubles of
the crowd. What are termed the "ice-hills" are perhaps the most
attractive feature of the gathering.

In the city feasting and visiting are the order of the day. There
is no limit to the consumption of "_bleenies_," a kind of pancake
made of buckwheat flour, and eaten with butter sauce or fresh caviare,
according to the circumstances of the families. Morn, noon, and
night _bleenies_ are cooked and eaten by the dozen, moistened,
of course, with the indispensable _vodka_ or native gin, which is
distilled from rye.

When midnight of the second Sunday arrives, all gaieties are supposed
to vanish, and a subdued and demure aspect must be assumed, and
the form of congratulation between friends and acquaintances
is--"_Pozdravlin vam post_," or "I congratulate you on the fast."
The church bells toll mournfully at brief intervals from 4 or 5
A. M., when early mass is celebrated until about 8 P. M., when
evening service closes.

Before the Passion--like the Jews, who at Passover search diligently
for and cast out the old leaven--the Russian housewife likewise
searches out every corner, most remorselessly sweeps from its
hiding-place every particle of dust. Everything is done to make the
house and its contents fit to meet a risen Saviour. The streets,
always very clean, receive special attention, even the lamp-posts
are carefully washed down and the kerbs sanded. Everything that
will clean has brush and soap-and-water applied to it. The reason
of this is the belief that our Saviour invisibly walks about the
earth for forty days after Easter, that is, until Ascension Day.

On the Thursday of Passion Week "_Strashnaya Nedelli_," _i. e._,
"_Terrible Week_," is enacted in a very realistic fashion one of
the last acts of our Saviour--"the washing of the Disciples' feet."
After the close of the second diet of worship at St. Isaac's Cathedral
this ceremony is performed.

The most important day of the week is that of "_Strashnaya Piatnitsa_,"
or Good Friday, when the burial of our Lord is enacted before the
people in a truly solemn and impressive manner. In every church
there is a sarcophagus in imitation of our Saviour's tomb, and
many of these sarcophagi are of elaborate workmanshi