int. And it seems
to me that the wind, the seraph of many pinions which has spent three
days in harrying the land, must now have whirled the earth into a
blackness, a denseness, in which, exhausted, and panting, and scarcely
moving, it is helplessly striving to remain within the encompassing,
all-pervading obscurity where, helpless and weary in like degree, the
wind has sloughed its thousands of wing-feathers--feathers white and
blue and golden of tint, but also broken, and smeared with dust and
blood.

And as I think of our petty, grievous human life, as of a drunkard's
tune on a sorry musical instrument, or as of a beautiful song spoilt by
a witless, voiceless singer, there begins to wail in my soul an
insatiable longing to breathe forth words of sympathy with all mankind,
words of burning love for all the world, words of appreciation of, for
example, the sun's beauty as, enfolding the earth in his beams, and
caressing and fertilising her, he bears her through the expanses of
blue. Yes, I yearn to recite to my fellow-men words which shall raise
their heads. And at length I find myself compounding the following
jejune lines:

To our land we all are born
In happiness to dwell.
The sun has bred us to this land
Its fairness to excel.
In the temple of the sun
We high priests are, divine.
Then each of us should claim his life,
And cry, "This life is mine!"

Meanwhile from the women's corner there comes a soft, intermittent
whispering; and as it continues to filter through the darkness, I
strain my ears until I succeed in catching a few of the words uttered,
and can distinguish at least the voices of the whisperers.

The woman from Riazan mutters firmly, and with assurance:

"Never ought you to show that it hurts you."

And with a sniff, in a tone of dubious acquiescence, her companion
replies:

"Ye-es-so long as one can bear it."

"Ah, but never mind. PRETEND. That is to say, when he beats you, make
light of it, and treat it as a joke."

"But what if he beats me very much indeed?"

"Continue still to make light of it, still to smile at him kindly."

"Well, YOU can never have been beaten, for you do not seem to know what
it is like."

"Oh, but I have, my dear--I do know what it is like, for my experience
of it has been large. Do not be afraid, however. HE won't beat you."

A dog yelps, pauses a moment to listen, and then barks more angrily
than ever. Upon that other dogs reply, and for a