ing a huge mass of rock upon whose pinnacles stand figures
representing the different parts of the empire--Little Russia, Siberia,
and so forth. The inscription reads: "To the Tzar-Liberator from the
Liberated Serf." It was made by the Ovtchinnikoffs and presented by
another ex-serf, who had become a millionaire railway magnate.

Mustard Seed No. 2 from America to Russia falls into a somewhat
different category. It more nearly resembles one of those grains of
antique wheat found in a tomb and sprouting vigorously when finally
planted in congenial, helpful soil. I trust that my comparison may not
be regarded as disrespectful. One could not, willingly, be disrespectful
to the calendar, any more than to the thermometer!

Russia, by adhering to the Julian Calendar and refusing to adopt the
Gregorian, has now fallen thirteen days behind the rest of the world. It
falls behind about a day for every century. There are several reasons
why Russia has not, up to now, remedied the serious inconvenience caused
by this conflict of dates. One is--the Gregorian Calendar is Roman
Catholic, and named after a Pope. It is, also, inaccurate. Worst of all,
the rectification might--almost infallibly would, under ordinary
circumstances--cause trouble at the outset, especially in one
incalculably important direction.

Russian scientists long ago worked out a new calendar far more accurate
than the Gregorian for thousands of years, and when the change is made
that calendar will be adopted. The fundamental difficulty lies in the
fact that all the people whose saints' days must inevitably be skipped
for the first year in the process of rectification will inevitably feel
that they are being robbed of their guardian angels, that they are
"orphans"--a mournful word greatly beloved of the Russian masses under
multiform circumstances, both material and spiritual--and orphaned in a
peculiarly distressing and irrevocable way. They might even feel when
their saints' days came around quite correctly the next year that some
spurious adventurer--Angel of Darkness--was being foisted upon them.

Fanatics and professional mischief-makers would certainly seize with
avidity upon such a godsend of a chance, unparalleled since the days of
Peter the Great's father, when the Patriarch Nikon had the errors of the
copyists in the Scriptures and church service books corrected. But the
present war has fused all parties, united all hearts in patriotism,
loyalty to, and