was a written one--probably a printed harangue issued to him
and his compeers for circulation throughout the country. He delivered
many of the longer words with a certain unctuous roll of the tongue, and
an emphasis indicating the fact that he did not know their meaning.

"From afar," he went on, "we have long been watching you. We have noted
your difficulties and your hardships, your sickness, your starvation.
'These men of Tver,' we have said, 'are brave and true and steadfast. We
will tell them of liberty.' So I have come to you, and I am glad to see
you. Alexander Alexandrovitch, pass the bottle down the table. You see,
little fathers, I have not come begging for your money. No; keep your
kopecks in your pocket. We do not want your money. We are no
tchinovniks. We prove it by giving you vodka to keep your throats wet
and your ears open. Fill up your glasses--fill up your glasses!"

The little fathers of Osterno understood this part of the harangue
perfectly, and acted upon it.

The orator scratched his head reflectively. There was a certain
business-like mouthing of his periods, showing that he had learnt all
this by heart. He did not press all his points home in the manner of one
speaking from his own brain.

"I see before me," he went on, without an overplus of sequence, "men
worthy to take their place among the rulers of the world--eh--er--rulers
of the world, little fathers."

He paused and drank half a tumbler of vodka. His last statement was so
obviously inapplicable--what he actually did see was so very far removed
from what he said he saw--that he decided to relinquish the point.

"I drink," he cried, "to Liberty and Equality!"

Some of the little fathers also drank, to assuage an hereditary thirst.

"And now," continued the orator, "let us get to business. I think we
understand each other?"

He looked round with an engaging smile upon faces brutal enough to suit
his purpose, but quite devoid of intelligence. There was not much
understanding there.

"The poor man has one only way of making himself felt--force. We have
worked for generations, we have toiled in silence, and we have gathered
strength. The time has now come for us to put forth our strength. The
time has gone by for merely asking for what we want. We asked, and they
heard us not. We will now go and take!"

A few who had heard this speech or something like it before shouted
their applause at this moment. Before the noise had subsided t