orkings of the censorship in as strong a case as
I could have found had I deliberately desired to invent a test case. I
may as well remark here that "the censor" is not the hard-worked,
omnivorous reader of mountains of print and manuscript which the words
represent to the mind of the ordinary foreigner. The work of auditing
literature, so to speak, is subdivided among such a host of men that
office hours are brief, much of the foreign reading, at least, is done
at home, and the lucky members of the committee keep themselves
agreeably posted upon matters in general while enjoying the fruits of
office.

The censor's waiting-room was well patronized on my arrival. An official
who was holding a consultation with one of the visitors inquired my
business. I stated it briefly, and shortly afterwards he retired into an
adjoining room, which formed the beginning of a vista of apartments and
officials. While I waited, a couple of men were attended to so near me
that I heard their business. It consisted in obtaining official
permission to print the bills and programmes of a musical and variety
entertainment. To this end they had brought not only the list of
performers and proposed selections, but also the pictures for
advertisement, and the music which was to be given. As the rare traveler
who can read Russian is already aware, the programme of every public
performance bears the printed authorization of the censor, as a matter
of course, quite as much as does a book. It is an easy way of
controlling the character of assemblages, the value of which can hardly
be disputed even by those prejudiced persons who insist upon seeing in
this Russian proceeding something more arbitrary than the ordinary city
license which is required for performances elsewhere, or the Lord
Chancellor's license which is required in England. In Russia, as
elsewhere, an ounce of prevention is worth fully a pound of cure. This,
by the way, is the only form in which a foreigner is likely to come in
contact with the domestic censure in Russia, unless he should wish to
insert an advertisement in a newspaper, or issue printed invitations to
a gathering at his house, or send news telegrams. In these cases he may
be obliged to submit to delay in the appearance of his advertisement, or
requested to go to the elegance and expense of engraved invitations, or
to detain his telegram for a day or two. Such things are not unknown in
Germany.

Just as these gentlemen had