the censorship committee on foreign books on
what principle of selection he proceeded. He said that disrespect to the
Emperor and the Greek Church was officially prohibited; that he admitted
everything which did not err too grossly in that direction, and, in
fact, _everything_ except French novels of the modern realistic school.
He drew the line at these, as pernicious to both men and women. He asked
me if I had read a certain new book which was on the proscribed list. I
said that I had, and in the course of the discussion which ensued, I
rose to fetch the volume in question from the table behind him to verify
a passage. (This occurred during a friendly call.) I recollected,
however, that that copy had not entered the country by post, and that,
consequently, the name of the owner therein inscribed would not be found
on the list of authorized readers any more than my own. I am sure,
however, that nothing would have happened if he had seen it, and he must
have understood my movement. My business dealings were wholly with
strangers.

It seems to be necessary, although it ought not to be so, to remind
American readers that Russia is not the only land where the censorship
exists, to a greater or less extent. Even in the United States, which is
popularly regarded as the land of unlicensed license in a literary
sense,--even in the Boston Public Library, which is admitted to be a
model of good sense and wide liberality,--all books are not bought or
issued indiscriminately to all readers, irrespective of age and so
forth. The necessity for making special application may, in some cases,
whet curiosity, but it also, undoubtedly, acts as a check upon unhealthy
tastes, even when the book may be publicly purchased. I have heard
Russians who did not wholly agree with their own censorship assert,
nevertheless, that a strict censure was better than the total absence of
it, apparently, in America, the utterances of whose press are regarded
by foreigners in general as decidedly startling.*

* From _The Nation_

IV.

BARGAINING IN RUSSIA.

In Russia one is expected to bargain and haggle over the price of
everything, beginning with hotel accommodations, no matter how
obtrusively large may be the type of the sign "_Prix Fixe_" or how
strenuous may be the assertions that the bottom price is that first
named. If one's nerves be too weak to play at this game of continental
poker, he will probably share our fate, of which we were