nd power of frame, and force of will, and nobility of
aspiration. Such men in free countries, become leaders of the good and
brave. In despotic lands they become either the deliverers of their
country or the pests of society--the terror of rulers, the fomentors of
national discord. Doubtless, in many cases, where right principles are
brought to bear on them, they learn to submit, and, sometimes, become
mitigators of the evils which they cannot cure.

Most of the other inhabitants of this village, some of whom were
Mohammedans, and some Christians of the Greek Church, were sufficiently
commonplace and uninteresting. Many of them appeared to be simply lazy
and inert. Others were kindly enough, but stupid, and some were harsh,
coarse, and cruel, very much as we find the peasantry in other parts of
the world where they are ill-treated or uncared for.

While staying here I had occasion to go on shore one morning, and
witnessed a somewhat remarkable scene in a cafe.

Lancey and I, having made a longer excursion than usual and the day
being rather hot, resolved to refresh ourselves in a native
coffee-house. On entering we found it already pretty well filled with
Bulgarians, of whom a few were Moslems. They were apparently of the
poorer class. Most of them sat on low stools, smoking chibouks--long
pipes, with clay heads and amber mouth-pieces--and drinking coffee. The
Christians were all engrossed, at the moment of our arrival, with a
stranger, who from his appearance and the package of books which lay
open at his side, I at once judged to be a colporteur. Dobri Petroff, I
observed, was near him, and interested so deeply in what was going on,
that he did not at first perceive us.

Having selected some New Testaments and Bibles from his pack, the
colporteur handed them round for inspection. These, I found, were
printed in the modern Bulgarian tongue. The people greatly admired the
binding of the volumes, and began to evince considerable interest in
what the colporteur said about them. At last he proposed to read, and
as no objection was made, he read and commented on several passages.
Although a German, he spoke Bulgarian fluently, and ere long had aroused
considerable interest, for the people had little or no knowledge of the
Bible; the only one to which they had access being that which lay on the
pulpit of the Greek Church of the village, and which, being written in
the ancient Slavic language, was incomprehens