Page:Morgan Philips Price - Siberia (1912).djvu/153

 Rh corners of Siberia the seeds of the emancipation of the peasantry from the priests have been sown. The peasants are beginning to ask themselves why large sums should be given to village priests. But, in spite of its faults, this much one must say for the Greek Church in Russia. Unlike the Roman Church, it is not the determined foe of "Modernism," nor does it enforce the maxim that "ignorance is the mother of devotion." It is true that it does little to help education, except in the most elementary way; but generally speaking it is indifferent, not hostile, to educational progress. It clings pertinaciously to the past, and keeps a firm grip on its revenues. An instance came to my notice in Siberia of a woman who changed over to the Roman Church on marriage, and had to pay to her former village priest the capitalized sum of her annual value to him! Russia in the future will probably see emancipation from the economic rather than from the spiritual thraldom of the Greek Church.

While I remained here I tried to discover all that I could about the social systems under which these peasants lived, and about their habits and customs. I went with them in the forests, I talked to them at the plough, and joined the children at their games in the little village street. More than once I went on little shooting trips for the day with Siberian youths who knew the woodlands, or roamed on foot over the grassy meadows, dotted with little groves of birch, along the edge of the great pine forest. We roamed among majestic giants of Scotch pine, through which one could walk for a whole day and imagine oneself in some great hall supported by noble pillars. There was a vast expanse of this beautiful forest