Page:The way of Martha and the way of Mary (1915).djvu/46

24 "The bridegroom has not kissed the bride once; why is it?"

Poor Katia! she did not seem to have one true friend amongst all these people, and was possibly marrying to escape from father and home. . ..

But away from these problems! Thousands of sleigh-horses flog the grey-white snow of the Kief streets, flocked with Christmas traffic. The sleighs are loaded with baskets of cakes and sweets. Men are driving, carrying in their arms huge Christmas trees. There are men struggling with little pigs and live geese and turkeys designed for the market or the Christmas dinner. On the slippery sidewalks urchins are crying with cheerful irrelevance:—

"Five copecks, aluminium wonder lights, cold fire without smoke, without smell."

"Five copecks, warm socks to put inside boots or goloshes."

In the Jewish old-clothes market of the Podol there are tremendous crowds, and much business is being done. The mood of Jewry is happy in the Christmas orgy of trade. All is calm after the ritual trial, and the fear of persecution is all gone in the reality of good business. All Kief seems to be in the streets buying; and the tram-cars tinkling their alarm bells are crowded to the last inch of the step-boards.

But somewhere there is another Kief, a quiet radiant city, silent but for the footfalls of monks or pilgrims on the snow—the sanctuaries, monasteries,