Page:The way of Martha and the way of Mary (1915).djvu/91

Rh "How will you prove that it is?"

"I'll bet you a quarter the engine won't be able to pass the ikon of Mikhail the Ugodnik."

"Very well; done!"

The ikon was brought to the railway lines. Presently thrum, thrum, thrum, the post-train left the village railway station. The first peasant stood himself on the lines and held the ikon in front of him with both hands. The other stood by and watched. The train came on, but when the engine-driver saw the peasant barring the way and apparently flagging the train, he brought his machine to a standstill and cried out to know what was the matter.

"You see," said the peasant, "the engine dare not pass the ikon. The quarter is mine; let's go and have a drink."

Another visitor to the tavern told a sort of Ingoldsby legend of a ten-pound black cat whose favourite way of entering a house was by coming down the chimney. Another, a peasant workman, made the astonishing statement that if you make a candle from human fat and light it you can see all.

A long discussion was started on the difference between a man and an animal. The sole criterion set by Christ was, "By your fruits are ye known." A man is he who can sacrifice his life to an ideal. An animal hungers and at once looks about to satisfy his hunger. But upon occasion a man says