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a hand-organ or harmonica play, to swing and to ride on
the gravitating railway of which he is the inventor.
In every Russian traktir, where the common or better
class of people assemble to enjoy the national food and
to drink tea, there is found a great automatic organ,
sometimes reaching to the ceiling; and the coming guest
orders the waltz to suit his taste, never tired of hearing
a favorite melody. The swing, with its rocking ease, is
an indispensable accompaniment of every Russian festivity.
But the gravitating railway, with its passive voyage
into the unknown, is the most characteristic amusement
for the Russian temperament. Without any exertion,
without moving a limb, the participant has the complete
sensation of having his full swing.
Passivity shows itself, in public and private life, in
the submission to the powers that be. But, at the same
time, sluggishness has its strength in passive resistance.
Absolutism not only cows, but it hardens. This stolidity
becomes the popular ideal. It is not the one who takes
the lead,—the daring, the defiant,—who is admired;
but the one who, without complaint, knows how to
endure, to suffer, and to die. This characteristic may be
seen more at large in Dostoyevski’s “Recollections of
a Dead House in Siberia,” in which, according to the
popular view, he who endures the lash and the knout
without asking for mercy is the object of veneration,—such
as, among other nations, is bestowed on the hero or
conqueror for dealing blows.
This explains the fact that, although the Russians are
a brave people, and a remarkably steadfast people in
war, they are the most peaceful and unwarlike nation in
the world. The Russian officers have little class feeling.
They never, like the Prussians, form a military caste,
distinct from the people. They have no morgue, no
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