to make a few purchases, whilst Mrs. Parsons kindly I
added to our eatables a valuable store of cherry jam.
Mr. Alfred Hynam Sevier, M.B., proved to be a
physician who had just finished his studies at Edinburgh, I
Paris, and Vienna. It struck me accordingly as highly!
proper— nay, also having Scriptural precedent— that!
the practice of divinity and medicine should go to-l
gether, and I therefore commissioned my companion!
to invest a sovereign in drugs, so that we might physicl
right and left as occasion might require or oppor-l
tunity might serve. We were then ready to proceed!
and on the evening of the 30th, Mr. and Mrs. Parsons!
in Russian fashion, accompanied us to the station to!
see us off. The occasion was almost a grand one, II
was introduced to the station-master, who showed every!
disposition to make us comfortable. The manager ol
one of the steamboat companies was there, and gavi
me sundry pieces of advice respecting my journey!
So, too, was the principal doctor in the town, whom II
had met in 1879, and he had brought with him I
worthy notary, who wished to give me a box ol
beetles and butterflies, whilst I was besides presentel
to a general officer, the.brand new Governor of IrkutsU
on his way to take up his appointment; and all thi
before the ¿lite of Perm, who, in their best attire, werl
promenading the spacious platform. One result wi
I fear that, for the time being, I lost my head, anj
forgot to mention to the authorities a little plan I hai
in hand, the disastrous results of which omission wl
presently be seen. Moreover, as, by some means ui
known to me, an allusion thereto got into the Russia!
and English newspapers, I shall give my narratioj
somewhat in detail.
My books and tracts, as already hinted, were se|
before me to Moscow, and as I found on arriving there
tlhat I could send them by heavy transit to Tiumen, I
l i d so, intending to make no distribution in European
Russia. I determined thus for two reasons; partly
Because of the unquiet state of the country7', and the
imporary trouble and delay I might bring upon my-
sblf by distributing pamphlets; but more out of
deference to what I believe I may call the conviction
of the Committees'of the Bible and Religious Tract
Bxieties, that in localities where their colporteurs are
at work, the profuse and indiscriminate distribution of
■lbles and tracts is a hindrance to the success of their
Jyents, inasmuch as the people decline to buy and
sometimes fail to value religious reading, which they
can now and again get without can now a so much as asking
fir it.
| An amiable friend, however, had suggested, and I
rfadi y consented, that I should take a small bag of
■ n d le s of tracts, neatly wired together, supposed to
f t suitable for offering to thoughtful persons here and
» r e , : rather than for scattering by handfuls every-
H ’ an<? these were to be distributed on my way
to join my boxes gone before,
■Accordingly I commenced operations at the first
^ B w a y station out of Perm, but warily ; for from
I B ‘ “ ‘ ¡¿pated that if. whilst the train were
sanding, I commenced distribution, I should be sur
i X t r i , aPP'iCantS- “ d the W K o f my bag
I B B I village. I therefore waited tig
a»nlp lpaTcaecedd a, bhu"nBdle oTf t'ra5c' tlse ainn etdh e° Uht anodf tohfe the gem
offeringOItheUt!r’ 1 E,*" " eXt station 1 acted similarly,
Who ran fo B E “ *he red-capped station-master,
B ° rWard “ ta k e>i*. suddenly stopped!