a smaller one in the button hole. The children of the families--quite
a troop of juveniles--brought up the rear.

The church is of logs, like the other buildings. It is old, unpainted,
and shaped like a cross, lacking one of the arms. The doors are large
and clumsy, and the entrance is through a vestibule or hall. The roof
had been recently painted a brilliant red at the expense of the
Variag's officers. On the inside, the church has an antiquated
appearance, but presents such an air of solidity as if inviting the
earthquakes to come and see it.

There were no seats in the building, nor are there seats of any kind
in the edifices of the same character in any part of Russia. It is the
theory of the Eastern Church that all are equal before God. In His
service, no distinction is made; autocrat and subject, noble and
peasant, stand or kneel in the same manner while worshipping at His
altars.

As we entered, we found the wedding party standing in the center of
the church; the spectators were grouped nearer the door, the ladies
occupying the front. With the thermometer at seventy-two, I found the
upright position a fatiguing one, and would have been glad to send for
a camp stool. Colonel Bulkley had undertaken to escort a lady, and as
he stood in a conspicuous place, his uniform buttoned to the very chin
and the perspiration pouring from his face, the ceremony appeared to
have little charm for him.

The service began under the direction of two priests, each dressed in
a long robe extending to his feet, and wearing a chapeau like a
bell-crowned hat without a brim. "The short one," said a friend near