then of the very existence of Esperanto. This experience has often been
since repeated; indeed, the correspondent will often write back after a
few days in Esperanto. Such letters have always been found intelligible,
though in no case did the correspondent know Esperanto previously. The
experiment is instructive and amusing, and can be tried by any one for
an expenditure of twopence for keys and a few hours for studying the
sixteen rules and their application. To many minds these are far simpler
and more easy to grasp for practical use than the rules for scoring at
bridge.

After a month or two's playing with the language in spare time,
the writer further tested it, by sending out a flight of postcards
to various selected Esperantists' addresses in different parts of
the Russian Empire. The addressees ranged from St. Petersburg and
Helsingfors through Poland to the Caucasus and to far Siberia. In nearly
every case answers were received, and in some instances the initial
interchange of postcards led to an extremely interesting correspondence,
throwing much light on the disturbed state of things in the native
town or province of the correspondent. From a Tiflis doctor came a
graphic account of the state of affairs in the Caucasus; while a school
inspector from the depths of Eastern Siberia painted a vivid picture of
the effect of political unrest on the schools—lockouts and "malodorous
chemical obstructions" (_Anglice_—the schools were stunk out). Many
writers expressed themselves with great freedom, but feared their
letters would not pass the censor. Judging by the proportion of answers
received, the censorship was not at that time efficient. In no case was
there any difficulty in grasping the writer's meaning. All the answers
were in Esperanto.

This was fairly convincing, but still having doubts on the question of