rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.--MATT. xix. 24; MARK x.
25; LUKE xviii. 25.



CHAPTER I.



I had lived all my life out of town. When, in 1881, I went to live
in Moscow, the poverty of the town greatly surprised me. I am
familiar with poverty in the country; but city poverty was new and
incomprehensible to me. In Moscow it was impossible to pass along
the street without encountering beggars, and especially beggars who
are unlike those in the country. These beggars do not go about with
their pouches in the name of Christ, as country beggars are
accustomed to do, but these beggars are without the pouch and the
name of Christ. The Moscow beggars carry no pouches, and do not ask
for alms. Generally, when they meet or pass you, they merely try to
catch your eye; and, according to your look, they beg or refrain from
it. I know one such beggar who belongs to the gentry. The old man
walks slowly along, bending forward every time he sets his foot down.
When he meets you, he rests on one foot and makes you a kind of
salute. If you stop, he pulls off his hat with its cockade, and bows
and begs: if you do not halt, he pretends that that is merely his
way of walking, and he passes on, bending forward in like manner on
the other foot. He is a real Moscow beggar, a cultivated man. At
first I did not know why the Moscow beggars do not ask alms directly;
afterwards I came to understand why they do not beg, but still I did
not understand their position.