CHAPTER I. THE RUSSIANS' HOME. WHEN Beauty was left in the Beast's house by her father, what did she do? What did she most want to know? She wanted to know what the Beast was like, and whether he would be likely to eat her up at once. But he was not there to be looked at. Still that was no reason why she should not find out what he was like. She looked round the room. First she saw how prettily and carefully everything was arranged, and she thought he could not be rough and rude. Then she looked at the books, and thought he could not be stupid or sleepy. Then at the flowers and birds in the garden, and she thought with those near him he could not be cruel and gloomy. So all the time she was learning what the Beast was like. And when he came she felt that she knew so well what his mind was, that she was surprised to see that his outside was rough and ugly. If she had seen the Beast himself first, it would A have taken her a long time to find out that he was not a real beast. So you see that by looking carefully at the place he lived in, she learned a great deal about him without once seeing him. That is just what I want you to do about the Russians. Before we look at them, we will look at their house, Russia, and see what that tells us. It is a very large house; as large as all the rest of Europe put together. There is plenty of room for a large nation; even room enough, one would think, for several nations at once. Why should not one nation go and settle down by itself in one corner, and others in other corners, and never know or care anything about each other? For two reasons. Perhaps you live in a house in a row. If you do, it is also likely that you do not know your next-door neighbour. Yet there is only a wall between you. Why do not you meet? Because you each have all you want on your own side of the wall; all the food you want, and the books you want. you and your But suppose that next-door neighbour were put down, each in one corner of a large open field. And suppose too that you had only water to drink in your corner, and he had only food in his what would happen then? Soon you would each go wandering about to find what you |