BATUM DURING A STRIKE 9
Russian ; but sounding grand, touching, and beautiful in the quiet streets, where all life seemed numbed. At the end of the procession came a troop of mounted Cossacks, and on either side stood the staring crowds where I was. Who was the dead man ? Did the sudden termination of his life imply expiation for some deadly sin he had committed ? No ; he was only one victim among thousands of an antiquated system which, indeed, like him, is on its way to the grave.
The Governor and other officers soon handed over the coffin to comrades of the deceased. A carriage was waiting at a street corner, the Governor got in with an aide-de-camp and drove off at a rapid pace, so quickly that only good marksmen could have hit them. Slowly and solemnly the funeral procession passed on through the streets ; the plaintive tones of the music grew fainter and fainter, and at length the white uniforms disappeared in the distance.
General von Parkau was amiability personified, and displayed an admirable calmness amidst all the restlessness that surrounded him. His charming wife and attractive daughters, however, were in constant anxiety for his life, and did not leave him even when, overwhelmed with work, he retired to his office. He was one of the men who know how to fall at their posts with calm composure. He was much more exposed to danger than any one else ; and during a great strike, military and civil officials, the powers opposed to anarchy and mob violence, are naturally the particular objects of detestation.
On November 3 there was at length an improvement in our captivity. I was awakened by noises in the streets ; izvoshchiks and waggons were out, carts drawn by oxen rattled over the cobbles ; travellers, traders, and water-carriers were about ; Persians roved about with mats on their backs ; Tatars offered their wares in portable samples; Georgians sold grapes, water-melons, and other fruit, and extolled their goods with shrill cries ; beggars were more numerous than usual,—all seemed happy and contented, weary as they were of this useless zabastovka or strike. The hotel restaurant was full of customers, who took their
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