"Do they make prisoners sweep the streets?" one of the youths asked.
CULPRIT STREET-SWEEPERS.
"They did at that time, and quite likely they do so now," the Doctor answered. "Every person arrested for intoxication was required to sweep the streets the next day for a given number of hours, and it is a strange sight when, as sometimes happens, the sweepers are in the garments in which they have been wending their devious ways homeward from a ball, or perhaps from a party where fancy costumes have been worn. Generally speaking, you see few besides the mujiks, or lower classes, as the well-dressed people, with money enough in their pockets, can secure immunity by means of a bribe. A small donation to the proper officer will set them free; but if they have no money they must do their share of work with the rest."
"I have read that Russia is the land of bribes," said Fred—"bribes both great and small."
"It certainly has that reputation," was the reply, "and doubtless not without justice. The pay of the officials is very small, quite out of proportion to the expense of living, and the temptation is certainly great. A Russian once said to me that an official must steal in order to make an honest living; he did not mean it as a joke, but in sober earnest, though his language did not exactly express his meaning. He wanted to say that a man must accept pay for showing zeal in the interest of any one whose affairs passed through his hands, and unless he did so he could not properly support himself and family.
A BUSINESS TRANSACTION.