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Write for particula New York Berlitz School, 30 West 34th Street Second Educational Section, Third Cover Page BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE. No. MCCCLII. JUNE 1928. VOL. CCXXIII. of our moral fabric. MuThis THERE is an old copy-book not been some subtle loosening tag which tells us that " evil communications corrupt good manners. Well, now, what happens when a bunch of perfectly good fellows are thrown together on a job with a couple of murderers amongst their most willing helpers, and a gentlemanly felon as one of the most entertaining companions of their leisure hours? Does their or, to be more personal did our behaviour suffer from it? I can't believe 80. Nevertheless, when I contrast our friendly attitude towards these criminals - who, after all, had offended grievously against society in general -with our feelings of distinct hostility towards others who had done nothing worse than trespass on our own pleasure or convenience, I cannot help wondering whether there had VOL. CCXXIII.-NO. MCCCLII. One of our criminals you have met already - namely, rashka, the murderer. man, by concentrating his criminal tendencies on homicide, had accounted for the respectable total of five people, in expiation of which achievement he had spent many years in the penal settlements of Saghalien. Then there was Mr Lipko, who was some kind of an engineer, also an ex-resident of Saghalien. Mr Lipko had chosen forgery as his criminal vocation, but had drifted into murder through lack of selfcontrol. Finally, as the "gentlemanly felon above referred to, there was Captain Brashkoff, who took command of the Vladimir while Captain Morozoff was managing the fishery. Brashkoff was for 2 c What was the explanation! Were we simply egoists? Or was our sense of moral discrimination dulled by these strange contacts? Perhaps a little of both; but I think also there was something more. For when a little group of men sets out with an arduous task to accomplish, a clannishness develops among them. Those who loyally support their leader are members of that clan, and all others are outsiders and potential enemies. Looked at in this light, our three criminals were certainly of the clan, and were accordingly accepted at face value. Bobrisheff and "Maxim Gorky" were distinctly outsiders, the former being merely an unwelcome intruder, while the latter was definitely an enemy within the camp; wherefore we of the clan viewed both of them with hostility. merly a captain in the Russian discovered, was doing his best Navy, but had been cashiered to interfere with our work. for complicity in what was Thus it fell that, while we generally spoken of in Vladi- accepted our three criminals vostock in those days as "the on a friendly footing, we renaval stores scandal." All of garded these two stainless felthese three were, in their re- lows with the strongest dislike. spective spheres, perfectly congenial members of our community. Murashka's waggishness made him a favourite with the men, while the rest of us viewed him with an amused and, I think, not unfriendly tolerance. Lipko did his work well, and was pleasant and unobtrusive, and had a quiet vein of humour. Captain Brashkoff, who was a strikingly fine figure of a man, with considerable dignity and personal charm, was, on his occasional visits to our concession, an intimate and always welcome member of the Skipper's own little circle. Not only were none of these men made to feel in any way that we saw them under the shadow of their past misdeeds, but we accepted them unreservedly for what they made themselves to us. On the other hand, there was Bobrisheff, the globe-trotting official from Vladivostock, who showed himself during his brief stay amongst us to be a pompous bore, and "Maxim Gorky," the mechanic, who was a sincere but unpleasantly militant Socialist. The records of these two men were, as far as we knew, quite blameless, but they were offensive in our sight because Bobrisheff's pomposities jarred on our pleasure, while "Maxim Gorky," as we Our I came across "Maxim Gorky" on my first morning at the concession, when I had breakfasted with Blake and Williams, and was walking with them to the cannery. path took us round the northern end of the old salting shed, and here, in a sheltered angle between the shed and the adjoining pump-house, we came across a peculiar construction which suggested an enormous paper box on trestles. A closer |