GREEK CHURCH CUSTOMS IN ALASKA.
A LADY writes from Western Alaska concerning the Easter observances by the Greek Church as follows:— “I attended the Russian Easter service, which lasted from twelve o'clock at night until five in the morning, and, although it filled my heart with pity for them, it was quite interesting. They have a box set in the center of the church, which is supposed to be Christ's coffin. As they go in they go up to it and kneel and touch their foreheads to the floor, and then they stand and cross themselves for a while and kiss the box, which I think has a picture of Christ on it, when they again kneel and go through the same performance three times, and then they go back and stand with the rest of the congregation. They have no seats in the church, but always stand through the long services. “In a few moments the priest came out, in his finest robe, and, after singing a few moments, they took the crosses and candlesticks and quite a number of the pictures of the saints, and left the church to go and bless the former priest's grave, and to march around the church and bless it; they then returned, and, after singing and reading about an hour and a half, the priest and deacons came forward, the deacons carrying the pictures of Christ and the Virgin Mary, which they held for each one to kiss. The people then went forward, and, after kissing Christ's picture, they kissed the priest, and passed on to the deacons, whom they kissed three times each. Returning to their places they again commenced to sing and read. They kept the old church bells ringing for three days, and, dressed in their best, went calling from house to house as long as they could walk straight enough to get to the right house. “The second deacon received a black eye140from the priest's son, and now he wears a handkerchief tied over it. The chief singer in the choir turned his family out-of-doors while drunk, and, altogether, they had what they call a good time. I think that about one-sixth of the people in — have died since we came here. They often have three or four funerals a week, but it is mostly the old beer-soaked ones that die. The only hope for them is that, by educating the children, they will understand what beer does for them, and with the help of Christ will be able to let it alone. Some of the boys are quite interested in temperance physiology, and each day when reciting their lessons will try to think of someone that has just died, and will add, ‘He drank lots of beer, too.’”—Sel.