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But that was different from
the secret sharpening of poniards.
Once only was reference made to the various secret associations that are
slowly but eagerly working under the apparent social and political
surface of Europe. Some one mentioned the Nihilists. Thereupon Ferdinand
Lind, in a quiet and matter-of-fact way, without appearing to know
anything of the _personnel_ of the society, and certainly without
expressing any approval of its aims, took occasion to speak of the
extraordinary devotion of those people.
"There has been nothing like it," said he, "in all the history of what
men have done for a political cause. You may say they are fanatics,
madmen, murderers; that they only provoke further tyranny and
oppression; that their efforts are wholly and solely mischievous. It may
be so; but I speak of the individual and what he is ready to do. The
sacrifice of their own life is taken almost as a matter of course. Each
man knows that for him the end will almost certainly be Siberia or a
public execution; and he accepts it.


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