54/57 3.] On the contrary, it laid the foundations for a national literary renaissance which in the following period was destined to become an important social factor. THE JEWS AND THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE As for the Russian people, an impenetrable wall continued as theretofore to keep it apart from the Jewish population. To the inhabitants of the two Russian capitals and of the interior of the Empire the Pale of Settlement seemed as distant as China, while among the Russians living within the Pale the sparks of former historic conflagrations, the prejudices of the ages and the unenlightened notions of days gone by were still glimmering beneath the ashes. |