Peasant
That’s true enough! If everybody were to do it at once … but if one or two make a stand, they’ll be shot or sent to Siberia, and that will be the end of the matter.
Traveller
And yet there are men, even now—young men—who by themselves stand up for the Law of God, and refuse to serve. They say: “According to Christ’s Law, I dare not be a murderer! Do as you please, but I won’t take a rifle in my hands!”
Peasant
Well, and what happens?
Traveller
They are put in prison; they remain there, poor fellows, three years, or four. … But I’ve heard that it’s not so bad for them, for the authorities themselves respect them. And some are even let out as unfit for service—bad health! Though he is sometimes a strapping, broad-shouldered fellow, he’s “not fit,” because they’re afraid of taking a man of that kind, for fear he should tell others that soldiering is against God’s Law. So they let him go.