About the book: year / Old Cheremis story on the baptized and pagans. Economic condition of the latter. The beginning of literacy among the Cheremis. The role of seminarian teachers. Critical attitude of Cheremis youth towards native reality. Letter from teacher Zhilin about the emergence of the Kugu 'sorta' sect. The identity of the founder of the sect. This reform in the field of burial and sacrificial ritual. Preaching of abstinence. Attitude of Cheremis to the new era at first. Sectarians at the Kazan Exhibition of 1890. List of objects exhibited by them.