HOME LIFE 
 
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 RUSSIA 
 
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 RAPPOPOHT. 
 
OK 
 
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 Home life in Russia 
 
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HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
RUSSIAN PEASANTS GOING ON A JOURNEY. PASSENGERS PRAYING IN 
 A RAILWAY HOOKING OFFICE 
 
HOME LIFE IN 
 RUSSIA 
 
 BY 
 
 A. S. RAPPOPORT 
 
 WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 1913 
 
PREFACE 
 
 I AM conscious of the fact that I have by no means 
 been able to exhaust the subject of Home Life in 
 Russia. Russia is more a geographical expression 
 than a coimtry ; it is a conglomeration of many races 
 and nations, who differ considerably from each other in 
 their maimers, customs, and daily life. I found it, 
 therefore, almost impossible to condense within the 
 framework of one volume ^ survey of the home life of 
 all the nations inhabiting the vast Empire of the Tsar. 
 Whilst writing the following pages I have constantly 
 been aware of my difficulty — feeling that the task ought 
 to have been imdertaken by several men instead of one. 
 I crave the indulgence of the reader, but I hope that 
 those who have travelled in Russia will understand and 
 reaUze the impossibiUty of presenting a complete account 
 of the habits and customs of all the Russians as they are 
 practised in different parts of the Empire. Besides, since 
 I left Russia many things have altered — and especially 
 the life and habits of the upper classes have undergone 
 a considerable change and often differ but little from 
 those of Western Eiurope. The vast mass of the peasants, 
 however, is conservative and remains just as it was many 
 centuries ago. It is for this reason that I have devoted 
 much space to the description of peasant life, both in 
 Little and Great Russia, to the ceremonies and festivals 
 of the Moushiks — ^which are such peculiar and interest- 
 
vi HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 ing features of a country about which the average reader, 
 after all, knows but little. I have also described the 
 daily round of family and social intercourse, the life at 
 school, and the University, the outlook on rehgion and 
 social questions. In the preparation of this volume I 
 have reHed not only upon memory and the reminiscences 
 of my childhood, but also upon various Russian authors 
 who have described several aspects of Russian Home 
 Life. If I have succeeded in adding a little to the know- 
 ledge the average Enghsh reader possesses of Russia — 
 then my labour will not have been in vain. I cannot 
 conclude these prehminary remarks without expressing 
 my thanks to my friend Miss C. A. Arfwedson, who has 
 kindly read the final proofs. 
 
 A. S. R. 
 London, February 1913. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Part I 
 THE COUNTRY 
 
 CHAT. PAGE 
 
 I. Introductory: Travelling and Railways . i 
 
 II. Villages in Little and Great Russia . 7 
 
 III. The Industrious Peasant and his Daily Life 25 
 
 IV. Peasant Women 32 
 
 V. Festivals 37 
 
 VI. Superstitions 58 
 
 VII. Marriage Ceremonies 68 
 
 VIII. Family Life , 82 
 
 IX. Bessarabian Peasants 96 
 
 X. The Village Priest 105 
 
 XL Religious Life 118 
 
 XII. Schools and Education 138 
 
 XIII. The Landed Proprietor 153 
 
 XIV. The Cossacks 157 
 
vm 
 
 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 Part II 
 THE TOWN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XV. Moscow 
 
 XVI. Universities and Students 
 XVII. Education of Women 
 XVIII. Literary Women 
 
 XIX. The Pleasures of the Table 
 
 XX. Les Russes s'Amusent . 
 
 XXI. The Workman 
 XXII. The Soldier and the Police 
 
 PAGE 
 
 238 
 246 
 249 
 
 266 
 
 Notes 280 
 
 Index 285 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Russian Peasants going on a Journey : Passengers 
 
 Praying in a Railway Booking Office Frontispiece 
 
 From a drawing by Arthur Garratt 
 
 A Russian Village To face page 8 
 
 From a fainting ty K. Krijitsky. By permission of 
 the Dori Galleries 
 
 The Khorovod : a typical Russian Peasant 
 
 Dance „ „ 40 
 
 From u painting by Konstantin E, Makcvsky. By 
 permission of the Dord Galleries 
 
 Blessing the Water jj « 52 
 
 From a painting by Huk-Kravchenko. By permission 
 of the Dor6 Galleries 
 
 Russian Peasant-Girl .... „ „ 80 
 
 From a painting by Fedor Sichkoffi By permission 
 of the Dor6 Galleries 
 
 Russian Priests at the Religious Cere- 
 mony IN honour of Alexander Nevsky 
 AT St Petersburg . . . . „ „ 120 
 
 From a photograph by Bulla 
 
 The Poor Children's Christmas Treat . „ „ 142 
 A Travelling Tea-shop in Russia . . 180 
 
X HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 How Ladies Shop in Russia during Snow- 
 time To face page 240 
 
 Russian Toys „ „ 260 
 
 By permission of Russian Home Industries 
 
 Russian Soldiers entertaining their Com- 
 rades WITH Song and Dance . . „ „ 266 
 
 A Fair in Little Russia ... » » 280 
 
 Frem a painting hy N. K, Pimanenko. By per- 
 mission of the Dor( Galleries 
 
HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
PART I 
 THE COUNTRY 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 introductory: travelling and railways 
 
 BEFORE we glance at the Russian Railway System 
 itself, we will observe how it differs from the systems 
 at work in other European coimtries. It will then 
 be easier for us to take the reader on a journey through 
 Russia to study some phases of the life and manners 
 of the people. 
 
 The first thing that we notice on entering the country 
 is that the Russian track has not the usual gauge. Russia 
 has introduced a much broader gauge, and the natural 
 consequence is that foreign stock cannot run on Russian 
 lines. Was this done purposely — as a means of excluding 
 foreigners, or of closing Russia, or was it a condition of 
 things which happened by chance, brought about by the 
 want of observation of Russian engineers — ^who can say ? 
 Let it suffice that when the first Russian line was 
 opened there was nothing for the rest to do but accom- 
 modate themselves to the arrangement, to keep the internal 
 traffic on one plan. Many trials have been made since to 
 make a direct intercourse possible by fitting the carriages 
 with movable axles, but this does not fulfil expectations, 
 and the consequence is that passengers must alight at the 
 Russian frontier and goods must be unloaded. 
 
 There are only three classes in the Russian trains ; but 
 just in Russia, where the difference between the classes 
 
2 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 of people is so enormous, a fourth class ought to be 
 compulsory. It is true that on some lines " black people " 
 and workmen are separated from respectable people, but 
 the practice is not general. It is often observed that 
 third-class passengers, at intermediate stations, exchange 
 tickets and flee to the second class — for the lookers-on 
 a real amusement, but an uncomfortable position for those 
 caught in the act. They have also tried to carry work- 
 men in uncovered cars, but that mode of conveyance is 
 not to be desired. 
 
 The poor country people can hardly ever use the rail- 
 way, as they are not in a position to pay third-class 
 fare, and one can see workmen, labourers, and here and 
 there peasants carrying their boots over their shoulders, 
 and walking along the line, day after day. In these days 
 of " raging " propensity to settle in other lands, this has 
 a" particular meaning. A great deal of national work 
 and strength is taken away, and the national productive- 
 ness is lost. This is easy to understand ; it is a simpler 
 matter for the Russian peasant to lose three or four days' 
 work than to pay a railway fare. To the greater evils — 
 for we will not look at the smaller ones — we must add 
 that Russian railways run on single lines ; very rarely do 
 we come across a double line. In Germany single lines 
 are the exception. In technical phraseology, single lines 
 are only half lines. A well-known statesman was heard 
 to say that single railways are no railways. The 
 Russian railways thus lose their importance, and even 
 such lines as from St Petersburg to Warsaw, are run 
 on single lines. What a calamity this would be in 
 mobilizing the army ! Then neither the transport of 
 troops nor private intercourse could go on properly. 
 
 As we have seen the most important faults of Russian 
 railways, it is much pleasanter to see in what respects 
 the Russian railway is superior to foreign lines, and it 
 
TRAVELLING AND RAILWAYS 3 
 
 will be seen that they have advantages. As soon as one 
 comes to the Russian frontier, either from Prussian or 
 Austrian territory, all passengers must alight and step on 
 to a Russian train, which is very different from the one 
 just left. The carriages are so made that one can walk 
 about freely. The officials are polite in their attentions 
 to travellers, and complaints about the conductor or prin- 
 cipal conductor are very seldom heard. The only draw- 
 back is the continual demand to show.j9iu:Jicketr"'Whilst 
 an inspector comes an3 goes by one door, another 
 at once enters by another. People travelling without 
 tickets are called " blind passengers." On most lines 
 each carriage has a lavatory, which is an advantage not 
 to be gainsaid. The heating arrangements in winter are 
 perfect. 
 
 If we look at the locomotive we find the tender full of 
 material for burning — and the Russian tenders are much 
 larger than those of other countries — and what material ! 
 — ^beautiful wood at which even to look would be a pleasure 
 if it was not destined to be burnt as fuel for thte engine. 
 We have elsewhere spoken about the manner in which the 
 Russian forests are being destroyed, and of late years 
 there has been a certain amount of legislation command- 
 ing the use of coal and naphtha, which is found in the 
 Caucasus, but the carriage of these natural products is 
 too dear at present, and then the trees stand there ready j 
 by the side of the line. 
 
 There are good waiting- and refreshment-rooms in 
 Russian railway stations for first- and second-class 
 passengers, and scarcely any European country can com- 
 pete with Russia in this respect. The furniture is com- 
 fortable and the food excellent. A huge samovar and a 
 coffee-machine hiss day and night in summer and winter, 
 and tpa a nd coffee are prepare d:=jn- large_.glafisfts-.^anH 
 one cannot get better in the restaurants of Western 
 
4 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 Europe. And this is not in one or two stations, but at 
 all without exception. The prices are moderate, that is, 
 the usual Russian prices are charged. 
 
 The stations are not grand buildings as one sees some- 
 times in other countries, but they are arranged for use. 
 Moscow has six stations, and St Petersburg four of very 
 modest nature. There are no police at the stations, only 
 gendarmes. 
 
 There is practically no uniform for the employes of the 
 railways in Russia. Many wear the national dress — ^high 
 boots, short kaftan with belt, and astrakan cap. 
 
 As soon as a passenger has to go from one Une to 
 another, he finds himself in all sorts of unpleasantnesses. 
 The different lines quarrel over freight charges, and for a 
 long time the express train from St Petersburg started 
 jyst before the train from Moscow arrived ; and at smaller 
 stations it is often worse. 
 
 The tickets have the name of the station, number, date, 
 price, tax, and the total sum printed on them. 
 
 General Greigh, January 1879, introduced a railway 
 ticket tax, which extra expense is avoided by first-class 
 passengers travelling second class, and so on. The second- 
 class passengers suffer the tax patiently, having always 
 the option of travelling third class. But the third-class 
 travellers have no way out of it, so the tax falls on those 
 who are least able to afford it. This only tax brings in 
 three millions of roubles, while it impedes and seriously 
 hinders free movement. 
 
 The railways are mostly guaranteed by the State, so 
 the State has to give to the railway what it obtaMs 
 through the tax. It is unfortunate that the Govern- 
 ment has the intention to continue taxing the railways. 
 
 Travelling through Russia, no matter in which direc- 
 tion, one is struck by the imiformity of the picture. The 
 traveller meets endless forests, many miles long, without 
 
TRAVELLING AND RAILWAYS 5 
 
 any roads, and overgrown and full of briers ; many of 
 these forests are traversed by a crooked path about thirty 
 miles long — an unmade road not to be used in bad 
 weather. Or he goes along through rye fields — again 
 many, many miles — ^nothing but rye, iye, rye. Or, 
 again, he sees before him miles of flat land which was once 
 ploughed and now lies fallow for, perhaps, ten years or 
 more before coming under the plough again. 
 
 And so, by the side of forest, fields of rye, and fallow 
 land, the express train travels for half an hour with- 
 out seeing any habitation, except some station building 
 and waiting-rooms. The villages He, perhaps, five or 
 ten mUes apart. An unaccustomed foreigner, driving in 
 a Russian tardhtas over a bad road, has some very bad 
 moments. How can the road be well kept when the 
 distances are so enormous ? But in the winter it is 
 " uncanny," even to those accustomed to it. Everything 
 is covered with a white veU, sometimes very thick indeed, 
 and one drives over the eternal snow over a sea of 
 ice. That himian beings pass along is only to be recog- 
 nized by the twigs and straws which they stick into the 
 roadsides to mark the way, slightly yellowish ; and only 
 when no fresh snow has fallen, is the narrow road dis- 
 tinguishable — the road as narrow as the sleigh, and on 
 which only one horse can pass at a time. If it be neces- 
 sary to drive two horses, they must be harnessed with 
 very long reins, tandem-fashion. The driver uses a 
 knout and cheers the animal on with his voice. Only the 
 voice of the driver and the tinkling of bells are heard, 
 accompanied by the howling of the wind and the scrunch- 
 ing of the snow under the sleigh, and so on for hours. 
 
 How many lives are lost yearly in Russia from the 
 winter cold ! How many find eternal rest under the snow- 
 white coverings ! The peasant who returns intoxicated 
 from some feast, lads who go three miles to school, the 
 
6 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 priest who has driven off to carry consolation to some 
 d5dng man, or some labourer sent to the post by his cruel 
 master in spite of the bad weather, or some midwife 
 hastening to a woman in pain. Is it possible to cultivate 
 such vast districts ? Or is it an easy matter for a bare- 
 footed child to run some miles to school ? And was it 
 difficult for those destroyers of civilization to keep the 
 people in the dark ? And if, in spite of all this, the 
 thought of Liberty has foimd its way into a Russian 
 vUlage, is that not a miracle ? Is it to be wondered at 
 that it should show itself in some rough fashion ? No, 
 for life in Russia is something quite different from life 
 in the West of Europe. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 VILLAGES IN LITTLE RUSSIA AND GREAT RUSSIA 
 
 THE mode of life of the well-to-do Russian people, 
 and, above aU, of the Russian nobility and Court 
 circles, varies but little from that of other 
 European countries, and superficial observers and 
 travellers who have studied Russian life in big cities and 
 urban districts find that life there resembles to a great 
 extent life on the Continent. Real, national, Russian 
 home life should be studied not so much in towns and 
 urban districts as in villages. " Le tiers ifetat c'est tout " 
 said the men of the French Revolution, and with a slight 
 change these words may be applied to the Russian 
 peasantry. Les monshires c'est tout. The truly Russian 
 atmosphere is to be breathed in the country, among 
 peasants and landed proprietors, among village priests 
 and village teachers. Here one finds the old home life 
 of Russia, old customs, ceremonies, religious beliefs, and 
 superstitions. Before entering a Russian town and 
 paying a visit to a Russian home in Moscow, we shall 
 therefore first take the traveller to a village and intro- 
 duce him not only to the peasants and their daily tasks, but 
 also to other village inhabitants and t57pes. The task is 
 not an easy one. Not only for the foreigner but for the 
 Russian himself is it difficidt to gain access to the Russian 
 peasant. 
 
 The landed proprietor, the priest, and the semski nat- 
 shalnik are the only intelligent people who have inter- 
 course with the peasants and villagers ; but the present 
 situation is propitious to them all, and they all live upon 
 
8 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 it, and gain, in different methods, from the poverty and 
 the dishonesty of the peasants. 
 
 As soon as some intelHgent person appears, one who 
 does not belong in some way to the village parasites, he is 
 looked at askance, and the question is asked, " M^y is 
 he here ? Will he, perhaps, instruct the moujik ? Will 
 he, perhaps, make him open his eyes to actualities ? " 
 ' Such an unbidden guest is quickly got rid of, or things 
 are explained to him and he leaves the place of his own 
 accord. If the semtsvo thinks it necessary to send a 
 doctor, or an engineer, to the village, it can only be done 
 with the consent of the governor, who makes aU kinds of 
 inquiries of the police concerning the person nominated. 
 On one side the foreigner is kept out of the village so that 
 he shall not tell the outside world what goes on, whilst on 
 the other side the Russian is kept out of the village so 
 that he shall carry no illuminating Hght to the villagers. 
 Is it then to be wondered at that Europeans know so Uttle 
 of a Russian village,when Russia herself knows nothing ? 
 Is it to be wondered at that he who likes fishing in dirty 
 water should speak in the name of the people and should 
 work in secret ? The whole of Russian political life is 
 based on this lie. 
 
 When we speak of Russian villages, it must be borne 
 in mind that in that vast Empire of the Tsar, consisting 
 of such a conglomeration of races and nations, there is 
 a difference not only between the village of the Russian 
 and say the Moldavian or the Finn, but also between 
 those of Great Russia and Little Russia. The Great 
 Russian differs in many of his characteristics from the 
 Little Russian, and his mode of life is consequently not 
 quite the same. 
 
 The villages in Little Russia are built on well-chosen 
 sites, in the proximity of a fine river, and mostly on the 
 summit of a hiU. The houses are scattered over the 
 
VILLAGES 9 
 
 pasture lands, and cattle, ducks, and fowls roam about 
 freely. There are no streets. Church and cemetery 
 invariably stand guard over the town. The giant wings 
 of the windmills, the high well tops, and long-legged 
 storks' give the country a novel aspect, and lend a 
 picturesque touch to the golden wheat fields, the vast 
 green steppes, and the long strips of black earth, ready 
 for seed, and the gardens with their exuberance of melons 
 and sunflowers. 
 
 The houses or khati are built of earth, thatched with 
 fresh straw. They are always clean arid white, and 
 stand in the middle of a garden. The windows, especi- 
 ally if there is a young girl in the house, are bright with 
 pinks, roses, and many-coloured poppies. Not a tree is 
 to be seen in the surrounding country, and these flowery 
 villages stand out in the vast steppes like an oasis in the 
 desert. Cleanliness is inborn in the Little Russian, a 
 trait which distinguishes him from the Russians of other 
 provinces. His favourite occupation is agriculture, 
 which is natural, considering that the soil of his country 
 is marvellously fertile, but even in villages situated on 
 the banks of a navigable river abounding in fish, where 
 the peasants might well make a living by fishing, or by 
 the coasting trade, they yet prefer to cultivate the soil. 
 The tshernoziom, or black earth, dries quickly and crumbles 
 into a fine dust, which is blown about by the wind and 
 enters at every crack. 
 
 It is said that the region composed of black earth, 
 which lies to the south, forms one-third of European 
 Russia. It is almost destitute of forests, and may be 
 termed a steppe. It has been suggested that in primitive 
 days it was wooded, but that the nomads, preferring 
 prairies, destroyed the forests. Some say that the 
 excessive dryness of the climate — ^rain falls barely twenty- 
 four days in the year — and the want of lakes and rivers. 
 
10 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 are the cause of the lack of trees. The steppe abounds, 
 however, in wild strawberries, wormwood, and many 
 kinds of grass. 
 
 The Little Russian cultivates his land in the same way 
 as did the ancients in the earliest times. The earth groans 
 under the burden of the heavy ploughs drawn by three 
 or four pair of oxen. Wheat, summer and winter grains, 
 oats, green peas, hemp and flax are cultivated, while 
 the gardens abound in melons, cucumbers, maize, cab- 
 bages, and potatoes, and most housewives take care to 
 grow a certain number of tobacco plants, as the Little 
 Russian contracted the habit of smoking many centuries 
 ago. Great fields of beetroot are also cultivated for 
 the purpose of making sugar. 
 
 Spring is early in the steppes, and begins in the middle 
 of March. The agriculturists of this country have the 
 praiseworthy habit of helping each other : it is rare to 
 find a peasant who owns the three or four pair of oxen 
 required to work a plough. The men therefore share 
 each others' labour, just as they club together to build 
 a khata or to cut and carry wood. No man would think 
 of accepting a wage for work done in common : the owner 
 of the land is merely expected to provide them with a 
 generous allowance of food and drinks. 
 
 Kossovitza, or haymaking, begins in the middle of 
 June, and is a tiine of pleasure-making. The haymaker 
 is a great favourite in the land. When a Little Russian 
 wishes to convey that a man has great strength and 
 energy, he says, " He is a haymaker." 
 
 The haymakers leave the farms at night, about the 
 feast of St John, and make their way into the steppe, 
 singing as they go. When they reach their destination 
 they set up a tent and build an oven. 
 
 TTie men rise before dawn, and after a light break- 
 fast set to work under the direction of an overseer, who 
 
VILLAGES II 
 
 spurs on the lazy and shames the dreamer. They break 
 off at ten for dinner, an ample repast, and after a short 
 siesta, continue work till four, when they take some 
 refreshment, after which they start again and continue 
 till simset. 
 
 There is nothing more picturesque than the group 
 formed by the hajnnakers, sitting round their fire in 
 the moonlight, each one holding his beloved pipe, while 
 another group at some distance perform various char- 
 acteristic dances with great energy, to the sound of the 
 balalaika or sopelka. 
 
 The encampment is greatly enlivened by the arrival of 
 bands of joyous boys and girls to rake the hay. From 
 dawn to midnight songs and laughter are heard on all 
 sides, though this gaiety does not interfere with the work. 
 When the harvest is over the peasants of both sexes 
 elect a queen of the harvest, chosen for her beauty and 
 strength. Crowned with a wreath of wheat she is escorted 
 back to the village with songs and dances. 
 
 The fields are at a great distance from the farms, and 
 it is no easy matter to carry home the harvest. Night and 
 day a procession of carts follow each other along the 
 roads, groaning imder the heavy weight of grain. 
 
 Agricultural machines are unknown to the peasantry 
 of Little Russia, although they are frequently used by the 
 rich landowners. The moujik still uses a flail, or the 
 wheat is crushed by a horse turning round in a circle. 
 
 In Great Russia the very situation of the villages is a 
 sign that varied peoples have successively come down the 
 great rivers to form settlements. The old towns are 
 invariably surrounded by villages and hamlets, like an 
 aged grandfather amidst his children and grandchildren. 
 
 Nothing of the kind is to be found in the plains of the 
 Dnieper, where there are few villages. Most of the old 
 towns stand alone, scattered over the country, built on 
 
12 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 picturesque sites. In Little Russia there are no traces 
 of foreign settlements ; the whole country speaks to the 
 heart of the Slav peoples, recalling, not a forgotten race, 
 but their own ancestors from the Carpathians, or the 
 Danube. 
 
 As far back as the twelfth centmy the old chronicler 
 Nestor describes the Poliani as an agricultural people, 
 such as we find the natives of that country to-day. No 
 great learning is required to recognize that the Poliani 
 and Little Russians are one and the same people, who 
 have not changed either their mode of life or their 
 physiognomy for, at least, twelve centuries. 
 
 The traveller in these regions is struck by the atmos- 
 sphere of unchangeable peace which reigns among this 
 rustic people. The character of the soil, which has 
 nourished throughout the centuries generations of the 
 same race, is imprinted on the soul of its children, and 
 their songs, customs, and legends all bear the impress of 
 the workers' daily life. 
 
 In Great Russia, where marsh land is reclaimed, and 
 forests opened out almost under our eyes, agriculture 
 also plays an important part, but the industries, and 
 commerce above all, are held in honom:. The native of 
 Greater Russia is not attached to his land as is the Little 
 Russian, he easily abandons his village even without a 
 hope of returning. To emigrate in search of rivers flowing 
 with milk is his ideal. The Little Russian even now eyes 
 with amazement the merchant who comes from the far 
 North to sell necklaces and gewgaws to the pretty peasant 
 girls of the Dnieper. 
 
 The native of Moscow has a frank, mobile, open face, 
 often iUumined by a smile, but the son of Kharkoff has 
 brown skin, prominent features, smooth, black hair, and 
 a meditative expression. The Little Russian speaks 
 slowly, measures his words, and does not use two words 
 
VILLAGES 13 
 
 where one would sufi&ce ; nevertheless his conversation is 
 full of profound humour. When he is amused, his face 
 is immovable, his eyes alone smile, reflecting his inmost 
 thoughts. 
 
 The native of Great Russia speaks volubly, gesticu- 
 lates freely, and jests for the joy of laughing ; the Little 
 Russian, on the contrary, is phlegmatic. A similar con- 
 trast is also noticeable in the work of these two types of 
 the Slav people. 
 
 The Little Russian is a silent worker, his work absorbs 
 him, and he does not easily change from one trade to 
 another ; whereas, the Great Russian lightens his work 
 with song, and likes to have various works at hand. The 
 Little Russian feels awkward when he is taken away from 
 his work in the fields, but the Great Russian is a jack- 
 of-all-trades. He makes a good boatman, fisherman, 
 ploughman, or industrial worker ; he can adapt himself 
 to all trades and all latitudes ; but natives of Little 
 Russia may live fifteen years in a foreign land without 
 learning the language of the country — ^and without losing 
 the feeling of strangeness in the country of their adoption. 
 
 The Little Russian looks on his brother of Great 
 Russia with a certain amount of suspicion : he is always 
 on the defensive in his presence. "He is an excellent 
 man," he will say, " but he is, nevertheless, a Moscovite." 
 " You may be friends with a Moscovite, but keep a stone 
 in your pocket." 
 
 The Great Russian, aware of his strength and historical 
 supremacy, treats the Little Russian as a child, and laughs 
 at his expense. The honesty of the Little Russian is 
 proverbial, and it is only lately that he has adopted the 
 habit of taking with him the key of his khata.^ Thefts are 
 very rare in his land, and if the thief is no longer buried 
 alive with his booty, public opinion holds him up to 
 ' For explanation of Russian expressions, see notes in Appendix. 
 
14 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 unmerciful scorn. The word thief does not even exist 
 in the language : a thief is called a brigand (zlodyey), 
 showing that the Little Russian recognizes no difference 
 between a crime and a fault. 
 
 """Trhe parish (commune), or gromada, differs in Little 
 Russia from the mir. The Little Russian is absolute 
 master of his own house, and never allows the parish 
 authorities to interfere in his private affairs. He divides 
 his property among his children during his lifetime. 
 After their parents' death the married sons separate ; 
 the bonds of relationship do not predispose the Little 
 Russians to solidarity and mutual devotion ; on the 
 contrary, men who are gentle and confiding with their 
 friends, live in a state of perpetual discord with their 
 relatives : family quarrels are very frequent in every rank 
 in the social hierarchy. 
 
 This tendency to individualism is so strong that the 
 closest relatives are compelled to separate and see as little 
 jas possible of each other, if harmony is to be preserved. 
 The idea of duty is much more developed in the Great 
 Russian than in his brother of the South. Tolstoi and 
 Dostolevski did not find their heroes, ever ready to 
 sacrifice themselves for the public welfare, in the country 
 of Tarrass-Boulba. 
 
 The contrast between the poetry of the two peoples 
 is also very great ; the songs of Great Russia celebrate 
 strength, courage, daring, and orgy, in fact all the violent 
 passions of the soul, and that is why the Moscovite revels 
 in songs of brigandage. In the songs of the peoples of 
 the Dnieper, on the other hand, nature plays an 
 important part, and they are far more true to life. To 
 them grass, trees, birds, animals, stars, and seasons are 
 living things, holding commune with man, taking part 
 in his joys and sorrows, inspiring him with hope and 
 fear. The song of the tshoumak is an example of this. 
 
VILLAGES 15 
 
 "The mountains are covered with snow, the valleys are full of 
 water, poppies open in the fields. 
 
 The ishoumaks return from the Crimea, laden with fish. 
 
 The old mother seeks her son, seeks him but cannot find him. 
 
 ' Come, come, my child, I wiU wash thy head.' ^ 
 
 ' Wash thy own head, little mother, or wash my sister's; torrential 
 rains shall wash mine, sharp thorns shall comb my hair, the 
 burning sun shall dry it, and stormy winds shall curl it.' " 
 
 Or the song of the newly married bride : — 
 
 " fate, my fate, where hast thou strayed ? 
 
 Art thou drowned in the sea, or consumed by fire ? 
 
 If thou art drowned, appear upon the shore ; if thou art consumed 
 by fire, my heart can only mourn for thee. 
 
 Matchmakers came to my khata; they married me to a man 
 whom I do not love. 
 
 My mother said : ' My dear daughter, do not return before seven 
 years have passed.' 
 
 I could not bear it, and I returned before my time ; I trans- 
 formed myself into a brown linnet, I perched upon a 
 raspberry bush. I began to sing, to warble so plaintively 
 that the bush bent low and carried my voice so far. 
 
 My mother came to the door weeping : ' If thou art my daughter, 
 enter the khata ; if thou art a brown linnet, fly to the forest 
 and warble.' " 
 
 The Russian peasant does not build durable stone 
 houses. Here one will never find the solidly built inn, 
 such as one sees in Bohemia. The plan of the Russian 
 peasants' houses is mostly the same. Very rarely does 
 one find stone or brick houses — the timber-work consists 
 of big beams. Well-to-do peasants have a ground floor, 
 but all love to decorate the gable vsdth wood-carving. 
 Inside the house, near the street, is the isba, or living- 
 room, not always very clean or comfortable. Wooden 
 benches stand along the walls, also a construction of 
 * In Russia this is an act of friendship. 
 
i6 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 planks on which the inmates make their beds. In some 
 districts there is a bedstead used by the peasant and his 
 wife. At the entrance there are black pictures of saints 
 whose features are no longer recognizable, ancient heir- 
 looms held in high honour ; even in very poor houses a 
 little lamp is kept burning night and day before them. 
 The table utensils are kept in a cupboard, which finishes 
 the furniture of the room, for the Russian peasant knows 
 no chairs. When he comes home in the winter stiff and 
 covered with snow, he takes off his shoes and stretches 
 himself out by the stove. Here it is always comfortable 
 and warm, and, as he has to suffer much from the great 
 cold, he does not willingly go without the warmth of 
 his room. In the very cold weather, cattle are also 
 sometimes brought into the isha — ^the stalls are not built 
 solidly enough to withstand the cold. The walls remain 
 dry because of the great heat. Whenever a fire is lit, 
 the door or a window is opened to let out the smoke, and 
 when that has passed away and the door and window shut 
 a comfortable warmth reigns in the room. The tempera- 
 ture sinks again at night, as there is but little difference 
 between indoors and out. The peasant has to protect 
 himself as weU as he can against the cold. He dresses 
 warmly, and does not' undress indoors, and covers his 
 house from top to bottom with straw ; but in the North, 
 even this does not keep out the enemy. If the isba be 
 large, it is not too pleasant there sometimes : for the smell 
 of animals, the preparation of food and the drying of 
 clothes will predominate. 
 
 For those unaccustomed to it, it is difficult to breathe 
 in a peasant's hut. It is incomprehensible how people 
 can Uve in the atmosphere. A small hut about twelve 
 feet square — ^with a door through which a medium- 
 sized man can only go by stooping — ^the floor made of 
 earth, the ceihng so low that a tall man cannot stand 
 
VILLAGES 17 
 
 upright, tiny windows letting in but little light with much 
 draught and cold — the whole building made of thin 
 wood, insufficiently plugged with oakum. That is the 
 usual peasant's home in Russia ! and these poor peasants 
 constitute nine-tenths of the population. 
 
 The stove takes up a quarter of the room, that is, the 
 particular Russian stove. It heats the room and cooks 
 the food, it bakes the bread and boils the dirty clothes, 
 and all the members of the family bathe in it in turns, 
 and the old people sleep on it. It is the uxiiversal stove 
 which only a people under snow six months out of every 
 year could have invented. And what do they not use to 
 heat it — ^wood, straw, dung. It consumes everything, 
 even the roof beams, but alas ! it hardly warms the half- 
 frozen children. 
 
 It is torture to go into a peasant's hut when the stove 
 is being lit. The room is full of smoke, no one can breathe, 
 it is suffocating ; the smoke stings the eyes, that is why 
 there are so many blind people in Russia. The real 
 Russian stove has no chimney. The smoke fills the room 
 and tries to escape through the roof, through the thatch, 
 or the holes in the walls— and when the peasant can stand 
 the accumulated smoke no longer, through the open door. 
 
 It is true that more chimneys are bring introduced, 
 but the old stoves are preferred on account of the warmth. 
 While the stove is alight the room is warm, but it gets 
 deadly cold when the stove goes out. Frost-like crystals 
 shine in the windows, in the comers of the room, in the 
 slits — in spite of the fuel. 
 
 The entire family live in this room, day and night. 
 The old man mends his shoes and the women work the 
 spinning-wheel ; the girls and young children sit here ; 
 the babe cries in his cradle ; a calf, a lamb, a sucking-pig 
 huddle together round the stove— here they are warm, 
 and if left in the outhouses would freeze to death. They 
 
i8 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 sleep on the benches and on the floor all together, men, 
 women, old men, children, and cattle. One must be 
 iccustomed from babyhood to that air. 
 
 A vivid description of a peasant's hut {isba) is given 
 by Tshekhov in his work " The Moujiks." A hut, con- 
 sisting of one room, is inhabited by a family composed of 
 the old moujik and his wife, two sons and their wives, 
 and eight or ten children. In this miserable room all 
 these beings eat and drinlc and sleep. Here the women 
 bear children and spin and weave. Here a lamb lies 
 peacefully near a naked boy, and the suckling plays with 
 a pig ; here a cock accompanies with gay trills the bleating 
 of the goat. The gleam of a parafhn-oil lamp, if there be 
 one, lacking a glass shade, sheds its light upon this 
 picture of domestic felicity — patriarchal in its simplicity", 
 but not always in its peacefulness ! 
 
 In Little Russia the peasants are cleaner — ^their houses 
 are larger and always divided into two or three rooms. 
 Some of the peasants are so accustomed to the dirt, to 
 the calves in the room, that they look upon it as a great 
 injury if forced to live differently. Little colonies of 
 emigrants have been formed in Siberia, and in one case, 
 in which several families from a Little Russian village 
 had emigrated, they wished to carry on their usual 
 customs and habits, and forbade that cattle should be 
 kept in the house. The other peasants looked upon 
 that as constraint, and preferred to withdraw to another 
 settlement in order to carry out their own arrangements. 
 
 The cold corridor {cholodnije sjenji) divides the isba 
 from the room in which the food and clothing are kept. 
 In the summer it is also used as a living-room, and then 
 the peasants' life is more pleasant than in the winter-room. 
 In some places in summer, the cooking is done in an out- 
 side shed, and three families mate use of one such shed. 
 Cleanliness is a very strong point with the peasant, 
 
VILLAGES 19 
 
 although what we have described seems to point to the 
 contrary. But we must not measure everything with 
 the same stick, and according to our own notions. The 
 northern winter is a very ugly guest, and the peasant 
 has to do his best to protect himself, and it is not the time 
 to have a highly decorated apartment. In the summer 
 the housewife, the chasjaika, sees to it that the room is 
 scrupulously clean and tidy. The, cellar (very necessary 
 to a peasant) is at the back of the house, near the yard, 
 where the stables, nearly always built of wood, are also 
 situated, and the wind blows through the planks and 
 puddles cover the floor. 
 
 The bam does not always stand in the yard, but is some- 
 times built near the house. Flower gardens, as generally 
 fenown, do not exist in front of the house. The Russian 
 peasant is practical, and does not see why he should plant 
 flowers which give no return, as no one buys them. In 
 his garden he plants vegetables only ; a quick-set hedge 
 divides this garden from his neighbour's, but there is no 
 shrub, no tree to break the monotony of the beds — ^just, 
 perhaps, a clump of sunflowers in one comer, and they are 
 only suffered because their seeds are looked upon as 
 delicacies. Fruit trees are seldom seen, even where the 
 climate suits them ; the peasant is not fond of trees. 
 He looks upon trees as fuel, and gets as much of this as 
 he wants from'the woods and forests, and at present there 
 is no occasion to plant further. There are still forests of 
 gigantic trees stretching from the Volga to Archangel and 
 Finland, in which the axe of the wood-cutter has never 
 been heard, and in which the bear and the wild ox reign 
 supreme. If one comes across a village with some trees 
 in it, one may rest assured they have not been planted, 
 but were there before the village was built, and one 
 never finds trees planted by the roadside, which would 
 be most useful in times of deep snow to mark the road 
 
20 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 A bath-room is a sine qud non to the Russian, and the 
 old chroniclers and Byzantine and Arab authors wrote 
 about it in bygone days ; they are indeed but primitive 
 bath-rooms, they really are steam baths. Water is pom-ed 
 on to the hot plates of an oven developing steam, and the 
 bather hastens the perspiration by beating himself with 
 birch sticks. When the blood has become warm and the 
 bather is as red as a lobster, he runs out and throws him- 
 self into the snow, and then returns to the bath-room to 
 continue the treatment. Where there are no bath-rooms 
 the peasants maJce themselves one in a very simple fashion, 
 by crawling into the oven. But nowhere does the peasant 
 neglect his weekly bath, either before Sunday or feast 
 days, and afterward putting on a clean shirt. This 
 is a custom, the same as washing his hands after meals, 
 and dates from times long gone by. I said that there is 
 a certain striving after cleanliness, especially among 
 Little Russians, and it finds expression particularly in 
 the steam bath. Every Saturday the whole family has a 
 bath. Every member awaits his turn, undresses, and 
 creeps into the burning stove, sitting in a bent position. 
 Each takes a pail of water and a bath-broom, closes the 
 opening bolt, and works the whole body with the wet rod 
 until it becomes quite red and begins to perspire. If the 
 heat become insupportable, the bather comes out of the 
 stove and dresses very quickly. It frequently happens 
 that the bather does not leave the heated stove at the 
 right time and therefore a dead body is drawn out by 
 the family. 
 
 There are peasants who, when heated, rush straight from 
 the stove in winter, and pour ice-cold water over them- 
 selves and hasten back to the stove to warm themselves 
 once more. Soap is not used in washing or bathing, 
 that would be a luxury, and their means do not permit 
 any luxuries. 
 
VILLAGES 21 
 
 But the farther one advances to the East the more one 
 finds that the "bath is brought to a fine art. In the West 
 one dips the nose into a large basin of water, occasionally 
 jumps into a bath in which the water has not been 
 renewed, and is content with being clean on the surface. 
 
 Russians have neither the appearance nor reputa- 
 tion of being clean, but they are so in reality. Their 
 baths are supremely comfortable, and in some towns, 
 notably at Moscow, the central baths are a veritable 
 marvel. 
 
 Steam is the main principle of the Russian bath ; if 
 the foreigner wants to wash he gives himself into the hands 
 of a moujik, commissioned to get the dirt off him. The 
 two ceremonies talce place in small select parties in the 
 private baths, or in public in the public baths. For a 
 private bath one has to pass through three rooms : the 
 first is prettily furnished and carpeted, comfortable divans 
 with fresh linen covers, mirrors, toilet tables, and so on : 
 here you undress. In the second one finds a bath, a 
 shower-bath, a bench with a vent, copper basins and taps : 
 here one washes. In the third there is a brickwork stove, 
 here one steams oneself. The price is anything from a 
 half-rouble to ten roubles. 
 
 If the bather wants assistance, a moujik enters re- 
 spectfully, shuts the door, removes all his garments 
 quickly, and stands naked as on the day of his 
 birth, with the exception perhaps of a scapular or a 
 medal. 
 
 This modest youth will undertake to scrub you clean ; 
 he makes you lie down on a rush mat upon the bench, 
 and solemnly rubs you up and down with a bunch of 
 birch fibres well soaped. You are not a man in his eyes 
 but an unclean thing which he has promised to cleanse. 
 He turns you about like a bundle of rags, and when he is 
 satisfied that you are quite clean, he tells you to stand up 
 
22 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 and throws a number of pails of water over you. When 
 he has done with you, you are as clean as a new pin. 
 To slumber on a divan after the ceremony is a very 
 pleasing sensation. And here let me give a brief descrip- 
 tion ^of a Russian bath — ^frequented by various classes of 
 society. 
 
 The public baths are an extraordinary sight. On 
 certain days hundreds of men assemble in the vast apart- 
 ments to enjoy the luxury of a bath for the modest sum 
 of 2id. 
 
 The first big room presents a disgusting spectacle with 
 its long benches laden with packets of clothes, surmounted 
 by unstarched shirts, its smell, its naked occupants, and 
 glaring lights. 
 
 In the second room through the hazy damp atmosphere, 
 two or three hundred naked men are grouped under the 
 hard hght of the electric lamps. There is no noise, but 
 the swish of running water, the turning of taps, emptying 
 of pails, an occasional laugh, an indescribable hubbub. 
 It is the most curious and the most hideous spectacle to 
 be seen anywhere. The naked hmnan form may be 
 beautiful when depicted by the brush of a master painter, 
 or carved in stone or marble by a Phidias or a Michael 
 Angelo. It may please our aesthetic taste to imagine 
 Greek goddesses wandering about in glades and groves, 
 surrounded by sylvan scenery, but a mass of swel- 
 tering flesh, of perspiring humanity, is offensive to 
 the eye. 
 
 The glaring light seeks out every deformity : several 
 hunchbacks in the midst of well-made men make a painful 
 impression. Here is an old man, a living skeleton, so 
 emaciated that one is surprised to see any Ufe in him, 
 were it not for the fine old head with its white beard, 
 recalling to our mind the picture of Job ! The popes are 
 distinguished by their long hair and beard, and the effect 
 
VILLAGES 23 
 
 is most comical ; their untrimmed heads are so char- 
 acteristic of their profession that our eyes look mechani- 
 cally for the black or yellowish cassock, and we suppress 
 a laugh to find instead the naked body of a man, very 
 much occupied in washing himself. 
 
 In the midst of this sweltering mass of humanity 
 children play about, throwing water at each other, chasing 
 one another in and out of the groups of grumbhng bathers. 
 Small infants being scrubbed by their fathers with clumsy 
 cautious efforts, stand with the passive resignation of 
 little wet puppies, and while their fathers are engaged 
 in scrubbing themselves, the little ones remain motion- 
 less and serious, like tiny midgets among the robust 
 adults. 
 
 Wooden pails of cold or hot water are placed at the 
 disposal of the bathers. Men, clothed in a loin cloth, 
 move about among the benches, offering to scrub one for 
 a small fee. 
 
 In the slow life of the Northern peoples, the bath is 
 not an unimportant episode as with us. We take a bath 
 between two appointments, the Russians look upon it as 
 one of the pleasures of their cloistered life. They devote 
 several hours to it, and make up friendly parties as for 
 some place of amusement. Those who like steam, steam 
 themselves several times, repair to the refreshment bar, 
 and then sleep. They come out rested, fresh, clean, and 
 wrapped in furs are borne through the glacial atmosphere 
 in sleighs. The lower classes take a bath every Saturday 
 as far as possible. Soldiers have a weekly bath holiday, 
 and take advantage of this to wash their linen while it is 
 not on their backs. The vapour bath with its violent 
 reaction, and the gentle prostration which follows it, is 
 one of the essential pleasures of Russian life, a recrea- 
 tion, a holiday. For the rich it is a pastime, for the very 
 poor a blessed hour, when they can remove their sordid. 
 
24 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 verminous garments to cleanse themselves, to frolic in the 
 hot soft humidity, in the gaiety of a common bathing 
 ground, with the almost childish recklessness which 
 mankind feels when returning to his good, primitive 
 state of nudity. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE INDUSTRIOUS PEASANT AND HIS DAILY LIFE 
 
 WE Westerners will scarcely be able to imagine 
 what it takes for. a Russian peasant to make 
 certain of daily bread for himself and his 
 family ? Oh, it means a whole science ! He must have the 
 cunning of a serpent, the skill of a diplomat, the accurate 
 knowledge of his surroundings, customs, and traditions 
 combined, and a thorough acquaintance with the human 
 heart. 
 
 His chief care is to arrange for himself and his family, 
 his servants, male and female, if he have any, to get 
 sufficient nourishment to be satisfied enough to be able 
 to work well. At meals the bread is always stale : why ? 
 Because stale bread is more economical and goes further. 
 Furthermore the whole year he uses no butter with his 
 oats, but hempseed oil, although the first is always handy 
 and the oil has to be purchased-^why, then ? Because 
 the peasant would eat double the quantity of oats if he 
 had butter with it. 
 
 "They ate their black bread," writes Tshekhov, "with 
 great avidity. The tea had a fishy taste, the sugar was 
 very dirty, and the bread was covered with beetles." 
 The peasant's food consists mostly of shtohee — i.e. of 
 hot water in which a cabbage floats in solitary majesty 
 siuTounded by a few boiled potatoes. When the moujik 
 discovers a piece of fat in his soup he feels a pleasurable 
 sensation somewhat similar to that of Columbus when he 
 perceived land on the vast oceaji. This is the ordinary 
 meal. Milk is kept for the children. Meat is only tasted 
 
 2S 
 
26 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 on holidays, a chicken on Christmas and Easter. Some- 
 times there are even no potatoes. ^ 
 
 The peasant has fresh meat only on the greatest of 
 feast days, because it is too dear, and he eats the coarsest 
 kind of meat with great avidity; so there is only one 
 way, and that is to keep it away from the peasant 
 table altogether. 
 
 He manages his guests just as cunningly at the 
 banquets, on feast days, such as Christmas, Easter, 
 Anniversary of the Consecration of the Church, at 
 weddings, baptisms and name days. He offers his guest 
 a large glass of strong brandy, so that he may become 
 drunk at once. 
 
 " If I give him a glass," he says, " then he is finished, 
 and will neither eat nor drink any more. If I keep on 
 giving him little glasses, he will be able to drink up 
 all the brandy and will want to eat all the time." 
 
 He does the same with his cattle; in the autumn he 
 feeds them on too much hay, and in winter they are 
 wretchedly fed on straw. The head of such a man is 
 continually filled with the cares of host : the first thing is 
 to decide on the smallest amount of food required for 
 himself and his family ; then he meditates on whence the 
 money is coming to pay the taxes ; then can he get a 
 small surplus, or are his hopes again to be dashed to the 
 ground, for always there are unexpected expenses. Every 
 wedding, every baptism causes him great anxiety, for it 
 means spending the smallest amoimt of money possible. 
 Yes, money is an open wound in the peasant's Ufe. At 
 home he only requires it for salt, brandy, and meat for 
 festivals. From time to time his grown-up daughter 
 must have a sarafan made of cheap cotton, or a hand- 
 kerchief for her head ; he gives his children some white 
 
 1 Cf. Rappoport, "The Psychology of the Russian Nation," Monthly 
 Review, 1905. 
 
THE INDUSTRIOUS PEASANT 27 
 
 bread and baranki (small water cracknels without 
 salt). How many years will it be before he can buy an 
 armjak, an armless blue cloth jacket, for himself, or a 
 cheap sarafan for his wife ? These are his only expenses. 
 All the rest goes to pay the taxes. For the sake of these 
 expenses he must deny milk to his family and take it to 
 fatten the calf for the market. He goes thirty or forty versts 
 on foot in the most awful rain or snowstorm, to take hay 
 to the town for a Jew, and has to put up with the Jew's 
 deceptions ; and the village usurer keeps him dependent. 
 So it is quite conceivable, that only one thought occupies 
 his mind, that of keeping himself and his family alive. 
 He has grown so accustomed to it, that he cannot imagine 
 life under any other conditions. When he goes with 
 his wagon, he is gloomy and keeps his eyes fixed on the 
 ground ; if he sees a horse-shoe on the country road, a 
 little piece of paper or a cigarette end, he picks it up 
 and keeps it ; even manure he throws on his telegga, 
 to take it home ; to-day some and to-morrow some, soon 
 makes a wagon-load. He tries to take care of himself 
 in the town as well as he can, but the noise soon deafens 
 him, for only elegant gentlemen and tradespeople live 
 there ; did he commit but the smallest offence against 
 them, the gordowoi (policeman) is there to bring him 
 to the police station at once. How can the poor unedu- 
 cated peasant, not able to read and write, avoid all the 
 snares set especially to catch him ? That is why he sells 
 his goods as quickly as possible at an arbitrarily fixed 
 price, feeds his horses as quickly as possible, makes the 
 necessary purchases, and hastens home before nightfall. 
 Here he makes up his accounts, counts his copper coins, 
 smooths his bank notes and examines them, holding 
 them up against the light, and hides his savings in a jar. 
 It seldom happens that the little sum of money realizes 
 his expectations. 
 
28 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 These continual deceptions pain him much, and he 
 has to think of other ways of making up his losses. With- 
 out resting after his journey on foot, he goes into the 
 yard and sees that all is in order, if the cattle have been 
 fed, or if the sucking-pig is getting fat, if the axle-trees 
 of the wagon have been worn by the friction, if the 
 thatch has rotted, and if the beams on which the whole 
 hut stands will stand a little longer. He takes his axe 
 in hand, hammers and knocks, to make the required 
 repairs. All the time he thinks of collecting the pro- 
 visions which cost nothing, only then will he think of 
 those for which he will have to pay. The gully which 
 runs through the village, and, is dry in summer time, is 
 full in the spring to the brim with foaming water ; a 
 careful man takes this opportunity to cast his net and 
 possibly to catch a little fish to salt down. Each pike 
 arouses great joy, and soon all tubs, buckets and barrels 
 are full of salt fish, so that he and his family and the in- 
 mates of his house can live on it the whole summer long. 
 If the fish become bad and without taste, so much the 
 better, they will eat less ! All the same there is andther 
 vessel on the table besides the soup, and that shows a 
 certain amount of comfort. Of such a man, neighbours 
 say, " Oh, he lives well, he has good cabbage soup {scht- 
 schi) with fish in it ! " The peasant gets some advan- 
 tage out of that ; labourers come willingly to him, and 
 neighbours are ready to help him with the field-work 
 for the sake of the food. And in the spring he lays in a 
 stock of salted meat : a cow in the neighbourhood has 
 been sold because there is no food to give her, and her 
 owner is pressed to pay the taxes ; three or four house- 
 holders join together to buy the poor beast for five 
 roubles ; truly they get more bones than flesh, and 
 what flesh they do get is dry as straw. Just the same 
 it is a bargain. In this manner the salted meat lasts 
 
THE INDUSTRIOUS PEASANT 29 
 
 out the whole summer. As there are no cellars, the 
 meat is buried in the ground, and is taken up smelling 
 evilly after the summer : that is why it is so much more 
 economical. The peasant naturally eats less of this 
 bad meat than he would eat if it were good, but the 
 main point is gained, to keep up sufRcient strength for 
 the work ; he is quite indifferent to the means. 
 
 He sticks to his work all the summer ; even the lazy 
 bad man hardly ever leaves his field ; the good man goes 
 to bed very late, and gets up at dawn, and hurries to 
 work. Eternally occupied with the thought of making 
 sure of the daily bread, he cuts the com of the neigh- 
 bouring landowner and earns thereby the third part of 
 the reaped corn. His wife, the grown-up children, even 
 the younger ones help him in his hard work and work 
 like convicts. 
 
 At the end of August, his own corn will last until 
 Butter-week (the Russian Carnival). The hay is also 
 sufficient to feed the cattle and even to sell, for he fixes 
 all his hopes on the hay. The portion of common land 
 assigned to him is so small that he can only sow very 
 little wheat ; he is generally successful with his hay, if 
 he does not mind cutting the grass. Yes, he even goes 
 to the neighbours and gets them to lend a hand, and he 
 works on the holidays as well. As every one knows 
 that he has salt fish and meat, also a little cask of hemp- 
 seed-oil, and a little glass of brandy, they are glad to 
 come. The work goes on quickly and merrMy ; all . sing 
 together ; he cuts the first row of hay. Early in the 
 evening they return to the village, and the work generally 
 goes on quicker than if he had hired labour, and the food 
 does not cost so much. These are the few glad moments 
 in the peasant's life, all roimd him sing and work, and 
 his heart beats happily. 
 
 Towards the end of the harvest he is so tired that he 
 
30 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 can scarcely accomplish the work ; his face has become 
 quite dark under a layer of brown dust ; the inhabitants 
 of his house can scarcely move. At last the winter com 
 is sown, hay and straw brought in from the fields. Har- 
 vest begins sometimes in fine weather, but more often 
 accompanied by torrents of rain. Then the work can 
 only go on under cover, near the house, in the kitchen, 
 garden, or in the barn. Everywhere one hears the 
 thresher, the air is full of the smell of ripe fruit and 
 vegetables of all sorts ; the peasant watches the growth 
 of the winter corn and worries himself with the thought 
 of what the next harvest may yield. Who can foresee 
 how all will go on to the spring ? If next year's harvest 
 be bad, he will have to send his sons to the neighbouring 
 factory and hire himself out by the day to saw wood. 
 Always, always what may happen is present to his mind. 
 In the autumn he collects his provisions for the winter, 
 and the grown-up sons cut wood and undergrowth in 
 the forest, thresh corn, and repair the old worn 
 sledges. In his free moments he occupies himself with 
 some handicraft, cutting wood, or binding casks with 
 hoops and rope, and the women work also for the winter 
 store ; cabbage and gherkins are pickled to be devoured 
 as luxuries on feast days ; at the loom linen and calico 
 are woven ; no one can take a moment's rest ; when 
 twilight falls, work begins under the dull light of a petro- 
 leum lamp. This is cheaper than pine splinters. The 
 eldest son plaits new shoes of bast or mends old ones, 
 the mother knits woollen stockings and socks, the young 
 women spin. They have supper and go to bed very 
 late, they stay long at work, and get up early in the 
 morning, sometimes even before dawn. 
 
 The peasant's hut at night time is like an insupport- 
 able sewer ; the inhabitants are so numerous that they 
 lie heaped together on the floor, on wood benches, or on 
 
THE INDUSTRIOUS PEASANT 31 
 
 the stove ; the little house is full of the exhalations and 
 groanings of the tired anxious men; the " clean " room 
 is not used and is not heated in the winter, to save the 
 wood; it reihains an ornamental room for use only on 
 festivals. In the early morning the housewife lights the 
 stove of the one living room, and the acid smoke swallows up 
 the bad air, though piercing the eyes and nose. Through 
 the door always opening and shutting the cold winter 
 air wakes the sleepers, who jump up to wash themselves 
 at a pitcher hanging on a rope. When in two hours' 
 time the dinner is ready, the housewife shuts the stove 
 door carefully and it gets warm and light in the hut. 
 " As warm as in Paradise," they say with contented 
 voices. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 PEASANT WOMEN 
 
 WORK, and nothing but work, no rest, no recrea- 
 tion, make up the Ufe of the Russian woman. 
 From the moment of her birth her lot is harder 
 than the man's. The whole family rejoices when the new- 
 born child is a boy ; but a girl — ^well, a girl is only a girl, 
 and an unbidden guest. Only her mother's heart feels 
 any joy at her birth. That is the way all over Russia. 
 They have a custom which proves it. When the first- 
 born child is a girl, the friends of the family seize the father 
 the day after the child's birth and throw him down and 
 beat him. That is not symbolical. He is moved to tears 
 and cries with his thrashing, and he may not take it 
 badly, for it is the custom. When the child reaches the 
 age of five years, she is set to watch the younger children, 
 if there are any. A boy looks after the horses, but only 
 when he is eight years old. Girls look upon themselves 
 as nurses, and even the daughters of rich people look 
 after the children of the poor. Often they get bare food 
 and lodging. This happens until the girls are fourteen or 
 fifteen, they are then considered marriageable. 
 
 Customs vary in the different villages, and the habit of 
 living together in one room, with a numerous family, 
 induces a simplicity which permits things to be said and 
 done which under other conditions are kept secret, at 
 least from the girls. And it often happens that boys and 
 girls bathe together, which teaches children from their 
 youth up to look upon hfe naturally, and without false 
 modesty. And the girl meets life with her eyes open. 
 
PEASANT WOMEN As 
 
 In those villages where maidenly conduct is absolutely) 
 desired in the bride, it is very exceptional to find a girl; 
 who has lost her character. But in those villages the' 
 married women are not so careful of their honour. 
 Even the husbands do not look upon this as a serious 
 offence. There are villages where the girls boast of the, 
 number of their lovers, and where people look with con- 
 tempt upon the girl who does not understand how to win, 
 the hearts of men. And sometimes they are only permitted 
 to marry the men of their own village. ; 
 
 It sometimes happens that girls go to work in parties , 
 on the landowner's property about twenty to fifty miles •; 
 away, and they do not come home for weeks together. ] 
 They often fall a prey to their employer. A woman 
 receives very poor wages, for example, for twelve to 
 fourteen hours' work, and often very hard work, such as ' 
 weeding, she is paid twenty copecks. Thirty copecks is the 
 maximum wage. Women sometimes receive a wage of 
 fifteen copecks, and have to keep themselves. They are 
 allowed a Uttle straw, but the unfortunates must find a 
 covered place in which to spread their straw and sleep. 
 Women, girls, and half-grown children are all employed, 
 and this is where the proprietor tries to make something 
 for himself. The younger a girl looks or is, the worse is 
 she paid. It is necessary to see the tears of a fifteen- 
 year-old girl to understand what it means to her when 
 three or five copecks are deducted from her earnings. 
 Capitalism appears here in its most hideous form. Brute 
 force reveals itself without any cover, and slavery is 
 sanctioned. 
 
 The money earned by a girl is hers alone. Her family 
 only use her labour on their own plot of land. Her father, 
 even if a drunkard or tj^ant, does not touch her savings. 
 Only exceptional hunger can make such a girl give up 
 her money : this custom is stronger than most laws. 
 3 
 
34 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 Popular songs formerly spoke of marriage as of a mis- 
 /fortune for the girls. This is no longer the case. Now 
 one hears the " I will not " ring loud from the daughter's 
 lips ; she is now in a position to make her will felt. The 
 song is no longer a complaint, but a factory song, and it 
 speaks of the fulfilment of her desires. The revolutionary 
 principles have already forced their entrance to villages. 
 
 When the girl is married she wears a checked coat 
 instead of a striped one, and a head-dress instead of a 
 handkerchief, and her whole life is suddenly changed. It 
 is almost beyond comprehension how a Russian woman 
 can possibly fulfil all her duties. 
 
 Besides field-work, she has the care of feeding the 
 family, all the cleaning and clothing of it. The husband 
 has nothing to do with that. If the work in the summer 
 is hard, in the winter he can do what he likes, but the 
 woman finds no moment's recreation. If there are two 
 or three women in the house, they take the work by turns, 
 but where there is only one, her work is harder than a 
 convict's. She has a piece of ground and sows hemp-seed. 
 She must spin and weave and bleach to clothe the family. 
 She also keeps some sheep at the farm. The wool and 
 skin are used for clothing. What happens if the hemp is 
 burned out or the sheep die ? That is her affair. She is 
 worried and goes on spinning while the others sleep, by 
 the evil-smelling lamp light, or if her husband allows her 
 no oil, in the dark by touch ; it is everything to her to 
 have enough linen for the family. Any woman bujdng 
 linen instead of spinning herself, would be an object 
 of ridicule ! 
 
 No matter if the woman be well or ill, her work must 
 be done. She Ues up for two or three days at most 
 when her children are bom. Every one is against her 
 then, not only the men, but the women also. Customs 
 are very cruel. Even the friends laugh at the husband 
 
PEASANT WOMEN 35 
 
 if he be too humane ! And a Russian is afraid of being 
 laughed at. 
 
 Fires are frequent, and it is not a rare occurrence for 
 everything to be burnt ; or if the husband be a drunkard, 
 it sometimes happens that in fury he tears up the Unen. 
 All must be done over again : the husband seldom helps. 
 Indeed it is no exaggeration when we say that one of the 
 worst things in Russian peasant life is the low estimation 
 in which women are held. 
 
 Women can also go to the meeting of the mir when ; 
 their husbands are absent, but they do not get the same 1 
 attention, no matter how eloquent they may be. 
 
 The peasant expresses himself in no gallant fashion' 
 towards women, when he says, " Long hair, and little j 
 understanding." There are cases of women representing 
 their family by their energy and cleverness, but on the 
 whole the Russian peasant woman is condemned to an 
 existence which her sisters of any other country would 
 never envy. Not only is she responsible for the house- 
 work, but when her husband is occupied with something 
 else, she has to do heavy work in the fields. Things are 
 reversed in Russia, it is the man who goes to market 
 and sells the poultry, eggs, butter, and milk, and the 
 woman keeps the fields in order. In many districts the 
 heaviest field work falls to her share, while the husband 
 wanders leisurely up and down the Moscow streets dis- 
 posing of his wares, or sits quietly in the market. And 
 the woman is certainly not the beloved companion, but 
 the servant of her husband. And when he won her hand, 
 her charms had less to do with it than the certainty that 
 she was strong and a right good worker. Personal feelings 
 have very little to do with marriage, and often the wife 
 of the head of the family, who has to find a bride for her 
 son and knows no one hkely to suit, turns to the profes- 
 sional matchmaker who is to be found in every town 
 
 \ 
 
36 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 and who will certainly find some one suitable ; romance 
 has nothing to do with the case, and Russian literature 
 can show no such charming love-stories as the Czechs. 
 
 Everjnvhere the peasant is conservative ; also the Rus- 
 sian peasant has never been brought into contact with 
 anything different, so he cannot compare the position of 
 the Russian woman with her sisters in other countries. 
 The wife of the priest does not occupy any better position 
 than the wife of any ordinary peasant. She has to work 
 in the house and in the fields to supply the wants of her 
 humble home, for the Russian priest does not sleep on a 
 bed of roses. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 FESTIVALS 
 
 IF the Russian moujik, especially the industrious 
 raoujik, and the womenfolk are hard workers, they 
 have many holidays and festiveds on which they not 
 only repose but also enjoy themselves. Indeed, in no 
 country in the world do the peasants observe so many 
 religious festivals entailing repose from work as do the 
 Russian moujiks, and of all these festivals the Carnivial 
 is hailed with the greatest enthusiasm. Old "and young, 
 even in the remotest villages, take part in it, and people 
 salute each other with the words, " May you have a gay, 
 an honest, and an abundant Carnival." 
 
 In Great Russia, allowing for preparations and sequel, 
 the Carnival lasts a week. The first three days, until 
 Thursday, housewives are busy preparing beer, brandy, 
 and food ; the young men, pohshing up and decorating 
 carts and harness. Those who do not possess a vehicle 
 exert themselves to the utmost to procure one tempo- 
 rarily ; self-respect demands that they shall appear in the 
 village with gaily decked carts and new reins. 
 
 Meanwhile, the young girls are busy building up 
 mountains of ice, and polishing the small sleighs used for 
 sliding down the snow-covered hills. 
 
 At daybreak on the Thursday, housewives set to work, 
 as it is the day when all eat to satiety. They light their 
 fires quickly, and commence cooking the fish and cakes, 
 and preparing the paste for pancakes, and are busy till 
 mid-day, which is the dinner hour. After dinner, sleighing 
 commences, or some prefer to walk, while sleighs containing 
 
38 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 five or six persons follow each other in quick succession 
 along the chief street of the village. 
 
 After exhibiting themselves sufficiently in their own 
 village, the moujiks proceed to the next, and so on from 
 village to village until nightfall. They then return home 
 exhausted, their horses covered with sweat and their 
 heads hanging with fatigue. All sit down to table again 
 to devour the remainder of the provisions, leaving none 
 for the morrow. 
 
 The same exploits are renewed on Friday, Saturday, and 
 Sunday, on which day the carnival closes. On the latter 
 day the peasants harness ten horses to a large cart ; on 
 each is mounted a cavalier dressed in rags, his face 
 covered with soot. All are armed with large whips, 
 brooms, or other household implements. In the depart- 
 ment of Kazan the horsemen are sometimes disguised as 
 Mullahs or Kalmucks. 
 
 The cart, soiled in the same way, and bristhng with 
 brooms, is occupied by a drunken man, also dressed in 
 rags and with his face blackened. A cask of beer is placed 
 near him and a large box filled with cake, fish, eggs, and 
 pancakes. He holds in his hand a large glass of brandy, 
 and is supposed to represent the Carnival returning home. 
 He is expected to eat and drink without ceasing. Many 
 peasants who sincerely desire the continuation of the 
 Carnival beseech him to remain with them ; but he 
 answers that it is impossible as he is expected at the fair, 
 and continuing on his way is swiftly conducted by the 
 ten horses to the next village. After his departure old 
 people invite one another to their respective houses : 
 " Ah ! little brother, come and keep us company ; we are 
 going to drink and finish up our provisions ; we cannot 
 keep them for Lent, it would be a sin. Dming Lent I 
 never drink a drop of anything, and I only eat the tail 
 of a radish. Come, then, little brother, come." Great 
 
FESTIVALS 39 
 
 numbers assemble in the different houses, and the next 
 day, Monday, work seems unattractive, and the peasants 
 suggest to one another that it would be well to continue 
 the Carnival one day longer. From daybreak it becomes 
 a duty for the villagers to finish their casks of beer and 
 brandy. " Just a mouthful to rinse out my mouth." 
 
 They go from isba to isba, and recommence their 
 gastronomic efforts, and by the end of the day they can 
 scarcely stand. Tuesday, drinking begins again but with 
 less enthusiasm and by the evening, being satiated, they 
 definitely bid farewell to the Carnival. Yoimg people 
 take leave of the Carnival earlier than the old. On the 
 Sunday night they assemble in large numbers, each one 
 carr37ing a sheaf of straw saturated with pitch, which 
 they attach to poles planted along the high road at some 
 distance from the village. They then set fire to the 
 straw, and are as enraptured with the illumination as 
 inhabitants of London and Paris are with their magnifi- 
 cent displays of fireworks. 
 
 All rustic feasts in Russia are necessarily accompanied 
 by the khorovod, a choir formed of the most beautiful 
 young girls and handsomest youths of the village. "iThe 
 girls are dressed in all the colours of the rainbow, red 
 predominating. The youths are more soberly attired in 
 red blouses, full black trousers, blue jerkin, and a black 
 felt hat decorated with a peacock feather. The khorovod 
 forms into a circle, with girls in the middle, and sings 
 without ceasing until night. 
 
 The Slavs are distinguished among all nations by their 
 Iflye «f-«msic. In the sixth century the Byzantines 
 already called them the lovers of song. Slav travellers 
 carried with them their guzils, a kind of string instru- 
 ment, instead of arms. In our own days the Russian 
 peasant sings the praises of the sun on the feast of St 
 Peter, and chants the glories of the goddess of spring 
 
40 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 and the first spring rain. A considerable number of 
 these songs have a m5rthical ring, and are reminiscent 
 of ancient ceremonies and pagan sacrifices. The most 
 curious of these songs are those called Avsen, which the 
 moujiks chant on New Year's Eve. As soon as the stars 
 appear, young girls begin to sing : 
 
 " Avsen ! O Avsen ! a green wavy fir tree grew in the forest, 
 
 O Avsen, O Avsen. 
 Some' knights passed, — they cut down the fir tree, they made 
 
 planks of it, they built a bridge and covered it with carpets, 
 
 O Avsen, O Avsen ! 
 Who shall pass over the bridge ? Avsen shall pass, coining 
 
 for the New Year." 
 
 Students of folklore have not yet discovered the mean- 
 ing of the word Avsen, but the ceremony is evidently 
 the remains of an ancient agricultural festival, as the 
 peasant children scatter grains of wheat broadcast on 
 this day, in anticipation of the future harvest, and old 
 women piously gather up the grain to sow it in the 
 spring. 
 
 At Mouroma the moujiks invade the isbas in great 
 numbers, singing : " Avsen, Avsen ! is the master of the 
 house at home ? " And if the answer is, " He has gone 
 out to buy salt, or to marry his son, or to till the ground, 
 or to sell his wheat," the moujiks demand cakes. " Give 
 us cakes, or we will smash doors and windows." Their 
 demand being complied with, they dance and continue 
 their songs. 
 
 The songs of the semik, which are sung about the 
 seventh week after Easter, are almost plays, and may 
 be considered the starting-point of Russian dramatic 
 art. Young girls and youths go into the forest and 
 open the performance by forming a ring round a birch 
 tree, which they decorate with ribbons. Then they 
 dance round it, singing : 
 
FESTIVALS 41 
 
 " The birch is not washed with rain, young girls are coming 
 towards it; jump, dance, beautiful maidens, and you, 
 young men, admire us. You shall not cany off the young 
 girls from the feast ; you shall not have them, without 
 their full pleasure, without their father's leave, and their 
 mother's blessing ; and when the fiances have finished 
 their labours." 
 
 Another ring is then formed, and a girl and boy turn 
 round in the middle, singing with the chorus : 
 
 " Ah ! there was a little lime tree growing in a field ; under the 
 lime a tent ; within the tent a table ; at the table a young 
 girl. She was embroidering with gold a cherinka (waist- 
 belt). She was decorating with pearls the bridle of a 
 horse." 
 
 A young man passed. 
 Male voices : 
 
 " Is not that cherinka for me .'' That bridle for my horse ? " 
 
 Women's voices : 
 
 " The cherinka is not for that young man ; the bridle is not for 
 his horse." 
 
 Suddenly all begin to dance, singing : 
 
 " The Tsar is walking through the town, the Tsar seeks his 
 
 Tsarevna. 
 Where is my Tsarevna, where is the young princess } 
 There is the Tsarevna, she is waving a silk handkerchief, she 
 
 is lighting her way with her gold ring. Doors open wide." 
 
 At these words the ring opens, a young man and a 
 girl holding on high a handkerchief which represents a 
 door, under which the Tsarevna passes. The song begins 
 again : 
 
 " Close up your ranks, draw near to each other, embrace tenderly, 
 even more tenderly." 
 
42 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 Between the verses, singers of both sexes sit round 
 tables and share nuts, sweetmeats, and beer. Before 
 beginning their songs again, they uproot birch saphngs, 
 cut off the branches which they twine into crowns, and 
 then return to the village, where the young trees are 
 planted. A new ring is formed, while the young men 
 holding hands pass under the uplifted arms, and the 
 girls singing : 
 
 " A youth was walking on the green grass round a large town." 
 
 At these words a young man, or more often a girl 
 wearing a man's hat, darts from the ring and walks 
 haughtily round the khorovod. 
 
 " Tour (a pagan goddess), the youth, the champion of the 
 town, invites a young girl to come and pit herself against 
 him." 
 
 At this invitation, another young girl leaves the ranks, 
 and stands in the middle of the khorovod. 
 
 " Did Lado " (another pagan goddess). 
 
 The young girl comes forward. 
 
 " She has vanquished the valiant youth, she has thrown him on 
 the grass." 
 
 At these words the girl knocks off the man's (or the 
 girl's) hat, and pulls his or her hair. 
 The chorus sings : 
 
 " The youth arising hides his face in his hands ; he wipes away 
 his bitter tears. He dares not tell his friends of his mis- 
 fortune. Tour, Did Lado." 
 
 In many places these crowns are kept until Pentecost ; 
 in others, they are thrown into the river to see if they 
 sink or swim, as a sign whether the thrower will have a 
 long or short life. If any get ahead of the others, it is 
 
FESTIVALS 43 
 
 a sign of success ; these are games for brothers and 
 sisters. 
 
 Lovers aJso have their turn ; they throw their crowns 
 into the air, and if they meet it is a good sign. The 
 ribbons with which the wreaths are tied, are preserved 
 through Ufe, and serve to decorate the marriage 
 candles. 
 
 Christmas, or Ridsvianni sviatki, is most strictly kept 
 in Little Russia. 
 
 On Christmas Eve the housewife rises early to make 
 all her preparations ; she has fresh ribbons to put in her 
 cap {her otshipka), her husband's boots and her own to 
 grease, the ,wax candle to make, and so on. The oven 
 is not required until late, as the family only assemble at 
 night to eat the koutia, a kind of wheaten cake, with dry 
 raisins — a sort of plum-pudding — and during the day 
 have no regular meal. 
 
 Meanwhile, the moujik, who has undertaken to buy 
 the fish, arrives on the scene. 
 
 " Well, wife," he cries, " I've got the fish." 
 
 " A pike ? " 
 
 " A pike." 
 
 " God be praised," cries the mother with a joyous 
 glance at her children, who flock round to examine the 
 precious burden. 
 
 The moujik goes out again at once ; he, too, has his 
 hands full. He has to attend to the cattle, clear away 
 the snow before the khata, and see that the sleigh is ready 
 for use. He must also lay in a good stock of wood that 
 the housewife may not run short during the holidays. 
 
 His work finished, he goes to an immarried neighbour 
 who is willing to turn his house into a temporary barber's 
 shop. Some fifteen moujiks presently assemble, and 
 take their turn at being shaved, and having their hair 
 cut. The scene is most grotesque: a piece of scythe 
 
44 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 well sharpened serves as razor, and a bucket of water as 
 a looking-glass. 
 
 The housewife having prepared the koutia, it is 
 solemnly carried on the pokoutia to the place of honour 
 reserved for it in the kitchen. 
 
 M. BelokopjTtenko has described, in his " Reminis- 
 cences," this ceremony of the koutia. 
 
 " I must tell you," he says, " that I had no idea of 
 what the ceremony consisted. I had never taken part 
 in it, I never even assisted at it, only one person of the 
 stronger sex being admitted. I only knew one thing, 
 that the koutia was carried on the pokoutia, and the whole 
 ceremony was surrounded with mystery. Sometimes 
 playmates older than myself would proudly tell me : 
 ' We have already carried the koutia, have you not done 
 so yet ? ' 
 
 " But my turn came ; I was outside plajdng with my 
 friends and building little sleighs when rny mother 
 called me. I did not recognize her, her usually pale 
 cheeks were bright, her sad eyes radiantly happy. She 
 placed her hand tenderly on my head, and tilting it back- 
 wards, looked at me affectionately. ' Come, my Vania, 
 come, you shall carry the koutia on the pokoutia,' she 
 said, smiling. 
 
 " I shuddered with fear and joy and followed my 
 mother to the kitchen in silence, looking round \vith 
 curious eyes, while my heart beat furiously. 
 
 " The fading light stragghng through the frosty 
 windows barely lit up the room ; the fire was d5dng 
 down ; all work was done. Youths and girls remained 
 outside, arms crossed, looking at me curiously. The 
 cook was sitting on a bench near the oven, her arms 
 crossed ; she looked at me proudly. Neax her were 
 two pans, one containing koutia, the other, S5nnip. 
 
 " Old Menikha, held in the greatest esteem by old and 
 
FESTIVALS 45 
 
 young, stood in the attitude of a high priestess before 
 the altar, wiping the pbkouiia with a snowwhite napkin. 
 
 " I stood still in the middle of the kitchen, not knowing 
 what to do. ' This way, Vania,' said old Menikha, calling 
 me towards the pokoutia, ' cross yourself, and bow three 
 times.' 
 
 " I obeyed mechanically. 
 
 " ' Now follow me,' putting on her boots and cloak. 
 
 " I walked behind her to a haystack, where the old 
 woman looked about for a lump of grass still green. 
 Having made her choice, she cleared a space roimd it, 
 and told me to pull a large sheaf from the middle of 
 the stack. 
 
 " ' Carry this, and follow me,' she said. When we 
 returned to the kitchen, she told me to lay the hay on the 
 pokoutia, and then made me lift the koutia and syrup on 
 the pokoutia alone, place them carefully on the hay, and 
 cover them with two big loaves. I was then sent into 
 the next room to fetch a honeycomb, which she bade me 
 place on the pokoutia. She commanded, and I obeyed. 
 In conclusion, she made me cross myself, bow three times, 
 and then told me I might rejoin my companions. 
 
 " Followed by smiling glances from my mother and 
 solemn smiles from the young men and girls, I walked 
 out, my head bent, my childish imagination filled with 
 mysterious fancies which 1 shall never forget. 
 
 " The evening of the festival arrived ; two long tables 
 were prepared in the kitchen, one before the pokoutia, 
 the other a little farther off. Both were covered with 
 mountains of cakes, glasses, and liquids. The vast room 
 was lit by one candle placed above the table near the 
 pokoutia. 
 
 " My father, dressed in white, stood before the table 
 facing the candle, surrounded by incense which rose like 
 a cloud of glory from the thurible he swung with his left 
 
46 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 hand. We all stood behind him, both the family and 
 servants, in silence. 
 
 " My father crossed himself and said solemnly : 
 
 " ' Lord, protect us ; Lord, protect us ; Lord, protect us, 
 and thou. Holy Virgin, rejoice.' 
 
 "The old man then recited the Our Father, and on saying 
 the words ' Deliver us from evil,' passed the thurible to 
 my mother, and seated himself before the pokoutia. All 
 the assistants crossed themselves and took their seats 
 round the table, the family near the pokoutia, the servants 
 _ at the second table. 
 
 " My father filled a little glass with his favourite 
 hquor, and broke the silence with the solemn words : 
 ' May my son Ivan be happy, may he keep in good 
 health ' : tears rolled down his cheeks, at the sight of 
 which every one in the room, from my mother to old 
 Uncle Mina, a man of bronze, burst into tears. 
 
 " ' May my daughter GaUa be happy, may she keep 
 in good health,' continued my father, still weeping, while 
 my mother, sisters, and all the women sobbed noisily. 
 
 " ' May my servant Petroff be happy, may he keep in 
 good health.' Petroff 's sister, overcome by emotion, 
 left the room. 
 
 " ' The master of the house must then dry his tears, 
 and also, as the head, he must dry the tears of the house- 
 hold.' As though he had just entered the room, and 
 knew nothing of what had passed, my father looked round, 
 and said angrily : ' Who is crying, what need is there 
 to open the floodgates, imbeciles. Stop weeping, stop, 
 I say.' 
 
 " The family began to smile through their tears, and 
 Fedorka re-entered, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. 
 
 " ' WeU,' continued my father, when silence reigned 
 once more, ' may all be happy, may the dead reach God's 
 kingdom, and may we be preserved in good health.' 
 
FESTIVALS 47 
 
 " He drank another little glass, poured libations round 
 him, and dashed the remainder upwards to the ceiling. 
 After the head of the family has drunk, it is the mistress' 
 turn, and so on from the members of the family to the 
 servants, until the youngest baby, and youngest farm 
 girl have at least wet their lips. 
 
 " After the ceremony is finished, all fall to, beginning 
 on the cakes made with poppy seeds, or green peas rolled 
 in honey, then cakes made with roasted chestnuts, and 
 so on imtil the borshtsh or soup made with fish and oil is 
 brought in, after which comes pike, which appears in 
 various shapes and forms, and without which Christmas 
 would be incomplete. 
 
 " The principal dish is of course the koutia, or the 
 Russian plum-pudding. 
 
 " Very little is drunk at the Christmas diimer, and 
 boisterous gaiety is avoided, for the great charm of the. 
 festival Ues in its atmosphere of peaceful joy. 
 
 " The little Russian becomes more gentle and subdued 
 than ever during the Christmas season, and his smile is 
 the sign of the peace reigning round him. 
 
 " The first member of the family who sneezes dming the 
 Christmas diimer receives, according to ancient custom, 
 a present of a calf or sheep, consequently mischievous 
 children provide themselves with pepper, but their father, 
 who is used to these tricks, presents the sneezer with the 
 family cat." 
 
 For the festivals the peasant succeeds in keeping him- 
 self clean. Himself steamed in the stove, and his blouse 
 cleaned with ashes, he goes clean to the church, as 
 clean as he possibly can be. 
 
 In the church the various national costumes of the 
 women can be seen. Nowhere, except in the East, is 
 such a variety of colours possible. Red is predominant. 
 " Very red " (pre-krasnt) is said in Russian instead of 
 
48 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 " very beautiful." A very red man means a very fine 
 man. 
 
 A red blouse with green sleeves, a blue apron tied round 
 the waist with yellow ribbons, a jacket without sleeves, 
 and a head-dress embroidered in gold and silver — ^that is 
 the Russian woman's festal dress. 
 
 The head-dress varies according to position, age, and 
 place. Sometimes one sees a large, round, flat hat like 
 a German soldier's cap, sometimes a French kepi, some- 
 times a stick is carried on the shoulder and a low, broad- 
 brimmed hat is fastened to it, with wide and narrow 
 ribbons. Then many rows of glass beads of infinite 
 variety, colour, and size finish the national dress, which 
 is unfortunately rapidly disappearing. Silk and wool 
 are being replaced by cotton, gold and silver by cheap 
 gimcrack ornaments, and the cosmopolitan dress of the 
 city is replacing the national dress. The villages are 
 getting greyer and more uniformly alike. 
 
 In spite of his religion, however, the Russian even to-day 
 still clings to heathen customs. Into the place of the 
 old heathen gods have stepped saints of the Orthodox 
 Church, but the customs have remained the same, although 
 the people do not know their real meaning. A thousand 
 years of Christianity have not sufficed to blot out the 
 last traces of heathendom and many superstitions occupy 
 the heads of the peasants. They still believe in the 
 House-spirit (Domowoi), the Wood-spirit (Wjeschi), 
 the Water -man (Wodnoi), and the wood-nymphs 
 (russaeki), formerly smaller gods ; but the majority of 
 country festivals are rooted in heathendom, even those 
 in the Calendar of the Greek Church. 
 
 The most celebrated feasts are those which fall in the 
 springtime. Nature has awakened from her long sleep, 
 and the time of rest is over. As the heathen slaves 
 formerly resorted to the grove to offer to the gods of the 
 
FESTIVALS 49 
 
 earth and to beg their blessings on the seed-time, the 
 present country people have feasts and celebrate the 
 returning spring. The principal feast of this kind falls 
 on the seventh Thursday after Easter and takes its name 
 Semik from Semy, meaning the seventh. This is the feast 
 of the village girls. They go to the woods, pick branches 
 of birch, decorate them with wreaths and ribbons and 
 drag them singing through the villages. In some districts 
 they bend the branches to make frames, and through 
 these frames they kiss each other and promise to be 
 friends. This is the feast at which one can read the 
 future ! The young girls carry wreaths they have made 
 and throw them into the brook. If the wreath swim 
 quietly on the water, it means that the girl will be married 
 in a year, but if it sink, she will surely not wear the 
 " cap " that year, or if she does, she will soon be a widow. 
 With beating hearts they go to throw their wreaths into 
 the water, and with anxiety they watch them until they 
 have disappeared. In some districts, if the wreath sinks 
 it means that the girl will die in the year. In another 
 district the wreath is not thrown into the water, but hung 
 upon a tree, and the girl often comes to see if her wreath 
 be still hanging. If it is not there, it is a very bad sign ; 
 the girl will not marry in the year, or, sometimes, will die. 
 In old times the Semik was the feast of a wood-god. It is 
 celebrated at the coming of the first leaves and it is 
 celebrated by those who are most in the wood during the 
 year, namely the girls. While men and women work in 
 the fields the girls pass whole days in the woods, picking 
 berries and mushrooms or making wreaths. The forest 
 and its ruler, the wood-spirit, have quite a meaning for 
 the villager, and the wreaths which they hang on the trees 
 are offerings which at one time their heathen sisters 
 brought to the wood-god. The Semik is celebrated 
 throughout Russia even in the extreme north. 
 4 
 
50 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 Another great festival in Russia is St George's Day, 
 Jerjew Den, which is celebrated twice in the year, in 
 spring (April 23) and in autumn (November 26). The 
 cattle are driven out into the meadows on April 23, when 
 sowing begins, and every one prays to St George, the 
 patron of flocks and agriculture. 
 
 St George, who lived at the end of the third century, 
 is the patron of herds and flocks and of agriculture 
 in nearly all Christian countries, but in Russia St 
 George's Day is the feast day of the shepherds. 
 Without his consent the wolf cannot steal a lamb, 
 therefore if he take one, assuredly the shepherd must 
 have displeased St George. So the peasants say : " The 
 wolf carries in his teeth what St George has given 
 him." 
 
 The customs on this day vary very much. When the 
 priest has sprinkled the herds with holy water, they are 
 driven to pasture with consecrated birch sticks. The 
 shepherd has eggs and milk and prepares a pancake for 
 himself. A procession round the herds is made in some 
 places with the icon. In Olonetz, where the snow lies 
 very deep, the flocks are not taken to pasture on the 23rd, 
 but young people go from house to house with bells, ring 
 them before windows, and make a collection. Young men 
 and girls dance, and the dew on St George's Day gives 
 them power and strength. The stables are sprinkled 
 with holy water and incensed to keep away evil spirits 
 who cannot endure the smell of it. The evil spirits are 
 not idle on St George's Day. In the Ukraine, or Little 
 Russia, the El Dorado of Russian witches, where there are 
 more of them than in any other part of the world, the 
 witches gather the dew in drops, and hang them on the 
 horns of the cattle, who immediately get thin and give 
 no milk. 
 
 St George, who in his lifetime had to fight with all 
 
FESTIVALS 51 
 
 sorts of monsters, is the enemy of all bad spirits. He 
 pursues the devil without ceasing, with thunder and 
 lightning, as soon as he sees him. The devil flees before 
 him and takes a human form, then becomes a four-legged 
 animal or a bird, but rest he finds none until he comes 
 across a man thinking of evil things, and straightway he 
 enters there. That is why one must try to think only of 
 God during a thunderstorm. 
 
 Till the sixteenth century in Russia they beheved, as is 
 mentioned by Herodotus, that men who die on St George's 
 Day in the autmnn, wake up on St George's Day in the 
 spring, and live in the sea. These people were trading, 
 and brought all their goods to one place before their death, 
 and their neighbours can fetch what goods they want 
 during the winter and pay for it in the spring. 
 
 One day in Easter Week the pope, or priest, goes from 
 house to house with the icon, stands the picture against 
 the door, and prays ; then he is fed and receives a present. 
 The presents are arrapged in each village according to 
 precedent ; generally he gets about 10 to 15 copecks, 
 some cakes, and bread. There is afterwards a service in 
 the church, when the priest blesses two peasants chosen 
 to begin the work in the fields. 
 
 On all days dedicated to the Redeemer, things from 
 the fields are brought to the church to be blessed ; there 
 is a procession on August ist, and all horses are driven 
 up to be sprinkled with holy water. Is there a river in the 
 village, the priest blesses it and the horses are driven into 
 it. Bee-keepers bring the first cells of honey to church to 
 be blessed, and that is why August ist is called " Honey 
 Day." On the feast of the Transfiguration, August 6th, 
 apples are taken into the church to be blessed, and apples 
 are tasted that day. It is held a sin to eat appjes before 
 August 6th. 
 
 Christmas here, as everywhere, is the children's feast. 
 
FESTIVALS 53 
 
 it takes place before Easter. All the peasants try to get 
 strong after the long fast. The festival lasts a week, one 
 meal is taken after another, and people go here and there, 
 and everjTwhere food is on the table. An ice-hill is made 
 in the village ; the young people play games and act. 
 Masked figures run through the village, and are treated 
 as their costumes find favour or not in the sight of the 
 lookers-on. On the last day of the feast Prince Carnival 
 says good-bye. Ten horses, harnessed in single file, draw 
 an especially high cart ; a drunken man with a pitcher 
 of beer and bottle of wine, sits on it holding a huge 
 goblet in one hand. In front of him is a table covered 
 with food which he seems to enjoy ; in spite of entreaties 
 to remain a little longer he leaves the village and hospit- 
 ality is at an end. The young men burn the Maslenitza. 
 Great bundles of straw and barrels rubbed with tar are 
 set on fire, and there is a display of primitive fireworks. 
 
 Fasting begins at midnight, and oil takes the place of 
 butter. 
 
 The Butter Week is not kept so noisily in the town as 
 in the country, but even the townspeople will not let 
 themselves be robbed of this pleasure. The Maslenitza 
 is the universal f^ast. Who can coimt the names by 
 which it is called ? It is the Niece of the Semik, the Spring 
 feast, the Honomr-week the "happy," the "broad-week," 
 the sister of thirty brothers and the grandchild of forty 
 grandmothers, the daughter of three mothers, a " paper 
 body " with a " sugar mouth," and so on. Each day of 
 the Butter Week has its own name. The Welcome 
 {Wstrjetsha) is Monday ; Tuesday is called " Play Day " 
 (Saigry skhi) ; Wednesday, "Sweet month" {Lakomka) ; 
 Thursday, the Broad (Shiroky) ; Friday " the Stepmother" ; 
 Saturday, the " Sister in-law's company " (Solowkinnz 
 hossidjelke); Sunday, "Farewell Day" (Proshtshalny den). 
 All these days point to the fact that the Butter Week is 
 
54 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 a festival of great happiness after the long weary days 
 of winter, when they catch the first glimpse of coming 
 spring. There is no reading of the future in Butter Week ; 
 the Russian wishes purely to amuse himself. In St 
 Petersburg the festival has been cut down to its narrowest 
 limits in order not to interfere with the work of a great 
 city, but the noise is just as great. The Admiralty 
 Square was set apart for the people a few years ago. 
 Booths stood everywhere, but these have already been 
 ordered elsewhere, to the Field of Mars near the summer 
 garden which, because of its extent, is better fitted for 
 the people's pleasure. 
 
 The Field of Mars is changed into a city of booths. 
 Shows of all sorts, swings, panoramas, giants and giant- 
 esses, animals, and so on, and the criers who stand in the 
 galleries describe their shows in even more varied language. 
 The panorama of the burning of Paris has wandered to 
 the banks of the Neva in its long pilgrimage, and the 
 crier says, " Here you see the city of Paris burning ; who 
 wishes can be burnt at the same time. Come in, come in, 
 the fire is at its height just now ! " And while he is 
 recovering his breath, a voice calls from somewhere else, 
 " The great General SkobelefE stands in the thickest of 
 the battle; around him lie mountains of slain, among 
 whom our soldier-heroes. A cannon ball takes off a head, 
 two feet, two hands — ^but what does our hero mind, he 
 smokes on ! " 
 
 So it goes on, one trying to outdo the other. When the 
 harmless fun no longer draws, the language gets stronger 
 and stronger, and the public like it. The Stariki (Elders) 
 are favourite figures, as they invite the public to enter 
 the tilting-ring. Year in year out the same funny speeches 
 are used but the students and moujiks find them always 
 new. If the old man loses the thread of what he is saying, 
 he points to one of his best listeners and says, " That 
 
FESTIVALS 55 
 
 red-beard was the cause." The audience laugh and 
 move away, and the starik begins his story again. 
 
 A starik, in Butter Week, does not earn more than 
 fifteen roubles, and that with crying himself hoarse. The 
 dancers, perhaps, make 50 during the week, most of the 
 others from 5 to 10 only. The starik is an attraction, 
 and entices people to enter the shows ; but no pleasure 
 costs more than a few copecks. Swings and switchbacks 
 are the great attraction. The man of the people loves a 
 swing, he can swing himself for hours together without 
 tiring of the motion. The ice mountains are arranged 
 with a wooden staircase leading to the summit, about 
 50 feet, and there the journey begins. Moujiks stand at 
 the foot of the staircase and offer their services and a 
 little sledge ; the passenger sits behind the moujik, then 
 the man in charge at the top gives the sledge a push and 
 down it rushes along the smooth surface. The habitues 
 do not require the moujik, who steers the sledge and 
 prevents it from running into others. Many a red beard 
 can guide his lady, amid cries of pleasure, to the finish, 
 where tea or vodka is hurriedly swallowed, and the whole 
 affair begins over again. 
 
 The air makes them want food, so they go to the booth 
 where food is sold, and buy bliny and cream cakes made 
 of butter and flour, and nuts which every one old and 
 young cracks with glee. The day has to be finished with 
 drink. It would not be according to tradition if it did not 
 finish in that way. The Russian pays for his sobriety in 
 this manner. The man of the people in Russia does not 
 go every evening to the public-house like his English, 
 French, or German brothers do, only on Sundays does he 
 go to the kabak, but then he must be noisy. This is an old, 
 old custom, dating from the time of Ivan Wassilevitsh III., 
 in whose reign the kabaks were opened only on Sundays, 
 so there was no opportunity to get drink during the week. 
 
56 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 The custom of making guests drink too much is not to 
 be rooted out of the Russian character, and the apostle 
 of temperance will never get a hearing as long as the 
 Russian thinks he cannot celebrate any feast without 
 drink. Many druiikards go back home reeling from the 
 Field of Mars at the conclusion of the Butter Week. When 
 the drink goes to his head, the Russian gets uncommonly 
 merry, he sings and kisses everybody who comes in his 
 way, calling him endearing names like golooUshik ; he goes 
 with half-a-dozen just like himself, arms round each other's 
 necks, singing and swinging along until the spirit of alcohol 
 at last brings the noisy company to sUence. 
 
 In Finland the monotony of life is only disturbed by 
 two feasts — the Harvest and St John's Day. Even at 
 the Harvest Festival the excitement is little compared to 
 what goes on in other parts of the country. The Finn can 
 bear a great deal without complaining, as his history 
 shows ; he is a silent man, and sad as the land he inhabits. 
 The harvest is not often a cause of rejoicing in Finland. 
 Here are no wagons laden with com. On the hill slopes, 
 where the seed is sheltered from the spring frosts, is a 
 piece of land which the Finn has acquired, by burning the 
 forest, and the stalks grow up between charred clumps 
 of trees and jutting rocks. No one who did not under- 
 stand would dream of calling it a cornfield. In the early 
 days the crops were very bad, and from year to year the 
 ears grew fewer, until it became not worth while to dress 
 the land, and a new piece of forest was burnt down to start 
 a new field of com. The harvest is cut with sickles ; all 
 the village turns out, and when the work is done, singing 
 and dancing after the feast. Old and young dance to the 
 notes of a violin by candle-light. The yoimg man who 
 wants to dance, looks at the girls and beckons one to join 
 him. When he is tired, the partner is left standing, for 
 in Finland they do not make compliments. Woman is 
 
FESTIVALS 57 
 
 the equal of man, and enjoys, more than in any other 
 country except perhaps some of the United States, equal 
 rights. But one cannot have both equal rights, political 
 emancipation, and all the little dompliments paid by 
 chivalrous man to submissive woman. Sapienti sat. 
 Drink is served, brandy to the men, and to the women 
 so-called coffee but it is made entirely of chicory, and 
 the colour is indefinite. 
 
 St John's Day is more gaily kept. The previous day is 
 called the black day, and the evening is spent in super- 
 stitious practices. Little flames proclaim where treasure 
 is hidden, but only that man can see these flames who is 
 on the roof of a house which has been moved three times. 
 This is the reason why so many of the smaller buildings 
 are moved. Great care must be taken not to swear when 
 digging for treasure, for nothing offends the powers of the 
 underworld as much as swearing. Once upon a time a 
 man had dug up part of a treasure ; it was getting very 
 heavy, so he swore just a little oath, then the treasure 
 disappeared and was never seen again. Great fires are 
 made, and casks smeared with tar are lit and sent rolUng 
 down the hills, and all the people come along singing 
 down the hills behind them. They keep awake all night, 
 and tell stories and sing and dance and play. The next 
 day is also a feast day, and sometimes the house is made 
 clean and the table laid and the family go out of doors, 
 so that the domowoi (house spirit) may be unhindered 
 in his movements. Strangers are recommended to go 
 to the clergy house on these occasions, especially in 
 villages, because every one is out making merry. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 UNFORTUNATELY these graceful customs have 
 not survived alone, the moujik has also inherited 
 barbarous superstitions which he would do well 
 to get rid of. The beUef in unlucky days, when it would 
 be a sin to work, is deep-rooted and a serious obstacle to 
 business. The work in the fields is regulated by saints' 
 days ; the moujik consults the almanac and not the 
 climate or the soil, either for sowing, reaping, or mowing 
 the grass or hay. 
 
 A beUef in witchcraft is no less strong in him. Some- 
 times the role of wizard is played by an inteUigent and 
 cunning old man, but more often the game is in the hands 
 of wicked, silent, old women. The moujik treats these 
 people with the deepest respect, but inwardly hates and 
 fears them. Frequent cases of alleged bewitchment give 
 rise to savage scenes. 
 
 The moujik believes firmly in the znakhar (he who 
 knows all), and will consult him in preference to a 
 doctor, although he is a vulgar charlatan, who cures 
 with charms, spells, and incantations. He even invites 
 his credulous clients to whisper their trouble to the 
 river, who will carry it away without betraying their 
 confidence. 
 
 It times of epidemic, such as of cholera or typhoid 
 fever, the widows and young girls of a village, after a 
 secret conference, assemble late at night at the far end of 
 the village dressed only in chemise and waistbelt and 
 with hair hanging loose. They take with them a plough. 
 
SUPERSTITIONS 59 
 
 The idea is to plough the earth round the village to prevent 
 infection. 
 
 The procession is opened by a young girl bearing an 
 icon, surmounted by a candle ; she is followed by another 
 harnessed to a plough, which other women push behind 
 to help her. A third girl follows, cracking a whip without 
 ceasing — this is to drive away the epidemic, personated 
 by the devil. 
 
 All are armed with pokers, brooms, and sticks. They 
 chant prayers in loud tones, and lower their voices in 
 passing an isba, so as not to be heard. Woe to the curious 
 who would assist at this spectacle ; if he is discovered he 
 runs the risk of being torn to pieces. Usually the widows 
 and girls preserve the profoundest secrecy as to the hour 
 and day of the procession. 
 
 The last epidemic of cholera in Great Russia and the 
 famine which followed, gave rise to the following legend, 
 which is not lacking in poetry and shows the simplicity 
 and creative imagination of the moujik. 
 
 According to Russian peasants the drought and 
 famine in 1891 were the work of a witch. 
 
 During that year this daughter of the devil mounted 
 on a bow was seen to descend on the village, and pluck 
 five feathers from the tail of every cock. That is why 
 during the summers of 1891 and 1892 the cries of these 
 interesting fowls were heard nightly. 
 
 Cocks perched on a harrow were the only ones to escape 
 this ordeal, as the teeth of this instrument form a cross 
 and the witch dared not approach. 
 
 The witch made the feathers into a big broom, and 
 flying furiously through the skies, swept away all the 
 clouds and prevented rain from falling. 
 
 One day, however, feeling her last hour approach, she 
 desired to humiliate herself before God, and ask pardon 
 for the evil she had done mankind. After her confession 
 
6o HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 the church shook to its foundations and the priest said, 
 " No, I cannot absolve you, you are not worthy to receive 
 the Blessed Sacrament." 
 
 The witch therefore died without absolution, and her 
 body was dragged with iron hooks and thrown into a 
 cesspool. 
 
 After her death rain again began to fall, but it was too 
 late. 
 
 Although there is no further reason to fear cholera and 
 famine since the witch is dead, yet the moujik is not re- 
 asssured ; he is persuaded that Russians wiU soon have to 
 fight against some foreign sovereign who by means of his 
 agents spreads the cholera throughout Russia. 
 
 The idea that an abundant year is followed by a bloody 
 war is imprinted in the moujik's mind, as shown in the 
 legend of the three cocks. 
 
 One night, in the district of Novosilsk, the sacristan, 
 making his rounds when cocks were crowing in the village, 
 heard another cock crow in the church itself ; the crowing 
 was repeated three times in the night. The sacristan 
 was surprised to see a cock in church, but attached no 
 importance to it. The next day as the same thing 
 happened, he ran to the pope and laid the matter before 
 him ; they both returned to the church and were witnesses 
 . of the apparition. 
 
 Next day the pope assembled the faithful and related 
 the adventure, and said, " Which of you, my sons, would 
 be willing to pass a night in the church, to learn the 
 meaning of this extraordinary crowing ? " 
 
 After a long pause a young boy of the village consented 
 to do so. 
 
 He was shut up that very night in the sacred building, 
 where he sat down to read the Gospels. AU went well 
 until the cocks began to crow in the village. The door of 
 the sanctuary then opened and a white cock appeared on 
 
SUPERSTITIONS 6i 
 
 the altar, crowed, and disappeared again into the 
 sanctuary. The next time the village cocks crowed a 
 scarlet cock came out in the same way, and on the third 
 occasion a black cock appeared and crowed. Alter this 
 a monk dressed in black came up to the child and inquired 
 whether he had understood the cocks' prediction. 
 
 " No, I understood nothing," said the child. 
 
 " Listen, I will explain. The white cock signifies that 
 next year the harvest will be more abundant than it has 
 ever been before ; the scarlet cock predicts a bloody war ; 
 and the black cock stands for death, coffins, and tombs 
 in such numbers that none will remain to eat bread." 
 
 Thus, in our own time the Russian believes in legends 
 which would rejoice the heart of a poet, and provide a 
 plot for a Wagnerian opera. 
 
 Animals play a prominent part in the omens dear to 
 the Great Russians. Swallows and pigeons are great 
 favourites ; the moujik, like most peasants of all nations, 
 is persuaded that God blesses the roof where swallows 
 build their nests, and the house where the largest number 
 of pigeons take refuge. 
 
 The crow, on the contrary, is hated ; his cry is a bad 
 omen, and if he perches on the cross of the church to 
 croak, there will be a death in the village without fail. 
 The first song of the nightingale is the surest sign that 
 the time has come to plough ; but if he sings while the 
 trees are still bare, it is a sign of a bad harvest. If the 
 larks are long in returning, hens will lay well. 
 
 The moujiks put the flowers they have worn during 
 the mass on Whit-Sunday in their mills. Mice regulate 
 the tariff for wheat. If they begin their ravages on the 
 stores by the top, bread will be dear all the year ; if they 
 begin at the bottom, it will be cheap, and if in the middle, 
 it will be middling. 
 
 The people of Little Russia, too, just as those of Great 
 
62 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 Russia, believe firmly in legends, in good and bad genii, 
 in fairy tales full of grace and charm. 
 
 The house fairies, domovoi, live in the khata ; no harm 
 must be done them, and as twilight falls it is wiser not to 
 mention them. When an evil domovoi takes a dislike to 
 some member of the family he makes his life a biurden, 
 he wanders about the attics at night, wakes up the children, 
 or seizes people by the throat. 
 
 The domovoi is hairy, enjoys appearing in human form, 
 and especially in the guise of a sweep. When the domovoi 
 is good, if he loves the master of the house and his children, 
 he is invaluable ; he feeds and takes care of the horses, 
 protects the daughter of the house and finds suitors for 
 her, and sees that the head of the family makes plenty of 
 money. 
 
 The legend of the roussalki is one of the most poetical. 
 The roussalki are beautiful water-nymphs, who appear 
 by moonlight in rivers, lakes, and streams. They walk 
 about naked, decked with crowns of leaves and flowers, 
 or sit on the grass and comb their long tresses, chanting 
 the while in chorus. 
 
 They hide behind trees and wait for the young girls 
 who come at da^vn to fill their pitchers at the streams. 
 Woe betide the peasant girl who has forgotten to provide 
 herself with the flower of the wormwood as a shield from 
 their wickedness. 
 
 " Have you wormwood or parsley ? " cries the rous- 
 salka as the girl appears. 
 
 If she replies that she carries wormwood the roussalka 
 runs away, but if she has the misfortune to answer parsley, 
 the roussalka tickles her until death supervenes. 
 
 Some believe that the roussalki live at the bottom of 
 rivers, in nests made of straw and feathers stolen from 
 the village ; but others say that their aquatic palaces 
 contain treasures of silver, gold, emd pearls, and that the 
 
SUPERSTITIONS 63 
 
 rivers that shelter them pour cascades of emeralds on to 
 their palaces of crystal. 
 
 The roussalki are wonderfully beautiful ; their long 
 tresses fall below the knee ; they are sylph-like in form, 
 and though pale their pallor does not detract from the 
 exquisite charm of their features. At Whitsuntide the 
 roussalki adjourn to the forest and indulge in the 
 maddest frolics ; they swing on the branches, sing, 
 dance, and roll about in the long grass. When the 
 festival is over they come to the banks of the river to 
 do penance. 
 
 The roussalki are neither fairies nor witches, but the 
 souls of little children who have died unbaptized. Many 
 a Little Russian will tell you how he has heard the 
 roussalki singing, " My mother brought me into the 
 world, but she forgot to baptize me." A good Christian 
 should answer, " I baptize you, Ivan and Mary, in the 
 name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ..." The 
 child soul then ascends to heavpn. 
 
 But if seven years pass before the prayer of a dead child 
 is . heard, the soul is changed into a roussalka. The 
 drowned are also changed into roussalki, and may be 
 distinguished by their long green hair, continuously 
 streaming with water. 
 
 Any peasant of the Dnieper who has bathed near the 
 mill, will tell you how he has seen the roussalki sitting 
 on the wheels, and plunging into the water with laughing 
 cries of " Cuckoo-cuckoo." 
 
 Then there is the vedma (witch), who has a long tail, 
 wears a chemise touching the ground, and her hair hanging 
 loose. 
 
 The vedmi amuse themselves by milking the cows until 
 they draw blood ; they change themselves into cats and 
 sparrows, or appear in various fantastic forms. On the 
 eve of St John they hold a rendezvous ; they leave the 
 
64 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 khati by the chimneys, and ride through the air on broom- 
 sticks to take part in their Sabbath. 
 
 The moujik of Little Russia is no doubt imacquainted 
 with Darwin, yet he firmly believes that bears were 
 formerly savage hermits, who offered hospitality to none 
 and would know no one. They lived in the forests. One 
 night a monk came to their huts and went from one to 
 the other asking shelter, but not one would open to him. 
 He laid his curse on them, and they were changed into 
 bears. Even to this day the native of Little Russia be- 
 lieves that the man in the moon is none other than Cain. 
 
 Swallows are held in great affection. No one in Little 
 Russia would destroy their nests ; they have won the 
 gratitude of man by carrying away the nails which the 
 Jews were about to use in the Crucifixion of Christ. 
 
 Anyone finding the bright red flower of the fern which 
 opens at midnight of the 23rd of June, will obtain the 
 gift of clairvoyance ; no treasure will be hid from him. 
 
 There are two kinds of treasure : one is accursed, the 
 other harmless. The place where the accursed is hidden 
 may be easily distinguished by the flame which bums over 
 it. Treasures sometimes take the form of an old man, a 
 dog, or a cock. You have but to push the old man, or 
 kick the dog, and they crumble away into bars of gold. 
 The question is how may they be recognized. The safest 
 way is to provide oneself with the fern flower. To procure 
 this, one must go alone into the forest at night, which 
 needs courage, as the vedmi and roussalki are in waiting 
 and will surround the adventurer, uttering wild cries, 
 hurling trees on the top of him, and though the sky is 
 clear, lightning will flash and the thunder roll. Few 
 there are who go in search of the fern flower. 
 
 This belief in wizards and witches is very far spread 
 over Russia ; they are supposed to be capable of bewitch- 
 ing the cattle as well as men, with the help of the evil 
 
SUPERSTITIONS 65 
 
 being, and to bring all illnesses upon them, so the peasants, 
 looking upon the witches as the cause of all illnesses, 
 naturally turn to them to heal them and their cattle. 
 All epileptic attacks are said to be due to the agency of 
 the devil. Any one suffering from cramp is said to be 
 possessed by the Evil Spirit, and the peasant makes the 
 sign of the cross over him, and people " possessed " are 
 often found in the villages and are mostly women. 
 Imbeciles are also frequent, and the people look upon 
 them with superstition. The Ourodjiwy, as such are 
 called, are gifted with second sight, and their wandering 
 speech is accepted as prophecy. 
 
 And the belief that one can search the future runs like 
 a red thread through the life of the Russian peasant. 
 The girls (at the Semik), who ask what fate has in store 
 for them by throwing their wreaths into the stream, go 
 on throughout the year asking similar questions. New 
 Year's Eve is one of the best nights to seek to know the 
 future. If a pig has been slaughtered during the holidays, 
 the tail is carefully kept, and on New Year's Eve every one 
 has a small piece of it. Then they sit round in a circle, 
 put the piece of pig-tail on a sharp piece of wood, and stick 
 it in the floor in front of them. Then the dog is allowed 
 to come into the room, and the person whose piece is 
 first devoured by the dog will be married in the course of 
 the year. Girls also try to know the future in the following 
 way. Four dishes are placed on the table. A piece of 
 coal is placed on the first, a piece of wood on the second, 
 ashes on the third, and a ring on the fourth ; the girls 
 choose blindfolded, and the future will be according to 
 the object they draw. The coal means moxuning and 
 sorrow ; the wood, an old man ; ash, approaching death ; 
 the ring, marriage and joy. The girls also go to the cross- 
 roads to read their future. They take a cow skin, a loaf 
 of bread and a table-cloth, and usually some old woman 
 5 
 
66 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 who is reported to have had experience in these matters 
 goes with them. At the cross-roads the girls spread out 
 the cow-skin, lay the bread upon it, then sit round it, 
 covering their faces with the table-cloth. The old woman 
 draws a citcle round them with the bread-knife, and all 
 listen intently for the slightest sound. One hears perhaps 
 the bells of some returning cart, and concludes that she 
 will soon be married, for bells mean a wedding. 
 
 St Cosmo and St Damian are saints whose feast, Nov- 
 ember I, is celebrated by women. The girls save up the 
 whole year for the visits of their friends. A cock and a 
 hen are kiUed in every house as an offering to the saints 
 of the day, and these are procured in the spring. When 
 the hens are sitting, the mother goes from house to house, 
 and after saying a prayer, she asks for a little cock and a 
 little hen. Thereupon she gets two eggs, which she takes 
 without saying thank you, and goes away ; when she 
 has got so many eggs that she cannot carry them in her 
 clothes, she goes home. In the evening, after sunset, she 
 sits with the eggs in a cap on her lap, and prays to the 
 two saints, and swears to have a cock and hen killed for 
 their feast if real good chickens come out of the eggs. 
 Thereupon the eggs are placed under a broody hen. 
 
 Most superstitions in Russia, as perhaps all over the 
 world, are found among the women. Men laugh about 
 them and make fun of them if they take money to a 
 " witch " or a " wizard " (snakhar) to ask advice. The 
 housewife, however, can hardly do anything without this 
 advice ; if something disappears, is stolen, or lost, she 
 goes to the snakhar, so that for a fee he may tell her 
 who is the thief, but he, as is the fashion of oracles, never 
 gives a clear answer, but rather in a Pythian manner. 
 " Your knife has been stolen by somebody, in whom you 
 have an enemy ! " The snakhar of Christian Russia 
 evidently imitates his prototypes and confreres of ancient 
 
SUPERSTITIONS 67 
 
 pagan Hellas. When illness breaks out, there is much 
 superstition. Instead of going to some doctor the 
 snakhar is sent for, and only when his spells have had 
 no success, and the invalid is worse, do they hasten to 
 the doctor, and then it is generally too late. 
 
 Though the men laugh at the women yet they are 
 not free from superstition themselves, tout'^comme chez 
 nous. For nothing in the world would a peasant work 
 in the fields during Easter Week ! For it is well known that 
 wheat sown at Easter will not germinate. Then again, 
 cabbages to be any good must be planted on Maundy 
 Thursday. On certain days the peasant will break the 
 ice to bathe because bathing on those days keeps you 
 healthy all the year round. And then again at Epiphany, 
 when the cross is dipped into the water, they undress and 
 throw themselves in, and then hurry home with a cask 
 of water and warm themselves at the stove. The " Jordan " 
 water must be taken care of and is a remedy against all 
 illnesses, and if placed in the fields keeps away hailstorms. 
 At the first sound of thunder every one bathes, and he 
 who will not go to the river or the stream at least washes 
 at home. Pouring water from a milk-pail in which 
 there is an egg, through a wedding-ring, signifies that 
 he who washes remains healthy, and the cow gives much 
 milk, and the hens lay many eggs. Peas are sown in 
 those fields which lie near the road, so that passers-by 
 may pick the young pods if they please, for God pays 
 those a thousand-fold who help the poor wanderer. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 MARRIAGE CEREMONIES 
 
 WE must not forget the feasts which are part 
 and parcel, as it were, of each man's hfe. The 
 wedding feast for example. The marriage 
 agent arranges a day on which the bride's mother can 
 receive the swat (bridegroom) and his people. They 
 come on the appointed day and pray the mother to show 
 them the bride, who enters the isba dressed in her best, 
 bows herself humbly before her future parents-in-law, and 
 retires. This visit is called gladjanky (the sight of the 
 bride). Then the bridegroom's parents invite the bride 
 and her people to look at their farm [fodvorja smotrdt), 
 when the rooms and farm buildings are shown to her, so 
 that she can see if she is coming to a well-managed house. 
 Much is often borrowed from the neighbours to make it 
 seem better than it really is. The bridegroom's father 
 then brings the bride's family salt, bread, and vodka. 
 All the friends of the bride enter the isha, candles are 
 lighted, then a prayer is said, and the dowry is arranged. 
 A return visit is made, and the matter is settled. After 
 the exchange of bread, nothing can be altered ; anyone 
 doing this runs the risk of misfortune aU his life ! 
 
 In some districts the bridegroom gives the bride money, 
 about seven roubles. In others the parents shake hands, 
 and a cake is broken into two pieces to signify that in 
 the marriage unity must exist and each must bear his share 
 of the burden ! 
 
 The bride weeps and wails and asks her parents what 
 she has done to be sent away from home ; this dates from 
 
 68 
 
MARRIAGE CEREMONIES (^g j 
 
 the time when the bride was taken by force, against her 
 will. 
 
 On the wedding-day the bridegroom comes with his 
 parents and relations and guests to the village. The 
 inhabitants not invited wait for them at the entrance to 
 the village, and stretch a rope across the road and receive 
 a present of money, from three to ten roubles, from the 
 bridegroom's father, for opening the road. Then the 
 bridegroom gives the young men and women money for 
 tea, and the boys and girls get money to buy cakes. If 
 the present be too small in the eyes of the receivers, all 
 sorts of tricks are played, and they unscrew the wheels 
 of the carriage. In the district of Jaroslav, and some 
 others also, two tables are made ready, the " sweet table " 
 and the "betrothal table." The "sweet table" is 
 reserved for the relatives, and the bride and bridegroom 
 do not sit there. And later on when the proper meal 
 begins at the betrothal table, the bride and bridegroom 
 remain spectators. Bread and knives, spoons and forks, 
 are put in their places, but tradition demands that they 
 let all food pass by them, neither do they drink. They 
 are treated with great honour. At the head of the table 
 is a bench covered with white on which money is placed 
 as a sign that they may never want money. The god- 
 father of the bride leads them to the seat of honour and 
 invites them to take it. On the table stands a wooden 
 candlestick called krasoid (beauty) with candles, deco- 
 rated with ribbons and coloured paper. Then comes 
 the presentation of gifts, and the bridegroom is kissed 
 three times by the bride for every present ! Then the 
 meal begins. If the bride's parents are poor, the bride- 
 groom gives them some roubles for the food, In some 
 districts this is done in any case, the sum sometimes 
 reaching fifty roubles. The young people sing appro- 
 priate songs while the meal continues, and one of the 
 
70 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 singers approaches one of the guests at the end of each 
 song, holding a plate in which the guest places a coin. 
 When the meal is over tea is handed to the bride and 
 bridegroom, which is taken in another room if there i^ 
 one. At the end of the first day's feast, the bride parts 
 with her future relations in tears, which the bridegroom 
 dries with a small present. 
 
 The next day all the relations go to the church. The 
 swacha (marriage agent) is also there. It is her duty 
 to place unnoticed a wooden spoon at their feet when the 
 priest is leading them round the pulpit. If the bridal 
 pair tread on this, they free themselves from all sickness 
 and evil. The ceremony finished, all return to the bride's 
 house and vodka is handed to them. The bride and 
 bridegroom sit side by side on a bench, a cloth is held 
 between them so that they cannot see each other, and 
 behind this improvised wall the bride's women plait 
 her hair and put on the proper head-dress. The tqilet 
 ended, a looking-glass is brought, and the bride and 
 bridegroom must look at themselves at the same time. 
 
 Then the carriages or sledges are mounted, and they go 
 as quickly as horses can carry them to their new home. 
 If the bridegroom is a favourite in his village, they are 
 received with pistol shots, and the houses are decorated 
 with evergreens ; a triumphal archils erected and decorated 
 with flags, and the young men accompany the wedding pro- 
 cession. The bridegroom's father and mother are waiting 
 at the door with bread and salt, and the icon for the 
 newly married people. They bow before the icon, kiss 
 the parents, and receive a present of a piece of cloth and a 
 rouble. The bride's godfather leads the bridal pair to the 
 table, and they sit down. All those present approach 
 and drink a glass to the health of the newly married, kiss 
 them, and place a piece of money on a plate. After each 
 kiss the fiances kiss each other three times. Then they 
 
MARRIAGE CEREMONIES 71 
 
 are conducted to another room, where the meal is prepared, 
 which they partake of, while the wedding guests remain 
 in the first room and eat there. There is then a pause of 
 several hours, and the guests either go into the fresh air 
 or sleep off their drink. Then they come to tea, and the 
 bride and bridegroom fall to with a right good will. The 
 table at which this meal takes place is called the " Prince's 
 table," because the bridegroom takes the chief seat. 
 The wedding celebration finishes with the tea, but there 
 is still another small celebration the next day. To put 
 the young bride to the test, all sorts of tricks are tried on 
 her. They stop her way, she seizes the broom and sweeps 
 a clear passage to the table. The relatives throw small 
 coins on the floor, these she deftly picks up and hides. 
 They hinder her carrying wood ; she places it on the 
 bench, by the door. The bridegroom is held responsible 
 for her want of skiU, and is punished at once and in the 
 street for it. A bench is carried in front of the house, 
 the marriage agent (swacha) is laid upon it, and well 
 beaten with belts and sticks. Then the bridegroom 
 comes between them, and begs pardon for the guilty one, 
 whom he ransoms with glasses of vodka. The guests 
 return to the house, take their leave, and go home. 
 
 In some districts it is the custom for the bride, the day 
 before the wedding, to go to church to assist at a 
 molebna (thanksgiving), or if she be an orphan then at 
 a panichida, a Mass for the souls of her deceased parents. 
 After the Mass, she throws herself at the priest's feet, 
 asking his blessing, and then visits the cemetery where 
 her parents lie buried. A woman, generally the godmother, 
 accompanies her and consoles her; she really does not 
 require consoling because as soon as the visit is over she 
 is as gay as possible and full of joy at the coming wedding. 
 
 Life in the country offers inSSy changes of enjojmient 
 and pleasure. All work stops for the holidays, of which 
 
72 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 there are too many. A whole week's idleness, as the 
 " Butter Week," is not any inducement to the lazy man 
 to work. And the Russian clings to tradition, and any 
 attempt to curtail his holidays will draw forth aU his 
 obstinate resistance. 
 
 The yearly Trifua (celebration of the dead), which 
 takes place at the cemeteries, also dating from heathen 
 times, has not been driven out by Christianity. To eat 
 and drink on the graves of ancestors — to drink without 
 moderation — is a very unpleasant custom. It would 
 seem a veritable desecration to many of us. But in 
 Russia no one is offended if the peace of the grave- 
 yard on this day is disturbed by the noise of orgies, 
 and in the evening one sees people who are no 
 longer capable of walking home stretched out on the 
 damp grass. 
 
 Puschkin says that " Habit is a despot," and a greater 
 de§^ot in Russia than anj^where else. ^ 
 f K?, for the peasants of Great Russia, their marriage 
 ceremonies, as most of their customs, still show evident 
 traces of ancient times. The only concession to the spirit 
 of modern emancipation which the moujik has made is 
 in allowing the young man to express his preference in 
 jchposing a bride. As to the girl, she is compelled even 
 in our times to submit blindly to her parents, disguising 
 even the suspicion that it might be possible for her to 
 haxe formed an opinion in so delicate a matter. 
 
 When the moujik has decided that the time has come 
 for his son to marry, and if the latter has shown no pre- 
 ference for any particular lady, his father allows him to 
 choose a bride from among a certain number of peasant 
 girls selected by his parents. When the choice is made, 
 the father and mother depute a professional matchmaker, 
 or more often an aged aunt, to wait upon the parents of 
 the suggested bride to treat with them, for marriage is 
 
MARRIAGE CEREMONIES (^J 
 
 not only an affair de cceur but a matter of business with 
 the Russian peasant. 
 
 The aged relative decks herself in her best clothes and 
 goes to the isba of the lady. In asking the girl's hand in 
 marriage she employs allegorical terms, which are never- 
 theless quite clear to the initiated. 
 
 Thus in addressing the girl's mother she will say : 
 " No snow had fallen, and no footsteps could be traced, 
 yet snow has fallen, and we may trace footsteps in the 
 direction of the affianced bride ! " 
 
 Or : "A white dove escaped from our house, has it not 
 come to you ? " When the girl's parents disapprove of 
 the marriage they reply : 
 
 " We have not seen your dove, we do not know what 
 has become of it, we have not got it." 
 
 If the proposal is pleasing to them, their answer is 
 encouraging, and the matchmaker asks the plain question : 
 
 " Do you wish to be related to such or such a person ? " 
 The mother replies : 
 
 " The relationship does not displease us." 
 
 In some departments, amongst others that of Nijni- 
 Novgorod, allegorical terms have disappeared and the 
 matchmaker asks bluntly : 
 
 " Is your daughter in the market ? " 
 
 The reply is no less clear — she is, or she is not. 
 
 After the departure of the matchmaker, the girl's 
 parents confer with one another and then hold a family 
 council ; after these formalities the prospective bride is 
 informed of the proposal, and whether her bridegroom 
 pleases her or not, it is a time-honoured tradition that 
 the proposal should be greeted with tears. But there 
 are tears and tears ! 
 
 If he displeases her, her cries, sobs, and protestations 
 become so overwhelming that her parents are for the most 
 part moved to compassion and break off the negotiations. 
 
74 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 For some time past it has become very rare to force a 
 marriage upon a girl. 
 
 In some departments the girl's mother, and sometimes 
 the bride herself and the girl friends, pay a visit to the 
 future husband's house. They scrupulously examine 
 the isba, inquire what amount of wheat is stored in the 
 granary and carefully inspect the stove. The kitchen 
 utensils, shovels, and pokers are decorated with ribbon in 
 their honour. 
 
 Sometimes, especially in the department of Pskov, 
 when the future husband is poor he does not scruple 
 to disguise his poverty and unblushingly shows his pro- 
 spective mother-in-law provisions which do not belong to 
 him, and even cattle and an isha which are the property 
 of a comrade. 
 
 It is then the fiance's turn to visit his future bride with 
 his parents. The girl comes to the door to meet them, 
 but never crosses the threshold. 
 
 " Does your fiancee please you ? " demand the 
 bystanders. 
 
 " She pleases me," replies the young man, " but I 
 cannot say whether I please her." 
 
 HthejarLniakes i^o reply hexsilence is taken fonconsent;, 
 and the visitors enter. "^ 
 
 The young man then makes a sign, and her spinning- 
 wheel is brought to the girl. 
 
 " Come, my affianced bride," he says, " let us see 
 whether you spin well." 
 
 The girl sets her wheel going, and after a few turns, 
 upon a sign from the young man, the matchmaker 
 says : 
 
 " Very good, now walk about and let us see whether 
 you are lame or not." 
 
 She walks about the room, and then going up to the 
 young man, says : 
 
MARRIAGE CEREMONIES 75 
 
 " Will you do me the pleasure of walking round the 
 room to let me see whether you walk straight ? " 
 
 When the fiance has complied with the request the 
 young couple are placed side by side to see whether they 
 are well matched, and all present exclaim : 
 
 " What a handsome couple." 
 
 Meanwhile the parents proceed to bargain, marriage 
 among the Russian peasantry being a commercial matter. 
 
 " Well," says the girl's father to the young man's 
 father, " are we going to settle ? " 
 
 " I am ready, if you are willing." 
 
 " How much do you put down ? " 
 
 " Fifteen roubles." 
 
 " So little. I was given twenty for my eldest girl, and 
 times were harder." 
 
 " Well, we will throw in a cloak." 
 
 " Get along with your cloak, I have one. We will not 
 consent." 
 
 The amount of the purchase money varies, according 
 to the prospective father-in-law's fortune, from twenty- 
 five to one hundred roubles. The fiancee has her dowry 
 of hnen, bed clothes, clothes, and the necessary implements 
 for a woman's work, such as a spinning-wheel, rakes, and 
 pitch-forks, not forgetting thimble, needles, and thread. 
 
 That she should possess a sufficient quantity of these 
 articles is indispensable, unless she wishes to be immedi- 
 ately involved in disputes with her husband's family, as 
 his mother and sisters will not make her a present even of 
 a towel or a duster. 
 
 When the sale has been arranged, prayers are said, 
 and the girl's parents clap their hands, having previously 
 enveloped them in their cloaks, which is a happy omen, 
 meaning that the couple shall never lack clothing. 
 
 Long before the celebration of the marriage the fiancee 
 retires into solitude, renounces all youthful games and 
 
76 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 vsongs, goes no more to gay parties, or if she appears for 
 a short time, it is merely to weep and move them to 
 compassionate her unfortunate lot. 
 
 It is obvious that these customs date from the earUest 
 ages. The Russian peasant has preserved, in all their 
 natural freshness, the primitive traditions of Aryan 
 antiquity which have been sung by the poet Catullus. 
 
 In these songs, as in the Latin poet's verses, we find 
 expressed the waU of the affianced girl, who anticipates 
 with terror the moment when, separated from her beloved 
 parents, she will be delivered to a stranger, as a captive 
 to an enemy. 
 
 For this reason, in Great Russia, from the day of the 
 betrothal, the girl friends of the fiancee assemble at her 
 house nightly and seem to desire to protect her from the 
 ravisher. They work at the trousseau, chanting the 
 while in doleful strains, which the prospective bride 
 accompanies with silent tears or noisy sobs. Her com- 
 panions endeavour to calm her. Among the Russian 
 Jews on the eve of the wedding the bride sits down in the 
 middle of the room, crying bitterly, whilst the relatives 
 and guests make merry. 
 
 The fiancee usually begins by complaining of her parents. 
 
 " Oh ! my dear father, you have allowed yourself to be 
 seduced by wine, by sweet words, by honours. Oh ! 
 beloved mother, you have let yourself be seduced by the 
 glass, by honeyed words, by honours." 
 
 Her friends console her, or unite in lamentations, 
 painting dark pictures of conjugal life : a drunken husband 
 whip in hand, the bad father-in-law, the mother-in-law 
 wicked as a serpent, the sisters-in-law infinitely capricious. 
 This is the same act of the conjugal drama which the poet 
 Catullus depicts in verses 31-75 of his sixty-first poem. 
 And there is considerable analogy with the second nuptial 
 chant of the poet when the friends, whom he calls the 
 
MARRIAGE CEREMONIES ii 
 
 infegrcB virginis assemble for the last time at the fiancee's 
 house to deliver her to the novus maritus. 
 
 On the marriage day, in the department of Tambov, 
 the bride arises first and goes to awaken her companions, 
 chanting : — 
 
 " Arise, my companions ; arise, my dear ones ; da\vn is 
 breaking, my enemies approach." 
 
 At Rybinsk it is customary for the yoUng girls to weep 
 for their virginal beauty, which is represented by a small 
 fir tree, decorated like a Christmas-tree with ribbons, 
 flowers, and candles. The fiancee places the tree on the 
 table and begins to weep, saying : 
 
 " I have but a short time to remain beautiful, to live 
 among young girls ; I will carry you, my virginal beauty, 
 to the dark forest ; I will hang you to a white birch ; in 
 the spring my friends will come and cut down the birch 
 tree, and will let my virginal beauty fall on the silky 
 grass, and then my father and brothers will mow the grass 
 and cut my virginal beauty." 
 
 In several departments the custom of preventing the 
 bridegroom from entering the house of the bride has been 
 preserved, and he is compelled to pay a fine to the villagers 
 before he can cross the threshold. 
 
 In escorting the bride to church, it is customary to 
 hang certain articles to her as an omen of the prosperity 
 which should await her in her new life. In some places 
 a piece of bread is put in her bodice, that she may never 
 lack bread, in others wool is hung on her skirt, that the 
 sheep may multiply, or flax, that linen may be abundant. 
 
 The bridegroom precedes the bride as the nuptial cortege 
 wends its way to the church, and both salute all passers-by 
 as a safeguard against the evil eye. 
 
 Immediately after the cortege has left the house, the 
 fiance lets the bride pass, him, and gives her three little 
 strokes with a whip on the shoulders, saying : 
 
78 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 " Renounce the will of your father ; learn to forgo the 
 tenderness of your mother ; forget your virginal beauty ; 
 learn to submit to your husband's claims." 
 
 In the church there is a race between the young people 
 to step the first on the silk carpet placed before the altar, 
 as the first to arrive will dominate the other. The two 
 candles are carefully watched to see which bums the 
 quickest, to learn which partner will live the longest. 
 
 After the nuptial blessing, and sometimes before the 
 couple leave the church, the bride's hair is dressed after 
 the fashion of married women, plaited in two tresses, 
 and caught up under the fovoinik. 
 
 The entrance of the new home is draped with white, 
 /^.,an emblem of a calm, peaceful life. Sometimes a closed 
 padlock is placed on the threshold, showing that the bond 
 between the two will be so strong that nothing shall break 
 it. A female relative of the bride then comes out of the 
 house, wearing a fur cloak inside out ; she is hiding 
 her face, and brandishing a poker, addresses the bride 
 ui with incomprehensible and formidable threats ; this is g. 
 representation of a^mother-in-liw'. 
 
 The wedding breakfast is lavish ; often a wizard is 
 invited, and is the most favoured of the guests, his duty 
 being to ward off ill-luck. The bridal couple do not 
 partake of the meal, but each time their health is drunk 
 they are expected to embrace. 
 
 The bridal bed is prepared in the barn and sometimes 
 in the stable. The couple are escorted to it with great 
 -!_ pomp. In the department of Vologda a couple chosen 
 among those renowned for their harmonious lives, are 
 asked to he in the bed to warm it, in order that their 
 virtues may be communicated to the new bride and 
 bridegroom. 
 
 The Russian peasant woman is still the slave of her 
 '^husband. In the department of Jaroslav the wedding 
 
MARRIAGE CEREMONIES 79 
 
 ^ 
 breakfast is terminated by a brutal ceremony intended to 
 
 inculcate the idea of the woman's slavery into the bride. 
 A guest takes in one hand a piece of roasted kidney, and 
 in the other a glass of brandy, then he calls his wife and 
 commands her to show how submissive she is ; the woman 
 is compelled to throw herself on her knees and do what- 
 soever he demands. Sometimes grovelling on her stomach / 
 to represent a fish swimihing, sometimes jumping about r 
 like a dancing bear, according to her husband's orders. 
 This continues until the man has finished eating the 
 kidney and drinking the vodka, for it is pleasing to him 
 to prolong his wife's humiliation. 
 
 All the guests go through this revolting performance, 
 until the bride's turn comes ; she is compelled to follow 
 the matrons' example. 
 
 Happily, these moujiks who have been to St Petersburg 
 or Moscow renounce this barbarous custom on returning ^_ 
 to their province, and no doubt it will speedily disappear 
 altogether. 
 
 The marriage feasts generally last some weeks, and 
 often the family remains in debt for long after. 
 
 In some departments, to save this expense, or for other 
 reasons, the marriage is accomplished, as in the earliest 
 times, by the abduction of the bride. In Olonetz the 
 young man having come to an understanding with his 
 bride, begs a handkerchief or waistbelt as a sign of 
 good faith, and arranges^the day, hour, and place of the 
 abduction. 
 
 If the young girl goes to a party, her fiance and two of 
 his friends seize her as she is about to enter her home, 
 and bear her away in a sleigh. The neighbours, perceiving 
 the abduction, demand a fine of brandy, or threaten to 
 rescue the girl. 
 
 Sometimes these scenes involve serious risks. If the 
 ravisher is caught by the girl's parents they adopt the 
 
MARRIAGE CEREMONIES 8i 
 
 Russian peasant woman's notion of full dress is somewhat 
 different from that of her more cultured sisters — ^full dress 
 in society meaning as little dress as possible. As to the 
 poor, they hire the cast-off finery of the rich, in order to 
 play the part of a " pillar " decently attired. 
 
 The passers-by assail the " pillars " with questions — 
 " Do you love your wife ? " — " Do you love your hus- 
 band ? " — " Are you a happy couple ? " The " pillars " 
 are then expected to embrace as a sign of the harmony 
 existing between them. 
 
 Those who look sulky, showing that peace has deserted 
 the hearth, are pestered with jokes, bombarded with 
 snowballs, and even pommelled. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 FAMILY LIFE 
 
 IT is rare that a newly married couple have a home 
 to themselves, the majority Uve with the husband's 
 family, and are compelled to submit to the absolute 
 authority of the head of the family, or bolshak, which 
 means the great, the powerful one. 
 
 Although patriarchal famihes, numbering sixty mem- 
 bers, are becoming more and more rare in most Rus- 
 sian villages, famihes of thirty or forty members may still 
 be found. , - ^. 
 
 The position of bolshak is usually hereditary, but he is 
 sometimes elected by all the members of the family. As 
 he is answerable to the parish for the taxes, the 
 authorities can intervene and replace an incompetent 
 chief by some more energetic and intelUgent member of 
 the family. It sometimes happens that a son is nominated 
 bolshak, and his father is subject to his authority. 
 
 A woman can only be appointed bolshak in default of 
 , any male who has come to the age of reason. 
 ~' The bolshak assigns to each member his work, sending 
 some as day-labourers out of the village, and others to 
 the town as workmen, and they are compelled to give 
 their wages to him. In a word his power js imrestricted, 
 but he may not sell the house he lives in, or go to Uve 
 I elsewhere without the family consent. 
 
 The bolshak's wife superintends the work of the female 
 i part of the community ; often she devotes herself entirely 
 , to the kitchen and leaves the hard work to the daughters- 
 in-law. 
 
FAMILY LIFE 83 
 
 A short time ago the bolshak's power was truly frighten- 
 ing : no one dared to speak in his presence, people trembled 
 before him, and at table no one thought of eating or 
 drinking until he gave permission. In spite of the abuse 
 which unKmited authority engenders, harmony reigns in 
 large families where the grandfather is bolshak ; having 
 no private interests outside the community, his feelings 
 are the same for all the members of the family. It is by 
 no means so when the bolshak is an uncle, or one of the 
 brothers ; it is difficult for him to be impartial and not to 
 favour his own wife and children. 
 
 The position of the women is the hardest, and especially 
 that of the daughters-in-law, who have to bear with their 
 husbands, their mothers-in-law, their brothers-in-law, 
 and above all with their sisters-in-law. 
 
 The moujiks do not allow a woman to complain of her 
 husband, considering that such recriminations are more 
 humihating for her than for him. When the husband 
 complains of his wife, both husband and wife are punished, 
 the wife because she has disobeyed her husband, the man 
 because he has failed to make himself obeyed. 
 
 Nevertheless, as a mother the woman's part is widely 
 extended and greatly honoured in Great Russia. The 
 Russians acknowledge that she has superior rights over 
 the children than the father, and ordains that greater 
 respect shall be shown her. 
 
 " Fear your father, but respect and love your mother," 
 says the Russian proverb. 
 
 If a father has reason to complain of his son 
 and cannot master him, and appeals to the authorities 
 they will not give him satisfaction unless the son is 
 unmarried ; but if a widow complains of a disrespectful 
 son, there is no excuse for him, married or unmarried : 
 even though he be grey-haired he cannot escape 
 punishment. 
 
84 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 The Russian people firmly believe in the power of a 
 mother's blessing and a mother's curse. 
 
 " The earth rejects children who have been cursed by 
 their mother," they say ; " but a mother's blessing can 
 save you from the depths of the sea." 
 
 The young peasant girl has but one way to rise from 
 the abject position assigned to her in the Russian family, 
 ' that is, to attract the attention of the holshak, or better 
 still of her father-in-law, and to win their good graces. 
 Considerable evils thus result among the Great Russian 
 communities, which are known under the generic term of 
 snokhatshestvo, snokha meaning daughter-in-law. 
 
 The following anecdote may be quoted £is an example. 
 
 In a village in the department of Voronyzeh, the 
 moujiks bought a bell, but when the moment came to 
 suspend it the united efforts of all the peasants of the 
 district were powerless to raise it. The pope, supposing 
 that the bell was made heavy by the weight of the sins of 
 the men who were attempting to raise it, ordered all those 
 who had an excessive tenderness for their daughters-in-law 
 to retire. To the general stupefaction, half the assistants 
 let go of the ropes. 
 
 It is noteworthy that in spite of the morally humiUating 
 position of the Russian peasant woman, she has important 
 rights as to property, which are very superior to those of 
 the moujiks. Whereas the latter has only the right to 
 his clothes and has to give his wages to the community, 
 the woman's propertsDs her own, which property is called 
 sobina. Flax and wool are the exclusive property of the 
 women, who divide it among themselves and spin it. All 
 the money earned by the sale of their work is their own. 
 They have also the right to their hens and sheep, and 
 can sell them at their pleasure. Daughters-in-law have 
 their garden in the orchard, and can sell the produce 
 for their own benefit. And lastly, a woman's dowry 
 
FAMILY LIFE 85 
 
 may not be touched either by her husband or the i 
 family. 
 
 It is extremely improbable that this partiarchal system 
 will exist much longer. While the family was engaged ' 
 exclusively in agriculture, the produce of their land wa#-'' 
 their only anxiety ; the produce was for the common use.) 
 the work was communal, the produce was communal.; 
 Now the members of a family are scattered : some have 
 migrated to the towns to earn money. Nicolas goes toj 
 St Petersburg in winter to earn money as a coachman. 
 Alexis is engaged as a wood-cutter. The coachman has 
 sent one hundred roubles to the bolshak as his wages for 
 the five months, whereas the wood-cutter has earned but 
 twenty-five. The coachman then begins to ask himself i 
 why his brother, and above all his elder brother who [ 
 drinks just by himself twenty-four cups of tea during 
 the day, should have the right to consume tea and sugar I 
 bought with his wages. __ 
 
 As soon as the words " thine " and " mine " are imported \ ! 
 into the patriarchal community, then the system is ended^J 
 The members of the family become mutually burden- 
 some, they feel that a new element has crept in, in the 
 division of tea, sugar, and bread ; it becomes a question 
 of the stomach. Nearly every quarrel amongst brothers 
 begins with the furious question, " Have you looked into 
 my stomach ? " Which is met with the answer, " The 
 stomach does not recognize mine from thine." 
 
 M. Ouspenski, who has observed various families in 
 the process of disintegration, says : 
 
 " These discussions of mine and thine, which I have 
 remarked arise with every drop or morsel swallowed, 
 prevented me from accepting invitations to tea. My 
 hosts guzzled without stopping: the combined family 
 absorbs nine hundred cups of tea daily. Without a word 
 each one keeps his eye on the saucers of the others, forcing 
 
86 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 himself to drink the same amount as his neighbour, and 
 watching that no one takes more than himself. So it 
 seemed to me. In any case, evil glances passed from one 
 to the other, and one could feel the general tension. 
 When I employed one of the brothers, the other im- 
 mediately inquired how much I would give him, and if 
 I paid one of them, the other opened covetous, curious 
 eyes and fixed them on his brother's hands and purse. 
 It goes without sa5dng that such a strained position 
 will not last long ; and families are breaking up more 
 and more." 
 
 The life of the Russian peasant, which has an irresistible 
 attraction for the great Tolstoi, is intimately linked with 
 the land, and his happiness depends on her ; as soon as 
 he turns his back on the soil, fertilized from generation 
 to generation, by the labour of his ancestors, vice lays hold 
 of him. 
 
 M. Ouspenski sadly bears witness to this in noting the 
 deterioration of the moujik's family, during the time of 
 transition, when the primitive peasant tends to become 
 a farmer, that is, if he does not desert the land for the 
 factory. 
 
 " The mystery of the power of the soil," says M. 
 Ouspenski, " is displayed in this fact, that the great mass 
 of the Russian people remain strong in their misfortunes, 
 young of heart, heroic, and at the same time modest, but 
 only while the power of the soil holds them, while it is 
 impossible for them to turn a deaf ear to the commands 
 of the earth, while she dominates their mind, their con- 
 science, in fact while she is their whole existence." 
 
 Drag the moujik from the soil, the duties imposed by 
 it, and the interest it has created, let him forget his position 
 of peasant, and it's farewell to the good-nature of the 
 people, farewell to the unity of the people, farewdl to the 
 charm of the people. 
 
FAMILY LIFE 87 
 
 The moujik has with force and simplicity expressed 
 this power of the soil in one of the oldest of Russian 
 chansons is gestes, that of Sviatogor the hero. 
 
 Sviatogor rode through the fields on his horse. He 
 had set out without a definite plan, not like the other 
 knights to levy tributes but merely to take a ride, to 
 stretch his limbs, and if possible to pit himself against 
 some other knight. 
 
 But he met no one but a simple moujik carrying a sack 
 on his back. Sviatogor galloped forward, but in spite 
 of all his efforts the moujik always led the way. 
 
 " Stop, man," cried the hero in a voice of thunder, " I 
 cannot come up with you, though my horse is famed for 
 his swiftness." 
 
 The man stopped and placed his sack on the ground. The 
 hero, approaching, attempted to raise it with his stick, 
 but the sack seemed glued to the earth and did not move. 
 Stooping, Sviatogor attempted to raise it with his hands, 
 but the sack resisted all his efforts. The hero, dismount- 
 ing, grasped the sack in both hands, and dragged it so 
 violently that blood burst from the veins of his face ; 
 meanwhile the sack remained immovable, whilst he sunk 
 knee-deep into the ground. 
 
 " Man," he cried in stentorian tones, " speak the truth, 
 what have you in this sack ? " 
 
 " The earth within it draws you to her," 
 
 " And you, who are you ? " 
 
 " I am the moujik, the beloved of mother earth." 
 
 This story, continues M. Ouspenski, of the hero unable 
 to move the sack, which the man of the people carries so 
 easily that the hero mounted on a swift horse cannot 
 come up with him, is a powerful picture of their respective 
 positions with regard to the soil. 
 
 The peasant is a slave of the green grass ; all his move- 
 ments, actions, and ideas are connected with the soil and 
 
88 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 in this dependence lies the secret of his peaceful life, and 
 the sense of his words to the hero, " I am the beloved 
 of mother earth." 
 
 The earth loves him, and in dominating him absolutely, 
 gives him, in exchange for his servitude, security from 
 responsibility. 
 
 His conscience is at peace, provided he act according 
 to the inspiration of the earth. He kills the thief who 
 has stolen his horse, and does not consider himself guilty, 
 because without a horse he cannot work his land. He 
 ill-treats his wife until death supervenes,— again he does 
 not feel guilty, she was Isizy, she did not grasp country 
 life, she was an obstacle to work, and the soil requires 
 unceasing labour. 
 
 ^-feeling no responsibility, the peasant improves nothing ; 
 he lives by obeying the soil, and this continued obedience 
 is manifested by incessant labour, which constitutes the 
 whole of his hfe, and seems to bring no result because his 
 life itself is the result. 
 
 What motive has the oak for growing? What profit 
 does it derive from the juice of the earth which it absorbs 
 for centuries ? What interest has it in covering itself 
 with leaves — scattering acorns to feed the pigs ? 
 
 It grows, puts forth its leaves, and scatters its acorns 
 without knowing why ; its interest in life is life itself. So 
 is it with the peasant, his life is a continual labour : to 
 live and work, work and live. 
 
 The Russian need of communal living is seen in the 
 country dweUings. The villages, generally straggling 
 along on both sides of the road, consist of houses built 
 closely together ; the yards and gardens are not divided 
 by hedges and walls. The German also tries to have his 
 house and garden and yard, and it is difficult to bring 
 them under one roof : this has been noticed all the ages 
 from Tacitus down. 
 
FAMILY LIFE 89 
 
 The Muscovite School has used this difference between 
 the Russian character and that of the people of Western 
 Europe, to lay stress on their system, and no one can deny 
 that they have used it well. It is with pride that the 
 Russian says that thousands are not dying of starvation 
 in his country, for the peasant who goes to the cities as 
 tradesman or handworker to try his luck finds, if it is 
 necessary, a firm support in his own village community. 
 Is this not the answer to the riddle which the best brains 
 have for centuries been trying to answer ? 
 
 Certainly the poor Russian peasant is supposed to be 
 the Messiah of the poor and wretched, for the principles on 
 which the construction of his Communities rests shall 
 spread over the world and soon become the model for 
 the New Order which knows no Egoism and none without 
 possessions, just as now no Russian is absolutely without 
 possessions. 
 
 Russia was created to reform the world on religious 
 grounds. Russia, the State of peasants, was compared 
 with Ilja Muromez, one of the most popular heroes of 
 Russian saga. He lay for thirty-three years on the 
 stove-bench, his mind occupied all the time with one 
 great thought. When the moment for action came he 
 stood up, and the earth quaked under his feet. Thus 
 Russia has been inactive for hundreds of years, and has 
 been preparing for great deeds, and now the moment has 
 come to gather her strength together. 
 
 The Achilles heel of the whole system was that the 
 peasant would take no interest in the improvement of his 
 land, or in enhancing its value, if it were taken from 
 him at the next partition and given to another, and he 
 would not reap the fruit of his labours. But there was 
 also an answer to that. The earth of Russia is so fertile 
 that it can go on for hundreds of years without fertilizing, 
 and can assure the people rich food, yet all the time the 
 
go HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 peasants have gone on cultivating and improving their 
 land, and following the example of former masters. Now 
 as formerly the Russian peasant only cultivates corn 
 and vegetables, as liis grandfather did, and he cultivates 
 the land in their way. 
 
 We cannot say that the peasant does not try to im- 
 prove his land — on the contrary — ^but he desires to im- 
 prove it not by rural economy. He knows that the 
 improved land can be taken from him any moment and 
 given to another, either by his master or the community. 
 But what he earns by trade and industry, that is his, and 
 on one will take it from him. Even in the time of serfdom 
 the master could not lay hands on the cattlej farm 
 implements, or the household goods of the peasant. That 
 is why. the peasant does anything rather than cultivate 
 the land. He erects a grocer's shop, in which he can sell 
 brandy, rope, nails, shoes, and such things, or he will 
 drive a droshky in the winter, but not till the land. 
 
 The restless mind of the Russian is a great hindrance 
 to the prosperity of the land, particularly since he re- 
 gained his liberty. The old love of wandering, which 
 he had not been able to indulge, made itself strongly felt. 
 When he heard a report that certain land a long way off 
 was more productive than his, or that the government of 
 some district was giving land gratuitously to settlers he 
 went, family and all, many hundreds of miles, starting 
 by night or in the fog so that he might not be prevented. 
 Everything in the house which was not nailed down was 
 taken with him, but of the outstanding crops and farm 
 produce he took nothing, that belonged to the community 
 and fell back to their possession. He expected to find 
 much better land in his new home. 
 
 Sometimes whole villages stood empty. The in- 
 habitants had gone after some will'-o-the-wisp. Often 
 after long wanderings they found how deceived they had 
 
FAMILY LIFE 91 
 
 been, for there was no land to be given away ; certainly 
 it was fruitful land, but very well populated. What could 
 they do ? They had eaten up their stock of provisions 
 on the journey ; their cattle, suffering from hardships 
 and fatigue, had to be killed ; the wretched horses could 
 scarcely stand and had to drag the wagons full of furniture 
 and utensils ; there was no end to the misery. Even 
 to-day there are occasionally cases of the same sort, and 
 the government does its utmost to prevent these mad 
 excursions. 
 
 All this prevents the seed sown by Tsar Alexander II. 
 from ripening. The peasant worshipped the Emperor, 
 his liberator, who gave him back dignity of manhood. 
 He prayed for him and lay in the dust before him when 
 he met him, and called down blessings on his head, but 
 he did not use his freedom in the way the Tsar expected 
 he would. The Russian peasant was a nomad until 1593, 
 when the regent, Boris Godunoff, made a decree which 
 bound the peasant to the soil. Before then the peasant 
 had moved about when his home no longer pleased him 
 or satisfied his requirements. Whole districts were left 
 uncultivated and labour was not obtainable, and the 
 landowners therefore were unable to pay their taxes. 
 The princes owning land on the Volga were able to offer 
 tempting promises to the peasants, which naturally smaller 
 landowners were unable to do. And the defence of 
 Russia depended on the small landowners, and it was to 
 assist these small landowners that the peasant was obliged 
 to remain in one place. 
 
 The curse of the peasant is drink. Ouspenski has 
 given vivid descriptions of the manner in which the 
 Russian moujik drinks. He drinks systematically, and 
 with him a drinking bout is almost a solemn occasion, 
 requiring the observance of certain rites. He often spends 
 his last copper in drink and sells his hut and his land 
 
92 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 and when he has nothing more to sell, he is reduced to 
 beggary. He begs, and spends the coppers he collects in 
 drink. 
 
 It often happens that a wellTdressed peasant woman in 
 the country, or in a small town, carrying a small child 
 on her arm and leading another by the hand, will address 
 a passer-by asking a gift. Astonished, the person asks : 
 
 " Have you no fields ? " 
 
 " Oh yes, we have fields." 
 
 " Are they then barren ? Or was the harvest bad ? " 
 
 " The harvest was not bad, the land is good and fertile." 
 
 " Then why do you beg ? " 
 
 " The master has punished us," runs the answer. " It 
 was in winter, the stream was frozen over. We had no 
 water for extinguishing ; the whole village was burnt all 
 but one house, the house of Wassil Ivanowitsch ; he must 
 be a good man that God has spared him." 
 
 " What are you going to do now ? " 
 
 " We are going out into the world, wherever God leads 
 us. The men are working at home in the fields, we are 
 collecting money to build a new house, before the winter 
 comes." 
 
 " What does a house cost ? " 
 
 " Thirty to forty roubles." 
 
 " Thirty to forty roubles, do you hope to get a sum like 
 that from strangers ? " 
 
 " AU is possible with God, and there are so many good 
 people in the world, who are glad to give of their superfluity 
 to the poor." 
 
 These really are unfortunate people, and one is glad to 
 give something to get them out of the misery they could 
 not avoid. The five-copeck pieces are quickly collected 
 by the woman, some even give her a larger piece of 
 money, for the Russian is not cold-blooded enough to 
 look on distress imtouched, thus perhaps she gets the 
 
FAMILY LIFE 93 
 
 required sum together. But here also there are drones 
 in the hive, and many say they have been burnt out, just 
 to excite pity and to get money. Perhaps in no other 
 country so much cheating and swindling goes on, under 
 the name of fire, as in Russia. In the district of Moscow, 
 there is a group of isbas called Sachod : the inhabitants 
 thereof live by begging. When autumn comes, they 
 leave their villages and spread Uke a swarm of locusts 
 over the neighbourhood. The Russian knows these 
 fine brothers of his, but unfortunately his pity is soon 
 roused, and then who distinguishes between " chaff and 
 wheat " ? They know how to paint their misery in such 
 colours that they are generally successful in getting 
 money. 
 
 They return to their villages in the spring and bring 
 back money, clothes, and provisions. The police have 
 done their best to wean them from this very easy mode 
 of living, and the strongest laws have only resulted in 
 forged passports and documents. 
 
 Beggars flourish in other parts also, for some peasants 
 carry on begging as they would a trade ; yet they do not 
 do it because of distress and misery, but it has filled a 
 very necessary place in their lives, from time immemorial. 
 These beggars are not poor, they have a house, cattle, and 
 fields, and many a good gold piece, but the love of wander- 
 ing fills their breasts. The most wretched old rags are 
 fetched out, and away they go, gaily, "into the world." 
 Several pose as blind or dumb, and cripples are not want- 
 ing, either real or feigned, and the peasant who is desirous 
 of taking one such, can choose from hundreds ; but the 
 blind are the most sought after, for if the leader has a real 
 good old blind man with him, his business flourishes, 
 and the harvest of gold is not far off. Wherever the pair 
 are seen, in villages, bazaars, markets, or fairs, everywhere 
 are good people who give gifts, and the police get no chance 
 
94 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 of examining into the case. As a rule, bread is not wanted, 
 and if the beggars cannot get money, they are given linen 
 or corn, which they can change for brandy at an inn. It 
 would take the pen of a Victor Hugo or the brush of a 
 Hogarth to picture the life of a beggar. He who wants 
 to understand the black side of the Russian character 
 must study it in a kabak, which can be found every- 
 where, even in the smallest village. The vice of drink, 
 like a disease, drags on from generation to generation. 
 When the peasant was a serf, and worked in the sweat of 
 his brow, his only recreation was in the kabak, at least 
 there he could forget for some little time the miseries and 
 worries of every-day hfe. And what became a habit in 
 those sad days, stiU remains a habit — even in his liberty. 
 The great mass of peasants know no other amusement 
 on Sundays except a drinking bout in a kabak. Instead 
 of thinking of the morrow the Russian peasant will spend 
 his last copper on drink. It is a well-known fact that 
 in famine-stricken communities the public-houses are full. 
 And when the moujik is asked why he spent his money 
 on drink under such circumstances, he wiU say : " We 
 have nothing to eat, we are going to die of hunger ; let us, 
 therefore, have at least a drop and drink oblivion : it is 
 merrier thus. Let us hunger and drink and be merry, 
 for to-morrow we shall die." But to the honour of the 
 Russian people, be it said, there is an earnest striving 
 against this. And the reform comes from the peasants 
 themselves, and one often sees in the provincial papers 
 that such and such a place has forbidden the sale of 
 intoxicating Uquors. ^ 
 
 The one bright thing in all his is, that the Russian, be 
 he ever so drunk, never loses his good-humoirr. As their 
 great poets have always sung in the minor key, so the 
 peasant, when drunk, is not without a certain pathos. 
 He is merry and sheds tears by turns ; he embraces who- 
 
FAMILY LIFE 95 
 
 ever comes near him, and kisses him ; and five or six 
 men have been seen with their arms round each other's 
 necks, reeling here and there. But that is all — he is a 
 noisy guest in the kabak, but never quarrelsome. He 
 will only drink and be noisy to his heart's desire. Here 
 where he pays, he is master, and here he was free before 
 the hberation. The kabak was dear to him in those 
 days, and custom takes him to-day to the place he held 
 dear in those days. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 BESSARABIAN PEASANTS 
 
 THREE-FOURTHS of the population of Bessarabia 
 are Moldavians , The Moldavian peasant is lacking 
 in energy and initiative ; he is phlegmatic, hke the 
 Little Russian, and the only signs of Southern passion in 
 him are his fits of vengeance and vanity. On the whole, 
 however, he is good-natured, compassionate, and ready 
 to share his goods with others. He is, however, idle and 
 careless, which is perhaps due to the fertility of the soil, 
 which yields a maximum of fruit for a minimum of effort ; 
 and the sense of insecurity from which he suffered under 
 Turkish domination, and under the numerous Tshinovnik, 
 has some connexion with his apathy. 
 
 The type of the Moldavian peasant is similar to that 
 of the peasants of the South, softened by the mixture of 
 Slav blood. He is rather over middle height, brown and 
 brawny, his face is expressive, his features fairly regular ; 
 he has black eyes, and heavy eyebrows and moustache ; 
 his movements are slow and awkward, his walk heavy. 
 He leaves chest and throat always uncovered. The 
 majority shave their beards, but wear their hair long, and 
 falling over their shoulders. 
 
 The women are lithe ; their hair is black and thick, 
 but their features are irregular. The forehead is low, the 
 nose pointed, and the cheek-bones rather prominent ; 
 complexion sunburnt, eyes black, sparkling, and full of 
 fire. The grace of their movements, now slow, now rapid, 
 makes them very seductive. Like all southern women, 
 the Moldavian ages prematurely, and at thirty has lost 
 
BESSARABIAN PEASANTS 97 
 
 all her freshness and beauty. Though very modest and 
 docile with her husband, she is by no means amiable with 
 other members of his family, which is the reason that 
 the peasant of Bessarabia starts a separate establishment 
 as soon as he is married, as in Little Russia, even though 
 his worldly prospects suffer. 
 
 The Moldavian's cassa or house is made of a mixture 
 of clay, straw, and horse dung. When he has decided to 
 build a new house, the peasant invites all his relations to 
 a solemn feast ; some of the guests dance the national 
 dance, djogue, to the strains of soft music, while the others 
 begin to build the house. A bench, jutting out from the 
 wall, runs round the cassa. The exterior of the latter 
 is carefully plastered, and the roof thatched with straw 
 or rushes. 
 
 Only well-to-do people have the luxury of a chimney 
 through the roof, others are content with an opening in 
 the ceiling over the hearth. 
 
 It would be difficult to find any peasants as scrupulously 
 clean as the Moldavians ; everything in their homes is 
 polished and shining, and there are no untidy comers to 
 be seen. 
 
 The altar in the comer of the room facing the east, is 
 decorated with real or artificial flowers and hung with 
 silk or cotton draperies. Candles and a blessed loaf are 
 placed on a tablet imder the images ; and round the altar, 
 sheafs of wheat from the last harvest are arranged in the 
 form of a cross. 
 
 The beam running across the room is hung with apples 
 and Uttle yellow gourds in the form of a star and in the 
 season, with bunches of grapes. Boxes of sweet-smelling 
 blue-bells fill one comer of the room ; the young girls dry 
 these flowers and crush them to a powder to sprinkle on 
 their dresses, when they are going to a djogue or a marriage. 
 
 A large soft divan rims along one side of the wall. In 
 7 
 
98 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 well-to-do houses it is covered with costly rugs and with 
 hand-made covers ; in more humble dwellings, cushions 
 of red or green stuffs fiUed with hay form the back of the 
 divan ; a table and two or three chairs with covers com- 
 plete the furniture of the room. 
 
 At one end of the divan there is a large chest upon 
 which are piled a number of cushions and rugs ; this is 
 the dowry of the daughters of the house ; very often the 
 chest is empty. The whole is covered with a richly 
 embroidered cloth and the higher the pile the richer and 
 more diligent is the mistress of the house reputed to be. 
 
 The Moldavian costume is very sinular to that of the 
 Little Russian, and has points of resemblance with the 
 Turkish dress. The men wear a caftan, caught in by a 
 woollen belt of different colours. The well-to-do peasant 
 wears a wide strap over this, ornamented with buttons, 
 little crosses, and metal cabochons. Wide trousers of 
 blue cloth are tucked into taU top-boots with high heels. 
 
 The women wear cotton, woollen, or silk dresses, over 
 which they put a lined vest and a silk or cotton fichu, 
 usually of a startling colour. Married women hide their 
 hair under a handkerchief, and young girls wear it in 
 plaits falling on to the shoulder, or rolled into a chignon 
 and held with a comb ornamented with glass beads. All 
 the Moldavian women have a great love of jewellery of 
 every description. 
 
 The ordinary food of these peasants is the mamalyga 
 pastry made of maize flour, without yeast ; it takes the 
 place of bread and often constitutes the whole of their 
 menu. No knives, forks, or spoons are required, so the 
 table is quickly laid. They break off a piece of mamalyga, 
 roll it between their fingers, dip it in melted butter or 
 dripping, and then into some brynsa, or cheese made of 
 sheeps' milk. The Moldavian peasant is not greedy, and 
 is quite satisfied if he has enough maize flour to keep 
 
BESSARABIAN PEASANTS 99 
 
 him from staxvation ; but on the other hand his sobriety 
 cannot be praised, as he drinks not only for the pleasure 
 of drinking, but takes pleasure in the different degrees 
 of drunkenness, consuming a large quantity of wine and 
 brandy during his sokotellos or friendly chats. 
 
 The village tavern is always full of its habitual fre- 
 quenters ; it is the local club. It is here the peasant 
 learns to know the world, and where he meets all the 
 village aristocracy, the mayor, the notary, and so on. 
 
 The man is considered the master of the house in all 
 the force of the word ; after dinner, the wife, having said 
 the prayer, rises and kisses her husband's hand. And 
 yet all the weight of the household falls on her ; she is very 
 laborious and contributes a great deal to the comfort of 
 the home. 
 
 The husband is rarely at home, most of his time is spenfV 
 at the tavern with his boon companions, but when at | 
 home he dozes peacefully stretched on the stove. At/ 
 frieridly gatherings the men always have the best places,/ 
 and take precedence over the women everywhere, even in \ 
 church, where the latter sit at the back. -— 
 
 The Moldavians, without exception, are very devout, 
 and scrupulously observe the rites of the Orthodox 
 Church, without understanding the meaning of them. 
 The marriage ceremony is very original. The young 
 man chooses his own bride, and intervention on the 
 paients' part is practically unheard of. 
 
 " Let my daughter marry whom she will," says 
 the father philosophically, " she will be the man's wife, 
 not I." 
 
 The mother, used to submitting, agrees with him. 
 
 If the young man cannot find a suitable bride in his 
 village, he goes off with a married male friend to the 
 neighbouring villages, and looks round until he finds a 
 black-eyed ; maiden to his taste. For some months he 
 
loo HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 reveals to no one that his search has been fruitful. Only 
 when he has ascertained that his lady love is willing to 
 bestow on him her hand and heart, does he announce to 
 his parents his intention to get married. His parents 
 give their consent, unless his choice be unworthy, when 
 they beg their son in a friendly manner not to carry out 
 his intention, and their intervention is limited to that. 
 The young man must then dispatch some of his men 
 friends to the village to ask the parents for their daughter's 
 hand, and then only are the young people formally in- 
 troduced to one another, the fiancee kissing every one's 
 hand, including her future husband's. 
 
 The bridegroom's friends discuss the amount of the 
 dowry, while other men fire off pistols in the courtyard 
 as a sign of rejoicing. 
 
 A supper is given, dmring which two plates are placed 
 on a table apart ; on one the girl's parents put a ring and 
 a handkerchief, and on the other the prospective bride- 
 groom puts pieces of silver. The father calls his daughter 
 and tells her to choose. The girl takes the money, and 
 the man the ring and handkerchief, so end the espousals. 
 Before leaving, the parents and friends fix the wedding 
 day, called the day of the answer. 
 
 On the Saturday preceding the wedding, which usually 
 takes place on a Sunday, the fiance invites his relations 
 and all young people of the village to his home. After 
 asking his parents' blessing, he goes off on horseback 
 accompanied by his men friends to fetch home his bride. 
 
 A band of musicians ride in a cart in the middle of the 
 cortege, and sing and play the whole of the way. 
 
 Upon approaching the girl's village, the bridegroom 
 sends two hounokari to announce the arrival of the nuptial 
 cortege, and one of the two gives a speech something in 
 the style of the following : — 
 
 " Good day, beautiful young girl ; good day, good people. 
 
BESSARABIAN PEASANTS loi 
 
 Our Tsar, when hunting one day with his subjects, re- 
 marked the traces, not of a bird, but of a young girl who 
 charmed him. He choose from his army two young men, 
 good to look upon and pleasant to listen to, and sent 
 them out into the world. Tell us why do we travel, 
 what do we seek ? We are not servants, we are not 
 cattle merchants, but ambassadors from the Tsar. 
 Having found here a beautiful flov/er, our Tsar, by our 
 advice, desires to transplant it to bis own garden. 
 
 " Give us some new bread and a linen handkerchief 
 to wipe our lips after drinking wine, another to wipe our 
 horses' bridles. The Tsar will recognize us and will 
 know that all has been done according to his desire. 
 When our Tsar arrives, the earth will groan ; when he dis- 
 mounts, the earth will tremble. But he comes not for 
 warfare, he brings no army and no sword, he comes to 
 submit, to render homage. Prepare wagons of hay, fat 
 sheep, spiced bread, casks of wine, and invite us also." 
 
 When this speech is finished the fiancee sprinkles her 
 bridegroom with water, he having entered during the 
 speech, and gives handkerchiefs to the two hounokari. 
 The fianc^, to show his gratitude, throws her a piece of 
 gold. The next day, Sunday, the marriage takes place. 
 
 The fiancee's friends set out in the morning on horse- 
 back, bearing a cask of wine, and make the round of the 
 village, inviting each family to take part in the wedding. 
 
 A lengthy cortege is then formed and proceeds to the 
 church, and after the nuptial blessing the congregation 
 throw handfuls of nuts and grain over the newly married 
 couple ; then as soon as the wedding breakfast is finished, 
 dancing is started energetically. 
 
 The fiance's friends then make a collection among the 
 guests, and everyone gives money to help the new couple 
 start their housekeeping. 
 
 In some parts of Bessarabia, as in Great Russia, the 
 
102 ^ HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 custom of capturing the bride is preserved. When a 
 young man finds a maiden responsive to his overtures, 
 he courts her assiduously and plans with her the time of 
 her abduction. As soon as he has her consent, he arranges 
 with some friends who assist in carrying her away to his 
 house. Once across the threshold, one of the man's 
 friends fires several pistol shots to announce the news of 
 the abduction to the' village. The bridegroom has to 
 be careful, however, that this romantic captiu-e does not 
 end in his own discomfita-e. More than one fair maiden 
 gives her wilUng consent to be abducted, but arranges 
 with a second lover to steal her from the first ; the happy 
 thief carries her off from the prospective bridegroom's 
 house at the very moment when he is announcing, with 
 much noise, his great conquest and so he becomes the 
 laughing-stock of the village. 
 
 M. Semionoff assisted at the wedding of a Moldavian 
 woman who had arranged witlr three bridegrooms to carry 
 her away simultaneously ; during the marriage rejoicings 
 the young men and maidens of the village never ceased 
 making jokes at the expense of the two unfortunate dupes 
 who assisted at the wedding and whose real grief was 
 " justified by the bride's exceeding beauty. 
 
 Although following the orthodox religion, the Moldavian 
 peasants are very superstitious and mix a good deal of 
 superstitions with their devotions. 
 
 No peasant woman will lend anything on a Monday 
 for fear of bringing ruin on her household, neither will she 
 make up her accounts on that day. Neither men nor 
 women will drink water drawn after stmset, without 
 throwing burning cinders into it to purify it,' because the 
 evil spirit hides in water after nightfall. When there is 
 a new moon the Moldavian takes money^from his pocket 
 and holds it in her rays, saying : " As;/you find me, so 
 keep me." 
 
BESSARABIAN PEASANTS 103 
 
 If he has no money he knows that he will have empty 
 pockets for the whole of the month. 
 
 They also believe in the roussalki and domovoi ; the 
 latter is to them a good fairy who lives in their houses 
 in the form of a snake, for which reason a snake's life is 
 always spared. 
 
 In all countries young maidens love to lift the veil of 
 the future, to catch a glimpse of their destined husband, 
 and the Moldavians are no exception. Sometimes a 
 young girl will run downstairs in the middle of the night 
 to listen for a sign ; if the first word she hears is " walk" 
 her marriage is near, if the fatal woi-ds " sit down " come 
 to her, her husband will be a long time appearing on the 
 scene. The grunting of a pig at this late hour of the night 
 is also a bad sign. Some girls go into the garden at a 
 late hour with bandaged eyes, carr5dng a bunch of blue- 
 bells and a stick, they dig the latter into the ground and 
 tie the bouquet to it ; if it is covered with dew in the 
 morning it is the sign of a speedy wedding. 
 
 The Moldavians are great lovers of music, dancing, and 
 singing. The national dance is the djogue, in which men 
 and women form a ring, holding hands, and dance about 
 in a frenzied fashion to the sound of a violin, making 
 violent movements with hands, legs, necks, and shoulders, 
 and even stomach. There is an infinite number of popular 
 songs written always in a slow, sad strain, a plaintive 
 melody of sorrow and fallen ambition. The best songs 
 are those of brigands. The heroics are poor, the voivode 
 Stephen the Great, who alone succeeded in inflaming the 
 Moldavians against the Turks, is the only hero who has 
 inspired the writers of heroic verse. The following is 
 entitled " Stephen the Great and his grandmother " : — 
 
 " An old castle rises on the rock, at the foot of which 
 flows a rivulet. 
 
 " Domnitza, the young and beautiful, was weeping and 
 
104 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 lamenting ; her husband had gone to war with his troops. 
 He had been long absent, and no news had come from him. 
 She wept unceasingly, and her eyes shone like forget-me- 
 nots shining with dew. 
 
 " Another Domnitza stood consoling and caressing her. 
 Midnight struck, a knock sounded at the castle gate, and 
 a voice rang out : 
 
 " ' It is I, mother, thy son Stephen, I come wounded 
 from battle, fortune has betrayed us ; our army is beaten 
 and dispersed. Open the gates quickly, the Turks are 
 upon us. 
 
 " Young Domnitza ran to the window. 
 
 " ' Where are you going ? ' asked the old woman. She 
 approached the window herself, and called to the 
 vanquished : ' My Stephen is far away. He rains a 
 thousand blows upon his enemies. I am his mother, he 
 is my life's pride. If thou wert my son, my brave Stephen, 
 thou wouldst not have returned to this castle, which has 
 witnessed his heroic deeds, without laurels. Haste, fight 
 for your country, haste and die for her, that I may at 
 least sow flowers upon thy tomb.' 
 
 " The traveller returned, sounded his horn, and his 
 scattered army rallied round him. 
 
 " He rushed with fury upon the Turks, and they fell 
 as wheat falls before the scythe in summer." 
 
 The story adds that Stephen ran with the news of 
 victory to his mother, but found her dead with grief. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE VILLAGE PRIEST 
 
 THE Russians boast that they have not a celibate 
 clergy. But they have founded the marriage 
 of priests only verbally, and they have destroyed 
 with the greatest cruelty all that marriage means and all 
 that is dependent on it. Marriage arises from love — -but 
 the Church does not once allow the word " love," and the 
 Russian priest must not marry after his consecration. 
 So really celibacy may be said to exist — and at the same 
 time the cruel, dry hatred for family and marriage. The 
 Eastern Church blames the celibacy of the West and damns 
 it because of the words, " Be fruitful and multiply." 
 This is one of those webs of involved thought which have 
 been brought to light in order to be able to bless and 
 curse at the same time. The seminarist must marry in 
 the few weeks which come between his leaving the 
 seminary and his consecration. In the course of these 
 few weeks he must find a bride from among the clergy 
 in the diocese ; and as love does not always follow to order, 
 the only foundation for the marriage is the commonest 
 and open bargaining for the dowry. The future priest 
 gets a dowry according to whether he has left a seminary 
 or a theological academy — either one or five thousand 
 roubles, wool and silk clothes, table and tea service, silver 
 tea and dessert spoolis, furniture, etc. Among the poorest 
 peasants one would never see such a bargain driven, 
 yet it is not the fault of the clergy, but the Church, which 
 looks on marriage as on the coupling of animals, only in 
 this case it is for life, and all feelings of aesthetical nature, 
 
\ 
 
 co6 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 soul-relationship and afl&nity are banished. The happi- 
 ness that comes from children, the joys of parents, the 
 warmth of the home and the poetry of it, are all to the 
 Russians (except, of course, to the educated classes) 
 absolutely unknown. The Church wills that the wedded 
 pair shall set themselves an object in life, in the same 
 manner that a Roman Catholic missionary baptizes 
 savages — as many as possible, — they wiU undertake to 
 bring up their children to swell the number of those who 
 belong to the Orthodox Faith. No attention is paid to 
 the parents. 
 
 After the wedding the bishop consecrates the priest 
 so that he may find a living, then he puts his wedding 
 ring away and never wears it again all his life. It 
 often happens that a priest is left a widower with one 
 or two children after a short married hfe — and the 
 Church does not allow a second marriage under any 
 condition. And many priests, because of the lonehness, 
 take to drink or card-plajdng, or form liaisons with 
 maid-servants. The first marriage is allowed simply 
 that the Roman Cathohc Chiu-ch may be blamed for 
 cehbacy, and every feeUng of sjmipathy or poetry is 
 taken from it. 
 
 Family life is not looked upon as a happy state. The 
 people find the conditions hard. The whole Bible teaching 
 of marriage is ignored and the bibhcal feeling for the 
 family is unknown. The Church looks upon nwrriage 
 only as a loveless pairing of animals for the multiplication 
 of the himian race, and upon any ideas of bringing light 
 and order into married life, as a return to heathendom ! 
 The parents may hate each other — the Church does not 
 trouble. The first Church authority of the eighteenth 
 and nineteenth centuries was the Moscow MetropoUtan 
 PhilEiret — he is reckoned as a saint and did away with 
 the right of women to sue for divorce, not only for ill- 
 
THE VILLAGE PRIEST 107 
 
 treatment but also for attempt to kill. The Church 
 remains indifferent. 
 
 The Russian village priest is often the poorest of the 
 poor, and is without doubt one of the most interesting char- 
 acters to be met with ; . and meeting him in the street, 
 it is impossible to realize that his was the powerful, tuneful 
 voice just heard and so much admired in the church ; 
 neither could anyone suppose that the dignified, imposing 
 person at the altar was this simple, humble man. 
 
 When he wears his canonicals he seems to change his 
 being. He stands at the altar a born Levite, conscious 
 of his dignity. The son generally follows in his father's 
 footsteps and the characteristic traits are repeated for 
 generations, so as to form a caste. Learning counts for 
 nothing with the peasants who cUng to external things, 
 and to certain forms and ceremonies. The sects which 
 have left the Russian Church separated themselves 
 entirely on the ground of some differences of ceremony 
 and not from any deep-lying convictions. The Russian 
 has not been touched by the quarrels of philosopher^, 
 luch as divided Easr^BH~WSSt7~anxi-h«-pa7s--not!i5ig so 
 unwilUngly as the small sum he hands to the priest. 
 This is all the more strange when one sees how easily the 
 Russian is touched by the wants of strangers. The pope 
 has no fortune and at his death his children cannot fall 
 back on the wedding portion of their mother, for he does 
 not marry, as the protestant parson does, the daughter 
 of some rich peasant who brings a dowry which saves her 
 children from want and distress. No peasant's daughter 
 would marry a pope. It has become the rule for the 
 popes only to marry the daughters of popes, and as these 
 have no fortune, their lot and that of their children would 
 be very bad if they were not looked after in another 
 manner. The bishop looks after them at the father's 
 death. He is the guardian of all the priestly orphans. 
 
io8 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 and if the pope has left a marriageable daughter the bishop 
 tries to find a suitable bridegroom among the candidates 
 for the vacant post. The chosen one receives the daughter 
 and the benefice. But he has to make things right with 
 his future mother-in-law, who generally stays on in the 
 house with her younger children. So the young beginner 
 has to saddle himself in his start, to say nothing of the 
 discomfort of always living with his mother-in-law. But 
 in spite of this the daughters of popes are eagerly sought 
 after by young seminarists. Marriage is not allowed 
 between a layman and the daughter of a pope, except 
 under certain dispensation. If the daughter of the dead 
 pope is not of a marriageable age, the living is not filled 
 until she attains that age, then she marries her father's 
 successor. Formerly the son of a priest was not allowed to 
 enter any profession ; he must either be a pope or a monk, 
 but now he may serve the State or enter the army. When 
 the wife of a pope dies, the pope may not re-marry, and 
 he is declared incapable by her death of carrying on his 
 office ; if he does not return to the laity, he has to become 
 a monk. 
 
 At one time there were evil results from this isolation 
 of the priests. This sharp line was drawn round them 
 to prevent lay persons escaping to them to avoid military 
 service, and then the priestly caste increased to such an 
 extent that there were not enough livings to satisfy all 
 comers. So by the side of the old proletariat there grew 
 up a new one that year by year became a burden to society. 
 
 The famous Russian author, Shtshedrin (Saltykov) 
 has given a vivid description of the village priest, and 
 the following pages are partly based upon Shtshedrin's 
 reminiscences. 
 
 The village priest is, as a rule, very poor, and has only 
 one thought in his mind all the time, and that is, to keep 
 himself and his family from extreme necessity. As it 
 
THE VILLAGE PRIEST 109 
 
 was with the peasant, so it is with him. and if he finds 
 himself in a small, poor parish, he works himself at the usual 
 labour and takes his share of the cares. I am not speaking 
 of the priests of the new school who let out their land, 
 but of the representatives of the old type, who happily 
 are disappearing so quickly that the majority of village 
 priests belong to the last. Even in those places where a 
 new-fashioned " Batjushka " is found, the " Djatshok," or 
 chorister, and the sacristan live on in exactly the same 
 way as their forefathers did. The life of the village, 
 priests is that led by all the lower clergy, because distress 
 is more threatening in its attacks, and their means are 
 still straighter. 
 
 The position of a village priest is much worse than that 
 of an ordinary peasant, for he has larger calls on life— his 
 position has always brought this with it. His house is 
 larger ; he took it over as an official residence, and has to 
 pass it on some day to his successor. There are at least 
 two rooms in tljie house, the heating of which causes much 
 expense. All the year through he has to keep a maid- 
 servant, and in the summer he must have a labourer, as 
 he possesses too many cattle and too much land for him- 
 self and his wife to look after. His clothes and his wife's 
 clothes are more expensive, although neither has any 
 pretensions to finery ; he must keep a samovar and some 
 provisions of different kinds always ready to be able to 
 welcome coming guests, as, for example, the provost, the 
 overseer of the ecclesiastical, provincial authority, different 
 Tshinovniki (officials), the police superintendent, the 
 elders of the community, or just simple travellers, who 
 have been stopped on their way by snow-storms or bad 
 weather — where should they stop ? In the inn is drunken- 
 ness, filth and cold — so on to the priest ! So there is 
 nothing for him to do but to keep the samovar always 
 going and food handy. But his children are what troubles 
 
no HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 the priest most, and he generally has plenty of them. 
 They must be educated, which means that presents must 
 be made for their sake ; they are always wanting new 
 clothes, their board and lodging, first in the provincial 
 town, then in the government cities ; ever5rwhere new and 
 great expenses threaten him, and money is wanting to 
 supply the bare necessities. Then the old walls of the 
 house give way, and the floor is rotten, and the outhouses 
 are a sorry spectacle. The grown-up daughter must have 
 a new dress, for there is a wedding in the parish, and if one 
 did not go to it people would talk. So the " Batjushka" 
 sits late into the night over his books, and thinks how 
 he shall get the money necessary for the new expenses ; 
 he must do his utmost to give the women this pleasure, 
 for they have been looking forward to this wedding for a 
 whole year. His parishioners are poor ; he often goes in 
 procession with the church assistants ; but peasants can 
 only give three or five kopecks : even the village usurer 
 is contented to give twenty kopecks ; so what will be the 
 result from forty or fifty dwellings ? People do not often 
 go to church. The church rents are not enough to supply 
 bread and wine for the communion. Thanksgivings and 
 fees are very few — and weddings also. If he receives a 
 hundred roubles in the course of a year, it only lasts a 
 short time and his miserable income slips through his 
 fingers. His hopes lie in a good harvest, if he works 
 industriously and God should help him ! To each church 
 belong 33 Dessjatinas of land ; two-thirds make the 
 priest's portion, and this is what his hopes are fixed upon. 
 Novelties do not attract the mind of the priest. He has 
 a plough and a wagon, but no manure, for his two cows 
 and five sheep and one horse only suffice to manure the 
 garden. Therefore the harvest from the fields can only 
 be a sparse one. The priest ploughs and harrows, in 
 turns with the labourer, if he has the good fortune to be 
 
THE VILLAGE PRIEST iii 
 
 able to keep one. How well I remember in my early 
 childhood the old " Batjushka," in a long white loos^ shirt, 
 with his hair twisted into a little tail. He leant against 
 the plough and drove his little horse and finished his hard 
 work, without any rest, in two weeks, no one dreaming 
 of helping him. In the harvest, however, he invites his 
 fellow priests to help him, and can reckon himself lucky 
 if a few of them turn up to do so. 
 
 " The food is prepared for forty, and only twenty came ! 
 So I can pour the cabbage broth on the manure heap," 
 he murmurs sadly to himself. The work goes on but 
 slowly ; the priest works the first row, but the peasants 
 do not hurry themselves, they look at the sun, and point 
 to it after two hours' work, meaning it is time to dine. It 
 does not help matters much that a glass of vodka and a 
 piece of black bread with salt has been given to them 
 already, and it has to be repeated to postpone the dinner 
 hour. All the same the work is very slow. Some even 
 throw down their things, sa5dng, " After all, we are not 
 convicts." So there is nothing to do but to hand round 
 the dinner ; the priest and his family do this ; the oats 
 have been prepared with hempseed oil and the meat has 
 the same bad smell as the peasants' — but they forgive 
 the peasant, whereas they reproach the priest. " We 
 have worked until we are tired, and he gives us bad meat 
 to eat." The priest smiles a forced smile after the repast 
 and says, " Now, gentlemen of the community, please 
 reap for another hour, before starting on the way home." 
 But already half of the reapers are well on their way, 
 and soon the others go home in dead silence without 
 singing. 
 
 It is fortunate if the priest's sons come home for the 
 holidays in time to help with the hay. The eldest has 
 already finished his studies in the seminary and reads 
 the Epistle during Mass in a deep bass voice, the younger 
 
112 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 sons already " bellow " as the peasants say, and thanks 
 to their help the " Batjushka " cuts his hay. His wife 
 sometimes tries to invite the village women to lend a 
 hand in the more easy work out of doors, but she does not 
 profit much by their help. 
 
 " It makes one ill only to look at these women," she 
 thinks in her heart, but says out loud, " Little women, take 
 pains to help your spiritual father, do not shake the ears 
 of corn or the wheat will be lost." 
 
 The priest makes up his accounts in the middle of 
 September and is bent with grief. Excepting the seed, 
 he has only from ten to twelve Tshetvert of rye and twenty 
 Tshetvert of oats left to nourish himself and his family, 
 to feed the cattle, and to sell. Some priests keep bees, 
 and these give a little profit, particularly if the old father 
 who lives in the hou^e and who was also a priest, pays 
 attention to them : wax and honey sold in the autumn 
 bring in about 20 to 30 roubles. 
 
 The curiosities of the place are another source of help 
 for the priest, and he collects these. Easter brings him 
 in a supply of eggs and confectionery which will not keep. 
 At funerals and funeral feasts he also gets his share of 
 the bad cakes. After the harvest the priest and church 
 assistants make a procession, and the peasants then 
 shake one or two measures of corn into the wagon, while 
 his wife receives a handful of hempseed. 
 
 In the autumn the priest, like the peasant, must 
 purchase his supplies for the winter ; woe to him if he 
 delays, he will reproach himself the whole winter if he has 
 missed the right moment and has to pay dearer. In his 
 food the village priest also resembles the peasant. Old 
 meal, oats and hempseed oil, stale bread, thin soup, which 
 is only salted when it comes to table to save the flavour 
 from being lost in cooking — this is his daily food ; the 
 samovar and delicacies are only kept to impress strangers 
 
THE VILLAGE PRIEST 113 
 
 with the fact that the priest knows how to live " like a 
 man." Really his life is much harder than that of the 
 peasant. He must never expect to attain to any position 
 of comfort, and the future is looked forward to with dread ; 
 for with age he will lose his place. His sons can be no 
 support to him. After their studies are finished they 
 go away to earn their bread, the daughters stay at home 
 for who will marry such poor girls ? His sad thoughts 
 he can share with no one — for with all his poverty he is no 
 peasant ; he does not know what to do all the long winter 
 evenings. He knows no handicraft, everyone cannot 
 write sermons and there is always a thick volume handy. 
 He walks up and down his room, evening after evening, 
 looking at the portraits of the archbishops, and is glad 
 when it is nine o'clock and the thin soup is served, and he 
 can go to sleep after the short prayer. He dreams that the 
 commission for the betterment of material things has 
 ordered that the stipends of priests should be raised 
 He tells his wife this, who rephes, " Well ! feed the cattle ! 
 Later on we will lay the cards to see if your stipend is 
 going to be increased ! " 
 
 Years pass in this way, monotonous years and full of 
 care. The village priest dreams of promotion to another 
 richer parish ; this hope is scarcely ever realized ; he is 
 poor and has no influence ; he can reckon himself happy 
 if he keeps his place when age creeps on. How difficult 
 life is for him ! When he gets one of his daughters married 
 he has to beg his fellow-clergy for help, look up old bene- 
 factors, drive to town to address all shopkeepers in turn 
 as " sons of the true faith." Everywhere he hears, 
 " Come, Uttle father, shall we have a drink ? " The 
 result of such a call is brilliant if he received a bank-note 
 for three roubles towards the dowry. What expenses, 
 what disturbances there are in the family about this 
 wedding ! He must kill a cow, make debts, and it will 
 8 
 
114 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 be a long time before he recovers from the effects 
 of it. 
 
 The daily cares go on meanwhile just the same — there 
 has not been enough rain and the whole harvest is suffer- 
 ing ; soon there is too much rain and the corn begins to 
 rot. Comfortless, the " Batjushka " wanders in his white 
 shirt over the farm, looks up at the clouds and sighs : 
 " We shall not have enough corn to sow ! " Then he re- 
 members that mushrooms will grow in damp weather, so 
 he goes off to get some. Then he sees a blue spot in the 
 sky ! . . . Thank God, perhaps to-morrow the sun will 
 shine ! The whole village wakes up in fine weather. 
 The priest, assisted by his family, hurries to bring the 
 sheaves under the roof and thresh the corn. The corn is 
 very light, of a bad quality, the harvest 25 per cent, worse 
 than last year's. So his struggle for the daily bread 
 never ceases ; wherever he looks he is threatened. His 
 children away have forgotten their old father ; he is getting 
 old and troubles come thicker and thicker ; he finds it 
 difficult now to read print ; his hand can hardly carry 
 the heavy altar cross, and he can no longer work in the 
 fields, and he can hope for help from nobody ! His 
 eldest son has been teaching in the seminary for ten years ; 
 the second is a priest in Siberia ; the third has not succeeded 
 at anything, and fills the miserable post of Chancery clerk. 
 His daughters are married and have their own troubles 
 about their children ; the youngest went into a convent. 
 The " Batjushka " has let his little piece of land, and drags 
 on a dtoll existence with his wife, who is already very feeble. 
 They have but few wants, but in the background there 
 lurks that terrible moment when he will be superannuated. 
 Then a new priest will come. The old one sells the house 
 and withdraws into a hut where he lives on the wretched 
 crumbs which fall from the miserable table of his suc- 
 cessor — if the said successor be kind enough to permit this. 
 
THE VILLAGE PRIEST 115 
 
 According to old custom the chorister accompanies 
 the " Batjushka " in his begging for com and eggs, but his 
 portion yearly grows smaller and smaller. 
 
 Such is the life of the village priest in Russia. The 
 Church possesses untold wealth, the higher clergy live in 
 abundance and luxury, but the pope, the village priest, 
 drags on a miserable existence. How is he to have any 
 influence over the moujiks, or gain the latter's respect ? 
 
 Many priests without livings go to St Petersburg, 
 Moscow, and other cities, and offer their services to rich 
 persons, who have chapels in their own houses and wish 
 to hear Mass in them. But the Russian has a trading 
 spirit and buys nothing without trying to beat down the 
 price. He holds it his duty to hear Masses, but he prefers 
 hearing them said by him who charges the least. When a 
 Russian looks for someone to say a Mass, there is generally a 
 noisy auction outside the church door. Many funny stories 
 are related in Russia about dealings with popes. If the 
 bargain was long in the making, the pope would take a 
 piece of bread or cake out of his pocket and threaten to 
 bite a piece off, then for that day he would be in- 
 capacitated from saying Mass. Many would accept the 
 price, simply through fear of not being able to procure a 
 Mass for that day. But there were others who knew 
 Avith whom they were dealing, who would answer quietly : 
 
 " Well, bite then, little father ! if you do not say the 
 Mass for me, another will ! " 
 
 And the little father thought about it. Saint Ambrose 
 was hated by the popes, and his horrible murder was the 
 consequence of this hatred. There is great improvement 
 in the condition of the popes to-day when their sons are 
 jiot obliged to follow in their father's footsteps. You meet 
 the sons of popes now among the professors at the 
 University, among officials and merchants. And from 
 a social point of view the position of pope has improved 
 
ii6 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 in the last twenty years. Before the liberation he was 
 despised by landowners and badly treated, but he had to 
 put up with everything. Money had weight in those days 
 and an influential landowner could easily ruin him. If he 
 were quite submissive a little present might come his way, 
 and this was useful for his family in their straitened cir- 
 cumstances. Poor he always was ; to better his position 
 means to go right down to the root of matters, which is not 
 to be expected of his spiritual superiors. He never had 
 a fixed salary. To-day he gets his income from the land 
 appointed to him, and from burials, baptisms and presents 
 of money or provisions which are given to him on the 
 procession with the holy pictvure. That is his great day, 
 for if every one gives even a little the store-room is filled 
 for a while. His wife generally goes with him, ostensibly 
 to help to carry, but in reality because people give more to 
 her. The law forbids the pope's wife to accompany her 
 husband. 
 
 A Protestant pastor would be out of place in a Russian 
 village ; the Russian peasant does not want a man to preach 
 well and sometimes touch his conscience, nor one who will 
 read the Bible to him, for the Russian peasant does not 
 lay so much weight on Bible reading as the Protestant 
 does ; but the peasant does exact that the pope shall be 
 thoroughly acquainted with the rules and ceremonies of 
 his church, and that he consciously shall not deviate from 
 the old customs. 
 
 The clergy in Finland are the exception, for there they 
 are, as a rule, well paid. Their houses are generally near 
 the church ; some fields go with it, but they are rented to 
 a peasant. The old clergy have auxiliaries, and there are 
 " Chapels " which are served from the Mother Church. 
 The clergy are looked up to with respect, and their life 
 is very different from that of the Russian popes. The 
 clergjTnan represents the Government on certain occasions. 
 
THE VILLAGE PRIEST 117 
 
 All the education the Finn has is due to the clergy, and the 
 results are very good. The striving of the Firm after 
 knowledge is favourable to this. There are newspapers, 
 and thousands of people take them in. The peasant sits 
 in the window to get the last gleam of light and reads his 
 paper. Many of the peasants' sons have worked well, 
 and after studjnng at Helsingfors have become clergjonen, 
 professors, lawyers, judges and merchants, all by their 
 own endeavours. Only in a small part of Finland were 
 the peasants serfs, and that was in the part which first 
 became Russian. The Finn is not a wanderer like the true 
 Russian ; he loves the land where he was born, he has no 
 wish to leave his home, and seek his fortune in a foreign 
 land. 
 
 " It is better to drink water out of a shoe in your own 
 land, than to drink mead (honey drink) out of a golden 
 goblet in a strange land." 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 RELIGIOUS LIFE 
 
 HAVING spoken of the village priest, it will be 
 necessary for the better understanding of his 
 wretched life and miserable condition to acquaint 
 the reader with the Russian's religious life in general, as 
 well as with the spirit of Sectarianism and the Raskol. 
 .■nZ^issian religion centres on the other side of the grave. 
 One would say that Russia finds the earthly life of the 
 Saviour too coarse and real. It listens with half-closed 
 ears to the teaching parables and commandments of the 
 Redeemer ; it keeps them in its memory, but not in its 
 mind. But when the Redeemer comes to the Cross, 
 Russia is attentive and opens its ears, and its heart beats. 
 Christ is dead, then Russia is full of anxiety. It is no 
 story, but a warm-blooded fact for Russia. It has hved 
 through the whole unspeakable sorrow of Golgotha. But 
 that is not all, that is not the " Quintessence of Russian 
 Faith." In the Gospel are to be read certain short 
 chapters about his life beyond the tomb. He appears to 
 his disciples, and disappears. His words are few and 
 secret. And his speeches and appearance bear the sign 
 of the secrets from the other side. The Russian has 
 grasped the beauty of death ; he understands the enig- 
 matical splendour of it ; he knows how to die, and in 
 sickness and in sorrow he is a fine being. He dreads 
 sudden death without confession, and courts battle with 
 death, that at least helps to blot out his sins. Life appetirs 
 black to him, but everything seems brilliant and white 
 as death approaches. Life is the night, death is the rising 
 
 118 
 
RELIGIOUS LIFE 119 
 
 of the sun. In youth and in the flower of his age, the 
 Russian is not a church-goer, but when once he has passed 
 his fiftieth year sicknesses fall on him, and sorrow has 
 entered into the family, and his fortune has disappeared, 
 or he has not been able to earn as much as he dreamed of 
 in his youth, he becomes religious. His children have 
 left him and think but little of their parents. He finds 
 himself unnecessary, and lonely, and he steps into a church 
 and finds there everything which he desires, and the church 
 does not notice that he has lost everything and is forsaken 
 by friends and relations, but receives him as a friend with 
 gentle pity and forgives him his spoilt, disorderly life. A 
 thousand fine threads bind him to the Church, so honoured 
 by his country, and which has so much historical signifi- 
 cance. And he finds again, as it were, a situation and a 
 wage, for in the Russian Church poverty and weakness 
 and misery are treasured as positive virtues. Theatres,, 
 plays, pleasures and joys are to him an abomination. He 
 has found Christ, but the Christ of the Resurrection. The 
 pale face of the Lord, with his winding clothes, in which 
 Joseph of Arinjathea and Magdalene have wrapped him, 
 attract him. Every old man and woman in Russia keeps 
 a bundle of white pieces of linen, stitched in a certain 
 manner, to serve for their grave clothes, and a cross made 
 of cypress wood (never of metal) to hang round their necks 
 when they lie in their coffins. This bundle is taken with 
 them on their journeys, so that there shall be no mistake, 
 and that if they died suddenly, they should not be buried 
 in the linen prepared for someone else. When a man dies, 
 women, only women, may wash him, for man is bom of 
 woman, and must also be laid in his coffin by women. 
 He is dressed in his shirt, and everything costly, such as 
 gold and silk, is removed. A nun reads the psalms of 
 David by his coffin all the time until the burial. The 
 Church sends a gold embroidered cover for the dead man. 
 
120 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 and although no one has said it, and it is written nowhere 
 that he is now a priest, yet the thoughts of the lookers-on 
 reach further than the words of the regulations. Great 
 wax candles stand round him, in shining silver candle- 
 sticks. Three candles are lighted and the Psalms are read. 
 Dead beings are higher, holier than men ; any man from 
 the ancient world would say, " These people have as many 
 gods as there are dead people; the dead wear priests' 
 clothes and incense is swung before them, and they read 
 the psalms and intone prayers." And this seems to be 
 the germ of Russian religion. 
 
 Kieff was the cradle of Christianity in Russia ; the exact 
 date at which it was preached here is unknown, but there 
 is a clause in a treaty between Prince Igor and the Emperor 
 of Constantinople dated 945 which reads : 
 
 " No Russian, baptized or unbaptized, shall cause a 
 rupture with Greece." 
 
 This proves that there were Christians at Kieff at that 
 date ; but it was not until 988, under Prince Vladimir, 
 that the pagan god of Kieff was thrown down, publicly 
 beaten with sticks, and the whole population baptized in 
 the waters of the Dnieper. The Russian Church was 
 founded under the auspices of the patriarchs of Con- 
 stantinople, has always remained in communion with the 
 Greek Church, and has acknowledged for centuries the 
 supremacy of the patriarch of Constantinople. 
 
 In his efforts for the centralization of Russia, Peter the 
 Great desired to be head of the Church, and thenceforward 
 the latter was placed under the authority of the Tsar, 
 and administered by a college of prelates and function- 
 aries under the presidence of a metropohtan. This 
 college was named the very Holy Synod. As regards the 
 external powers of the Chiurch, they are vested in the 
 Tsar even more fully than in the Pope, he appoints every 
 priest to the different churches ; and they are as subject 
 

RELIGIOUS LIFE 121 
 
 to him as any layman. But on doctrinal questions, 
 although supreme head of the Orthodox Church, the Tsar 
 may not pronounce, but must consult the Holy Synod and 
 the Eastern patriarchs for the most trifling modification. 
 A significant trait of the Orthodox Church is that the chief 
 procurator of the synod is a layman, the Tsar's creature, 
 interpreter of his will. Each department of Russia has 
 its bishop, and each bishop has under him a consistory 
 composed of lay members ; the minor clergy are absolutely 
 subordinate to the episcopal authority. The relations of 
 Ambrose, Arkhierey of Pensa, with Alexander I., show the 
 very real independence of the ecclesiastical authority in 
 matters of faith. This archbishop was known by his 
 subordinates as Ambrose the Terrible, because of the 
 severity of his administration. As regards the civil 
 authorities he was powerless to act, but he never lost an 
 opportunity of censuring them. While he was celebrating 
 the offices in his cathedral he thought nothing of re- 
 primanding the Governor, or the Chief of the Police, or 
 any dignitary who appeared to be inattentive. 
 
 In 1824 tlxe Emperor Alexander I., having annotmced 
 his intention of visiting Pensa, the town began prepara- 
 tions long beforehand to receive him. Streets were 
 cleaned, and the various public edifices repaired and 
 embellished, but the arkhierey made no attempt to restore 
 the episcopal palace, falling in ruins, and did not even 
 cause the dirt to be cleared away in front of it. The 
 Governor dispatched the Chief of the Police to request that 
 the Archbishop would have the space in front of his palace 
 swept before the Emperor's arrival. 
 
 " Very good," said the arkhierey, " the dirt can be 
 cleaned up, but how will you cleanse the dirty acts which 
 you and the Governor are continually committing ? 
 Though we should bury you underground, your dirty 
 works would still remain." 
 
122 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 The civil authorities had decided to receive the Emperor 
 at the principal door of the cathedral, but the Archbishop 
 strenuously opposed it, and declared that the reception 
 must take place at the southern door, and there he took 
 up his position with all his clergy, and with banners fljnng. 
 
 The Governor and Chief of the Police represented in 
 vain that the Emperor would be obliged to mount very 
 steep steps, the Archbishop rephed briefly : 
 
 " I am the Archbishop, and I have the right to make 
 such arrangements as I Uke." 
 
 The Tsar protested that his legs were painful, and that 
 he thought the staircase, very steep, upon which the 
 Archbishop replied : 
 
 " Do your legs hurt you when you dance ? " and 
 escorted the Tsar up the steep staircase. 
 
 Upon reaching the porch Alexander was preparing to 
 kiss a statue carried by a priest before receiving the 
 'Archbishop's blessing, when, to the amazement of the 
 crowd, the Archbishop stopped him and signed to him to 
 bow to the ground. The Tsar obeyed, and was again 
 advancing to the statue, when the Archbishop once more 
 stopped him, and intimated that he must bow three times. 
 The Tsar obeyed, and then proceeded to kiss the statue. 
 
 The service over, the Emperor was escorted to the 
 apartments prepared for him in the Governor's palace. 
 As he was preparing to rest, the cathedral bells started a 
 furious peal ; the Archbishop had decided to come at 
 that late hour to sprinkle the apartments with holy water, 
 and was advancing in solemn procession with his clergy. 
 
 Alexander dispatched an adjutant to say that he could 
 not receive him at that moment, but Ambrose continued 
 peacefully on his way. On reaching the palace. General 
 Dibitsh advanced to meet him. 
 
 " As adjutant-general of the Tsar, I convey to you his 
 Imperial order to return home." 
 
RELIGIOUS LIFE 123 
 
 " You are the adjutant of an earthly Tsar," replied the 
 Archbishop coldly, " I am the adjutant of the Tsar of 
 heaven." 
 
 " I forbid you to enter," cried the General beside himself. 
 
 " There is no earthly power which can bar the passage 
 of our Lord's cross," replied the Archbishop calmly, and 
 entered the Tsar's apartments in the same quiet way. 
 
 Alexander was compelled to rise and receive his im- 
 portunate guest, and also to listen to a very biting sermon. 
 
 The next morning a review was to be held, and also a 
 solemn service at the cathedral. The Tsar dispatched 
 his adjutant with the request that the Archbishop would 
 begin the Mass at six o'clock, and would finish the service 
 as soon as possible. 
 
 ' ' Tell the Emperor, "said Ambrose, ' ' that I shall begin my 
 service neither earlier nor later than usual, and shall make 
 it neither longer nor shorter than the Church ordains." 
 
 Before the morning service a night Mass was being 
 celebrated at the cathedral, and towards two o'clock 
 the Tsar was awakened by the pealing of the bells. He sent 
 word that the bells were not to be rung again that night. 
 
 " Here the commands of the King of Heaven are obeyed, 
 and not those of an earthly sovereign," said the Arch- 
 bishop, and an hour later the largest bells of the cathedral 
 rang a furious peal. 
 
 We have here a striking example of the impunity enjoyed 
 by an ecclesiastical famous for the austerity of his life and 
 his great virtue. And things are changing very slowly in 
 Russia. The Russian clergy is divided into two classes — 
 the black and the white. The black clergy is composed of 
 monks, who have taken vows of abstinence and chastity ; 
 the higher clergy is recruited from their ranks. The parish 
 priests, or white clergy, are allowed to marry, have no 
 sort of independence, and are barely respected by their 
 parishioners. 
 
124 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 In his poem, " Who lives a happy hfe in Russia ? " the 
 great poet Nekrassoff has depicted, with truth and pathos, 
 the hard hfe of a Russian pope. 
 
 He tells the story of seven moujiks who set out to 
 discover what class of men were the happiest in Russia. 
 On their way they passed moujiks, like themselves, 
 workmen, soldiers, beggars, people of the poorer classes, 
 whom they did not trouble to stop. 
 
 As night was coming on, they met a pope ; the peasants 
 bowed low, and barred the way. 
 
 " Do not be afraid," said the peasant Louka, " we are 
 not brigands, we are honest moujiks, former serfs of the 
 province Suffer-Pain, the parish Empty-Larder, the villages 
 of Rags, Bare-Feet, Famine, and Hunger. Our quest is 
 serious, so serious that we have left homes and work, and 
 have lost all desire for food in our anxiety to gain our end. 
 Give us your word of honour that you will answer our 
 questions without laughter and without subterfuge, 
 according to convenience and reason." 
 
 The pope gave his desired promise on his word of 
 honour. 
 
 " Listen," said the peasant, thanking him ; " we met by 
 chance, going to work, and a discussion arose as to the 
 happiest class in Russia. Roman said the nobles were 
 the happiest, Demyan said the official, I said the pope ; 
 no, it is the merchant, said the brothers Goubine ; Fakhom 
 said the minister, and Prov said the Tsar. The moujik 
 is like an ox ; if he gets an idea into his head, you cannot 
 beat it out. The discussion became so heated that we 
 decided not to return home, never to see our wives, 
 children, or the old folk until we discovered who is the 
 happiest man in Russia. TeU us, you who live an honest 
 life, are you happy ; is the life of a pope peaceful ? " 
 
 The pope lowered his eyes in thought. 
 
 " Christians," he said, " it is a sin to murmur ; I carry 
 
RELIGIOUS LIFE 125 
 
 my cross with resignation. Listen, I will put the truth 
 before you, and you must endeavour to understand me. 
 In what does happiness consist ? In tranquillity, riches, 
 and honour, isn't that so, my friends ? " 
 
 " Yes," they replied. 
 
 " Well, let us see what tranquillity falls to the lot of 
 the pope. I might in truth begin from his birth, and 
 inquire how the priest joins the priesthood, but we will 
 pass over that. The roads of our parishes are impractic- 
 able ; the sick, the dying, the new-born infant do not 
 choose their hours ; in summer, in autumn, in winter, in 
 spring I must be ready at any hour to go wherever I am 
 called. And if I come home with broken bones, that 
 might pass ; but no, it is the tortured soul that bleeds. 
 Don't believe, Christians, that the heart can get accus- 
 tomed to anything, to the groans of the dying, the 
 sobbing by the graveside, the tears of the orphans. Do 
 you still ask whether the pope's life is tranquil ? " 
 
 The moujiks bowed, and asked him to proceed. 
 
 " And now, my brothers, what are the honours a pope 
 receives ? It is a delicate question, and I do not wish 
 to offend you. Tell me whom have you nicknamed the 
 race of Stallions — answer my question ? " 
 
 The moujiks kept silence. 
 
 " Whom do you fear to meet on your way ? Of whoni 
 do you tell coarse jokes, and of whom do you sing obscene 
 songs ; upon whose head do you pour every kind of accusa- 
 tion ? What do you say of the pope's honest wife, of his 
 innocent daughter, of the seminarists ? Whom do you 
 pursue with jeering cries ? " 
 
 " It is not our fault, it dates far back," cried the moujiks. 
 
 " Amen," said the pope, " I was not blaming you, but 
 you asked for the truth, and I gave it to you. So much 
 for the honour paid us by the moujiks. Now for the 
 nobles." 
 
126 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 " You can leave the nobles," cried the men, " we know 
 what they are worth." 
 
 " Let us take now the riches possessed by the pope. It 
 is not long since the empire was overrun by Seignorial 
 domains. The nobles flourished and provided us with a 
 livelihood, numerous were the marriages, numerous the 
 new-bom infants ; though sometimes harsh, these lords 
 were generous ; we married them, we baptized their 
 children, we confessed them, we buried them. If certain 
 lords lived in the town they returned to their villages to 
 die. The lords have disappeared, no one remains to give 
 the pope a present of a cassock or to embroider a veil of 
 the chalice. We must live upon what the moujiks can 
 spare, pick up his coppers, his meat patties, or his eggs on 
 Easter day. The moujik himself is poor ; he would like 
 to give, but he cannot ; and some popes cannot bear to 
 take the moujiks' coppers. Our villages are poor, the man 
 is ill, the woman nursing a child, good, pious, laborious 
 women. God help them, from the hand of these labourers 
 it is hard to receive money. What a terrible sight it is 
 when the moujik's family is about to lose its head. I assist 
 at the dying man's bedside ; his old mother holds out her 
 withered, bony hand, my heart contracts at the sight of 
 the two copper pieces. It is no doubt honest, a remunera- 
 tion for my services ; if I did not accept it I could not live ; 
 but the words of consolation die on my lips, and I return 
 home with a heavy heart and outraged feelings. Amenl" 
 
 The pope whipped up his horse on finishing his speech 
 and rode on. 
 
 The six moujiks instantly turned on the wretched 
 Louka. 
 
 " You've cheated us, you blockhead ; so the priests Uve 
 like princes ; their houses reach the skies ; so you've hved 
 in a pope's house for three years, and they live on the fat 
 of the land, and the pope's wife is plump, and his daughter 
 
RELIGIOUS LIFE 127 
 
 fair, and his horse fat, his bees are always satiated and 
 buzz like bells ! You've heard now what a pope's life is 
 like ; what need had you to invent that yarn ? " 
 
 This tale shows that the position of the minor clergy is 
 anything but enviable. The pope is rarely a priest by 
 vocation, but by birth, his father having been a priest 
 before him. The bishop marries him to the orphan 
 daughter of a pope, and appoints him to her deceased 
 father's parish. 
 
 M. Potapenko, a Russian writer, has described the lives 
 of the clergy of all ranks, and the following humorous 
 sketch is from his pen. 
 
 Father Stephan Revoutshi, deacon of Fokmah, after 
 successfully weathering the Archbishop's visitation, went 
 to the khoutoriane (settlers of isolated farms) to enjoy 
 himself. He made this round every year at the beginning 
 of August. 
 
 The parish of Fohmak was very remunerative, but the 
 faithful were lacking in fervour, not so the khoutoriane, 
 well-to-do people, who enjoyed displajdng hospitality ; 
 on returning from his visit to them the deacon brought 
 back so many loaves that five carts barely suf&ced for 
 their transport. This alms was a source of income to 
 him, and provided him with the means of supporting his 
 family through the winter. 
 
 After collecting his usual donations, Father Stephan 
 celebrated his visit to his dear parishioners by copious 
 libations, and presently finding the atmosphere of the 
 khata stifling, the merry crowd poured into the road, 
 singing their joyful refrain ; the deacon's beautiful tenor 
 soaring above all the rest. 
 
 Unfortunately, the Archbishop having changed his 
 route, chanced to pass the khoutor, and the deacon's 
 beautiful voice calling his attention, he ordered his coach- 
 man to approach the joyous group. " Which of you," 
 
128 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 asked the bishop, after exchange of civilities, " possesses 
 that beautiful tenor voice I heard ? " 
 
 Father Stephan did not know where to hide, he had 
 taken off his cassock and was in his shirt-sleeves, an 
 indecorous proceeding in itself, but worse than that, he 
 was unmistakably drunk. He got behind four farmers 
 and a woman. The Archbishop repeated his question. 
 Everyone knew that the fine tenor could be no other than 
 Father Stephan, and wishing to glorify their pastor before 
 his superior, and Unconscious of his danger signals, they 
 promptly replied, " Father Stephan." 
 
 The Archbishop's eyes flashed. 
 
 " Which of you is Father Stephan," he thundered. 
 The five broad backs moved apart, and Father Stephan 
 appeared before the prelate, in shirt sleeves, dishevelled, 
 and in a state of utter intoxication. 
 
 Next day the pope received orders to go to a monastery 
 and spend a year and two months in fasting and praying. 
 He had seven children, the eldest only twelve years of age, 
 and the whole family were dependent on his earnings as 
 a deacon. The pope thought the matter over, and as a 
 result of his meditation he appeared at the episcopal 
 palace with his wife and children in a cart. Father 
 Stephan surprised the Archbishop feeding his fowls, and 
 at first he did not recognize the fiery prelate in the 
 simple old man before him ; but realizing that he 
 was in the presence of the Archbishop, he bowed to 
 the ground. 
 
 " What have you come to ask me, Batjoushka ? " 
 inquired the Archbishop, looking with amazement at the 
 deacon and the cart overflowing with children. 
 
 " Your Eminence, I am the deacon of the village of 
 Fohmak, whom you have condemned to do penance in 
 a monastery." 
 
 " Ah, yes, you well deserved it." 
 
RELIGIOUS LIFE 129 
 
 " I have deserved it, your Eminence, and so I am on 
 my way to the monastery to obey your orders." 
 
 " Well, expiate your sin ; penance purifies the soul." 
 
 " It purifies, your Eminence, but I have come to ask 
 your advice before obeying." 
 
 " Well, well, watch over yourself ; meditate, concen- 
 trate your attention on your sins, pray, raise your soul 
 to celestial heights." 
 
 " I will," said the father humbly. 
 
 " But whom have you brought with you ? " aSked the 
 prelate, looking at the cart. 
 
 " My wife and seven children, your Eminence." 
 
 " Seven children, very good ; but where are you taking 
 them ? Are they escorting you to the monastery ? " 
 
 " No, your Eminence, I have brought them to you." 
 
 " To me ? Why ? What can I do for them ? " 
 
 " Whatever God inspires you to do," replied the father. 
 
 " I do not understand." 
 
 " Your Eminence, I have neither relations nor friends. 
 I submit to your holy will. I am going to a monastery ; I 
 am their sole support, I therefore bring my wife and seven 
 children to you as to a father : without me they will 
 perish from hunger." 
 
 The Archbishop frowned, and then his countenance 
 lit up with a smile. " You have a goodly wit, Father 
 Stephan. You wish to leave the care of your family to 
 me. It's a daring but clever move, and though you 
 deserve no pity, as the father of a family I forgive you. 
 Return home, but for the future see that you do not get 
 drunk." 
 
 Father Stephan gave the promise, but the next day, 
 when seven cartloads of bread arrived, he celebrated the 
 occasion with copious libations. 
 
 The pope, like the peasant, has his plot of ground, 
 which he cultivates himself ; between these agricultural 
 
130 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 labours and the duties of his calling he has very little 
 time to spare to educate the young and for the religious 
 instruction of his parishioners. 
 
 The principal Russian sects are the Staroveri, old 
 believers ; the Besfofovtzi, those who reject the priesthood ; 
 the Skoptzi, voluntary eunuchs ; the Stundistes, rationeilists, 
 and the Begouni, who shun the living. 
 
 Of the " old believers," Awakoum is an energetic type, 
 and the incarnate spirit of the sect to which he belonged. 
 
 According to his autobiography he was bom in the 
 department of Nijni-Novgorod, and was the son of a pope 
 addicted to drink and of a mother given to prayer and 
 fasting. He married at the age of nineteen the daughter 
 of a ruined merchant and began his career as a priest. 
 He lived a life of great austerity. Upon one occasion 
 having received in the confessional a young girl's avowal 
 of her seduction, he felt within him the fire of concupis- 
 cence ; he immediately lit three candles and held his hand 
 over the burning flames until he no longer felt the fire 
 within. 
 
 He was no less severe with his parishioners and never 
 ceased to reproach them for their vices, and openly blamed 
 the clergy for neglecting their duties. 
 
 Before a full church he accused the Chief of Police 
 of seducing the daughter of a widow. This high of&cial 
 fell upon the pope, dragged him down the steps in his 
 vestments, and rained blows upon him. He finally drove 
 him from his parish, and confiscated his goods. Awakoum 
 was compelled to take refuge in Moscow, where at that 
 moment the revision of the text of the Scriptures was in 
 progress — one of the most important acts of the Orthodox 
 Church. The work had been undertaken by the Patriarch 
 Nicon, and was based upon ancient manuscripts found in 
 the monastery of Athos. Awakoum became the declared 
 opponent of any revision, as being contrary to God's 
 
RELIGIOUS LIFE 131 
 
 will : the old text could contain no error. He persisted 
 in crossing himself with two fingers instead of with three, 
 according to the new rite. 
 
 Awakoum was thrown into prison, and by the Patri- 
 arch's order certain priests were dispatched to convert 
 him from his errors. But it was of no avail, and after 
 suffering great tribulations he was exiled to Siberia and 
 put under the orders of the voivode Pashkoff. Pashkoff 
 was a cruel man who delighted in inflicting torture on 
 those round him ; he had been given orders to treat 
 Awakoum with severity, and he did not fail to do so. 
 Any other but Awakoum would have endeavoured to 
 please Pashkoff, but from the very beginning Awakoum 
 openly blamed him for his irregular life, and the voivode 
 gave orders that he should receive seventy-two lashes, 
 and be thrown into prison. 
 
 The pope describes the tortures he suffered in his 
 autobiography : " The dungeon was icy cold, but God 
 warmed me though I was as naked as a puppy in his 
 straw. I kept asking myself will they bring me food, 
 or not ? I was assailed by legions of rats, and defended 
 myself as best I might, as my stick had been taken from 
 me. I lay on my stomach, for my back was lacerated." 
 
 Awakoum was left at the mercy of Pashkoff for six 
 years, when he was recalled to Moscow by the Tsar's 
 orders. 
 
 Nicon had fallen into disgrace, and Awakoum became 
 the favourite of the Tsar, who gave order that he 
 should be lodged in the Kremlin, and came there him- 
 self to ask for the pope's blessing and prayers. 
 
 The authorities besought Awakoum to accept Nicon's 
 reforms which had survived his fall; they offered him 
 considerable sums of money, and the post of confessor to 
 the Tsar. Awakoum was on the point of yielding when 
 Christ appeared to him in person : " Dost thou desire to 
 
132 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 be lost ? Keep careful watch." The pope fell on his 
 face. " Lord," he cried, " I will have nothing to do with 
 the new rite." 
 
 From that moment Awakoum openly reproached all 
 those who had accepted the new rites, even the Tsar him- 
 self. The patriarchs in vain repeated that Rome, Servia, 
 Palestine, and Poland made the sign of the cross with three 
 fingers, whilst he persisted in using only two. " Sirs," 
 cried the old man, " Rome is overthrown and remains in 
 humiliation, the Poles are lost with her, yourselves suffer 
 violence from the Mohammedans of Turkey." And after 
 abusing them roundly, " I am sure," he added, " it is 
 better to be alone and do God's will than to do evil in 
 company with thousands." 
 
 These bold words met with their reward ; the patriarchs 
 fell upon him, beat him, and sent him with his adherents 
 to prison on the Petshora. There he remained fourteen 
 years, and not only did not cede on a single point, but 
 protested more vigorously than ever against Nicon's 
 reforms, accepted by the Tsar and the ecclesiastical 
 authorities. 
 
 In 1681 he addressed a letter to the Tsar Theodore 
 Alexievitsh which gave him his coup de grace. The letter 
 concludes with these words : " Give me my liberty, Sire, 
 that like Elijah the prophet I may destroy all the Niconians 
 in a day. In so doing I am convinced I should not soil 
 my hands, but ptirify them. In the first place, I should 
 seize the pope Nicon, and quarter him, and then all the 
 other Niconians." 
 
 " God is judge," he continued, " between the Tsar 
 Alexis and myself ; he is in heU ; the Saviour has revealed 
 it to me. That is the reward he has received for his 
 reforms." 
 
 The Tsar gave order to bum Awakoum and his accom- 
 plices alive. When tied to the stake, the protopope 
 
RELIGIOUS LIFE 133 
 
 made the sign of the cross with two fingers, and addressing 
 the crowd, said : "If you sign yourselves thus you will 
 not perish ; but if you abandon this sign your town shall 
 be buried under sand, and the end of the world shall 
 come." 
 
 As the flames reached the sufferers, one of Awakoum's 
 companions began to shriek, then the pope bent to him 
 and exhorted him to die stoically, and the martyrs were 
 silent whilst the flames consumed them. 
 
 It must, however, be pointed out that the Russian 
 religious sects are to a great extent the result of political 
 rather than reKgious causes. For in Russia religion is 
 often a pretext for revolt against a new order of things. 
 The Russian Raskol was first heard of when Moscow, 
 with the purpose of centralizing the power, tied the 
 peasant to the land, impeded free commerce, and created 
 officialdom. 
 
 The Great Russian is by nature a nomad, an excellent 
 colonizer, ever in quest of some new country abounding 
 in milk and honey. The Raskolnik is therefore not a 
 religious Dissenter but a social and poUtical one. In the 
 wealthy merchant classes the Bespopovtshina, a group 
 separated from the Established Church and the Tsar's 
 creed, was formed as a sign of discontent. The only 
 means of avoiding slavery for the peasant was flight : 
 some of them joined the Cossacks in the steppe, the 
 majority of whom are Raskolniki. Others, feeble and 
 degenerate, roamed the forest, leading a vagabond's life, 
 and in the delirium of ecstasy, or dreamy exaltation, they 
 decided to have done with life and mounted the funeral 
 pile which they had prepared and fired with their own 
 hands. It is notable that the Raskolniki have always 
 played the chief role in every popular uprising in Russia. 
 The Cossack Razine, who threatened the power of the 
 second Romanoff ; the Stieltzi, who opposed the reforms 
 
134 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 of Peter the Great ; Pougatsheff. who imperilled the 
 empire of Catherine II., were all Raskolniki. 
 
 It would be erroneous therefore to suggest that these 
 movements arose from anything but economic problems, 
 even though they have been occasionally connected in- 
 cidentally with religion. Without the iniquitous laws of 
 serfdom imposed upon a free people by Boris Godounoff, 
 we may assume that Russian Dissenters would never have 
 been heard of. This explains the Raskolniki' s hostility to 
 any institution which supports the new regime. One of 
 their sects, the Begouni, declares that the first duty of a 
 Russian is to suppress passports and papers of identity ; 
 the second duty of the wise is to abandon parents and 
 family and retire to deserted spots where he is unknown, 
 and for ever to Hve in fear of being pinioned and punished ; 
 for all earthly power belongs to Antichrist, and those who 
 acknowledge this power put themselves at the service of 
 Antichrist. Many of their doctrines are similar to those 
 of the Anarchists. 
 
 " You should never recognize civil law ; never celebrate 
 the feasts of the Tsar ; never pray for him ; never allow 
 your son to do military service, nor to soil himself by 
 marriage." 
 
 The following is a typical declaration of faith from the 
 pen of a Begoun, Semionoff, published by the Russian 
 Government among certain documents relating to the 
 Raskol : — 
 
 " The only means of learning the truth is to fly from 
 the authorities, and to live an isolated hfe in the desert. 
 The reign of Antichrist is here ; your Emperor is his 
 representative, a descendant of Peter the Great, who 
 caused a census of the people to be taken. ... I do not 
 recognize the Code, because the Tsar is not a Christian ; 
 he has not the true religion. Do with me what you will. 
 God no doubt has abandoned me ; I must carry my cross. 
 
RELIGIOUS LIFE 135 
 
 If I were to recognize the Tsar's authority I should be 
 false to God." 
 
 Many of these sectarians hold by this declaration ; 
 simple vagabonds, they roam from department to de- 
 partment, believing it to be sinful to have a fixed home, or 
 family ties, or to live in peaceful calm during Antichrist's 
 reign. Others work themselves into a state of spiritual 
 exaltation until they feel a call to voluntary mart3n:dom, 
 to sacrifice their hves to Christ that He may have pity on 
 their survivors. When a Begoun has reached this pitch 
 he endeavours to communicate his zeal to others, to 
 inspire them with the same joy he feels himself at the idea 
 of this supreme sacrifice. Among the disciples of this 
 savage sect there are some well-to-do persons who never- 
 theless yield to the Begoun' s exhortations and consent to 
 be waUed up alive or to be burnt alive. 
 
 The story of the Begoun Assafifi who some years ago 
 persuaded fifteen persons of the village of Savino to 
 sacrifice themselves with him, is particularly striking. 
 He was a man of docile character, and until the day he 
 was summoned to do military service had been a good 
 worker. As soon as he was enrolled in the army, he 
 deserted and took refuge in the forests of Olonetz. He 
 changed his name, which was Stephan, to Assaffi, and 
 occasionally paid flying visits to different villages, preach- 
 ing the Begoun' s doctrine, disguising his identity by means 
 of fantastic ecclesiastical vestments. Instead of a cassock, 
 he wore a woman's gown buttoned at the side. Savino 
 was his favourite village, and there he preached that all 
 men were worshippers of the golden calf, who compelled 
 them to bend the knee to him ; and that the only way to 
 escape his authority was to fly to the forests, and to take 
 refuge amid the caverns and hills of Savino. Assaffi's 
 preaching bore fruit. One day four families of fourteen 
 persons were missing in Savino and the neighbouring 
 
136 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 villages — ^ten people of forty or fifty, young girls of eighteen, 
 and even little children of two and four years of age. In 
 the house of one man, a disciple of Assaffi, several sheets 
 of writing were found, which the pope was summoned 
 to decipher. 
 
 " I leave the grey cow to Uncle Athanasius," read the 
 pope, " and the red cow to Navra. I pray that fourteen 
 votchines (woollen garments) may be distributed to little 
 street boys. As to horses, beasts of burden, and carts, 
 pray sell them and give the proceeds to the poor in the 
 name of Christ." 
 
 This singular will, and the memory of the lugubrious 
 preachings of Assaffi, filled the people with fear. The 
 pope and some peasants hurried away to the neighbouring 
 fields ; at some distance they came across a tent erected 
 over a stream such as the moujiks erect on the Epiphany 
 to bless the water in memory of Christ's baptism. 
 
 They hurried to Startzeff 's hut, but where the latter had 
 stood they found a heap of cinders and human remains 
 still smouldering. The air was thick with the smell of 
 bmming flesh ; skulls, entrails, half-burnt livers were lying 
 about. A few steps from this ghastly funeral 'pyxe a httle 
 bag was hanging to the branch of a tree. The pope took 
 it and opening it, found a book containing the doctrines 
 of the Begouni. On the first page the following lines were 
 written in pencil : " John the Theologian. There are as 
 many lines drawn on this page [there were fifteen] as there 
 are persons burnt . . . and the Master Oukinhoffa also 
 ... we have fled, we could no longer be witnesses of your 
 slavery to Antichrist. It is better to die by fire. Assafii 
 baptized us on our way in the Jordan. Upon reaching 
 Startzefi's hut we begged pardon of each other, and then 
 we covered the hut with pitch, and having sealed the door 
 set fire to it ... we are burning. ... It is written in the 
 Apocalpyse : ' Babylon has fallen.' ... St Hippolytus 
 
RELIGIOUS LIFE 137 
 
 has said : ' An impostor has taken the image of the Son 
 of God.' St John the Apostle declares that a persecuted 
 Christian bears Christ within him. As they are per- 
 secuted the Begouni prefer to be burnt alive and to live 
 with Christ." 
 
 A moujik began to sob* " Why do you weep ? " he 
 was asked. 
 
 " Because my wife is among the burnt ; she has followed 
 these holy men, these martyrs, who have glorified the 
 name of Christ." 
 
 The peasants fell on their knees, crossing themselves 
 devoutly and kissing the martyrs' remains. The spot 
 became a place of pilgrimage ; people came from all sides 
 to visit this new Golgotha. The government, fearing 
 infection, gave order for the ashes of the dead to be thrown 
 into the river, and the field to be cultivated. The tree 
 upon which the bag had been found was uprooted and 
 burnt. 
 
 Fortunately these sectarians are becoming very rare. 
 Russia is no longer troubled by the Raskol product of 
 serfdom, which has no raison d'Stre since the reforms of 
 Alexander II. have given hght to the masses of the 
 enfranchised peasants. The moujik is in fact eager for 
 instruction ; he likes to read the Gospel, and freely 
 comments on it. Rationalistic Protestantism would 
 appeal to him. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION 
 
 ONE of the questions which the enlightened Russian 
 finds most puzzhng is the education question. 
 From one end of the Empire to the other men 
 and women combine to bring some light to the Tshiorni 
 narod, the hlack people of the country districts. Out- 
 wardly they all are united upon the point from men like 
 the late Count Tolstoi to officials of the type of the late 
 M. Pobiedonostsef, who was Chief Procurator to the Holy 
 S5Tiod, tutor and favourite counsellor of Alexander III. 
 Conservatives and Liberals pretend to work in unison 
 on this question, but in reality this apparently neutral 
 matter gives rise to lively discussions and ardent battles. 
 Every one is indeed agreed that the people must be 
 educated, but they quarrel as to the methods to be 
 employed. Perhaps those who advised the rehgious 
 reaction which characterized Alexander III.'s reign, 
 Would have preferred to leave the people in their ignorance 
 on secular points, but Alexander III. was even more 
 generous than his counsellors — and probably opposed a 
 methodical system of obscurantism. On one hand the 
 Conservatives, hard pressed, realized that if they did not 
 undertake the education of the people, others would 
 forestall them privately or pubhcly. 
 
 They realized that the surest way of keeping their moral 
 control of the illiterate populace was to supervise their 
 education, and keep it in a fixed channel. There is, there- 
 fore, in spite of all reaction, a syst em of State sc hools. 
 It would be rash to say that the principal^object of these 
 
 133 
 
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION 139 
 
 schools is to save the people from ignorance ; they seem to 
 be chiefly the outcome of government tactics — to have 
 been established as bulwarks against Liberalism rather 
 than as a help for the poor. The y are eminently religi ous : 
 every teaching .i§._s ubordinate tolthe-celigious-teaching,^ 
 and to the maxims of loyalty to be instilled into the 
 children. The development of their intelligence is of 
 small importance provided they can praise God according 
 to the rites of the Church, and pay the Tsar the respect 
 and gratitude to which he is entitled. Such is a dis- 
 passionate account of the religious and parochial 'schools. 
 
 Learning in the schools is more sincerely desired by the 
 other extremity of the political chain, but self-interest 
 also comes into the question. To advanced Liberals the 
 education of the people means to attract them to Liberal- 
 ism. While they are ignorant they will support any 
 burden, but once they can read and can communicate 
 with the thinking portion of the nation, they will under- 
 stand that they do not occupy the position to which they 
 are entitled ; they wUl begin to feel that the yoke they 
 bear is irksome, and that is the beginning of progress. 
 
 Between these two extremes there lie infinite shades of 
 opinion, with as many corresponding schools. Private 
 enterprise has a vast field to work in, and every class of 
 school has a special character according to the convictions 
 of the founder — ^the evil is not so great after all. In spite 
 of all quarrels the children leam the rudiments of know- 
 ledge. They receive a humble but solid education. 
 Later, when they begin to read, time wUl do its work 
 slowly ; but the work will surely be accomplished apart 
 from and above all poMtical factions. 
 
 In Russia there are certain declared enemies of the 
 primary schools ; they are generally to be found among 
 the scum of the higher aristocracy. As we are still 
 describing the various phases of hfe in the country, I 
 
140 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 shall at first give a brief sketch of a village school, leaving 
 the description of the gymnasium and the university for 
 the second portion of this work, when treating of Russian 
 life in towns. 
 
 Russia is divided into thirteen educational divisions. 
 An inspector who is nominated by the Minister of 
 Education is placed in control over each class. The 
 curator has assistants, and nominates teachers to the 
 middle schools, and the head-masters to the elementary 
 schools ; he is the head and revisor of all the universities 
 and schools in his district. 
 
 On the frontiers the character and personal activity 
 of the curator is of particular significance ; he has to intro- 
 duce new methods with the consent of the minister, and 
 is able to change the whole system. In the Caucasus 
 division many alterations have taken place. Where the 
 semstwos rule, in thirty-four circuits, there is a particular 
 kind of school. There were 18,815 semstwo schools in 1903 
 (the latest statistics of schools). Although these schools 
 are under the Minister of Education, the semstwos are 
 the real heads, opening and closing the schools when they 
 please, and choosing their own teachers and books. 
 
 The most important task of the semstwo is arranging 
 the salaries of the school officials. The village generally 
 has charge of the school buildings, and the salaries vary 
 according to district : for instance from 195 roubles in 
 Tula to 430 roubles in Jekaterinslaw. On the frontiers 
 the salaries are higher than in the interior (except Moscow). 
 The^avera ge. sala.ry_i s20o to 300 roubles yearly. Some 
 arrange for a standingsalary wifH~iricfease~after a certain 
 period of service, others have a different arrangement for 
 masters and mistresses, and this depends on their degree 
 of education. The priests are paid for religious instruction 
 30 to 60 roubles yearly, or by the hour, 50 or 60 copecks 
 the hour. The semstwos are obliged to have a priest 
 
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION 141 
 
 for religious instruction, if the schoolmaster has had no 
 theological education. 
 
 The semstwos maintain libraries, and reading-rooms 
 for the masters, and arrange lectures with lantern 
 slides. 
 
 The Russian village teacher has a poor and miserable 
 existence. His surroundings are wretched, his home one 
 room, his salary a minimum, absolutely impossible to 
 keep a family. A friendship with any "suspected" 
 person is sufficient to make him lose his post, and it often 
 happens that a master is discharged on the evidence/ 
 offered by " well-meaning " persons, who have some pettjj 
 spite against him. Once discharged, no inspector wiU 
 give him a post elsewhere. 
 
 Girls and boys get on well together at school, and there 
 is no compulsion to send them to school, but most schools 
 have to refuse a good many children for want of room. 
 There is no external discipline : punishments are seldom 
 given. Corporal punishment is absolutely forbidden, 
 and if a pupil were punished the inspector and the vast 
 majority of the teaching profession would condemn the 
 act. No prizes or rewards are given. 
 
 The pupil who finishes has a certificate or a book, 
 generally a Gospel. The discipline is better in the villages 
 than in the towns, and the presence of girls has a good 
 influence on the boys, who are ashamed playing ugly 
 tricks in their presence. The relations between masters 
 and pupils are really good. If there are two teachers in 
 a school, the work is divided into two parts between 
 them. If there be only one, then he takes three divisions 
 alone. The course lasts four years, and the pupils remain 
 in the third division for two years. The masters speak 
 of the impossibility of a three years' education. 
 
 Town schools, three classes, a six years' training, were 
 founded by Count Dimitri Tolstoy in 1872. They are usef vd 
 
142 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 for the merchant and city classes, and from these schools 
 the pupils can go to the technical schools. 
 
 The material situation of the teacher in the town 
 schools in not better than that of the elementary teachers 
 in St Petersburg schools, but they can be promoted to 
 inspectorships after twenty or twenty-five years' service. 
 
 The Village Schoolmistress. — ^Anna Petrowna Gubina 
 had passed her examination, had received the diploma, 
 " fit to be mistress in elementary schools," when a 
 situation of fifteen roubles monthly was offered her. 
 She accepted it, although she was not really clear in her 
 mind if she had any desire for her calling or love for it. 
 In the autumn, at the beginning of the school year, she 
 entered the village and the school building in which were 
 a small kitchen and a room for the mistress was pointed 
 out to her. So it was not necessary for her, as for many 
 of her fellows, to wander from one peasant's hut to another, 
 and in this way make personally presentations to the 
 peasants. The school was in a roomy building which 
 had formerly, in the times of serfdom, been used by the 
 overseer ; the building was old and decaying, and the 
 peasants had undertaken no repairs ; the stoves smoked, 
 the roofs let the water through, and the wind blew through 
 every crack. The instruction consisted of writing, read- \ 
 ing, the beginnings of grammar, the four rules of arith- ij 
 metic, and Bible history — that was all ! Given a little 
 trouble, in two years the children would know this 
 thoroughly. The village priest saw to the strict caxrjdng 
 out of this programme ; the elder of the village figured 
 as honorary curator ; a landed proprietor figured as 
 patron, but he always lived abroad. 
 
 The school was only attended by boys, but before the 
 children came, the parents arrived to look at the new 
 mistress. 
 
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION 143 
 
 " Only make the children learn something soon ; if 
 they only understand how to read and write and do a 
 little arithmetic ! We want them at home. If they will 
 not take pains, then use the little stick in the corner. 
 Please do your best ! " 
 
 Then she could arrange things. She had a plain, un- 
 painted table and three chairs. In the comer was the 
 overseer's old bed, and some nails still stuck into the wall, 
 on which she could hang her clothes ; and a man-servant 
 did the work at the school and heated the stoves and 
 swept the schoolroom. As regards food, she was informed 
 that her predecessor had dined with the village priest and 
 paid a small sum for this, so that she need only drink tea 
 at home. The priest very readily agreed that she should 
 partake of his meal. 
 
 " Not for the sake of the money," he said. " Who 
 could prepare food for you here ? You will not even be 
 able to get good bread. We ask five roubles monthly 
 for your dinner. We shall not serve you with delicacies, 
 but you shall have enough. You shall come to us daily, 
 and we shall learn to know each other. One thing I must 
 tell you. Your office is not an easy one. Our peasants 
 are obstinate, unfriendly, and pretentious. Every one 
 will demand something difiEerent, so that it wiU be very 
 difficult for you to get on. Your predecessor, Ludmilla 
 Mikhailowna, quarrelled with Wassili Drosd and must 
 have been very glad to get away from him." 
 
 " Who is this Drosd ? " 
 
 " A business man who trades in drink and has a stall ; 
 he has, so to say, the whole community in his hand, and 
 the magistrates think much of him. As he has one son 
 at the school, he wanted to give Ludmilla a present ; she 
 refused to accept it. He was naturally hurt, and black- 
 ened her to the authorities, so that she had to go." 
 
 " Does not that seem rather strong ? " 
 
144 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 " Certainly. Above all go to church regularly. I must 
 tell you that only the Church can comfort us in all the 
 troubles of daily life. -I must also add, that nothing is so 
 dangerous as a want of religious feeling. Besides, it is 
 aimless to wish to tell the future. You are here now, and 
 must try to succeed here. God bless you." 
 
 He was a kind old man, who lived alone with his wife, 
 their children being all out in the world. They both 
 worked from early morning until late at night, and 
 had one maid servant. The batjushka busied himself 
 with the land, although it brought in next to nothing. 
 They both received Anna Petrowna gladly, and she hoped 
 to have found a quiet resting-place with them. She 
 reckoned that with five roubles for dinner and five roubles 
 for tea and baranki (cracknells), five roubles would still 
 remain over from her salary. That seemed quite sufficient 
 for her very modest wants. She had arranged things as 
 well as she could in the house, but she was driven from it 
 two hours every day by smoke from the stove. 
 
 She had hoped to be spared ennui, for in the daytime 
 she was occupied with her pupils; in the evening she 
 prepared her work for them, or read the newspapei- in the 
 priest's house, who received the paper from the overseer. 
 So life was fairly supportable. 
 
 School began and forty boys gathered together; they 
 filled the house with noise and screams. Some were 
 already half grown up and looked insolently at their 
 mistress. It was not easy work for Anna. Her explana- 
 tions were disturbed with roaring ; the boys yelled and 
 imitated animals. She pretended not to hear it, but it 
 cost her much. At last her head ached so violently 
 that she could hardly wait for the end of the morning. 
 
 " Really, I ought to be cross with you for not coming to 
 the school this morning," she said to the priest at dinner, 
 " it would have made the first lessons easier for me." 
 
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION 145 
 
 " I stayed away on purpose," he replied, " so that you 
 should understand your difficulties from the beginning." 
 
 The next day the village elder arrived to ask if the boys 
 were quiet at their lessons, and added — 
 
 " Do not spare them, just remember the rod which 
 stands in the comer ready." 
 
 Two weeks later she made the acquaintance of Wassili 
 Drosd, who came to her room without any ceremony, and 
 throwing a bag on to the table, said : 
 
 " My son is your pupil, take this ! " 
 
 It contained half a pound of tea, sugar, and ham. 
 
 " Enjoy it with health ! Here are also two roubles," 
 he continued, laying the bank-note on the table beside 
 the bag. 
 
 " What do you mean : it is not allowed," she said, 
 getting red. 
 
 " Well, you teach my son." 
 
 " That is my duty ; please take that away." 
 
 Drosd got so angry that his lips became pale. 
 
 " You also despise my well-meant gifts ? " he asked, 
 looking her up and down. 
 
 Anna was going to say, " Leave me," but she thought 
 of her predecessor, and how often she had been warned 
 not to allow herself to be drawn into a quarrel with such 
 an influential person. So she said quite quietly : 
 
 " I am obliged to teach your son ; if you would like it, I 
 will go through his work with him again in the evening." 
 
 " But you will not accept my present ? " 
 
 " Do you know you could do me a great favour in a 
 different way ; the stove in the schoolroom sends out 
 smoke in all directions ; the rain trickles through the roof 
 — ^there you could help." 
 
 " The coamunity must do that ; it is a considerable ^ 
 expense to put in a new stove. Good-bye." 
 
 With these words he put on his cap, seized his presents, 
 10 
 
146 HOME LIFE IN RUSSU 
 
 and went away. She hesitated some moments, and then 
 hurried after him with the words : 
 
 " Please do not be angry ; do not be cross with me ; I 
 cannot accept presents. Send your boy to me in the 
 evening ; I will take especial pains with him." 
 
 Drosd's expression was sneering and he said : 
 
 " Ah ! you are thinking of Ludmilla Mikhailowna ? 
 Well, so far as I am concerned, I will send the boy in the 
 evening. Money I will not give you now, but you must 
 keep this." 
 
 Then he hurried away and Anna Petrowna stood alone 
 in the street with the bag in her hand. 
 
 When later she asked the advice of the batjushka 
 about this thing, he advised her to keep the present. 
 
 " Why do you want to make a fuss about it ? " he asked. 
 " ' Needs must, when the deyil drives,' the proverb says. 
 Refuse to accept it and Drosd will blacken your character 
 everywhere. We have not started the custom, and we 
 cannot change it. Take my advice, and the other villagers 
 will be more friendly towards you." 
 
 And she did meet with kinder treatment. The village 
 elder came to see her, and then some peasants, all with 
 bags. 
 
 Several boys came in the evenings and she had to work 
 with them. She had neither time to read nor to prepare 
 the work for the morrow, and the presents were the cause 
 of all this. The pupils turned out to be talentless and 
 lazy, and she had great trouble with them. But no one 
 blamed her, and Drosd brought her her salary monthly 
 from the town. 
 
 One day the starosta (vUlage elder) went to see the 
 mistress after church, praised her as a zealous Church- 
 woman, and wished her happiness. 
 
 "It is right that you should not forget God. Your 
 predecessor went to church but rarely." 
 
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION 147 
 
 The whole winter she worked hard, so that she had no 
 time to think about herself. She need take no trouble 
 for the future, as she received her salary of fifteen roubles 
 regularly. But what had happened to her ? Had she 
 ever, even in the saddest moments of her life, foreseen 
 that she would be obliged to support such an existence 
 which could only be compared to chronic torpidity ? 
 
 She was an orphan and had never known her parents. 
 A benevolent woman, at whose door she had been placed, 
 had had her educated in an orphanage so that she was 
 able to pass the examinations and receive the diploma 
 as teacher in elementary schools. Then the good soul 
 had found a situation for her and given her some clothes 
 and a little money as dowry. But now Anna Petrowna 
 was entirely her own mistress and she must do the best 
 she could. If anything happened to her, to whom should 
 she go ? Her school friends were scattered, and lived in 
 much the same conditions as herself. All had to fight 
 for their daily bread. She was more than lonely, for 
 even the most lonely person generally knows some one 
 who will stand by him when the chances of life are 
 against him — but she, who would trouble about her ? 
 
 She had never thought that she was pretty, but really 
 the freshness of her youth supplied the want of regularity 
 in her features. Even the parish clerk, who threw her 
 tender glances, did not dare to speak to her of his feelings, 
 because he was married. Yet sometimes he sent her 
 poems in which his thoughts were clearly reflected. Drosd 
 had also whispered to her in passing : 
 
 " Ah, I should like to gild you— if " 
 
 Anna did, not quite understand the poems and did not 
 know how injurious they were to her honour. She was 
 only astonished at the insolent stupidity and felt herself 
 so defenceless that it never came into her mind to complain. 
 Every one knows how easy it is to " unda " a schoolmistress. 
 
148 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 and if she had dared to ask for protection, the only reply 
 would have been : 
 
 " Why do you tell us such stupid things that have 
 nothing to do with us ? " 
 
 So she had to go on and be content with what fate 
 had sent her, because ever5rwhere unpleasantnesses 
 awaited her. 
 
 In April Audrey Stepanowitsh Aigin, who was the real 
 curator of the school, came to visit his property, to sell 
 some of his forests, and go abroad again to spend the 
 money. He thought he would stay until May, in the 
 meantime dismiss the overseer, renew his agreements 
 with the authorities, and inspect the school. 
 
 Aigin was a young man about twenty-seven, as careless 
 and light-minded as a youth. He had never learnt much, 
 and was superficially educated, but it behoved him as 
 proprietor to inspect the school. It meant nothing if he 
 entirely ignored the parish — his name, his payments 
 sufficed to assure him of his importance. 
 
 Audrey Stepanowitsh was visiting his possessions for 
 the second time. He was received as becomes an in- 
 fluential person, and was given to understand that it 
 depended only on himself, at any time, to take part in 
 the government of the parish. He declined the honour 
 with thanks, preferring to wait until the first fires of youth 
 were extinguished and thoughts of avarice had taken their 
 place. It must not be denied that his external appear- 
 ance was attractive, that he was well dressed, and knew 
 how to make himself liked. Only his manners were too 
 easy, and the habit of continually putting on and taking 
 off his pince-nez spoiled the general effect. 
 
 Aigin went to the school, accompanied by one of the 
 committee, the batjushka, and the village elder ; he 
 praised the order and looked so hard at Anna Petrowna 
 that she blushed. Going away he gave expression to his 
 
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION 149 
 
 pleasure in having so pretty a mistress in his school. Till 
 now he had been but seldom in the village, because her pre- 
 decessor had been ugly as sin ; but in the future he would 
 come often. And he added that he wo\ild try to find a 
 place for her in the capital ; it would be a pity that she 
 should pine away in the desert. There was a dinner on 
 the same day, to which all who had anything to do with 
 the school were invited, Anna Petrowna had to appear. 
 From that time Aigin was always in the school. He sat 
 there for hours together, and never took his eyes from 
 her ; when he went away he pressed her hand so hard 
 that her heart beat quickly and the blood rushed to her 
 face. He did not try to please her with flattering speech ; 
 her beauty, her youth, sufficed — both were young, both 
 felt the life-force. Soon he called upon her in her little 
 room, praised it, and said that she was clever to have 
 arranged it so nicely in that miserable house, and then he 
 asked : 
 
 " Why do you not come to see me ? Are you afraid ? " 
 
 " No, I am not afraid," she answered, trembling in every 
 limb. 
 
 " In that case — " he stopped and kissed her hand 
 passionately. 
 
 She seemed bewitched the whole afternoon. She did 
 not know what she was doing. Her heart was full of a 
 sweet, new feeling, and she did not understand it. Her 
 whole being was upset ; she went up and down her room, 
 looked at her clothes, and did not know what to do. When 
 it grew dark, a messenger came and said that Audrey 
 Stepanowitsh invited her to take tea with him. 
 
 She thought, " Oh, how quick ! " Then she felt her 
 heart glow, and she opened the window to cool her head. 
 Half an hour later she was with him. 
 
 The romance lasted but a few days. Aigin went off 
 in a week quite as suddenly as he had come. He was 
 
150 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 not even tender at parting, promised nothing, not even 
 to see her again and only asked casually if she were disr 
 tressed. Naturally she denied. He drove by the school, 
 stopped the carriage, knocked at the window, and Said, 
 " Au revoir." Anna could hardly help moving towards 
 him as if going out, but she mastered herself and smiled 
 sadly. 
 
 He had won her heart without any trouble. He had 
 done a common thing, without seeming aware of it. 
 What was she that his conscience should trouble him ? 
 He had offered her money ; she had not accepted it : that 
 was her affair. He was not the only one : every one did 
 the same thing. It was quite pleasant to get away without 
 tears and reproaches ; all that went to show that she was 
 a clever girl. 
 
 In the village every one knew her adventure ; the young 
 men gave her glances, the old men made fun, the women 
 hated her from now as the " sugar doll " who turned 
 men's brains. 
 
 The parish clerk even dared to ask her direct : 
 
 " Ah, what time shall I come ? " 
 
 And Drosd, who heard it, added : 
 
 " Why do you ask, just go, she requires no preparations." 
 
 The village priest told her he could not longer receive 
 her as a guest. 
 
 " I am very sorry for you," he said, " but as a priest I 
 cannot do it." 
 
 His wife shed tears, as she also spoke her sorrow. The 
 school servant was the only one who showed her any 
 sympathy. When she returned pale and broken from 
 the priest's house, he consoled her with the words : 
 
 " Nitshevo ! Have patience ! the Redeemer suffered, 
 and we must also suffer and be patient. I shall know 
 how to prepare a bowl of cabbage soup for you ! " 
 
 At last she felt, with terror, that she was to become a 
 
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION 151 
 
 mother; it seemed as if a precipice were opening at 
 her feet. It was dark before her eyes, her head hummed 
 all the time. Hands and feet trembled, her heart was 
 restless ; only one thought filled her mind with terrible 
 distinctness. " Now I am lost ! " When the summer 
 holidays began, she shut herself in her room, although she 
 knew that solitude would not save her. " Lost ! " In 
 this word lay her whole future. In the holidays the 
 village boys used to collect before her window and call 
 to her— 
 
 " When is the christening ? " 
 
 But one way out of it remained ; if she could resolve 
 to choose the parish clerk or Drosd or some other in- 
 fluential man as her protector. This filled her with fear. 
 In doubt, without any consolation, she went up and 
 down her room, wringing her hands and trying to dash 
 her head against the wall. As the day began, so it ended : 
 night brought horrible dreams. At last she went into 
 the town to Ludmilla Mikhailowna, whom she did not even 
 know. In the middle of the night she went on foot 
 the twenty versts to the town, hardly knowing where her 
 feet were taking her. " Lost " echoed always in her 
 ears. 
 
 Ludmilla Mikhailowna recfeived her kindly, but ex- 
 plained at once that she was the cause of her own 
 unhappiness. 
 
 " That is something one does not forgive, my dear ! " 
 she said gently, but Anna Petrowna understood that 
 she must expect no help. 
 
 " Help me," she implored, and Ludmilla, touched at 
 last, promised to speak to the mistress of her boarding- 
 house, so that the " guilty " one should be taken in if 
 only as maid-servant, to pass there the critical moment 
 in which her sin woxild be apparent. 
 
 " She will take no maid until the end of the summer 
 
152 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 holidays ; in any case T will give you an answer then," 
 she added. 
 
 On the way homeward, Anna met one of the school 
 committee, who laughed insolently and called to her : 
 
 " Evil reports are circulated about you ; if they are 
 well founded I advise you to keep within bounds." 
 
 He took off his hat and hurried away. 
 
 One day after another passed by and nothing was heard 
 from Ludmilla, nor from the member of the school 
 committee either. 
 
 In September school began again, and Anna Petrowna 
 could scarcely stand on her feet, yet strove to do her duty ; 
 the scholars seemed to suspect and beUeved that she 
 could not control them. They stormed and shouted 
 with all their hearts, and carried on impossible conversa- 
 tions, as, for example : 
 
 " In the Butter Week we shall have two mistresses, not 
 only one." 
 
 Her condition became more and more insupportable. 
 When November came with its moonless nights she could 
 bear it no longer. She went out into the country road 
 and saw the mill dam. The little river ran and foamed, 
 and the rain began to fall. A feeble light was shining 
 in the flower-covered window. Only the great wheel went 
 round and round; elsewhere all was still. She stepped 
 on to the plank which went over the dam, and threw 
 herself into the raging water below. 
 
 Thus a young life, which had hardly begun, ended. 
 She fell a victim to a cruel fate, which she had not deserved. 
 But Anna Petrowna is only one of the many numerous 
 victims who are continually being sacrificed on the altar 
 of human selfishness, lust, and brutality. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE LANDED PROPRIETOR 
 
 SIDE by side with the moujik lives the landed 
 proprietor. He is not the same Russian whom one 
 meets in Society in St Petersburg, in the grand 
 ■monde, at Court, or abroad. Western to all appearances. 
 In the country the Russian noble appears in his national 
 atmosphere, and it is there that we can perhaps get a 
 truer insight into his life, into his national home life. On 
 leaving the modem capital and returning to his estates, 
 the official and courtier again becomes a boyar, and 
 adopts the life of his forefathers. The houses of the 
 landed proprietors are almost European in comfort. 
 Unlike the stately manors of English county families, 
 dating from the eras of the Tudors and the Stuarts — or 
 even earlier — the castles, if castles they may be called, 
 of the Russian landed proprietors are comparatively of 
 recent date, and have no past and no cherished memories. 
 Most of these dwellings are wooden structures and never 
 last more than sixty or seventy years. The castle of the 
 landed proprietor is therefore usually a building consist- 
 ing of a groimd floor with large and lofty rooms. The 
 rooms are comfortably furnished, in many country 
 dwellings in a quaint Russian style, the furniture being 
 the product of home industry, whilst in others the aspect 
 is more European. Indeed, many landed proprietors, 
 when leaving Moscow or St Petersburg for their estates, 
 where they remain during the summer months, take with 
 them not only servants and personal belongings, but also 
 various pieces of furniture to which they have grown used 
 
 153 
 
154 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 in town. The bedrooms in the country houses of landed 
 proprietors are usually numerous. Russian hospitality 
 is well known, and as hotels are not very frequent in 
 villages, a spare room is kept ready for invited or un- 
 invited guests. Should there be no spare room, then the 
 visitor is sure to find a canape or a sofa where he sleeps 
 quite comfortably, in any case more comfortably than in 
 the bed of many an hotel. The windows of the Russian 
 houses are always double, but during the summer one 
 pair is removed. I have spoken of the stove in the huts 
 of the moujiks. Such a stove is also to be found in the 
 houses of the landed proprietors as also in all the houses 
 of the better classes, but the stove is naturally different 
 in appearance from the immense and clumsy structure to 
 be met in the peasant's hut. A stove is usually placed 
 between two rooms, reaches to the ceiling, and is covered 
 with ornamental tiles of various colours. In the lower 
 part of the stove there is an opening where wood or other 
 fuel, sometimes straw, is consumed. The smoke passes 
 through the chimney, the tiles get heated, indeed they grow 
 so hot that it is impossible to touch them with the naked 
 hand. From these tiles a warmth emanates for several 
 hours. I have not had very much experience as regards 
 Russian servants, but from what I know I may safely 
 state that they are more attached to their masters than 
 lipnglish, and certainly more than French servants. There 
 is still the spirit of serfdom in the Russian moujik, and he 
 :! ^ooks up to the baryn as to a superior being. On the 
 ' other hand, however, he considers the master as his little 
 father, is more familiar than a servant in Western Europe, 
 and — tout comme chez nous, especially in France — is not 
 above stealing. Among the numerous servants one ought 
 to give special mention to the storosh, who occupies the 
 position of a watch-dog by night and of a hewer of wood 
 and drawer of water by day. The life of the landed 
 
THE LANDED PROPRIETOR 155 
 
 proprietor is somewhat monotonous, and although the 
 master and the mistress, who in the capital belong to the 
 grand monde, look themselves after the estate and the 
 household, there are not many distractions to beguile 
 the leisure hours. One day is almost like that which 
 follows it and that which preceded it. 
 
 In Russia at whatever time you come down, between 
 seven and ten in the morning, you will always find a 
 samovar on the table, a teapot, milk, and bread and 
 butter. At midday a cold luncheon is served, followed 
 by tea, which you sit and sip for a long time. Five o'clock 
 is the dinner hour. The menu in all Russian households 
 is usually composed of soup with a piece of boiled beef 
 floating in it, a roast joint with salad and vegetables, a 
 sweet or fruit. Little is drunk a,t dinner, but a "water- 
 jug is placed on the table with four or five glasses roxmd 
 it. Most Englishmen would suffer agonies if obliged jto 
 drink out of some one else's glass, but no one thinks 
 anything of it either in Russia or Germany. 
 
 After dinner every one disperses, silence reigns in the 
 house, and between six and seven all the inmates are 
 asleep. Between eight and nine, tea or supper is served, 
 the table being spread with milk foods and cold meats. 
 The assembled company sit and chat, smoking papirosses, 
 tormented by the mosquitoes, the great plague of a Russian 
 summer. That is the plan of a Russian day in the country ; 
 in most houses, sometimes, the hours of meals differ a 
 little and the dishes vary, but between the intervals of 
 meals every one is free to do as he likes. Above all, no 
 one troubles about dress ; in the heart of the country 
 the usual costume is a light-coloured blouse, shirts 
 (roubashka) bagging over the trousers, the latter being 
 tucked into high waterproof boots. Excepting for the 
 quality of the material and the cleanliness of the shirt, 
 nothing distinguishes the costume from that of a simple 
 
?56 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 moujik. The ladies, too, are dressed as lightly as possible, 
 without any attempt at elegance. Thanks to this 
 costume, there is nothing to prevent one from wandering 
 at will through the country, through the dust, mud, or 
 streams. If a river bars the way, thanks to waterproof 
 boots, it can be forded ; if it is very deep, boots and trousers 
 can be taken off ; you get wet, but the sun quickly dries 
 you. If a river runs near to your house, and the men 
 want to bathe, the ladies are warned to keep out of the 
 way while the men disport themselves. It is a life of 
 unconventional and fascinating simplicity. If a landed 
 proprietor and his family are obliged by circumstances 
 to live aU the year on their estate in the country, they 
 find, however, life somewhat too monotonous, and often 
 it becomes unbearable. As a rule, then, the wife finds 
 that she requires a cure at some fashionable watering- 
 place abroad, and there is always a kind practitioner at 
 hand to prescribe such a cure. En revanche, the husband 
 suddenly finds that he must go for some time abroad on 
 urgent and important business. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE COSSACKS 
 
 BEFORE leaving the country and introducing my 
 reader to Russian life in town, I must, try to 
 introduce him to two groups or bodies of men, well 
 known abroad, and their mode of life. I refer to the Ufe 
 of the Cossacks and that of the burlaki, or sailors on the 
 Volga steamers. 
 
 The Dnieper is the cradle of the Cossacks ; on its banks 
 and round its cataracts these hardy warriors have found 
 a secure shelter, and freedom to develop their institutions. 
 
 They have played an important part in Russian history, 
 the fate of the empire lying on more than one occasion 
 in their hands, or upon their decision whether to enUst 
 under the Polish flag and keep the Tsar in check, or join 
 forces with the Russians to impede the advance of Tartars 
 or Turks. 
 
 Independent adventurers, they have found means of 
 causing their ancient liberties to be respected even while 
 becoming Russian subjects. Only recently the Cossack 
 Atshinoff threatened to compromise the peace of Europe 
 by his daring deeds. 
 
 The origin of the Cossacks is obscure, their name has 
 been a fruitful source of discussion, and learned scholars 
 have racked their brains to find fantastic solutions of its 
 et3niiology. Some suggest that the name comes from a 
 Tartar word meaning an armed man, others from a Polish 
 word meaning goat, as the Cossacks used to wear goat- 
 skins. Others from kassa, a little promontory ; others 
 from the Spanish word casace, from which the French get 
 
 157 
 
158 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 the word casaque. As there is a territory in the Caucasus 
 called Kassaki, this has naturally been suggested as the 
 origin of Cossack, while others say that it comes from the 
 Turkish word kas, meaning goose, or is derived from a 
 Kirghiz word meaning horseman. 
 
 The only difficulty is to make a choice among so many 
 possible origins. Of the Cossacks themselves, scholars 
 speak more positively. We are told that the first Cossacks 
 were merely a group of adventurers banded together 
 to live by brigandage and prey. Some say that they 
 were exiled Greeks who came to take refuge in Azoff, 
 but the inhabitants refusing to let them enter, they 
 proceeded up the Don and founded the town of Ischer- 
 haskoz, borrowing the name from a neighbouring people. 
 There can be no doubt that this horde of intrepid men 
 descended the Dnieper as far as the Black Sea and even 
 made incursions into Constantinople. 
 
 A traveller in Russia elicited from the Cossacks them- 
 selves the following legend as to their origin. 
 
 " A tribe of Cossacks, hunting at the foot of the Cau- 
 casus, came up with a crowd of foreign people travel- 
 ling towards the east. Upon inquiry they were told that 
 the travellers were from Poland, that they had abandoned 
 their country because they were oppressed by the nobles 
 and that they proposed, in order to keep their independ- 
 ence, to join the Persians and fight the Turks. The 
 Cossacks, who were also at war with their neighbours, 
 invited the travellers to join forces with them and though 
 they had only four cannon, with the aid of the Poles 
 they succeeded in taking the town of Azoff." 
 
 This is why, no doubt, the Cossacks are said to be of 
 Polish origin. The Cossack colony rapidly increased. 
 It was the refuge of all the discontented people from the 
 neighbouring countries, and when the Circassians joined 
 forces with them they became a powerful tribe which 
 
THE COSSACKS 159 
 
 had to be reckoned with. In the middle of the tenth 
 century, they advanced to the borders of Poland, and in 
 948 we even find a Greek Emperor calHng them to his 
 assistance in fighting the Turks. 
 
 Too numerous and too restless to remain in the same 
 place, they spread all over Eastern Russia, from the 
 banks of the Dnieper to the most remote parts of Siberia. 
 They are distinguished as Cossacks of the Don, of the 
 Black Sea, of the Volga, of Orenbourg, of Ural, and of 
 Siberia. 
 
 This love of adventure has even carried them as far 
 as the mountains of China. 
 
 The rapid growth of the Cossacks is partially explained 
 by the contrast between the equality and freedom of 
 their republic and the despotic governments in the 
 neighbouring countries. Instead of enslaving their 
 prisoners, the Cossacks conferred on them the same 
 privileges that they themselves enjoyed, and the prisoners 
 were ready to remain with them. 
 
 When Boris Godounoff instituted serfdom in Russia 
 in the year 1598, the moujiks hastened from all parts to 
 the Cossacks to ask to be allowed to enter their tribes,, 
 as they preferred liberty and a life of adventure and 
 battle to servitude. 
 
 We may say that Russia owes her vast possessions in , 1 
 Siberia to the Cossacks of the Don. This tribe having \ 
 come into conflict with the Russian Government in the 
 sixteenth century, marched under the leadership of 
 Yermak into Perma and discovered the country now 
 called Siberia. They reached Tobolsk, after having 
 subjected all the people they encountered on the way, 
 but they found it difficult to preserve their conquests, and 
 were compelled to ask help of the Tsar, Ivan the Terrible. 
 The latter pardoned their past insubordination in con- 
 sideration of their yielding the conquered country to him. 
 
i6o HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 and rewarded their chief, Yermak, in recognition of their 
 services to the empire. 
 
 The Cossacks of the Don were the longest to withstand 
 Russian domination. Each group of Cossacks was self- 
 governing, and their institutions differed in details only. 
 
 The Cossacks of the Don, the Volga, Ural, and 
 Astrakhan had mostly universal suffrage, and an elected 
 government. Gogol, in his Tarass-Boulba, has celebrated 
 the patriarchal customs of the Zaporogues, and their love 
 of liberty. 
 
 In entering the setsh, the head-quarters of the Cossacks, 
 the Zaporogue forgot all that had interested him up to 
 then, his past was annihilated, his one aim was to be in 
 the company of gay companions, who, like himself, had 
 no home, no family, no ties of any description, no anxieties, 
 nothing to do but to amuse himself under God's good sky. 
 This feeling of complete independence gave rise to that 
 unlimited fund of gaiety which was the daily Ufe of the 
 setsh. 
 
 Stretched idly on the grass, the Zaporogues would tell 
 one another long tales of adventure, irresistibly humorous, 
 the more so because, however comical the details, not a 
 line of the narrator's face would move. This is a dis- 
 tinctive trait of the Cossack and of the Little Russian; 
 the eye will denote joy or sorrow, or flash in anger, but 
 never a muscle of the face or mouth will even quiver. 
 
 The setsh was a family circle of schoolboys ; books and 
 lessons being replaced by the warlike excursions of five 
 thousand cavalry. The vast steppe was their recreation 
 ground, bounded by the distant frontiers where alert 
 Tartar and furious Tmrk awaited them. 
 
 One might find in the setsh aU the seminarists who 
 had had enough of the good fathers' discipline, and who 
 left the seminary having learnt nothing. Some indeed 
 might know that Horace and Cicero had existed, and that 
 
THE COSSACKS i6i 
 
 there had been a republic in Rome. Others there were 
 who had felt the rope round their necks and pale death 
 draw near, because in good faith they had believed that a 
 ducat was a fortune. Others there were who had won 
 distinction as officers in the King of Poland's armies, 
 and not a few who thought that a noble was born to fight, 
 and that war was the only occupation that became him. 
 It would be difficult indeed to find any class of men to 
 whom the setsh did not stretch out the hand of brother- 
 hood, always excepting lovers. To these it had nothing 
 to offer. There were no women in the community, in 
 fact no woman had a right to show herself in the district. 
 
 After a few days' absence every man returned to the 
 setsh as to his own home. 
 
 A new-comer would bow to the Kotshevoi, or chief, on 
 entering. 
 
 " Good day, do you believe in Jesus Christ ? " the 
 Kotshevoi wotild ask. 
 
 " I believe in Jesus Christ," the new Zaporogue would 
 reply. 
 
 " Do you beUeve in the Holy Trinity ? " 
 
 " I believe in the Holy Trinity." 
 
 " Do you believe in the Church ? " 
 
 " I believe in the Church." 
 
 " Make the sign of the cross." 
 
 The Zaporogue would cross himself. 
 
 " Now you can choose the kouregne which pleases 
 you most." 
 
 The setsh was composed of sixty kouregnes, little 
 independent republics, or communities. No man had to 
 provide for himself, the ataman, called by the men hatha, 
 or father, had charge of money, clothes, provisions, and 
 firing. 
 
 Sometimes a quarrel broke out in the setsh ; the 
 champions immediately rushed out into the fields and 
 
i62 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 pommelled one another until one of them was vanquished. 
 The battle over, they would shake hajids, and be at peace 
 once more. The Cossack code was not made to be hghtly 
 broken. If an inhabitant of the setsh lowered himself to 
 steal, the whole community was shamed and punishment 
 was exemplary. The deHnquent was tied to a pillar of 
 shame, near which a club was placed, so that every passer 
 might strike a blow at him, until he succumbed. 
 
 The unfortunate debtor was Httle better treated. He 
 was chained to a cannon, and remained in that position 
 until a charitable friend paid his debts. 
 
 The murderer was buried alive, his victim's coffin on 
 his head, and the earth thrown in, a shovelful at a time, 
 until the grave was filled. 
 
 There is nothing about the Cossack's appearance, how- 
 ever, either barbarous or cruel. The following is a 
 description of them by an English traveller towards the 
 close of the eighteenth century. 
 
 " There is something martial and imposing about a 
 Cossack. His majestic and serious look, high forehead, 
 black moustache, large, black, festooned cap with white 
 cockade, his height, the easy grace of his walk, all combine 
 to give him a most imposing look. 
 
 " The Cossacks wear a blue jacket embroidered with 
 gold, and lined with silk, fastening over the chest. Under 
 this they wear a vest fastened into a belt. Very long wide 
 trousers of the same material as the jacket, or sometimes 
 of white linen, but always very clean, are worn over the 
 vest, and cover the boots. They never wear a sword 
 except when on horseback, travelling, or in war, they carry 
 instead a stick with an ivory knob. 
 
 " The Cossack's turban is the most pleasing part of his 
 costume ; it suits every face, lends a mihtary look to the 
 most insignificant, and gives infinite grace to the walk. 
 
 " The Cossacks have thick, straight, black, htiir, cut short 
 
THE COSSACKS 163 
 
 at the back, and allowed to grow long on the forehead. 
 Some have badges of civil and military distinction attached 
 to their coats. In times of peace a tail-coat is worn instead 
 of the jacket ; their belts are sometimes yellow or green, 
 but more often black. 
 
 " No nation in the world is more careful in dress ; 
 this coquetry is noticeable in old men as well as in 
 young. A peaceful life seems incompatible with the Cos- 
 sack character : they wander about without any fixed 
 occupation. 
 
 " Passionately fond of war, repose seems to fatigue their 
 turbulent natures. Commerce and industry have no 
 attraction for them, but they are ardent lovers of pleasure 
 and are very violent when their passions are aroused. In 
 dancing, singing, at table, in argument, they always tend 
 to excess. They are brave, generous, and hospitable." 
 
 As Russia began to take her part in European civiliza- 
 tion, the existence of the Cossacks was threatened. They 
 fought courageously in defence of their ancient hberties. 
 The Cossacks of the Jaik and the Don, and the Zaporogues 
 of the Dnieper, resisted with intrepid energy. 
 
 During the reign of Catharine II., the Great, Emilian 
 Pougatshev, a Cossack of the Jaik, rose in rebellion, passed 
 himself off as Peter III., and drew 10,000 men to his 
 standard. The Government troops sent to fight him went 
 over to the enemy and delivered their leaders into his 
 hands. Pougatshev hanged the officers and enrolled the 
 men. He gained adherents at every step among the 
 people, gratif5dng their resentment against their masters 
 by hanging the nobles. He succeeded in seizing several 
 important towns on the Volga, and the ranks of his army 
 swelled continuously. 
 
 General Alexander Bibikoff, sent to Kazan to do battle 
 with him, exclaimed : 
 
 " Pougatshev is of no importance, he is but a scare- 
 
i64 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 crow who sets the Cossacks moving ; the general discontent 
 that prevails is the power to reckon with." 
 
 Bibikoff expected the defection of his troops at any 
 moment, but succeeded in defeating the rebel in two 
 battles, yet died before being able to seize him. The false 
 Peter III. was pursued on the banks of the Volga, but 
 escaped up the river and fell upon Kazan, which he pillaged 
 and burnt. He was, however, defeated outside the town 
 and retreated to the South, closely pursued by his enemies. 
 He found means of halting at Saransk, Samara, and 
 Tsaritsyn, to hang certain Imperialists who were stationed 
 there. When he was about to cross the Persian frontier, 
 he was trapped between the Jaik and the Volga by 
 SouwarofE. His accomplices betrayed him and he was 
 brought back to Moscow, which was on the eve of a revolu- 
 tion. There he was broken on the wheel in the presence 
 of the populace. Terror damped the effervescent capital 
 but did not stifle the spirit of rebellion which had taken 
 possession of it. 
 
 Pougatshev's agonizing death did not appease Cathar- 
 ine II. ; she wished to wipe out all traces of the rebellion 
 by suppressing the Zaporogue republic and by compelling 
 them to change the name of their river, Jaik. Driven 
 ever closer to the confines of Asia, this tribe was thence- 
 forth known as the Cossacks of the Black Sea. 
 
 This was not the first time that the Zaporogues had 
 been driven from their territory; they were expelled 
 during the reign of Peter the Great and were not allowed 
 to come back to it until the reign of the Empress Anna 
 Ivanovna. They were greatly vexed on their return to 
 find their savage steppes transformed into cultivated 
 fields, and were at continual loggerheads with the colonists. 
 
 They clamoured for their vast savage prairies to be 
 restored to them, until, tired of their complaints and 
 indignant at their opposition to all attempts at civilization. 
 
THE COSSACKS 165 
 
 Potemkin invaded their towns and settlements and com- 
 pelled the more turbtilent to take refuge in the Sultan's 
 lands. The others received orders to settle in the Island 
 of Phanagorie and the eastern shores of the Sea of Azoff. 
 
 Pougatshev's revolt was the last Cossack protest against 
 Russian suzerainty. The Tsar's government had the 
 inspiration of turning to the profit of Russia the Cossack 
 warlike qualities and their incomparable horsemanship. 
 In our days they furnish the Russian army with a cavalry 
 which is mirivaJled in Europe. 
 
 The Cossacks do not form a regular army ; and in their 
 social life they preserve many customs reminiscent of their 
 ancient privileges. They do not pay the same taxes as 
 the Tsar's other subjects, they have their own judges and 
 general councils ; they do not draw lots for military 
 service, but undertake to provide a certain number of 
 horses and men, either for service on the Russian frontiers 
 or in the interior. With the exception of the colonel, 
 appointed by the Minister of War, the Cossacks have the 
 right to elect their own chiefs. Since the subjection of 
 these wild sons of the steppe, the heir to the throne on 
 attaining his majority takes the title of their ancient 
 leader, Hetman of the Cossacks of the Don, and visits them 
 to receive the insignia of his new commission. 
 
 The Cossack has to provide his own horse and arms, 
 but in consideration of this receives from the Government 
 a plot of land, which is increased at the birth of each son. 
 The customs, tastes, and habits of these adventurous 
 nomads have not been modified by contact with civiliza- 
 tion. The Cossack's life is passed entirely out of doors ; he 
 returns home onlyat rare intervals to have an orgyof vodka^ 
 
 In Cossack towns and villages the only permanent ] 
 population is composed of women, children, and old men, 
 for while he has the strength, whatever his age, the Cossack / 
 prefers life in the open, and as soon as a boy is old enough 
 
i66 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 ; to sit on a horse, his father puts him into the saddle and 
 
 i sets him galloping, while his mother frotn the door of the 
 
 j isba encourages the small cavalier. While the Cossack 
 
 I hunts in time of peace, or fights in time of war, the women 
 
 I keep the stanitsa, take care of their houses which they 
 
 I keep scrupulously clean, feed their cattle, cultivate the 
 
 ' soil, in fact do all tTTpJaJTQT-inng^ work of agriculture. 
 
 5 These rough labours "age them before their time, but do 
 
 not damp their energy and activity. A wife is no long^ 
 
 the timid, trembling slave of her husband, as Gogol ha 
 
 painted her. ^ 
 
 " She had known love but a few instants, in the firstfever 
 
 of youth and passion, then her savage lover abandoned 
 
 her for his sword, his companions, and an adventurous, 
 
 irregular life. She never saw her husband more than 
 
 two or three days in the year, and when they were together, 
 
 what was her life ? She had to bear with insults and even 
 
 blows, receiving but rare and disdainful caresses. Woman 
 
 was a strange creature, out of place among the Zaporogues, 
 
 that band of savage adventurers. Her youth passed 
 
 rapidly, without pleasure ; her beautiful fresh cheeks and 
 
 white shoulders faded in solitude, she becsime prematurely 
 
 wrinkled. AH her love, tenderness, and passion was 
 
 cojicentrated in her maternal love." 
 
 j The Cossack woman has won her place in the home by 
 
 j persevering toil, and the comfort she spreads around her. 
 
 I She is respected and honoured in the stanitsa. Now that 
 
 I the Cossack's Hfe is less stormy and agitated he has more 
 
 \ time for his family, and he is becoming sensible of the 
 
 \ charm of a less primitive and more comfortable existence. 
 
 - He loves good wine and good hving, and by her talents 
 
 as a housekeeper the woman's influence is ever on the 
 
 vjgsrease. 
 
 The Cossack has lost nothing of his warUke instincts. 
 In other days he lived in a state of perpetual excitement. 
 
THE COSSACKS 167 
 
 always at war with the Asiatic peoples of the frontiers. 
 Now that these peoples have accepted the suzerainty of 
 the Tsar, the Cossack can only exercise his warlike talents 
 by placing them at the service of Russia, and he tends to 
 become more and more absorbed by that nation, for which 
 in other days he had the deepest contempt. He has 
 become a precious ally for the armies of the Tsar, and it is 
 questionable whether Russia would have penetrated as 
 far into Asia as she has done, without the assistance of the 
 Cossacks. They alone were at home in the steppes, in 
 the midst of savage and hostile tribes. Who, like them, 
 was able to discover a source of water in the desert, to 
 encamp on its borders, and offer a refuge to those who 
 were eager to push forward with their explorations ? . 
 
 According to the law passed in 1785, the Cossacks serve j 
 in the army from eighteen to thirty-eight. The St ate { 
 provides them with arms and ammunition. From eighteen I 
 to twenty they learn the elements of mihtary art, and 
 exercise themselves in horsemanship. When they enter 
 the regiment, they are expert horsemen. Their time 
 of active service comprises three periods of four years. 
 During the first they remEiin under the flag and are 
 maintained by the voisko, Cossack army. There are 
 actually the voiskos of the Don, of Kouban, Terek, 
 Astrakhan, Orenbourg, Ural, Siberia, Transbaikal, and 
 of the Amour. 
 
 During the second period they may return to the 
 stanitsa, but must be ready to respond to the first summons. 
 During the third period they are not compelled to keep 
 a horse, and that is why there are Cossacks without 
 horses, which is almost a paradox. The primitive type 
 of Arab horse has disappeared, and the horses of the 
 steppe are very expensive. The Russian Goverimient has 
 taken the matter up and started a fund to enable poor 
 Cossacks to buy good horses. 
 
i68 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 The Cossacks belong to the Greek Orthodox Church, 
 and they in no way deserve that their name should be 
 synonymous, as it was until quite recently, with brutality 
 and barbarism. They are in fact the most affable men 
 in the Russian army ; the comparative liberty they enjoy 
 has been favourable to their development, and their taste 
 for legends, transmitted from one generation to another, 
 has given a poetical tura to their intelligence. 
 
 The burlaki are the wanderers " from down there " 
 when they go in ships on the Volga from Astrakhan to 
 Nijni-Novgorod, and wanderers " from up there " when 
 the sailors work between " Nijni-Novgorod and Rybinsk 
 and farther still on the canals between Rybinsk and 
 St Petersburg. They are an interesting people, wait- 
 ing for their historian. Differing from gipsies in their 
 diligence and from lazzaroni in their honesty — ^they 
 resemble both in their poverty and in their few wants. 
 But what distinguishes the burlaki from other wandering 
 people is the patriarchal manner in which they practise 
 law among themselves without assistance or advice from 
 the outside world. 
 
 The family is the microcosm of the State and the father's 
 position is the basis of the law. The Russian must have 
 a master ; when he has none, he seeks one. So it was 
 for centmies in the wooded North and the corn-growing 
 South, and will be so in spite of revolutions. Following 
 the custom, the wandering burlaki choose a leader whom 
 they call batjushka (little father). He is the head of the 
 company (guild) {artel), and as such has to watch over 
 the interests of the guild and see to the contracts between 
 the sailors and the owners. This leader, only known to 
 the burlaki and the owners, is the absolute and unfail- 
 ing ruler of his subjects, because no one questions his 
 authority. 
 
 As a burlak he has no fixed dwelling, goes here, there, 
 
THE COSSACKS 169 
 
 and everywhere, always at hand to assist at the quarrels 
 and disputes of the sailors and the agents. He names 
 overseers and gives them a little power. 
 
 This overseer is never chosen to do the same journey 
 twice. He is called fristawnik (assistant), and has to 
 give a strict account to the batjushka of his short 
 office. He differs in nothing from his subordinates, 
 draws no higher wages, but has the trust of the harbour 
 agents, who give food and drink for the ship's crew, which 
 he deducts from their wages. When he is not able to 
 satisfy disputes he calls the kantshuk to help. The 
 Russian is not revengeful. 
 
 This unwritten law, handed down by tradition, is used 
 on aU great waterways. The Volga is navigable for 400 
 miles. And gold has nothing to do with it. The burlak 
 gets 40 roubles for a journey up stream with a heavily 
 laden boat, lasting fourteen or fifteen weeks. This gives 
 a weekly wage of two roubles, fifty copecks — on which 
 any other man would starve. The burlak knows how to 
 circumvent the famine prices of the cities on the banks 
 of the Volga. He catches fish and thanks the river, for 
 his private pleasure consists in catching fish and in sleep- 
 ing off his intoxication. Differing from the other wan- 
 derers who sell " pictures," he remains always a poor 
 honest soul. 
 
 The boat, which he guides (and he rows when the wind 
 falls) is in comparison with the finished boat of England 
 and Belgium a tortoise compared with a squirrel. There 
 has been no improvement in the build for hundreds of 
 years, but they fulfil the requirements of their owners, 
 and besides that, they are the homes of contented, blame- 
 less men, who sing at their work as well as in their spare 
 time, and whose ringing voices are heard up and down 
 the river, so that people, young and old, living near by, 
 are glad to know that they are coming. 
 
170 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 His dress takes but little money from his purse, but it 
 costs him more to satisfy his thirst. There are no strong 
 spirits on board happily, and as the ship anchors but 
 rarely, he has but little opportunity for drinking. The 
 pHstawnik is not free from this faihng, but this does 
 not affect his authority. If a German or a Frenchman 
 found his superior in a state of intoxication, he would 
 lose respect and the discipline would be lax ; the Russian, 
 on the contrary, would put him to bed and obey him the 
 following day as if nothing had happened. 
 
 A source of pride to the burlak is that one day he 
 may be made pristawnik, yes, even hatjushka, and that 
 he helps his old and crippled comrade is a good quality. 
 The hurlaki too old for work settle down in the villages 
 on the river, and are supported by the artel, in inns which 
 hurlaki only frequent. They also have guild-houses in 
 which the sick are nursed. 
 
 The burlak is from Little Russia, and the sailor from 
 Great Russia is a very different person — ^is generally an 
 obstinate and bigoted man, and has none of the burlak' s 
 quaUties. These zealots, who wish all joy to be buried 
 deep in the bottom of hell, come from Sopelki, a village 
 lying between Kostroma and Jaroslav, on the right bank 
 of the Volga. 
 
 According to the rules of their founder — one Ephim, 
 a deserter, they must always spread the doctrines of 
 Stranjiky. They live as vegetarians and abstain from 
 strong drink. This miserable food and continual prayer 
 makes them morose, and they try to avoid mankind. So 
 the people let them pass by. They choose no visible head 
 of their guilds. 
 
 There is another kind, a sailor who takes smaller boats 
 from Rybinsk up the canals to St Petersburg, and the 
 freight has to be reloaded. These are of Finnish origin 
 and come from the Lake Onega. The Finns of Great 
 
THE COSSACKS 171 
 
 Russia are changing under the Slav government, as the 
 Mongols in South Russia also change ; they are only to 
 be distinguished from the true Russians by their weaker 
 frames. These make their shipping arrangements without 
 the aid of the artel, and obey a leader chosen by the ship- 
 owner, generally a Russian sea-captain. They go home 
 like sea-birds in the autumn. 
 
 The days of the hurlaki are numbered. A great rival 
 against whom they cannot compete has arisen of late 
 years, .and soon perhaps they will be driven off the Volga. 
 Streamships are becoming more numerous daily, this 
 lowers freight prices, and makes existence hard for sailing- 
 boat people. There are hundreds of steamers between 
 Tver and Astrakhan, and among these are giant ships 
 such as one only finds in the rivers of North America. 
 They are called American boats because they are built 
 according to the American pattern. These floating, three- 
 storied houses are first of all destined for goods, but they 
 do take passengers as well, and the comforts they offer 
 cause them to be preferred above the other steamers which 
 beat them in speed, because of the long stops at quays 
 for loading and unloading goods. 
 
 There are five such boats on the Volga. On the lowest 
 deck are casks and barrels, horses, oxen, and sheep, and 
 between the goods and the animals the fourth-class 
 passengers rest on the bolsters and pillows they have 
 brought with them. The air is warm from the engine, 
 and there are many different smells. Day and night theire 
 is no rest. The passengers hear for ever the ship's beU ; 
 wood is brought in for the engine and thrown down with 
 much noise, and over and over again they must move 
 closer together to make room for fresh passengers. But 
 this does not seem to disturb them at all. They know 
 how to settle down comfortably in the midst of this 
 hubbub; they make tea, eat and drink, play and sing. 
 
172 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 and then lie down again to sleep soundly according to 
 their own fashion, and no one interferes with them. 
 
 A wide staircase leads to the second deck. Asia i« 
 behind us, European taste, and comfort and elegance 
 surround us. We walk through a well-lighted saloon 
 with mirrors on the walls. A buffet entices us, and there 
 is a piano, and if anyone desires to read, he will find a 
 library and a reading-room, with the latest papers. A 
 glass door leads to a balcony running round the ship — 
 tables, benches, and chairs — and one can, if preferred, 
 dine on the balcony, and sturgeon soup — one of the Volga 
 delicacies — ^wiU not be nadssing from the menu. Good 
 cooking, good service, and cleanliness are to be found 
 on these steamers, which are valued, as all three are not 
 always found together when one travels east. The 
 travellers who journey together for some days get to 
 know each other and amusement is at hand, even if the 
 rain keeps the company in the saloon, and the balcony 
 remains empty. 
 
PART II 
 THE TOWN 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 MOSCOW 
 
 " "TT "W" E who has not seen Moscow," says the Russian, 
 
 I 1 " does not know what is beautiful." And really 
 
 1. A no other city except Constantinople, or the City 
 on the Seven Hills, by the Tiber, can present such a 
 magnificent picture as the seven-hilled city of the Russian 
 Tsars. When one beholds for the first time the sea of 
 houses with their red and green roofs, with the golden 
 cupolas and crosses and many-coloured towers of the 
 churches, when one mixes for the first time with the strange 
 traffic in the streets of Kitai Gorod, then only can one 
 understand the enthusiasm with which the Russian speaks 
 of his old capital. Extraordinary sights keep the stranger 
 speU-bound. What here surrounds him is not the East 
 with its blinding sunshine, neither is it the Europe one 
 knows outside the Russian boundaries. It is a mixture 
 of both, but full of characteristic qualities. This is what 
 charms the Russian and astonishes the foreigner. The 
 Russian sees in Moscow more than the city with its 
 holy memories of its past ; to him it is also the contrast 
 to the modem St Petersbiurg, and represents the real, 
 unadulterated Russia. 
 
 Seven centuries have passed over Moscow ; hordes of 
 barbarians have plundered and laid it waste ; many fires 
 have repeatedly destroyed the whole city or parts of it ; 
 
 173 
 
174 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 yet always has the phoenix risen just as before from the 
 ashes. A real Russian city, that is why the people honour 
 and love it, and call it by endearing names. Moscow was 
 called Matushka, Little Mother, in the old folk songs, 
 and so it is called to-day. 
 
 In modem times new streets and stately new boulevards 
 have risen, which do not go weU with the httle winding 
 streets of the Russian Niimberg, but all these innova- 
 tions seem like exotic plants which have been translated 
 to a ground which does not suit them. Modem taste 
 fights against the inherited spirit, and the Russian to-day 
 would rather have a Comfortable house than a beautiful 
 one. And he does not Uke " renting." To have his own 
 house, a home where he can do what he pleases, is the ideal 
 of the poorest man. Day by day, as opportunity arises, 
 and his means permit, he buys up the material required 
 for a modest dwelling, and even if many years pass by, at 
 last the day dawns in which the thrifty saver realizes his 
 dreams, and owns his own house. It will contain a good 
 cellar in which he can keep his stores ; that to him is much 
 more important than a living room, and he takes care 
 when he hires a house that the cellar shall be a good one. 
 A small yard behind the house where he can keep poultry 
 is also necessary for him. He does not mind if the living 
 room be low and small and practically comfortless. The 
 Russian looks above trifles, his home that he has " earned " 
 is worth ten times more to him than the things he must 
 do without. So it happens that to-day Moscow has an 
 immense number of buildings which form a vivid contrast 
 to the palaces into the ranks of which they have forced 
 themselves Uke unbidden guests, regardless of any 
 regularity in the arrangement of streets. Sometimes a 
 iouse has stepped out of the line as if impelled by curiosity 
 to see what was going on in the neighbourhood. Or it 
 may be, the house has stepped back from its neighbours 
 
MOSCOW 175 
 
 as if shy, or ashamed of its modest appearance. Great 
 fruit and vegetable gardens, fields, lakes, and ponds lie 
 behind the houses and enrich the view. 
 
 Every house in Moscow has its court or dvor, and the 
 court is the centre of the house. In other countries if a 
 landlord possesses a large plot of ground, he runs up huge 
 blocks of flats ; at Moscow he wiU be content to surround 
 his plot with little, double-storied houses, opening on to a 
 central courtyard, or perhaps a common garden. In 
 Paris, for instajice, one would have a small town with 
 150 tenants ; at Moscow four or five houses at most, and 
 say fifteen tenants. This system is not advantageous to 
 the landlord, but exceedingly agreeable to the tenants. 
 
 The door of the house, or rather double- or triple-padded 
 doors, open on to a vestibule containing a mirror and 
 strong pegs, in fact quite a dressing-room. Russians, 
 tholigh, are not troubled by the desire to appear elegant ; 
 to have an overcoat of the latest cut is not one of their 
 ambitions, all they ask for is to be warmly clad. The 
 muddy or snowy streets, with their sharp stones, are not 
 suitable for elegant footwear, but indoors it is a very 
 different matter ; the floors are polished and carpets rarely 
 met with ; one cannot go stumping over polished floors 
 with heavy heels, and so one must wear thin shoes, and 
 put on thick overshoes to go out. As to gloves, no one 
 would light-heartedly risk the loss of a finger by going 
 out with thin kid gloves — good thick gloves, proof against 
 the cold and snow, are essential. For a hat one would 
 scarcely wear a silk hat, it would only be in the way in a 
 cab, or get spoilt by the snow. Thus the elegant silk hat 
 is left for the West or for St Petersburg. In Moscow for 
 summer one wears a white linen cap, in winter a soft 
 hat or fur-cap. The latter keeps one warm, and is not 
 in the way if one wishes to turn up the coat collar. 
 
 Overcoat, hat, gloves, and galoshes may be left in the 
 
176 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 vestibule. One does not come to pay a ten-minutes' call 
 and to discuss the weather but really to see friends, and 
 instead of being a sort of stranger making himself agreeable 
 one becomes, so to speak, a member of the family. 
 
 The dining-room and drawing-room usually give on to 
 the vestibule, the doors always standing open. A series 
 of more or less comphcated passages lead to the different 
 rooms and to the kitchen, which has an entrance to the 
 court. 
 
 The house, including the entrance hall, is warmed 
 throughout ; Russians would shiver with cold in any of 
 our Western houses. They are not satisfied with wanning 
 one or two rooms, but keep a more or less equal tempera- 
 ture from hall to bedrooms. The windows are double, 
 and every crack is weU stopped up with putty, or cotton 
 wool. During six months the rooms are aired only by 
 diminutive ventilators fixed in the windows. 
 , A Russian house consequently gives one the impression 
 ;' of a vast box, having, with the exception of the triple 
 I entrance door, no communication with the outer world. 
 I To avoid stuflfmess, all the room doors are left open, and 
 \ the stoves are also built with air passages calculated to 
 \ purify the atmosphere of the rooms, so that on the whole 
 f he houses are airy and light. 
 
 Houses in Western Europe are affected by the outside 
 atmosphere, but not so the Russian : they have two 
 distinct worlds during the winter, the glacial outer world, 
 and the warm inner world. Their winter is an enemy 
 which must be fought against, and warmth is no longer 
 a luxury but a vital necessity. It is quite comprehensible 
 that the Russian should make a kind of artificial world 
 for himself, in pleasing contrast to the glacial world outside 
 his home ; the rooms are in a way conservatories where 
 deUcate green plants grow freely in every available comer. 
 Indoor the Russians wear thin clothing, but to go out 
 
MOSCOW 177 
 
 the greatest precaution is necessary. Fur-lined overshoes, 
 fur cap pulled down over the ears, fur gloves, heavy fur 
 cloak, under the weight of these garments walking be- 
 comes difficult, but fortunately there are the sleighs which 
 may be hired for a modest sum. After the long winter ^ 
 months passed in a species of inertia it is not surprising 
 that Russians are not much given to walking in the 
 summer. Their indolence is a direct consequence of 
 their climate. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to say that the lower classes 
 and shopkeepers, all whose trade entails facing the 
 weather, find it quite possible to go about their work as 
 usual, winter or summer. 
 
 If every house has its court or door, every dvor has its 
 dvornik. The latter can scarcely be called a porter, as 
 his duties are too numerous. He does all the heavy 
 housework, sweeps the court, and fetches water from the 
 public fountains. For this purpose he trundles along a 
 small barrow, to which is fixed a barrel with a square 
 opening at the top ; but this is not sufficient water, and 
 the residents are compelled to buy a certain number of 
 pails of water from a carrier every morning. 
 
 After sweeping the court and fetching the water, tte 
 dvornik has to attend to the manure heap, and then he 
 is free to lend a hand to any of the servants who have 
 won his good graces. After which there may be some 
 carpentering to be done, or a box to carry upstairs — in 
 fact any kind of odd job falls to his lot, including, of course, 
 the duty of attending to the porter's bell, and answering 
 questions relating to the different tenants. Over and 
 above these manifold duties he is also a police agent. He 
 is the official intermediary between the tenants and the 
 pohce authorities : the post is no sinecure in si^icious 
 Russia^_ where every respec table citizen j ia s bis dp^fripti nn 
 at the_p,Qlicg.^ation. You cannot move from one place 
 
178 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 to another without producing your passport ; you cannot 
 pass the night at a friend's house, or take room at an hotel, 
 without producing your papers. The dvornik also saves 
 the tenants' time by taking their papers and passports to 
 the police station. 
 
 After the great fire in September 1812, there was 
 opportunity to rebuild -di6'Cit5^'accordiiIg^ to some imiform 
 plan ; but people dallied, perhaps on purpose. Every 
 one built his house on the spot where it had stood and no 
 one prevented him. So the new Moscow rose with 
 irregular houses, just like the Moscow of the Middle Ages, 
 and Prince de Ligne's remark that Moscow was not a city 
 but only a congregation of from four to five hundred 
 castles, surrounded by gardens and villages, is partially 
 justified. 
 
 The area is enormous on account of the fields, gardens, 
 and places not built over. The River Moskwa, which is 
 navigable above the city for large"sEps, and is covered 
 with small steamers and hundreds of boats, divides the 
 city into two unequal parts, which are united by numerous 
 bridges, and inside the town walls there are many streams. 
 
 ,1 The river winds through the town and is fairly broad in 
 ' places. A canal, made as a protection against floods, runs 
 parallel to the river. There are 151 lakes and ponds, 
 14 boulevards, 81 squares, 218 principal streets, and 716 
 small streets. There are seven cathedrals, 400 churches, 
 and 41 monasteries. All the principal religions of the 
 (empire are represented : two Roman Catholic and two 
 > Lutheran churches, one Reformed, one Anglican, and one 
 j Armenian. There is a synagogue, and a Mohammedan 
 
 j mosque ends the hst. 
 
 In the heart of the land of " Orthodoxy " so many 
 churches erected to other faiths may astonish the stranger, 
 who knows how impermeated the Russian is with ideas 
 that his own reUgion is the only one which leads to salva- 
 
MOSCOW 179 
 
 tion, and this tolerance is certainly not expected, either 
 from the Government or from private persons. But free 
 and unimpeded the Kalmuck can worship his Dalai Lama, 
 the Parsee his fire, the Hindu can call upon Brahma, and 
 the Mohammedan can pray to Allah ; and all sects of the 
 Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed Church, as well as 
 Moravians and Baptists, may practise their religion un- 
 hindered. And Russia, as the representative of European 
 culture, encourages this tolerance. It is in consequence 
 of this toleration in religious matters that we see in the 
 streets of Moscow, as it were, patterns of Russian people, 
 who live according to their own desires, and no one hinders 
 them. One is always conscious of new types. There 
 are Tartars and Kalmucks from the Volga, Kii^hizes from 
 the steppes on the Ural Sea, Georgians from the Caucasus, 
 Armenians, Persians, Greeks, many gipsies, and all the 
 wandering tribes from the East of Russia, whose names 
 one has hardly ever heard in Western Europe. Here they 
 all meet, as in their home, in their national dress, but 
 it does not cause any astonishment in Moscow, because 
 the Russian of Moscow also wears the dress that his 
 forefathers loved. French dress is only worn by foreigners, 
 the officials who have no uniform, ar^d by a small circle 
 of upper class, for not only do the poor classes remain 
 faithful to the national costume, but the rich merchant, 
 who is one of the gold princes of the Moscow trading 
 world, receives his guests in an elegant salon, wearing 
 his hair long just like the picture of Christ, parted in the 
 middle and smoothly combed. His shirt blouse is fastened 
 round the waist by a girdle. This love of the national 
 dress has its dark side, as well as its romantic one. The 
 old Russians, certainly more civihzed now than they were 
 in the time of Peter the Great, but not much above them 
 in art and science, are those who principally wear the 
 national dress. With but few exceptions the national 
 
i8o HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 dress can be taken as a sign that the wearer has remained 
 almost a stranger to European civilization. In Moscow 
 to-day there are men representing wholesale firms who 
 are not able to read or write, and who must rely absolutely 
 on the honour and honesty of their bookkeeper as far 
 as their deahng with foreign parts goes, and many a 
 trader and shopkeeper has no knowledge of book- 
 keeping beyond the marks made in a notebook with 
 the help of pins. To understand such a condition, one 
 must cast a glance at the development of mind of the 
 Russian people. One can stUl see the influence Peter the 
 Great had over the Russian people. The great reformer 
 had not the necessary patience to improve his people 
 from the root upwards. He encouraged Germans and 
 Dutch, and Catharine II. French, at the Court. European 
 civilization, introduced suddenly, never reached the lower 
 layers of society. A very small number of Russians, 
 educated in the French fashion, brought up in luxury 
 and elegance, are, however, to be found without any 
 mediation side by side with bearded, uneducated, strong, 
 pious Russians, quite a hundred times their number. 
 
 It is difficult to believe that that little gentleman in 
 waiting, oj: that officer of the Guards, who speaks French 
 as if it were his native speech, belongs to the same nation 
 as the iswostshik, who drives his droshky, or the footman 
 who waits at his door. In aU Russia they stand side by 
 side, but in Moscow it is more noticeable. We shall 
 recognize why this is the case if we interest ourselves for 
 a while in the moving crowds, and watch the characteristic 
 tj^jes passing to and fro. 
 
 There, at the comer of the street, near the grocer's 
 shop, where everything is sold, stands a crowd oi men 
 collected round a picture-dealer. Children and grown- 
 ups press round the man with thorn sticks to admire the 
 rudely painted martyrs and Madonnas which he carries 
 
MOSCOW i8i 
 
 hanging roiind his neck by a string. This picture-dealer 
 is a real Russian peculiarity. The Imperial Museums 
 and the private collections of the nobility literally teem 
 with masterpieces, but the people do not trouble about 
 them in the slightest, but hold " holy pictures of saints " 
 in high esteem. It is strictly forbidden to sell holy- 
 pictures, but that does not restrain the picture-dealer, 
 who does good business, in that he exchanges pictures 
 for provisions, and then changes the provisions into money 
 at the grocer's ! Just as the district of Tver provides all 
 Russia with carpenters, the town of Wladimir and its 
 environs flood Russia from the Ural to the Dwina with 
 thousands of picture-dealers. These pictures have not 
 the slightest claim to be considered as works of art, but 
 the Russians buy them, and the picture-dealers sell them 
 by thousands, wandering through the country on foot in 
 battalions and pierce into districts where a train has never 
 been seen. They are only found in Moscow as "single 
 spies," but do good business. 
 
 Another wanderer who belongs to Moscow's permanent 
 'figures is the droshky driver {iswostshik). He comes 
 from all districts with his all-enduring horse and the lightly 
 built droshky to earn his living in Moscow. It is no easy 
 life to hurry through, sunshine and snow at a sign from 
 a passer-by for a small payment, or to sit for hours 
 motionless like a monument on the box waiting. 
 
 The young fellows, whose muscles seem made of iron, 
 can endure great cold, but no one can resist the power 
 of the elements for ever, and so it sometimes happens that 
 while the finely dressed ladies and gentlemen are enjoying 
 the comforts of a warm room the unfortunate iswostshik 
 awaiting their return in the icy night air freezes to death. 
 
 There is a wonderfitl harmony in their dress, a long 
 caftan, fastening with a leather belt, high boots, and 
 generally a Polish cap, or a low, broad-rimmed top-hat. 
 
i82 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 The iswostshiks are "sifted" regularly by the police 
 to keep the worst away ; formerly they plied for hire 
 without any notice being taken by the police, wandering 
 through the streets with no halting-place. The iswostshik 
 is the most agreeable creature you can find. The fare 
 mounts without sapng a word, the iswostshik gallops 
 away, and the sparks fly. At the cross-roads the fare 
 seizes him by the belt, when he wishes to go right or left, 
 and when he wishes to stop. He is not above taking a 
 tip, but he never demands it as the Viennese do, nor begs 
 for it like the Italians. His health is strong and so is his 
 sense of humour, and he is known for his wit, which is only 
 surpassed by that of the poultry dealer. 
 
 The streets are overrun night and day by a multitude 
 of diminutive open cabs ; they are ubiquitous, penetrating 
 into the narrowest streets and even into the courtyards 
 of the houses. Their dirty-looking drivers swoop down 
 on you at every comer, hailing you with a " Where to ? 
 Where to ? " The reason is that Russian streets are 
 almost imp racticab lfc-to-pedestrians ; it is martyrdom to 
 walk ten yards on foot. The roads are made of sharp 
 little stones, carefully laiT"down~pDiBt--upwards ; the 
 pavements, if not asphalted, are all hills and vales, and 
 woe betide the careless person who attempts to walk along 
 them without carefully picking his steps. It is nearly 
 always necessary, therefore, to engage a cab. There is 
 no fixed price : the client has to drive a bargain with the 
 driver. If the latter demands, say, 50 copecks — you walk 
 away with a sarcastic smile or offended air. If he has over- 
 charged you he will call after you to inquire your price. 
 You reply 20 copecks ; 40, says the driver ; no, no, 25 ; 
 he rejoins with an insinuating air; 20 you say firmly, 
 and take your place in the cab. This bargaining is really 
 quite amusing, and as the cabs are very numerous, and 
 competition is keen, fares are comparatively low. 
 
MOSCOW 183 
 
 Sometimes the driver has not the faintest idea of the 
 way and with touching faith leaves you to shout direc- 
 tions, or point out the way with your stick. If the 
 passenger does not know the way either, the driver 
 simply drives about in seacrh of it ; you lose time, 
 but the price is pre-arranged. Though the houses are 
 numbered, no one knows them by their number, but by 
 the landlord's name written over the door, and you give 
 the direction : so-and-so's house, such and such a street. 
 
 Of the passers-by, the men of the working class are the 
 most striking, thanks to their red shirts or blouses, which 
 they wear next to the skin, caught in at the waist with 
 a belt or string. The more elegant moujiks, such as 
 porters, wear a sleeveless black vest over their shirts, and 
 the effect is very picturesque. Nearly aJi._the men, 
 including those of the upper classesT'Wear white caps in 
 the summer. And here I shall venture to make a small 
 digression and give a brief description of Russian vehicles, 
 and especially of the iaraniass. A troika is a combination 
 of three things, though the wor3Tnay be applie3 to any 
 horsed vehicle. A good trotter serves as a leader, his 
 head surmounted by an arched wooden bow {dooga) which 
 unites the shafts, and relieves the pressure on the collar. 
 On either side of the shafts a horse is harnessed to a bar, 
 and attached by one rein to his companion ; but whereas, 
 if the driver knows his business the leader should not go 
 faster than a trot, the two other horses should gallop the 
 whole time. The driver pays no attention to them, they 
 are left quite free. If the road is wide the troika spreads 
 out fan shape; if the road is narrow, running between 
 hedges, the side horses scramble along as best they can, 
 stumbling and sliding, but always regaining their footing 
 with the marvellous instinct of animals left to move 
 freely. If the road slopes down hill the leader supports 
 the troika alone and walks down at a slow pace. Over 
 
i84 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 the donga hangs a bell, well calculated to exasperate 
 the passenger's nerves. 
 
 But it is the tarantass which is the thing to see. 
 Baedeker pretends that it resembles a carriage ; in reality 
 it is much more like a trough, with a piece of board nailed 
 in front to serve as the driver's seat. The traveller sits 
 in it as best he may, having first stowed away his luggage. 
 He then installs himself in the midst of sweet-smeUing 
 hay, and tries to imagine it is a delicious invention. He 
 soon discovers his mistake ; if there were any roads in 
 Russia, the tarantass might possibly be comfortable, 
 but there are no roads ; had there been there 
 would have been no reason to invent the unbreakable 
 tarantass. With the exception of a few roads conscien- 
 tiously strewn with very pointed stones, such roads being 
 carefully avoided by carriages, ttiei£_ais.nothing but 
 naturaj joad&JnJRussia. By constant passing ol vehicles 
 and cattle, pathways are traced in the forest ; no one 
 keeps them up. In spring and autumn they are marshes 
 only to be travelled on horseback, in summer they are 
 a foot thick in dust. Woe betide the unwary traveller 
 who has held out the prospect of a tip for a quick journey : 
 the driver exerts himself to the utmost, the horses dash 
 off ; the traveller is thrown violently from one side to 
 the other. The driver urges on his horses in spite of hills 
 and dales ; the wretched traveller, bruised all over, crouches 
 down in the very middle of the straw, and confines himself 
 to trying to avoid contact with the different objects round 
 him. It is the only way of travelling in a tarantass. 
 
 In^ry weather tliejdust adds tffiiie discomfort of the 
 journey. Tffie roads are covered with a thick white 
 carpet ; a scampering dog raises such a cloud of dust 
 that you think a rider is advancing towards you; the 
 cloud raised by two or three horses is like the smoke from 
 a burning building. Soon the traveller is covered from 
 
MOSCOW 185 
 
 head to foot, and the fine grey specks manage to find their 
 way into the most tightly closed boxes. But let us return 
 to the streets of Moscow. 
 
 The gipsy is another street type. Wandering from 
 the banks of the Black Sea, he takes the place of the 
 Grtirman Jew clothes dealer. As peace loving and as cun- 
 ning as his Western brother, he keeps his sharp eye on 
 the look out for left-off clothes, or clothes just going to be 
 left off, so that he can ply his trade. Without any claims 
 or desires, like an Indian fakir, not caring for strong 
 drink, in a few years he can collect enough money to 
 return to his own sunny land and buy himself a piece of 
 ground and live on it with his family for the rest of his 
 days without care. Why should any philosopher preach 
 to this man ? 
 
 Another philosopher, but of a different kind, is the 
 dwornik, who has been the secret agent of employers 
 and police since time out of mind. To some extent the 
 dwornik finds his countertype in the French concierge 
 
 He shuts his eyes when the Privy Councillor visits the 
 dancer on the second floor ; he shuts both eyes tightly 
 when the officer on the third floor keeps very noisy com- 
 pany, expecting the said company will press some coins 
 into his hand when they go ; his only grief is that he can 
 neither read nor write ; but in spite of that he has many 
 sharers of his grief, as the breadseller who carries a 
 Christ-like head on his shoulders, and who helps his 
 arithmetic with a notched stick, and the smart milk- 
 woman who counts on her fingers. But all these people 
 have the gift of fluent speech and this distinguishes them 
 from their more civilized Western brothers, and they 
 know how to use it on every opportunity. They never 
 break out into quarrel, for tjie Russian^a,.gj:£gt^chai3,ctgr- 
 
 i|tic i s goo dJje mp et--aiM L-cnTn| ia:l^ T^Tnt^ Rut. Wait, a 
 
 train is coming in from Smolensk, and this will call the 
 
i86 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 Russian good temper into play. There are criminals 
 from all parts, especially from the European parts, 
 brought here to start on their way for Siberia. We must 
 not imagine that there are more criminals in Russia than 
 in other lands ; but when one sees the scourings of seventy 
 millions of people brought together at one place, one fears 
 the badness of man. Why do they make so much fuss 
 over robbers and murderers in Russia, if not to hand 
 them over to the executioner ? 
 
 " Because," a Russian would reply, " in Russia life is 
 not esteemed so low as elsewhere." 
 
 To go further, the criminal is allowed to take wife and 
 children, and their expenses are defrayed for the long 
 journey by the State, to utilize them, as it were, for the 
 manure of civihzation for future races. 
 
 Formerly they went on foot, but now they come from all 
 points of the compass by train to Moscow, and only go to 
 spend the night in the old ' ' Duma. ' ' Their belongings come 
 on by cart. There seems to be a certain friendliness 
 between the prisoners and the soldiers guarding them. 
 Those in high places have ordained the Russian shall be a 
 soldier, and that against his will and inclination ; but he is a 
 trustworthy soldier, and never ceases to be a good-tempered 
 human being. If anyone doubt this, just see how he 
 makes a collection for the prisoners in his big cap, and 
 you will see how the rich merchant will stretch his ring- 
 covered hand to give the soldiers a handful of 50-copeck 
 pieces ; the poor broom-seUer wiU give his " mite " for the 
 " unfortunate " (the people always call the condemned 
 unfortunate !), and perhaps this is half of his httle all. 
 The fruit-seller gives to the children in the carts, and the 
 tea-maker, who walks round with a samovar, brings life 
 again to the women with a cup of tea. Even school- 
 children offer their breakfast roll on the altar of charity. 
 The social problem will be very easy to solve when the 
 
MOSCOW 187 
 
 rich are all gentle and the poor submissive. Yes, if only 
 there were not so many drones in the hive. Just by the 
 university corner stands such a drone — ^who lives on the 
 superstitions of others. He is a kaldun. He would 
 make a very good model for a painter of the " wandering 
 Jew." Apparently he is on a pilgrimage to some holy 
 place, or some celebrated monastery, and is collecting 
 for this purpose alms which he will spend like a real 
 cynical epicurean in vodka at the next inn. 
 
 He cures all diseases of men and animals by promise, 
 and sells relics he has made himself. In drink-shops, 
 away in the country, he does what he pleases, but here, 
 among pious people, he behaves circumspectly. He 
 WEilks piously through the holy city, and makes the sign 
 of the cross when he gets to the Kremlin, and stands 
 before the statue of the Redeemer, over the Spaszky 
 Gate, murmurs a curse under his breath against a rival 
 he has just caught sight of, a discharged soldier, who 
 passes by wrapped in his grey cloak, with his cap pulled 
 over his eyes in humility. 
 
 There is scarcely a house in Moscow, in literary andj 
 professional circles, which you can enter without being, 
 pressed to join in a meal. If you call when your friends are 
 at table you may be certain that you will not be ushered into 
 a deserted drawing-room, where the master and mistress of 
 the house will interview you in turn. In Moscow, instead 
 of giving you this bitter-sweet welcome, your friends will 
 receive you frankly, and beg you to sit down to table with 
 them — ^in fact before the invitation is tendered a place will 
 have been laid by their servants. If you have already 
 dined you will be pressed to take dessert or coffee, and the 
 mistress of the house will not offer excuses for the menu, 
 however simple, you may be sure of that. The Russians 
 live simply and openly. There is no question of elegant 
 exteriors and hidden skeletons. 
 
i88 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 " St Petersburg is the head, Moscow is the stomach," 
 said a Russian writer. That may be, but the simple 
 hospitality of Moscow is by no means a bar to intellectual 
 interests ; on the contrary, this genial reception into the 
 family circle is a safe way of prolonging the visit, and the 
 conversation is sure to be a good deal more interesting 
 than in ordinary drawing-rooms. There are no doubt 
 some exceptions, and here and there one may find bad 
 mannered and inhospitable people, just as one will find 
 indiscreet guests. There is no fixed hour for meals, so 
 that if one is maldng a round of visits one may be present 
 at dinner various times. In other countries, one can pretty 
 well tell at what hour all the families in the State wiU be 
 at table, and so it is easy to avoid that special hour ; 
 not so in Moscow, where every one chooses his own hour, 
 fij where the set rules which regulate Western life are un- 
 • * known, and the people are simple, expansive, and natural. 
 .' A Russian drawing-room is not stiffly furnished, with 
 chairs forming a semi-circle romid the hearth, inviting 
 the visitor to enter into a general conversation as cold as 
 it is commonplace. The rooms are very large, and are 
 not cimibered with furniture ; Russians being confined 
 to their houses for six months, the rooms are naturally 
 built much larger than in other coimtries. 
 
 Small groups of chairs, arm-chairs, and divans are scat- 
 i tered over it, and green plants are a necessary feature of the 
 a room. If you want a tete-a-tite, you find a cosy divan ; 
 if you want an animated discussion with two or three 
 persons, you establish yourself ^t a small round table; 
 you can speak and discuss with passionate enthusiasm 
 without interfering with anyone, and without fear of 
 giving offence to the mistress of the house by showing 
 interest in the subject imder discussion. In a poUshedji 
 elegant, levelling French or English drawing-room, a : 
 spark of enthusiasm is out of place, but a Russian drawing- 
 
MOSCOW 189 
 
 room makes for sincerity, for thought, and for passionatej 
 enthusiasm. You may move from group to group freelyj 
 as though in your own home. 
 
 Russians are always ready to welcome their friends, 
 it is inherent in their nature. If you part from them, 
 they seem to forget you ; you will see no sign of over- 
 whelming sorrow, but when you return you will quickly 
 see that they have not forgotten. Their natural apathy 
 is the cause of their apparent coldness. 
 
 They have a special way of understanding the treat- 
 ment due to a friend, which,.though disconcerting at first, 
 is very simple and natural once you understand it. In 
 others countries there is always a tendency to make the 
 visitor the centre of attraction, to give him the best place, 
 the best bed, the best room, and the visitor, feeling that 
 he is an inconvenience, cuts his visit short. In Russia, 
 on the contrary, a visitor is looked upon as being tempo- 
 rarily one of the family, and is expected to g,ct as such. 
 The habits of the household are not suspended on his 
 account : he is supposed to fall in with them. No one will 
 graciously give up their bed to him, grumbling inwardly ; 
 there are always two or three vast divans in a Russian 
 household and the guest will be installed on one of them. 
 To sleep on a divan is no hardship to a Russian. The 
 intimate life of the family will continue uninterrupted by 
 the guest's presence, and when the latter is pressed to ; 
 stay, he will feel that he can do so without inconvenienc- : 
 ing anyone. He will get his fair share of the general 
 comfort, but no member of the family will persecute him 
 with embarrassing attentions. 
 
 When two Russians of the lower classes meet, they go 
 to have a drink together ; and when two of the upper 
 classes meet, they play cards. Cards are a passion with 
 Russians of the upper classes, withouf~ffiennEey"'could 
 not survive*"tEe"'aallness" of the interminable winters. 
 
190 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 Work, books, and dreams become tedious ; whole nights 
 are passed round the green table, with its candles and 
 ash-trays, piled with the cardboard ends of papirosses. 
 There is a break for a modest or luxurious supper and 
 conversation : it is the only time that talking is allowed ; 
 during the game no one talks. Playing goes on till the 
 morning. Those who are condemned to pass their winter 
 in the country, have no other amusement but cards, but 
 even in town whole nights are passed at the card-table. 
 Respectable mothers of families will pass one or more nights 
 a week, in this way, to say nothing of men. 
 
 Well-to-do Russians rarely speak of money. Though 
 I coming of families enriched by commerce, or even 
 I merchants themselves, they affect to forget financial 
 matters as soon as they have crossed the threshold of their 
 private dweUings. They never furnish the kind of details 
 that Englishmen love to supply. If you speak of money, 
 they turn the conversation into other channels, such 
 as hunting or literature. Professors and minor officials 
 are more communicative, but then every one knows the 
 salary they receive. The professors are paid accorduig 
 to the number of hours they teach, which gives an ad- 
 vantage to those who have the strongest lungs or whose 
 professional conscience is the most elastic ; some of them 
 give a total of thirty hours in the week. Then there are 
 private lessons. Moscow is overrun by poor students and 
 needy governesses, who will give lessons for fifty copecks 
 and much less, but on the other hand some professors will 
 ask as much as ten rouble's the hour, and others eight or five. 
 Boarding-schools are not common in Russia, and parents 
 who do not live in towns have to find families with whom 
 their children may board. This is another source of 
 income to professors. 
 
 The lives of minor officials are much the same in Russia 
 as in the West, similar, above all, to that of their German 
 
MOSCOW 191 
 
 brothers, but they have not the same facilities for meeting 
 together. Germans rarely receive their friends at home, 
 they usually meet in the taverns ; Russians, on the 
 contrary, gladly throw open their houses to their friends ; 
 tea and rounds of sausage for refreshment and cards for 
 amusement, is the programme and menu of these reunions. 
 
 The rich bourgeoisie live comfortably but_without 
 show; they keep open house, but a very simple table. 
 Articles of" luxury are costly but the necessaries of life) 
 no dearer than elsewhere. A family having an income of 
 say 10,000 roubles does not consider this riches, and 
 having no great display to make, devote their income to 
 surrounding themselves with solid comfort. To keep a! 
 carriage is not considered in Moscow the sign of a large ■., \ 
 fortune ; indeed families who do not live by any means ^ 
 luxuriously keep two or three carriages, and as many 
 coachmep and horses. 
 
 Sometimes a young couple, not in the least given to 1 
 ostentation or extravagance, having four httle children 
 will employ three nurses, a lady's-maid, a cook, two coach- 
 men, a laundry-maid, and a moujik for the rough work. 
 They, can do this on an income of about 10,000 roubles. 
 Other elderly couples, whose children are married and ' 
 have left home, will keep as many as nine servants, but 
 in other ways live a perfectly simple life, without any 
 kind of show. To have such a -large number of servants _, 
 has its disadvantages; each one jealously keeps to his or 
 her allotted portion of work, and then mistresses fall into 
 the habit of doiqg„jiatJiing,„,sdiatSver for themselvfis,,] 
 When travelUng in other countries, thejTafe amazed to '' 
 see the domestic activity of mistresses of households. < 
 An idle, listless woman enjoys these semi-oriental customs, * 
 and spends her life eating sweetmeats or lying on soft ' 
 divans, smoking the eternal papiross ; they have never 
 done any manual labour, and become excessively stout. 
 
192 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 On the other hand an active woman reaps the advantage 
 of this profusion of servants ; the superintendence of her 
 household and of them takes up a good deal of her time, 
 but yet she is able to devote the rest of it to reading and 
 the fine arts. In Russian society we find, therefore, two 
 extremes — the result, we may suppose, of the numbers 
 of servants — on one side, women suffering from incurable 
 boredom, on the other, women whose intellectual activity 
 leaves them no leisure. 
 
 Only the poor remain in town during the summer. 
 Those persons whose business requires their presence in 
 town, and those who have no country-house in the villages, 
 take up their residence for two or three months in Uttle 
 chalets or datshas dotted over the forests in their neighbour- 
 hood. Under the pretence of seeking rest and fresh air, 
 they expose themselves to all the inconveniences which 
 ceaseless rain and early cold spells can occasion in a 
 small, scarcely watertight house. There are whole towns 
 of these datshas, fresh-air colonies so called, which are 
 deserted eight or nine months of the year, and become 
 very lively during the summer season. The rich 
 Muscovite merchants, not content with these chalets, 
 build themselves luxurious villas, perfect bijoux, dominat- 
 ing a height from which the view extends to the horizon 
 over forests and pasture lands, through which a river winds 
 its course between weeping willows. All the refinement of 
 Western luxmry may be seen in these villas, which form a 
 striking contrast to the wild roads leading to them. Every 
 room in the house, from the drawing-rooms to the humblest 
 guest chamber, is furnished with exquisite taste, while 
 round the villas the parks are scarcely cidtivated, trees 
 and bushes grow unhindered, and from the terrace one 
 may watch the cattle grazing in the pasture lands beyond 
 the river. 
 
 Other datshas, more modest but more typically Russian, 
 
MOSCOW 193 
 
 are large wooden houses with unplastered walls, the latter 
 made of pine trunks, and varnished over with a light 
 amber varnish ; the effect being curious and most charm- 
 ing. It is surprising that the Russians do not more often 
 take advantage of this natural decoration, but the reason 
 perhaps is, that these walls do not lend themselves to the 
 conventional drawing-room ornamentation. 
 
 13 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 UNIVERSITIES AND STUDENTS 
 
 THE whole history of the higher education in 
 Russia is the history of a fight against the foreign 
 and inimical elements of Russian public life. 
 
 Even in the days of cruel reaction and slavery the 
 universities were able to turn out a number of brilliant 
 statesmen capable to hit a blow at serfdom and carry out 
 the liberal forms of Alexander II. In the time of Nicholas 
 I., when the censorship was very strict, and when every 
 imprudent word created suspicion, the young men of 
 Russia still heard about freedom, the professors explained 
 by word of mouth what the Censor's pencil had blotted 
 out. There was no forbidden scientific knowledge which 
 the professors did not communicate to their students. 
 
 Among these professors were self-sacrificing men who 
 spread the light of knowledge in the surrounding darkness. 
 They remembered the gospel, " Blessed are they who are 
 persecuted for righteousness' sake," and many suffered 
 persecution. 
 
 In the time of Nicholas I. the university students ac- 
 cepted the spirit of Ideal philosophy, so rudely opposed 
 by the ruling classes. 
 
 At the accession of Alexander III. the doctrine of 
 Auguste Comte was openly taught in lectures, although 
 the works of the celebrated French philosopher were 
 forbidden. Darwin and Spencer were also spoken of, 
 which horrified the clergy, also all political and eco- 
 nomical theories, no attention being paid to the Censor. 
 Many professors of law made no secret of their sympathy 
 
 194 
 
UNIVERSITIES AND STUDENTS 195 
 
 for constitutional reforms. The Students said, with 
 humour, of a certain professor, that " he killed two birds 
 with one stone ; he proved the non-existence of God by 
 the existence of the Russian State." All the universities 
 were watched over by the eye of Katkow, who let no 
 opportunity pass of denouncing professors who " de- 
 moralized the youth." Four of Melnik's professors were 
 at different points deprived of their posts, yet in spite of 
 that free speech was not killed. The professors did not 
 look at what was allowed and what was forbidden, so much 
 as at what seemed to them scientifically necessary. 
 
 Lectures were given on Marx. The universities, from 
 the day of their foundation, had to fight against the 
 attacks of all the reactionary forces, the clergy and the 
 magistrates and newspapers. Some hundreds of pro- 
 fessors now spoke openly who till then had kept silence, 
 and most of these professors had been nominated by the 
 State. Reaction did not succeed in tearing the banner 
 of freedom from the hands of the professors, nor in killing 
 the germs of scientific education, the chief merit of past 
 and present professors. 
 
 What about the students ? They are harshly judged. 
 There are those who see in the disturbances only 
 contempt for knowledge and the externals of barbarism. 
 Yet the students deserve sympathy. Even their failings 
 are good qualities. We must lay stress on the practical 
 idealism which makes Russian students incapable of 
 compromise. The Russian student, with passionate in- 
 spiration, places himself in the service of the social ideal. 
 He accepts the doctrines of Marx as a kind of religious 
 belief ; and thereto hangs the self-sacrifice, the desire of 
 martyrdom. No one can reproach him with want of 
 boldness. The disturbances have resulted in arrests 
 and banishment to the farthermost limits of Siberia. 
 Yet punishment has not had the desired effect, but has 
 
196 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 always called forth ftirther disturbance. The sentiment 
 of " unity " forces the students to demand the release of 
 their brethren, and this demand always strikes the note 
 of enduring strength. The radicaUsm of temperament 
 speaks of the radicalism of poUtical conviction. So they 
 will never be satisfied with a moderate constitution : they 
 demand the introduction of universal suffrage with equal 
 rights, to vote secretly. 
 
 There is often talk of a social democratic republic. 
 They remind one of the French Revolutionaries of the 
 eighteenth century, with the same incapability of think- 
 ing more geometrico, the same dogmatism and belief in 
 possibilities, and the same inclination to rebuild the 
 realities and actualities of to-day on the principles of 
 reason. 
 
 Even those among them who are evolutionists will not 
 hear of the evolution of history. The inclination to dabble 
 in abstractions, and the fashion of thinking with historical 
 capability, are characteristic features of modem Russian 
 society. Thought which has not been learnt in the 
 school of self-control is not restrained by the facts of 
 political experience, and the want of this control in thought 
 makes itself felt in most of the students. They observe 
 life from the standpoint of absolute perfection, yet at the 
 same time will not recognize the relative values which the 
 university is able to offer even in the present imperfect 
 conditions. They demand certain reforms and ameliora- 
 tions only. They will recognize no passage from absolute 
 darkness to full light of day. That is why their judgment 
 on mankind is so rough. Mankind for them is divided 
 into two classes — ^heroes and rogues — and as they see 
 no steps between these two extremes, they love or hate 
 with passion ; they have not the faculty of judging 
 critically or of analysing calmly. 
 
 The professors suffer much from unjust judgment and 
 
UNIVERSITIES AND STUDENTS 197 
 
 want of toleration. Here again it must not be forgotten 
 that these faults are the reverse side of certain positive 
 qualities, power and passion of conviction. Much can 
 be forgiven them, for they love well. Their infatuations 
 are always pure — boundless love for the people, love of 
 liberty — they are ready to sacrifice everything. 
 
 The students of illegal students' unions, and the students 
 of the high schools, are bound together by fraternity 
 and college connexions in the name of liberty. And the 
 unions have performed a service to Russian society, in 
 teaching discipline and the suppression of the purely 
 personal in the common caiise. Representatives of 
 semstwos, magistrates and professors all unite. There is 
 a solidarity between the members and groups, and they 
 form a kind of " Tugend-bund." This was started by 
 the students, always to the front of any social movement, 
 and they first aroused society. 
 
 The unjust reproach that the students despise learning 
 is often made. They, in truth, despised the university 
 teaching, but not learning. In this respect there is much 
 exaggeration. The lecture-rooms of the talented pro- 
 fessors are always over-crowded, and every word is 
 followed with attention ; and there is every possibility 
 that the universities will flourish nobly when the storms 
 and disturbances and the fight for political liberty are 
 past. Then Russia may look forward to a grand and 
 glorious future. 
 
 Therefore, whoever wishes to learn and form an opinion 
 about the Russian student, must first of all fix his mind 
 on the fact that the student of to-day in the empire of 
 the Tsars is the outcome of the so-called " New Age," 
 and hails from the days of investigations and principles 
 and claims which run like a red thread since i860 through 
 the inner development of Russian society. 
 
 In those days the independent middle and smaller land- 
 
198 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 owning classes, out of which the leading spirits of student 
 Ufe were recruited, were the principal elements. 
 
 Sir Mackenzie Wallace, in his excellent book on Russia, 
 describes the type of student and his development from 
 youth to his manhood of liberal opposition in later years 
 as follows : 
 
 " Nicolai Ivan'vitsh is a tall, slender man, about sixty 
 years of age, with emaciated face, bilious complexion, 
 and long black hair, evidently a person of excitable, 
 nervous temperament. When he speaks he articulates 
 rapidly, and uses more gesticulation than is common 
 among his countrymen. His favourite subject of con- 
 versation, or rather of discourse, for he more frequently 
 preaches than talks, is the lamentable state of the country 
 and the worthlessness of the Government. Against the 
 Government he has a great many causes for complaint, 
 one or two of them of a personal kind. 
 
 " In 1861 he was a student in the University of St 
 Petersburg. At that time there was a great deal of public 
 excitement all over Russia, and especially in the capital. 
 The serfs had just been emancipated, and other important 
 reforms had been undertaken. There was a general con- 
 viction among the younger generation — and it must be 
 added among many older men — ^that the autocratic, 
 paternal system of government was at an end, and that 
 Russia was about to be re-organized according to the most 
 advanced principles of pohtical and social science. The 
 students, sharing this conviction, wished to be freed from 
 all academical authority and to organize a kind of aca- 
 demic self-government. They desired especially the 
 right of holding public meetings for the discussion of their 
 common affairs. The authorities would not allow this, 
 and issued a Ust of rules prohibiting meetings and raising 
 the class-fees, so as practically to exclude many of the 
 poorer students. This was felt to be a wanton insult to 
 
UNIVERSITIES AND STUDENTS 199 
 
 the spirit of the new era. In spite of the prohibition, 
 indignation meetings were held, and fiery speeches made 
 by male and female orators, first in the class-rooms, and 
 afterwards in the courtyard of the university. On one 
 occasion a long procession marched through the principal 
 streets to the house of the curator. Never had such a 
 spectacle been seen before in St Petersburg. Timid 
 people feared that it was the commencement of a revolu- 
 tion, and dreamed about barricades. At last the autho- 
 rities took energetic measures : about 300 students were 
 arrested, and of these thirty-two were expelled from the 
 university. 
 
 " Among those who were expelled was Nicolai Ivan'itsh- 
 All his hopes of becoming a professor, as he had intended, 
 were thereby shipwrecked, and he had to look out for 
 some other profession. A literary career now seemed 
 the most promising, and certainly the most congenial to 
 his tastes. It would enable him to gratify his ambition 
 of being a public man, and give him opportunities of 
 attacking and annoying his persecutors. He had already 
 written occasionally for one of the leading periodicals, 
 and now he became a regular contributor. His stock of 
 positive knowledge was not very large, but he had the 
 power of writing fluently, and of making his readers 
 believe that he had an unlimited store of political wisdom 
 which the press-censor prevented him from publishing. 
 Besides this, he had the talent of sajdng sharp, satirical 
 things about those in authority, in such a way that 
 even a press censor could not easily raise objections. 
 Articles written in this style were sure at that time to be 
 popular, and his had a very great success. He became a 
 known man in literary circles, and for a time all went well. 
 But gradually he became less cautious, whilst the autho- 
 rities became more vigilant. Some copies of a vio- 
 lent seditious proclamation fell into the hands of the 
 
200 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 police, and it was generally believed that the document 
 proceeded from the coterie to which he belonged. From 
 that moment he was carefuUy watched, till one night he 
 was unexpectedly roused from his sleep by a gendarme 
 and conveyed to the fortress. 
 
 " When a man is arrested in this way for a real or 
 supposed political offence, there are two modes of dealing 
 with him : he may be tried before a regular tribunal, or 
 he may be dealt with by ' administrative procedure ' 
 {administrativnym poryadkom). In the former case he 
 will, if convicted, be condemned to imprisonment for a 
 certain term ; or if the offence be of a graver nature, he 
 may be transported to Siberia, either for a fixed period 
 or for life. By the administrative procedure he is simply 
 removed without a trial to some distant town, and com- 
 pelled to hve there under police supervision during his 
 Majesty's pleasure. Nicolai Ivan'itsh was treated ' ad- 
 ministratively,' because the authorities, though convinced 
 that he was a dangerous character, could not find sufficient 
 evidence to procure his conviction before a court of justice. 
 For five years he lived under pohce supervision, in a small 
 town near the White Sea, and then one day he was in- 
 formed, without any explanation, that he might go and 
 live anywhere he pleased except in St Petersburg and 
 Moscow. 
 
 " Since that time he has lived with his brother, and 
 spends his time in brooding over his grievances and be- 
 wailing his shattered illusions. He has lost none of that 
 fluency which gained him an ephemeral literary reputation, 
 and can speak by the hour on poUtical and social questions 
 to anyone who will Usten to him. It is extremely difficult, 
 however, to follow his discourses, and utterly impossible 
 to retain them in the memory. They belong to what may 
 be called political metaphysics, for though he professes 
 to hold metaphysics in abhorrence, he is himself a thorough 
 
UNIVERSITIES AND STUDENTS 201 
 
 metaphysician in his modes of thought. He hves, indeed, 
 in a world of abstract conceptions, in which he can scarcely 
 perceive concrete facts, and his arguments are always a 
 kind of clever juggling with such equivocal, conventional 
 terms as aristocracy, bourgeoisie, monarchy, and the like. 
 
 " At concrete facts he arrives, not directly by observa- 
 tion, but by deductions from general principles, so that his 
 facts can never by any possibility contradict his theories. 
 Then he has certain axioms which he tacitly assumes, 
 and on which all his arguments are based ; as for instance, 
 that everything to which the term ' Liberal ' can be 
 applied must necessarily be good at all times and under all 
 conditions. 
 
 " Among a mass of vague conceptions which it is im- 
 possible to reduce to any clearly defined form he has a few 
 ideas which are perhaps not strictly true, but which are 
 at least intelligible. Among these is his conviction that 
 Russia has let slip a magnificent opportunity of distancing 
 all Europe on the road of progress. She might, he thinks, 
 at the time of the emancipation, have boldly accepted all 
 the most advanced principles of political and social science, 
 and have completely reorganized the political and social 
 structure in accordance with them. Other nations could 
 not take such a step, because they are old and decrepit, 
 filled with stubborn hereditary prejudices, and cursed 
 with an aristocracy and a bourgeoisie ; but Russia is 
 young, knows nothing of social castes, and has no deep- 
 rooted prejudices to contend with. The population is 
 like potter's clay, which can be made to assume any form 
 that science may recommend. Alexander II. began a 
 magnificent sociological experiment, but he stopped half- 
 way. Some day, he believes, the experiment will be 
 completed, but not by the autocratic power. In his 
 opinion, autocracy is ' played out,' and must give way to 
 parliamentary institutions. For him a constitution is 
 
202 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 a kind of omnipotent fetish. You may try to explain to 
 him that a pariiamentary regime, whatever its advantages 
 may be, necessarily produces political parties and political 
 conflicts, and is not nearly so suitable for grand socio- 
 logical experiments as a good paternal despotism. You 
 may try to convince him that, though it may be difficult 
 to convert an autocrat, it is infinitely more difficult to 
 convert a House of Commons. But all your efforts will 
 be in vain. He will assure you that a Russian parUament 
 would be something quite different from what parliaments 
 commonly are. It would contain no parties, for Russia 
 has no social castes, and would be guided entirely by 
 scientific considerations, as free from prejudice and 
 personal influences as a philosopher speculating on the 
 nature of the Infinite ! In short, he evidently imagines 
 that a national parliament would be composed of himself 
 and his friends, and that the nation would calmly submit 
 to their ukases as it has hitherto submitted to the ukases 
 of the Tsars. 
 
 " Pending the advent of this political millennium, when 
 unimpsLSsioned science is to reign supreme, Nicolai 
 Ivan'itsh allows himself the luxury of indulging in some 
 very decided political animosities, and he hates with the 
 fervour of a fanatic. Firstly and chiefly, he hates what 
 he calls the bourgeoisie : he is obliged to use the French 
 word, because his native language does not contain an 
 equivalent term, and especially capitaUsts of aU sorts and 
 dimensions. Next he hates aristocracy, especially a form 
 of aristocracy called FeudaUsm. To these abstract terms 
 he does not attach a very precise meaning, but he hates 
 the entities which they are supposed to represent quite as 
 heartily as if they were personal enemies. Among the 
 things which he hates in his own country, the autocratic 
 power holds the first place. Next, as an emanation from 
 the autocratic power, come the tehinovniks, and especially 
 
UNIVERSITIES AND STUDENTS 203 
 
 the gendarmes. Then come the landed proprietors. 
 Though he is himself a landed proprietor, he regards the 
 class as cumberers of the ground, and thinks that all their 
 land should be confiscated and distributed among the 
 peasantry. 
 
 " All proprietors have the misfortune to come under his 
 sweeping denunciations, because they are inconsistent 
 with the ideal of a peasant empire, but he recognizes 
 amongst them degrees of depravity. Some are simply 
 obstructive, whilst others are actively prejudicial to the 
 pubhc welfare." 
 
 The present generation of students has grown up under 
 the influence of men like Nicolai Ivan'itsh, and the 
 average representative student is exactly like him, but 
 the social standing of the students has changed since the 
 " liberal age. ' ' Then the great maj ority of academic youth 
 was recruited from the middle class and from small land- 
 owners and officials, as well as from the sons of the learned 
 professions — if not from the highest, at least from good 
 society. To-day the sons of priests (popes), peasants, and 
 trade^eople preponderate. During the last twenty- 
 five years the beginnings of a middle class in town and 
 village have sprung up, and in spite of the difficulties 
 which the re-organization of the Education Department by 
 Count Dmitri Tolstoi has placed in the way of the youth 
 desirous of entering the university, they have not been 
 able to prevent children of the people flocking to the seven 
 universities, Warsaw included. The nobility also send 
 those of their sons who are not destined to a military 
 career, to the university, so that they may be prepared 
 to occupy the higher positions in statesmanship ; but 
 these are to be found almost exclusively in Moscow or 
 St Petersburg, and form, with but few exceptions, a party 
 to themselves, and pass their time outside the lecture- 
 halls, in their narrow and elegant home-circles, and teike 
 
204 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 very little interest in things appertaining to student life, 
 A very strong contingent of male and female students is 
 drawn from the independent landowning and educated 
 classes, and among these are found the leaders, the most 
 restless spirits, the Nicolai Ivan'itshes of to-day. The 
 great mass of students come from the lower orders. The 
 term " lower "is to be understood to represent also the 
 middle and lower trading world under officialdom, the 
 lower country clergy, and the education ofl&cials of 
 lower schools, whose social position in Russia is sharply 
 divided from real society. Hundreds of young people flock 
 to the university towns who have only so far enjoyed 
 a very superficial education in the schools and colleges 
 and clerical seminaries of provincial towns. In the 
 country they go to the high schools, science and technical 
 institutes, with the intention of gaining further develop- 
 ment to fit themselves for the learned and practical pro- 
 fessions. To these are joined the Jews and the foreign 
 nations in the south of the empire, and particularly 
 countless Jewesses from Poland and South Russia, who 
 throng to tlie courses given in the girls' high schools. 
 These form the Radical element. The numbers of 
 students during the last decade of the nineteenth century 
 have increased tremendously. Moscow had over 4500 in 
 the beginning of 1901 ; St Petersburg over 3600 ; Kiev, 
 about 2100 ; Warsaw, 2000 ; Charkoff and Odfessa from 
 1500 to 1800, and Kasan something over 1000. There is 
 no doubt that the desire for knowledge is the main motive 
 which drives these young people to the university, for 
 they throw themselves heart and soul into natural 
 science and social political studies. " Sociology " is the 
 study which attracts them most. The majority of them 
 do not only desire to gain bread or power in the future, 
 but before ever3d;hing they desire to serve the " Father- 
 land," to reform the " poor people," and to spread the 
 
UNIVERSITIES AND STUDENTS 205 
 
 " New Life " throughout Russia. There is a certain ideal 
 strain ninning through these young strugglers which 
 represents a great deal of natural intelhgence, and a 
 certain amount of pathos is apparent in their praise- 
 worthy efforts. But in consequence of the unripe develop- 
 ment of an education without system, which leaves so much 
 to be desired, and also because of the peculiar character 
 of the Slavs, which misleads them so often, this ideal is 
 the destruction of many who deserve a better fate. These 
 students do not fail in zealous work, and if one considers 
 under what difficult circumstances the majority seek to 
 satisfy their thirst for knowledge, one must esteem their 
 energy. And truly social and political fancies are not 
 the only cause of their destruction : many are ruined solely 
 by starvation. Unhke the undergraduates of Oxford and 
 Cambridge, and other English and American universities, 
 the majority of Russian students are very poor. Thou- 
 sands of Russian students are absolutely without means 
 of any description, and keep body and soul together by 
 giving a few lessons, and it takes a great deal of persever- 
 ance to carry on the struggle undeterred under such 
 wretched conditions. It is easy to conceive that these 
 conditions lead those least capable of resistance to a 
 radicalism which recognizes no hmits to good or evil, to a 
 state of revolt against the existing order of things which 
 is not always the result of meditation and reflection, but 
 of an empty stomach and a bitter spirit. 
 
 Typical of Russian academical youth is the student 
 life of Moscow ; so I will describe their conduct on the 
 two high festivals of the university there. A better 
 judgment of the social life will be obtained by this 
 than by any extensive character-drawing. 
 
 In November of each year the students of Moscow are 
 visibly excited ; the season of the ball is approaching, 
 and the many preparations for this event are being carried 
 
2o6 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 out. The question of toilet is discussed in families, 
 and committees of students on pleasure bent prepare 
 many wonderful surprises for this ball. It is reported 
 that the students have been able to raise the five hundred 
 roubles required by the insurance of the House of 
 Assembly of the Nobles against the certain damages, 
 which are broken panes and mirrors, damaged tables and 
 chairs, " forgotten " fees for toilet rooms, and tips for the 
 officials, etc. The kuptshikhas (the wives of the rich 
 tradespeople) become cooler day by day in their relations 
 with the students, who take situations in the house to 
 teach the children, then dismiss them just before the ball. 
 At last the great day arrives, and towards evening a 
 veritable stream of people goes towards the House of 
 Assembly of the Nobles, which possesses the largest halls 
 in Moscow, and which is taken for the students' ball. 
 Such a ball in 1880 is described by an eye-witness. He 
 put on his dress clothes and took with him an opera hat, 
 but he was soon made aware that evening dress was purely 
 optional. As he entered the Assembly House, at about 
 half-past nine, the ball was then in full swing, and he 
 remarked with astonishment that the extraordinary 
 contradictions, always noticeable among the Moscow 
 students, were here present, and very visible in their 
 dress. Indeed he saw the son of an old noble family, as 
 well as a few foreigners, in the complete ball costume 
 known to Western Europe, while close by were the sons 
 of tradesmen in coats something like caftans, with light 
 or dark trousers, but the majority of students wore the 
 usual German costume with coloured blouse or joppe. 
 Some of the sons of the Muses even swaggered about in 
 the national peasant's dress and shirt, in high water-boots 
 • — and the neck-ties left nothing to be desired in variety. 
 The ladies were on the average dressed to a higher standard 
 than the gentlemen, and among them were women of the 
 
UNIVERSITIES AND STUDENTS 207 
 
 higher, middle, and small nobility, and also some plutocrats, 
 but here and there were some who would never have been 
 seen in a dream of beauty, also some small, doubtful, little 
 plants. Among the enormous crowd — estimated about 
 six or seven thousand people — this would only be noticed 
 by a keen observer. 
 
 In the first ball-room, till midnight, good society pre- 
 dominated. In the large hall, from which the doors 
 with mirrors leading to the other rooms stood wide open, 
 people danced to the splendid music of the orchestra ; 
 in the other rooms, in which were buffets with sweets and 
 refreshments of all kinds, the people who did not dance 
 walked about, and at some tables, particularly in the 
 farther room, many of the guests were sitting, men and 
 women together with whole parties of students, parti- 
 cularly those who were not accustomed to drawing-rooms. 
 He watched the joyous coming and going in the great 
 hall, which seemed very much like any ordinary dance, 
 and then he began to wander through the other rooms. 
 In the long narrow room which runs along one side of the 
 big ball-room, and forms as it were a kind of foyer, a 
 Russian student, Count W., came up to him and whispered 
 softly, after greeting him in a friendly manner, begging 
 him carefully to observe a stately figure with fair beard, a 
 hooked nose, and very carefully dressed, leaning against 
 a pillar in the ball-room. 
 
 " The cursed police must spy everywhere. He is a 
 member of the Secret Police : I know him well." 
 
 "My Russian friend," the author continues, "drew 
 my attention to the several doubtful-looking people who, 
 as far as supervision went, were behaving in a perfectly 
 harmless manner, and were only recognized by those 
 initiated into the mysteries of secret service. Count W., 
 who lived in Moscow and knew every one, assured me that 
 all the ' Society ' of the ' City of the Tsars ' was present ; 
 
2o8 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 it seemed to be the right thing to do to go to this hall, he 
 said, just to show yourselves for a short while and then to 
 disappear, leaving the field — ^when the society began to 
 be mixed — to the student element with their belongings. 
 In fact, soon after eleven o'clock we perceived, having 
 been once round the rooms and returned to the vestibule, 
 that the ladies and gentlemen of the ' great world ' were 
 going away in batches, taking with them the late-comers, 
 up the broad, lion-crowned marble staircase." 
 
 As he again passed through the rooms to get to a buffet 
 in the further room, he met two ladies whose striking 
 costimies proclaimed them to be the wives of tradespeople 
 from the millionaire's district. One, long and thin, with 
 black hair and sparkling dark eyes, showed signs of faded 
 beauty in her piquante face ; the other, whose fair wig 
 was powdered with gold dust, and whose thick lips were 
 undeniably sensual, was very stout and was using her 
 eyeglass effectively. Both women were d/coUet/, covered 
 with gold and diamonds, and they seemed to sample 
 carefully every student who passed them from head to 
 foot, as if they were looking for some one, or else as if they 
 were market-women looking for good wares. As he 
 approached these ladies, they were standing still and 
 watching a stately, poorly clad, fair student, from head 
 to foot, through their glasses, so that the handsome youth, 
 obviously straight from his village home, was quite 
 perturbed. " If the world were not topsy-turvy I should 
 say, ' The sultanas at the man-market,' " he remarked. 
 " And you would be quite right," answered Count W., with 
 a sneer. " To-day is the day on which our kuptshikhas 
 (wives of rich tradesmen) look for their children's tutors, 
 whom they also use as supplements to their better 
 halves ; and some poor fellow, driven by hunger into the 
 arms of these vampires, is obliged to keep this position 
 for a year, and only splendid figures find favour in their 
 
UNIVERSITIES AND STUDENTS 209 
 
 eyes. You see Catharine II. and Elizabeth were educated 
 amongst us ! " The visitor then saw the two women 
 entangle the fair peasant boy in conversation and lead 
 him to a window seat, then he continued his walk 
 through the rooms. 
 
 The buffet then claimed his attention for some time, 
 and it was midnight before he again returned to join the 
 company. 
 
 Everything was changed. Evening dress and the 
 elegant toilets had disappeared from the picture, and 
 the couples which he had formerly noticed keeping to the 
 background in an endless, unconstrained whirl were now 
 resting in the ball-room, and he got an impression that 
 alcohol was already doing its deadly work. In the long 
 foyer a group of students had formed who wanted to try 
 to dance the national dance Kasatshjok, in the midst of 
 shrieking and screaming, to the tones of a concertina. 
 The loud laughter, the orchestra, and the concertina, 
 calling and shrieking blended together into one over- 
 whelming, ear-piercing, discordant noise ; and as he tried 
 to escape to the distant rooms, he was met by " Gaudeamus 
 igitur " from a thousand throats. A great number of 
 students, male and female, had placed several tables 
 together and sat round, glasses of punch and bottles of 
 schnaps in hand, and sang " Gaudeamus igitur " with a 
 Russian accent all the time, and repeated perpetually 
 the verse which runs " Vivat et respublica," striking the 
 table with their fists or glasses. Several pale and half- 
 starved students sat in a comer in eager conversation with 
 a female student, and did not trouble themselves at all 
 about the noise. Their eyes sparkled, and they flourished 
 their arms with passion. As he passed by he heard one 
 say, " And I tell you, Lassalle solved the great problem : 
 all the others are muddlers ! " 
 
 " Yes," remarked Count W., sneering ; " they do not 
 14 
 
210 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 forget sociology and philosophy even on the night of the 
 ball, and they solve the highest problems waving their 
 hands, while the orgies of the Cancan go on round them. 
 How different from the students in other capitals, how 
 different from the football-playing, flirting English student, 
 or the love-making student of Paris — ^with his griseite 
 and his faire la noce. 
 
 In a little room at the end of the long row of rooms, 
 there was an old man with coiled hair and long beard, 
 standing on a table, while students thronged thickly 
 around him. He was making a speech, in which he threw 
 around him words like the following : 
 
 " Freedom for science." " The right of spontaneity 
 for the individual." " The foimdations of Russian 
 life." " The inexhaustible limit of the Mind of the 
 Russian people." And so on. By this time the visi- 
 tor had had enough and he turned towards home or 
 rather towards salvation in some quiet place from 
 this nerve-disturbing tumult. Count W. looked at his 
 watch and said : — 
 
 " Let us stay a quarter of an hour longer, the kissing 
 must begin soon ! " 
 
 The other asked if this was unavoidable, and he replied 
 coolly that such was the case. When " Fidelitas " is at its 
 highest point, they aU drink " Brotherhood," then there 
 is some misunderstanding and the drubbing begins. If 
 we step into the vestibule now, we shall see that the 
 police, in expectation of what will follow, have already 
 moved forward in numbers. But as the visitor did not 
 wish to assist any further, they left the House of Assembly 
 of the Nobles. After some days he heard that things had 
 gone so well that " only " seventeen arrests had been 
 made, but " unfortimately " the guarantee of 500 roubles 
 for the damages had not quite sufficed ! 
 
 The second most important day in the life of the 
 
UNIVERSITIES AND STUDENTS 211 
 
 Moscow student is the 25th (or according to the Old Style 
 the 12th) of January. This is the day on which the 
 foundation of the University is celebrated — all conven- 
 tions are done away with — the differences of position, 
 fortune, or point of view cease, and professors, old gentle- 
 men, and students form one large family, and all Moscow, 
 male and female, takes part in it. The feast of Saint 
 Tatjana is so characteristic of the peculiarity of the Moscow 
 student, as of Moscow life in general, that no one can give 
 any verdict on it who has not lived this day there. A 
 Russian author gives a faithful picture of such a feast 
 in a novel entitled " Kitai-Gorod," that I cannot avoid 
 giving a description based on some passages here. 
 
 In the foreground of the persons stood the hero of the 
 novel, the nobleman Paltussow, who after long years of 
 wandering has come to Moscow in order to pursue the 
 ideals of modern capitalism, and his friend and former 
 fellow-student, Ivan Alexejewith Piroshkow, who has 
 been going to pass his examination for years, but has 
 never done so. One morning, as Paltussow is leaving a 
 restaurant after breakfast, and is just about going to get 
 into his sleigh, some one calls to him ; 
 
 " Where are you going ? " 
 
 Paltussow turns round, " Ah, Piroshkow," he cries 
 gladly. 
 
 Ivan Alexejewith, in his unavoidable high hat and his 
 coat with Astrakhan collar, smiles pleasantly. His 
 glasses shine brightly in the sun, and his round cheeks 
 are red with the cold. 
 
 " Come with me. I shall not let you go ! " he said, at 
 the same time holding Paltussow by the button hole, 
 according to his custom. 
 
 " Where ? " 
 
 " Unhappy man ! How could any one ask to-day 
 where ? Don't you know what day this is ? " 
 
212 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 " Truly I don't," said Paltussow, who by the way was 
 really pleased at this rencontre. 
 
 " You must reaUy be enlightened ! To-day is the 
 Tat j ana Day, little father ! The 12th ! " 
 
 " I had quite forgotten ! " Paltussow was not at his 
 ease. 
 
 " That comes of associating with tradespeople ! You 
 have forgotten the Foundation Day of your own 
 University ! " 
 
 " Yes, I had forgotten ! " 
 
 Paltussow wrinkled his forehead ; he had two business 
 calls to make ; but he could put them off for the University 
 festival. 
 
 They drove to the University, and as both were in good 
 humour, they chatted together until they arrived at the 
 courtyard of the University. Paltussow saw a long row 
 of carriages, among them that of the Bishop, with an 
 outrider in fur cap and blue caftan. He was sorry that 
 his studies had been interrupted ; he had studied here for 
 three years for nothing : he might have been a Fellow by 
 this time ; he had chosen another path in life, and had no 
 longer to strive for that to which the " Kitai-Gorod " 
 (the City of Moscow) and its inhabitants wished to entice 
 him. 
 
 " Alma Mater ! " Piroshkow cried in fun, as he de- 
 scended from the sleigh, but a certain pathos could be 
 distinguished in his voice. 
 
 " Good day, Leonty," Paltussow greeted the University 
 porter in the dark peissage where their steps made the iron 
 plates ring. 
 
 They did not take their coats off here, but upstairs 
 where a crowd of people was already in the ante-room. 
 Here Paltussow also greeted the porter, a thin old man in 
 blue livery with a parade scarf. He was touched. Never 
 befcore had the University roused in him such feehngs ! 
 
UNIVERSITIES AND STUDENTS 215 
 
 In the first hall — they went through the library — ^were 
 the greatcoats of the guests already arrived. Gentlemen 
 in blue uniforms passed them by — ^the wide gold lace of 
 the generals shone among the white uniforms of civil 
 officials. A thick-set man stood in the window ; his hair 
 was long and disappeared under his embroidered collar. 
 He had the Wladimir Order round his neck, and he argued 
 loudly with a thin, bloodless young man in evening dress. 
 The beardless old face of the beadle showed itself in the 
 doorway and recalled to Paltussow's mind different scenes 
 which had taken place in the ante-room, meetings and 
 days of excitement. 
 
 Piroshkow had taken his arm, and as they passed with 
 some difficulty to some disengaged chairs, they bowed to 
 acquaintances here and there. 
 
 The semicircular corridor with colimins was full of 
 students, many ladies being also present. Paltussow 
 recognized a certain expression of glad excitement, on 
 some faces ; people whispered here and there that the 
 Rector himself would speak, and that from beginning to 
 end he would say what every one expected. It would be 
 applauded, for the time had come when at last the Russian 
 University should also come into her own. 
 
 They sang a hymn, then a professor made a speech; 
 few could hear it, and it did not call forth any interest. 
 Then the Rector made his statement. His feeble voice 
 died away through the hall, but not a single word was lost, 
 and gained due applause. Paltussow and Piroshkow 
 looked round and clapped their hands, nodded and called 
 out. Both were in uncommon good spirits. Paltussow 
 did not see any known faces among the students, but he 
 felt one with them. He was so happy, and had forgotten 
 all about bankers and brokers and merchants. There 
 was a tradesman's wife there — ^he knew her ; her husband 
 sat by her side with a sullen face. Paltussow did not 
 
214 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 j oin them ; many miles now lay between him and them. 
 His friend Piroshkow amused him with his smiles. His 
 sharp eyes and his bonhomie seemed something fine, 
 educated, good, and strange to all " business." The 
 word " business " throbbed in Paltussow's brain. There 
 was more applause, and stronger this time. Every one 
 talked to every one, strangers grasped each other by the 
 hand. " Good," " Excellent," shouted the students stand- 
 ing round. The faces of the young girls, for there were 
 some quite yoimg ones present, glowed with joy. They 
 also stood for something in the rights of the University, 
 and they knew also who were the friends and who were 
 the foes of the venerable walls where one learned the truth, 
 and how to work, and where one became enthusiastic for 
 other things than bread. 
 
 " Where are you going ? " asked Piroshkow of a 
 young man in high boots ; " surely not to church ? Come 
 with us." 
 
 " To the Hermitage ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Shall we drive there ? " asked Paltussow. 
 
 " To-day there is only one road to the Hermitage, and 
 then on to Streljna ! " 
 
 Paltussow nodded his head and saw himself once 
 again in the haU, which was quickly emptying, with the 
 cathedrals and pictures and the golden numbers on the 
 dark velvet. . . . 
 
 A two-horse vehicle, taken by some member of the 
 Merchants' Club, was driven quickly to the Triumphal 
 Arch. The sleigh covered with red cloth swung over the 
 ditches in the Twerskaja and Jamskaja Streets, and the fine 
 snow shone in the rising moon. Paltussow and Piroshkow 
 drove with a professor of languages from Little Russia 
 to Streljna. The speeches he had heard buzzed though 
 his brain. A good many young people, of which two- 
 
UNIVERSITIES AND STUDENTS 215 
 
 thirds were students, had met there. The speeches, toasts, 
 and good wishes began with the soup. They drank 
 healths in everything available, in red wine, sherry, and 
 afterwards in beer. 
 
 At the beginning they sang the " Gaudeamus " in unison, 
 and then went on with Russian songs. Then a babble 
 began out of which nothing could be made. A deputa- 
 tion of students went into an ante-room, where several 
 professors were dining, and brought two of them back 
 with them. One was a thin, grey-headed man with 
 spectacles, the other a dark man, very young but un- 
 commonly fat. They had to make speeches — the fat one 
 laughed, groaned, and flew into the air like a bolster, 
 and prayed to be spared. His companion in distress 
 bore it all stoically. 
 
 Paltussow and Piroshkow took part also in these jokes, 
 which were repeated again and again. Several pro- 
 fessors were called and desired to make speeches. All 
 sorts of questions were asked them ; they were kissed and 
 tutoyS'd. 
 
 In the corridor there was a row with the servants ; it 
 was time to return to the air. 
 
 " How do you feel, gentlemen ? " asked the professor, 
 and they went down the drive ; " do your ears ring ? " 
 
 " Not mine ! " said Paltussow, " which I regret ! " 
 
 " We shall overtake it again in Streljna " said Pirosh- 
 kow ; " one cannot be temperate there ; it is contrary to 
 tradition." 
 
 " Restauratio est mater studiosonmi ! " said the 
 professor, laughing. He shut his little Russian eyes 
 against the wind. " Automedon, drive on ! " he shouted 
 to the coachman. 
 
 " Let classical obscurity perish ! " 
 
 " Bravo, philologer ! " cried Paltussow. 
 
 Truly his head did not buzz much, although he had 
 
2i6 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 drunk " brotherhood " with some ten young men, all 
 entirely unknown to him. One of them took him into a 
 comer behind a pillar ; they dined in the new white hEill, 
 and asked him : 
 
 " Have you lost your conscience ? Do you still believe 
 in principles ? " 
 
 That had been said by a drunken student, but Paltussow 
 had been unpleasantly touched by the words ; he assured 
 the student that he placed the University before all things, 
 that he should never forget that one cannot judge man 
 according to results, but that the times were bad and one 
 must reserve one's force. 
 
 " Times are bad," you are right, cried the student, 
 and his eyes became very small. He supported himself 
 with both hands on Paltussow's shoulders, and cried 
 suddenly, " Who are you ? Can I talk to you ? Or are 
 you a spy ? " 
 
 Now he was driving along in the fresh air, but his mind 
 was occupied with this drunken student for the whole 
 drive. There was a something indefinable which made 
 his cheeks red and his skin prickly in spite of his not having 
 drunk much wine — something like a sudden " Memento 
 Mori." 
 
 The coachman forced on the horses, the sleigh drove 
 into 'the courtyard of Strejlna ; behind them came two 
 carriages harnessed with three horses. Noisily they all 
 left the sleigh, quarrelled with the drivers, and gave them 
 tips. A drunkep nian was led ; two hummed street songs. 
 
 It was very hot in the ante-room and the coat pegs 
 were all full ; a perfect chaos met them, a chaos of speech, 
 songs, twanging of guitars, laughter, screams, and the 
 tones of women's voices. 
 
 " Saint Tatjana ! Overcome the festival." Some one 
 called from the doorway. Two of the carousers then 
 seized hold of the professor of languages and carried him 
 
UNIVERSITIES AND STUDENTS 217 
 
 along with them to a separate room. Paltussow and 
 Piroshkow went into the common room. Tobacco 
 smoke rose in clouds, and the odour of punch overcame 
 all other odours. 
 
 Faces, figures, clothes, men's beards, and the dresses 
 of the women harpists, all were drowned in a smoky, 
 moving mass. They were drinking at all the tables ; 
 a robust man, with Kalmuck eyes, was dancing in evening 
 dress with unbuttoned waistcoat. Some men walked 
 about, embraced each other, and kissed. A handsome, 
 well-grown dark man sat with a harpist in a coloured 
 jacket and embroidered skirt ; he pressed her hand and 
 made as if to kiss her. Some one in the hall was singing 
 a well-known street song. 
 
 " Let us get away from here," said Piroshkow ; " I 
 cannot bear this nonsense any longer." 
 
 They looked for acquaintances and found none. They 
 wished to drink, for the day would not otherwise be a 
 success. 
 
 " Gentlemen, Vivat Acaderaia ! Allow me to introduce 
 myself." 
 
 They were addressed in these words by a gentleman of 
 very slight academic appearance, who might have been 
 about fifty years old, with short grey hair and badly 
 shaved cheeks, in a uniform which looked much like a 
 lawyer's of old days. He had a glass of wine in his hand, 
 and pressed Paltussow to take it. Paltussow looked at 
 Piroshkow. 
 
 " One student to another ! " the man declared, in a 
 tipsy but fairly strong voice, reeling a little at the same 
 time. 
 
 " You were a student ? " the two friends both said 
 at once. 
 
 " Let us sit down with him," Paltussow whispered to 
 Piroshkow. 
 
2i8 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 " You are alone ? " inquired Piroshkow. 
 
 " I do not see any of my fellow-students ; I am old, and 
 was late at dinner — another glass, please ! " 
 
 "No," answered Paltussow, "drink punch with us; 
 there, in the corner, we will sit down." 
 
 They examined their new companion with curiosity. 
 It was all one to them with whom they spent the day. He 
 told them he had also studied there, and that was good 
 enough for anyone. 
 
 " Are you a lawyer ? " Paltussow asked, when the 
 punch was ready. 
 
 " Naturally ! and served in the police administration. 
 Then I got into the Government. In the poUce, in the 
 financial department, there are worse things than that." 
 
 " And now ? " Piroshkow listened and drank. 
 
 " And now ? Well, now I am baihff in the Court 
 of the Justice of the Peace, and I thank God for it. I never 
 thought of that, when I was a colleague with Nikita 
 Iwanich." 
 
 " Do you remember him ? " 
 
 The " bailiff " so they called him, shut his eyes, emptied 
 his glass, and nodded his head. 
 
 " Of course, I remember him," said the bailiff, raising 
 his glass, and thereby spilling the punch. " I had five 
 with a cross ! That is all finished ! " His voice was 
 thick with tears. " Ah, time has passed since then. Is 
 he remembered with honour ? No ! People abuse him 
 now — ^just as those over there, with the musicians. But 
 I am not like that ; I learnt only what was right and just 
 of Nikita Iwanich." 
 
 He spoke with a northern accent. 
 
 " Justitia ! " said Paltussow. 
 
 " Now listen, I wiU describe him to you. I see him as 
 if he were stiU alive and sitting before me." He climbed 
 on to the lecturer's chair, took a pinch of snuff : 
 
UNIVERSITIES AND STUDENTS 219 
 
 " ' He ! he ! ' Do you remember that ? ' He ! he ! 
 Gentlemen, to-day's lecture we wiU devote to compulsory 
 service — ah ! he ! he ! an excellent institution ! '" 
 
 " Just like him ! " Paltussow called out, and struck 
 the bailiff on the shoulder. 
 
 " Like him ? I know it is like him — I hear it often in 
 the Government offices — an excellent institution. There 
 were different kinds of compulsory service. Servitus 
 ligni immittendi — ah ? to fix a beam in the neighbour's 
 partition wall. To make your vent-hole for smoke on 
 the neighbour's side, ah ? — the smoke-hole ! a common 
 wall. He, he, he ! Servitus balnearii habendi — to go to 
 a neighbour's hoiise with the Badequasie — Servitus luminis, 
 servitus prospectus. Light Sun, for all — ah ? I am a 
 Roman, I am a free citizen ! You may not take the view 
 away from me ! I wish to enjoy the sight of the sea — 
 and the setting sun ! Ah ? but the Russian is not free, 
 he is oppressed. He does not know his obUgations. I 
 walk along the Moscow River, ah ! I wish to gaze upon 
 the Kremlin— he ! he ! — impossible — a house prevents me, 
 a house prevents me. A speculating builder has built it ! 
 he, he. Eques— the knight ! — and I cannot, because I 
 am a Russian — a'tedious, ruined man ! " 
 
 " Ha, ha ! " laughed the two friends. They drew 
 nearer to the bailiff ; Paltussow got very merry. He had 
 discovered that the lectures of this whimsical fellow whom 
 the bailiff had just imitated were full of strength and life. 
 As if in answer to his thought the bailiff said : 
 
 " Have you ever grasped what an artist he was ? What 
 talent ! I understood it. The others were all babes in 
 tight trousers, and told just stupid anecdotes, laughed 
 like donkeys, and shouted in public-houses. He gave me 
 " two " once. He said thou to the students at examina- 
 tions. An Armenian with a feeble head from the East, 
 called out to him once : " You must not say ' thou ' to me ! 
 
220 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 I will not put up with it ! " He rallied him afterwards 
 with, ' A man from the East has insulted me.' He, he! 
 The Armenians also are described in history. The Romans 
 beat them in any century at Tigranocerta or elsewhere. 
 God give him a happy end ! " 
 
 The baiUff's eyes were full of tenderness. The memory 
 of his favourite professor, whose voice and manners he 
 copied so successfully, excited him. The listeners were 
 pleased. 
 
 Now, " another lecture," he said, rocking his chair, 
 " on ' Entail.' " 
 
 " On what ? " asked Piroshkow. 
 
 " On Entail," repeated the bailiff. " A clever arrange- 
 ment, says the casuist, but how he described it ! — ^he 
 described this institution strikingly. It was like a 
 novel, a picture of hving men ! Yes, he was an 
 artist." 
 
 " Sirs, there was once a proconsul, Lentidus — ^he, he, 
 he ! — ^he carried on the government in Egypt, and he stole 
 for himself." He then put his hand with characteristic 
 gesture into his pocket. " Stole very much, and kept 
 dancing women — ^he, he ! — ^there were beautiful dancing 
 women in Egypt ! Children were born into the world, 
 but what he stole he divided with Augustus — he, he I 
 He grew old, the children must be provided for. He wrote 
 to Csesar, ' Rogo, precor, deprecor, fidei tuae committo. 
 I gave up to you all that I stole. You deceiver ! — Do 
 not afflict my children. I ask the honour, I believe, you, 
 fidei committo.' That is how this institution arose — 
 he, he ! " He interrupted himself. " Are you also a 
 lawyer ? " he asked Paltussow. 
 
 " No, I was a student of natural history." 
 
 They kept silent. In the hall and the rooms the 
 drunken noise still continued. The rh3anes of the song» 
 were simg in chorus. A gipsy sang with a loud voice. 
 
UNIVERSITIES AND STUDENTS 221 
 
 " But the Lieutenant has decided to remit five 
 hundred strokes ! Heissa ! " Some ten voices shouted 
 " Heissa ! " 
 
 " Things have not gone well with me since I left the 
 Alma Mater. ' Remit ' Fine civilization that ! Not 
 Roman, if even service. I should like to go and say : 
 ' You are offending my ears ! You shameless fellows ! ' 
 They should really choose songs worthy of mankind — 
 What ? Are you drunk ? I have also been drinking, 
 and certainly not less than you, but I will have no ' Heissa 
 remit.' What Heissa ? Strokes, ah, you Tartars, you 
 Slavs, you servants from head to heel, as if we are not 
 worth more than five hundred strokes ? " 
 
 " Let them be," said Paltussow, quietening him. 
 
 " Shall we toast, comrade ! You have pleasant odours, 
 but I smell of the court-house ! All the same we drink ! 
 Pereat stultitia pereant osores ! " 
 
 The punch was not yet finished and the conversation 
 went on without any coherence. Every one reeled, and 
 the vapour enveloped drinkers and dancers ; kisses and 
 embraces threatened to end in blows. 
 
 The return to the town began, carriages with one, two, 
 or three horses drove in the direction of the Trimnphal 
 Arch. Paltussow and Piroshkow supported their new 
 acquaintance. He had held himself together, but grew 
 weak in the cold air; he spoke distinctly, but his legs 
 refused to carry him. 
 
 The sleighs reached the Tver Gate. The coachman 
 inquired, ' Where shall I drive, gentlemen ? To the 
 Grabshewka street ? " 
 
 " Where ? " asked the baihff. 
 
 " He is offering us a merry place," Paltussow answered 
 him. " Ivan Alexejewith, we cannot finish Saint Tatjana's 
 Day anywhere else." 
 
 " Dancers ! Proconsul Lentulus, splendid ! Take 
 
222 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 the old man with you ; don't leave me lying down, Rogo, 
 deprecor ! " 
 
 Piroshkow's eyes shone with pleasure ; he nodded his 
 head. 
 
 " Go on," said Paltussow. 
 
 " Ah, you men of habit," said the coachman to himself, 
 and urged the horses on. After a short, quick drive, 
 they stopped suddenly. A round lantern with reflector 
 shone on the path. They found themselves at the 
 entrance of a three-storied maison de joie. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 EDUCATION OF WOMEN 
 
 WOMEN of the Russian intellectual classes 
 receive a very careful education. Girls' colleges 
 are innumerable in Russia, the idea being to 
 provide women with the same arms as men in the struggle 
 for civilization. These colleges are usually restricted to 
 modern subjects, but Moscow speaks proudly of a college 
 where the girls learn Latin and Greek. The subjects 
 are usually two or three living languages, Russian history, 
 geography, natural history, elements of algebra, and some 
 philosophy. It is formidable, even without Greek and 
 Latin. There are, however, young girls who have ! 
 remained simple and charming in spite of their learning, | 
 and who coquettishly disguise their knowledge of the 
 classics ; others join the " modern " colleges, and refuse to 
 abandon the charming privilege of their sex of introducing 
 originality even into their spelling. 
 
 The grammar-schools (gymnasiums) for girls are very 
 much like the French lyc^es, and in fact the programme 
 is the same with less science — which is also the case for 
 boys. The day-schools are frequented by the middle-4 
 class children, and the education given is very good ; * 
 they have caused a healthy emulation which the institutes 
 of the nobility feel also. To-day in Russia there are 333 
 gymnasiums. There are forty private schools in which 
 the same instruction is given to girls and boys under 
 Government control. 
 
 Female students and female doctors generally come 
 from the gymnasium. There was a time in which these 
 
324 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 titles suggested a family quarrel and flight to foreign 
 
 lands after a bogus marriage, which remained binding 
 
 in spite of the trouble we must take to believe it. The 
 
 student who undertook to marry a girl of good family to 
 
 free her, strong-minded enough to come herself to ask 
 
 him to do her this service, kept his promises admirably, 
 
 and exacted nothing from her. They left together for 
 
 soine Swiss or German town, and after years of misery 
 
 the /exiled pair returned, with full diplomas, and started 
 
 on /their mission of devotion. To-day parents are not so 
 
 strict. The idea of a career for women is being accepted. 
 
 }.'A (father of the middle class, the least liberal of men, 
 
 |j said in front of me, speaking about his daughters, all four 
 
 I studying different branches, medicine, pedagogy, fine 
 
 I arts — " Yes, times have changed. We do not know 
 
 rabout the future. A man is not displeased if his wife 
 
 1 can help him if necessary. And he likes to talk with his 
 
 iwife about things that interest him more than he used. 
 
 ' In any case, an educated woman is better treated." 
 
 Nothing is much more interesting than to listen to those 
 who were young in those memorable years of emancipa- 
 tion and progress for Russia, which they call the 'sixties. 
 
 The first time a Russian woman asked to be admitted 
 Ito the course of medicine in a provincial university was 
 ;in 1861. The medical council saw nothing against her 
 admission, provided she fulfilled the same formalities 
 as students of the masculine sex. Then came other 
 demands, and the presence of several women was tolerated 
 in the course of the Medical Academy at St Petersburg ; 
 but their number grew rapidly. Ladies claimed the right 
 of following the mathematical course, the law coiurse, and 
 the right already accorded was withdrawn under pretext 
 of looking into the question. Then began the migration 
 of Russian girls to foreign universities. Nadine Sousloff 
 was the first to take her diplomas as doctor, 2 December, 
 
EDUCATION OF WOMEN 225 
 
 1867, after having written a splendid thesis at Zurich. 
 The following year an exception was made again, the half- 
 open doors were closed, and the future doctors again took 
 the road to foreign countries. Towards the end of 1867 
 Eugenie Konradi succeeded with some chances of success 
 in presenting a petition, asking for the organization of 
 regular university courses for women exclusively, who 
 should go to the university when the students had 
 finished their lectures. In this manner she obtained the 
 creation of those superior courses to which the name of 
 Prof. Bestougeff is attached. But the courses of medicine 
 were only inaugurated in 1872 under the influence of 
 the liberal ideas accepted by Alexander II., who had to 
 overcome extraordinary resistance. 
 
 A generous girl, married to General Shaniowsky, who 
 has been able to renew her gifts, gave 50,000 roubles 
 to carry on the projected lectures. This was greatly due 
 to General Miloutin. He was the Minister of War, and 
 the Academy of Medicine was under his protection. It 
 was he who, in submitting the plan of the new lectures 
 to the Emperor, spoke of their utility, especially as enlarg- 
 ing medical aid, so insufficient in the provinces, and also 
 of the loss of so many Russian girls who studied in foreign 
 countries. A trial of four years was to be given, and the 
 widow of General Yermolow was to be the inspectress. 
 The women's School of Medicine was established at 
 the Nicholas military hospital, in which were 1000 sick 
 persons. 
 
 The Academy professors went there to begin their 
 lectures, and no difference was made : they were the same 
 as they delivered to the male students. 
 
 The Turko-Servian War of 1876 proved the valour of 
 
 the students. Thirty who had already finished their five 
 
 years of study obtained permission to be enrolled as 
 
 doctors' assistants, and started out for Bulgaria with the 
 
 IS 
 
226 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 Red Cross Convoy. Six months after, the Chief Inspector 
 of the Army Medical Service bore witness to their zeal, 
 their presence of mind, as well as to their knowledge, 
 both chirurgical and therapeutic. The Turkish Gazette, 
 astonished to see women admitted into the army, declared 
 that they had shown themselves worthy of the praise 
 they had had bestowed upon them. 
 
 At the end of the war many who had attended the 
 wounded on the field of battle were decorated, and in 
 the winter of 1877-78, sixty students, having passed their 
 examination with the usual jury, were made doctors. 
 Some stayed in St Petersburg and became visiting-doctors 
 at the hospitals, but the greater nimiber went to the 
 provinces and country districts. 
 
 Let us now just touch lightly on the question of the 
 education of the daughters of the high nobility and of 
 the bourgeoisie. 
 
 The nobles pass through the hands of governesses of 
 .-different nationalities. Many people, meeting Russians 
 abroad who shine as splendid linguists, are almost per- 
 suaded that the subjects of the Tsar are born knowing 
 all languages — and so it comes as a surprise to them, 
 ; when they arrive in the country, to find so many people 
 ;' (speaking nothing but Russian. They learned languages 
 in the way people in the West of Europe learn them, 
 at college ; the tutor or the governess is a luxury. 
 
 A friend of mine in St Petersburg has two children, 
 from ten to twelve, who speak perfectly French, English, 
 and German. The younger is already quite a musician. 
 She dances wonderfully : I was able to judge because I 
 saw a ballet of her composition. What strikes me most 
 is the expressive and well-regulated pantomijne, the charm- 
 ing groups arranged by children who have never been to 
 the opera. This grave and precocious child takes dancing 
 and everything else quite seriously. One rarely sees on 
 
EDUCATION OF WOMEN 227 
 
 other children's brows the line of application so defined, 
 as to become almost painful. And the boy, dressed in his 
 uniform of the military school of cadets, is evidently pene- 
 trated with the necessity of learning as a duty inseparable 
 from the rank of which he tmderstands the meaning. 
 No matter his age. He is a man, a little prince : he has 
 the manners, the politeness of one ; he kisses the hands 
 of women ; he knows how to answer and how to be silent. 
 At school he only meets comrades of his own station, and 
 on Sunday at church the brother and sister feel as if they 
 were some members of a privileged club of believers. 
 At the same time, under this polish there is an exuberant 
 spirit which breaks out at intervals. These explosions 
 are repressed at once. The children are not the masfefi" 
 of the family ; they keep their place, but their developl 
 ment is a perpetual solicitude. One father of a family,' 
 a widower, who spends a great part of the year on his 
 property, has quite a household for his children — a doctor, 
 tutor, a German nurse, a French maid, an English gover- , 
 ness. And he comically relates the difficulties which 
 arise when these ladies are too ugly for the taste of the 
 tutor or doctor, and the bother when the case is reversed. 
 There are the Russians who speak languages, and who are 
 so cosmopolitan that one is struck by them. Their 
 studies finish in the midst of foreigners : they are sent 
 to the country itself to perfect themselves. What 
 becomes of the girls brought up with so much care ? 
 Many of them, having received in the European capitals 
 lessons from the most famous masters, and having brought 
 back from the said capitals the chefs-d'ceuvre of illustrious 
 dressmakers to decorate their persons, play for ever the 
 role of drawing-room decorating, brilliant butterflies, the 
 most frivolous women of the world. Others keep the 
 taste for the pleasures of the mind. Some of them have 
 great depth of thought. Mme Swetchine, Princess de 
 
2z8 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 Lieven, and many others have proved the fact. There 
 are also many learned ladies who were fed on Kant and 
 translate St John Chrysostom. 
 
 Special institutes are open to young girls of the nobihty 
 
 in all the principal towns. There are eight in St Petersburg, 
 
 as many in Moscow, and sixteen in different parts of 
 
 Russia. One of the most celebrated is the Pavlorsky 
 
 Institute. AU the pupils are boarders ; the fees are small — 
 
 three hundred roubles, music included. The Institute 
 
 ^ forms women of fashion, mothers of families. Half, how- 
 
 1 ever, of the 240 pupils, daughters of superior officers, are 
 
 brought up by the State. They run the risk of becoming 
 
 governesses and lady-companions, in spite of the little 
 
 present in money they receive on leaving, and which is 
 
 to serve them as a dowry. The future must perhaps 
 
 jseem hard to them — after the grandiose life they lead at 
 
 the Institute. For it is a grandiose life they are leading. 
 
 The daughters of the nobility lead here what may be 
 called a palace life. Little footsteps are heard everywhere, 
 are on the great staircases, in the vast corridors, palpitating 
 through the silence ; an irreproachable bow, a kindly face 
 smiles, the air is happy. The rule of the house weighs 
 on no one. All is pleasant, even the infirmary ; it would 
 almost be a pleasure to be Ul, and amusements are not 
 wanting for the convalescent. I was shown the concert 
 room and the ball-room : they are really splendid. The 
 boys from the Cadet School are invited to the balls. 
 
 Nice-mannered servants perform the duties of the 
 Institute, and wear clean Uttle uniforms. They are 
 foundlings from the hospital — ^they can go where they 
 please after three years' service in the Institute. Was it 
 not Peter the Great who wished all his subjects to serve 
 the State in some fashion ? 
 
 These colleges and schools, which correspond to the 
 French lycies, are private or controlled by the State, 
 
EDUCATION OF WOMEN 229 
 
 which inspects them and confers the same prerogative 
 on those having a leaving diploma as the official establish- 
 ments of the Empress Marie. The Empress Marie, con- 
 temporary of Napoleon I., took great interest in the 
 education of young girls, founded a great number of 
 institutions, and left them over four millions of roubles 
 for further development. Generally speaking, there are 
 only day pupils or half-boarders. The institutes are 
 boarding-schools — that is a first diffeirence ; the second is 
 that the schools (gynmasiunji} admit girls of all classes 
 and conditions, whereas admission to institiiies" depends 
 on a thousand circumstances and conditions. Easb 
 institute is_recruited Jrom a differ ent c lass — here, half 
 orphans ; there, daughters of officers killed in war. Many 
 of the pupils are bursars — the rank of the parents is taken 
 into account ; in certain cases admission is given accord- 
 ing to the vote of a council, as at a club. The schools, 
 being day-schools, are only occupied with the education, 
 whereas the institutions, being boarding-schools, look 
 after the education, deportment, and accomplishments^ 
 Catharine the Great, the first to found institutions, hoped 
 to get the pupils away from the influence of the family, 
 
 and to model them to her ideal — as if they were wax. . 
 
 The famous Russian author Gogol translated her ideal 
 into a triple programme — (i) French language (for the 
 happiness of family life) ; (2) piano (for the pleasure of the 
 husband) ; (3) knitting and embroidery — surprises. In the 
 different establishments the method varied, (i) piano, 
 (2) French, (3) surprises, or (i) surprises, (2) piano, (3) 
 French. All that has been changed — but the impress 
 remains. When one meets a young Russian girl in the 
 world, one can surely judge where she was brought 
 up; if she has gestures — or moves easily — ^if she turns 
 on her chair — she comes from the school. If she has 
 a studied deportment, a knowing laugh — a carriage 
 
230 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 of the head conscious of grace — she is from the institution. 
 One institution at St Petersburg is called Xenia ; it was 
 founded by an ukase issued in July 1894 ,in commemoration 
 of the Grand Duchess Xenia, the Tsar's sister ; and as it 
 had such a sponsor, it was established on princely lines — 
 grand-ducally, may I say — since it was situated in the 
 confines of a grand-ducal palace. Here is a description 
 given by a recent traveller who visited this institution. 
 
 The carriage passed the gates on the garden side, and 
 drew up at the porch. Porters, in long scarlet cloaks 
 embroidered with imperial eagles in gold, hurriedly made 
 deep bows, and took off the visitors' greatcoats. There 
 was an immense hall of admirable height, breadth, and 
 depth, with elegant columns ; in the midst a fine marble 
 staircase led to the first story to which corridors formed 
 galleries. The visitors were taken to the Directress's 
 room, a fine room full of beautiful plants, furniture in 
 good style, and cases full of chanjiing curiosities. The 
 Directress, a lady of good old Russian family, was too ill 
 to accompany them over the building, and the inspectress 
 undertook to show them over, and bring them back for 
 a cup of tea at the end of their visit. Every institution 
 has a permanent inspectress. They passed through a 
 maze of corridors and halls, led by the inspectress and 
 the honorary guardian — a high Court functionary who 
 manages or protects several institutions. The visitors 
 asked to be shown how cooking was taught . The honorary 
 guardian was surprised at their prosaic tastes, but as a 
 man of the world he quickly came to himself and led 
 them into a large kitchen reserved for the pupils, and 
 which had nothing in common with the general kitchen 
 of the estabhshment. Eight or ten young girls were 
 gathered round a stove laden with shining copper pans. 
 Blushing, they stood still and bowed gracefully to the 
 strangers. The bow is the rule of the house, and it gives 
 
EDUCATION OF WOMEN 231 
 
 out, as it were, a little archaic odour which one is quite 
 glad to smell, but that is not the only odour in the kitchen. 
 It really had a pleasant smell. A slate hanging on the 
 wall indicated the contents of the pans : tomato soup, 
 breast of veal and rice, raspberry-jam rolL Practical 
 cooking is done in the school by groups of ten — never 
 more, and each lesson lasts three hours ; the group 
 prepares a meal for the class, and in consequence they 
 themselves have to eat what they have coOked. There 
 are theoretical lessons given to larger groups. These 
 young ladies were pleased with the visitors, and as a 
 reward they promised delicious cakes and delicacies for 
 tea. They then went into the room beyond the kitchen ; 
 there was an admirable choice of joints numbered for the 
 housekeepers of the future, and young cooks could learn 
 the difference between the undercut of the sirloin and 
 the fillet steak. The guardian tried to attract attention 
 by talking of the chemical laboratory, but the visitors 
 replied by asking where the pupils were taught to trim 
 hats. Soon a lift carried them to an immense room 
 with white wood furniture in the eighteenth-century 
 style, with a magnificent mantelpiece of carved marble, 
 and where the tables were arranged as counters, on which 
 were all sorts of woman's work. Here on the shapes 
 were hats with ribbons shaded like dead leaves, with 
 water-green veils of gauze, and poor white birds with 
 spread wings, rigid and motionless, victims of woman's 
 cruelty. The young ladies stroked them gently to console 
 them ; a little farther were dresses, decorated blouses, 
 embroidered cushions, materials richly worked in thread 
 of silver in the Russian fashion with artificial flowers, 
 pinks, campanulas, narcissi, roses, which the visitors 
 could not help admiring. 
 
 The commercial section of the institution, very ex- 
 cellent, comprises the compulsory study of three modern 
 
232 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 languages, German, French, and English, commercial 
 correspondence, shorthand, etc. There were many 
 typewriting machines which reduce one to exasperation 
 with their cUcking tmder such agile fingers. It was 
 quita a contrast to indolent and immense Russia, where 
 tima and space partake of the infinite, that clicking of 
 the /cold metallic fingerboards, created for business-like 
 
 lerica, practical England, and domineering Germany ! 
 Iniao country is more time spent in teaching girls mathe- 
 matics than in Russia ; arithmetic, geometry, algetara 
 ar^^ very advanced. It would be an exaggeration to say 
 that the girls are passionately fond of it. It is the desire 
 td discipline these ardent spirits, to concentrate all the 
 strength inclined to be dispersed, to force them to a 
 raethodical reflection and cold analysis, to give reason 
 the sovereignty over instinct ; and perhaps it is to this 
 ifatense culture that the Russian woman owes her char- 
 acter, her faculty for imtiative, and that tenacity which 
 Jnakes her so often superior to men. I say often— not 
 Always: let us avoid imprudent generalizations. The 
 triumph of pmre reason is sometimes only passing. A 
 Russian proverb says, " Feed a wolf as well as you can, 
 his eyes will always look to the forest." The guide, very 
 proud of his mathematicians, proposed to visit a group 
 ready for the final examination. They went to a light 
 hall with fine polished tables ; five or six young girls were 
 animatedly disqussing numbers on the blackboard. The 
 guide waved his arm proudly : " We are working here ! " 
 " Oh, Excellence, we are not working," said a young mathe- 
 matician, " we are counting the days to the holidays ! " 
 So these young ladies had not changed into reckoning- 
 machines ; they still had hearts of flesh, and wings to 
 their hearts, and some wondered where next these wings 
 would carry them. 
 
 The lessons of pueri-culture are still rare in Russian 
 
EDUCATION OF WOMEN 233 
 
 schools, but there exists in a private school in Moscow a 
 complete course of hygiene — ^under the name of hygiene 
 of childhood. The care which must be given to a child 
 in the first year of its life — food, natural and artificial, 
 the use of soup and flour, the care of the mouth, the 
 management of the child's room, the cradle, bed, the 
 child's cries, sleep, clothes, the care of the skin, walking, 
 first teeth, vaccination, are all dealt with. Then they 
 go on to the schoolboy's age, to his hygiene, the question 
 of good and harmful exercise, sports, games. The Xenia 
 Institute, so large, into which air and light enter on every 
 side, gives the impression of a temple of health and 
 youth. There is an infirmary, in which all the personnel 
 of a lycie could be housed. Besides the isolation rooms, 
 there are waiting-rooms for parents, the dentist's cabinet, 
 with so many apparatus that you shiver at the sight. 
 Then outside a special hall for medical gymnastics. There 
 are no less than eleven halls for the sick, with three or 
 four beds in each, but they are rarely occupied. 
 
 The dormitories, aired from seven to midday, and 
 locked up during the day to prevent pupils from succxmib- 
 ing to the temptation of slipping into the sheets at pro- 
 hibited hours, are fuU of beds, at the head of which 
 hangs a holy picture. Body linen and dresses are shut in 
 numbered cupboards along the corridors. Morning and 
 night the pupils must rinse their mouth with boracic 
 acid ; twice a month each pupil must have a hot bath, and 
 the washing of hands before meals is obligatory. They 
 drink milk at three o'clock, when all the courses of lessons 
 are finished. Leaving these white dormitories, with 
 the washstands of white marble hung about with pink 
 dressing-gowns, they saw a large looking-glass hanging 
 on the wall. The inspectress frowned : "A looking-glass ! 
 I must have it taken away ; that encourages vanity." 
 " Never mind," said the guardian, " leave it hanging ; let 
 
234 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 your young ladies be a little vain ; that is quite right. You 
 don't want to make nuns of them." The glass remained. 
 Now what kind of influence does this broad, sump- 
 tuous education have on young girls of noble blood 
 and poor purses ? The richest of them pays only 250 
 roubles (25 pounds) for complete board. That is to say 
 that the administration must be out of pocket. For 
 these 250 roubles, and most of the girls have scholarships, 
 they are treated as imperial god-children. Those who 
 get a certain position in the school or take medals are 
 presented to the Empress. Yet afterwards, when they 
 leave the palace of the Tsars, accompanied by the 
 obsequious bows of the servants in silk stockings, they 
 are flung straight into a hfe of privation, either with 
 their own impoverished families, or in some position of 
 mercenary labour. And shall they not suflEer ? And 
 will not the beautiful vision of their childhood rise before 
 them with a kind of home-sick feeling for what they lost ? 
 Perhaps for some of them, the weak ones. The Russian 
 has a grand faculty for adapting himself : if he is French 
 in France and German in Germany, at home he knows 
 how to drink champagne if he is rich, and how to live 
 on black bread and water if his fortune has changed. 
 The Russian is exposed to reproaches for want of interest, 
 but he is accustomed to such unparalleled ups and downs 
 in life that he never thinks of being astonished or sad 
 about them. One often meets people who ten years 
 ago had immense property and celebrated stables, and 
 who to-day wear shoes down at heel and threadbare 
 coats. There is a stupefying inequaUty in the richest 
 and most illustrious families. A milhonaire princess 
 sees her sister taking a class in a school ; the sister visits 
 the rich relation, she is received by all as if her fortune 
 were equal, but no one thinks of pitying her, she herself . 
 least of all. " Take advantage of your good fortune M 
 
EDUCATION OF WOMEN 235 
 
 do not worry about your bad fortune" — that is the 
 philosophy of the Russian nobility. And that is why 
 the looking-glass may hang in the dormitories without 
 danger. And that is why institutes would gain nothing 
 by being austere. Everywhere one sees smiling, happy 
 faces, hears much laughter ; they dance and sing, play 
 the piano, and do gymnastic exercises. To avoid the 
 noise and confusion which would arise from several 
 pianos in the same room, they have cells, twenty-four of 
 them in a row, all separated from each other by walls 
 which do not allow the sound to penetrate. In each of 
 these there is a grand piano ; and a young girl practices 
 at each. These twenty-four pianos, added to those in 
 the rooms, bring the total of pianos to forty, and all can 
 be played at the same time without the sound of any one 
 interfering with the establishment. 
 
 The Russians are very proud of their colleges for women, 
 but whether they are really advantageous is after all 
 questionable. In the first place the period of study 
 is too long, and the slender results do not justify such a 
 laborious undertaking. Then the students come away / 
 with the idea that their education has been as good as ' 
 a man's, and this fills them with a pride which is incom- j 
 patible with Russian simplicity, and disgusts them with 
 the humble duties of home life. If all these girls belonged 
 to rich families, the evil would be lessened, but the 
 majority are without means in a country where every 
 class of society lives from day to day. The college keeps 
 them eight years from their home duties, and leaves them 
 with ambitions that unfit them for their position in life. 
 There are therefore great numbers of dedassdes in Russia, 
 a state of affairs probably due to the colleges for 
 women. The desire for a professional career is as 
 easily developed in Russia in the brain of a girl B.A. 
 of seventeen as it is with her sisters in other countries. 
 
236 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 For a man to be condemned to live by lessons is sad 
 but for a woman it is triply so ! 
 
 The Russians attribute the development of female educa- 
 tion to the intellectual progress of their country. Some 
 might think it the sign of an endeavour to make up for lost 
 time. They cherish the dream of catching up in a few 
 years with Western civilization, and every combatant has 
 ' been urged into the battle, the difference of sex being 
 ignored. It is a struggle for common freedom, and all fight 
 on the same footing with equal strength and equal devotion. 
 They are indignant if you suggest that there are domains 
 \ with which women have nothing to do, or if you wish to 
 lyimit women's activities to the usual Western customs. I 
 I Know of no country except Russia, even including Eng- 
 , land, where women so willingly renounce all the privileges 
 ©f their sex. It is difficult to make a Russian understand 
 what is meant by the attributes and limitations of the 
 feminine intelligence ; he will maintain that an intelligent 
 fwoman is man's equal, and that the family is more a federa- 
 /tion than a hierarchy. Women must therefore be as well 
 /educated as men, hence the numerous women's colleges, 
 r hence all those sexless, short-haired women-artists, 
 students. Government officials, as for instance in the Post 
 Office, where their metal-buttoned coats exaggerate the 
 masculine expression of their hardened features. 
 
 The numerous colleges for young ladies have created 
 a type of feminine fotache. Young girls from twelve 
 to seventeen years of age have a very free and easy manner, 
 very different from that of, say, French girls. Being used 
 |o going out alone and to being taught by men professors, 
 their manner is perhaps defiant, but at the same time 
 tthey are more at their ease with men, less reserved, and 
 jfjtnore natural. There is another type of woman created 
 ^y these colleges, that is the governess. An ugly, good- 
 natured chatterbox of a woman, who is crazed on children 
 
EDUCATION OF WOMEN 237 
 
 and sweets — she talks unceasingly, telling tales of college 
 life, the practical jokes played by the pupils, her own 
 astuteness in circumventing them. It is amusing enough, 
 but sad, too, to think that this type of woman, useless 
 and learned, is on the increase. We shall find her in other 
 countries spreading her destructive influence round her. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 LITERARY WOMEN 
 
 BUT the higher education of women in Russia has 
 nevertheless certain advantages. In cultivated 
 circles the women are much better informed than 
 French or even English women ; they are interested in 
 many more subjects, and, without paying any attention 
 to fashions, cultivate music, Uterature, and the arts for 
 their own pleasure. One feels that their education has 
 not been obtained in fashionable convents or finishing 
 schools. Very often they know two or three living 
 languages, and it is the most ordinary thing to find 
 Russian ladies going among the poor to educate them, 
 a very beautiful way of doing charity. 
 
 Clothes play a very small part in their hves, at least 
 in middle-class society ; and even in families whose incomes 
 are 12,000 to 20,000 roubles, and who own carriages and 
 
 (horses, there is very little attempt at elegance. There 
 , is no vulgar love of show, for Russian women aim at 
 comfort and convenience and simpUcity, and are eminently 
 I practical. 
 
 ^ As everywhere else, women in Russia are divided into 
 different classes. There is the worldly woman, hke her 
 French sister, who loves pleasure. She is not led away 
 by passion, and if she be faithless to her husband, it is 
 because she is seeking for amusement, and not because 
 she loves. But in Russia there is a class of very clever 
 women, and they give foreigners a high opinion of the 
 Slav race. They know the language and hterature of 
 every European country— some can speak Greek and 
 
LITERARY WOMEN 239 
 
 Latin. There are yOung girls coming home from Dresden 
 with their diplomas in science and literature and mathe- 
 matics. They all remain womanly and charming. 4.S 
 a mle, the Russian woman is more learned than the 
 Russian man, and I think she is also superior morally. 
 
 Many Russian women appear to be superior to their 
 husbands, even when the latter are very intelligent.' 
 It is sometimes an optical illusion, but many foreigners 
 have remarked upon it. What strikes them particularly 
 is the independence of the women, who dare to have an \ 
 opinion different to their husbands, and to express it, too, ,' 
 before strangers. Then, of course, Russian etiquette is . ; 
 not so severe as in some countries ; passionate discussions i 
 are not prohibited; the women have an opportunity of f 
 joining in serious conversations, and are not condemned '\ 
 to the eternal questions of dresss and tittle-tattle. One \ 
 does not hear in Russia the same family opinion expressed d 
 by husband and wife, in the same tone, and on every h 
 possible occasion. One does not exchange a wordless \ 
 message with the eyes before giving an opinion ; onemay 
 freely say what one thinks. Commonplaces are not 
 tabooed, but sometimes questions are discussed with a 
 conviction that carries one away. Conversation reaches 
 intellectual heights, and, above all, women take their part 
 in it, without any airs and graces. 
 
 Remember, too, that if the woman be free to express 
 herself frankly, so is the man, and he may discuss with 
 her as though she were a man. He need not gallantly 
 spare her feelings ; the opinions expressed have a certain 
 value for the persons discussing them, and conversation 
 is no longer synonymous with being agreeable and pohte. 
 Woman's imagination is excited by the battle, arguments 
 follow each other hotly, and if the stranger is not used 
 to seeing a woman throw herself so heartily into a con- 
 versation, he can but admire it. ^ 
 
240 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 Thanks to this freedom, one gets to know a Russian 
 woman much quicker than a French woman or an English 
 woman, which is fortunate, as Russian women gain on 
 acquaintance. They are often pretty, but ungraceful, 
 and one can tell that they are used to wearing heavy 
 overshoes, and heavy, shapeless garments. Akin to man 
 by their independence, they have adopted something 
 of his ungraceful movements. Nevertheless, they are 
 attractive and captivating, thanks to their simplicity 
 and earnestness. When one knows them better, if they 
 displease one the feeling is more serious ; if they please, 
 the pleasure is deeper ; and if one loves them, no doubt 
 passion is mixed with a confiding security rarely to be 
 met elsewhere. 
 / Russian customs, too, are so touchingly simple : women 
 
 • are protected by the greater calm of the Russian men, 
 and, used as they are to fight for themselves, have no 
 trace of self-consciousness if left alone with a man. If 
 one calls on a friend in the evening and finds him out, 
 custom allows the visitor to have a tete-d-tete with his 
 wife. These hours of intimacy are doubly precious 
 with an-Jntelligent woman. 
 
 >— -As regards Russian literary women, there is certainly 
 a great deal of talent to be met with, but no one has as 
 yet reached very high. Russia has given no rival to 
 George Sand or George EUot, she has only literary 
 women of the second rank ; but it is true that they often 
 surpass men of the same category. The women do not 
 complain of their fate ; they are appreciated by every one, 
 encouraged by success, and well paid by the editors. 
 There is no prejudice against them. How could there 
 be? Catharine the Great gave them the example. This 
 friend of Voltaire and Diderot did not only excel in the 
 art of reigning, but also, as a writer, tried all kinds of 
 tales, satires, comedies, comic operas, historical dramas, 
 

 HOW LADIES SHOP IN RUSSIA DURING SNOW-TIIIE 
 
LITERARY WOMEN 241 
 
 and at the same time she was editing instructions for 
 the new code. Her critics would have sent her to Siberia 
 if she had not been the Empress. 
 
 The second Russian hterary woman was the famous 
 Princess^ Dashkoff, the author of " Memoirs," President 
 of the Academy of Sciences, and director of several news- 
 papers, the creator of the first public course. No woman 
 has played such an important part in the general culture 
 of her country. After her, poets and writers of romance 
 were only mediocre — until the second half of the nineteenth 
 century. The Countess Eudoxia Rostoptshin had but 
 the sentimental graces and pseudo-classic pretensions. 
 Julia Judowsky did not get all the success she deserved, 
 having limited herself to sing the sufferings of the woman 
 in love and oppressed, when the new woman arose with 
 a passion for social questions. 
 
 The years 1850 to i860 made a memorable date in the L 
 life of the country, and the work of Marco Vastshok % 
 corresponds to it. That is the pseudonjmti of Marie v 
 Markovitsh, the first of whose novels dealt with the people. 
 One feels in them an excessive idealization of the peasant, 
 a fault which many writers had in the period of the 
 emancipation of the serfs. Valentine DmitriefE escaped 
 it ! Bom of a peasant family in the district of Saratov, 
 she painted what she saw, and she is up to now the most 
 eminent of Russian romance writers. When young, she 
 delighted in books and prepared herself for the gymnasium 
 examination ; then, mistress in a village school, she had 
 to give up her post because fault was found with her 
 political tendencies. She afterwards studied medicine. 
 She was exiled for the same cause for which many of 
 the writers of the other sex were persecuted in a country 
 where it costs dear to have ideas and to express them. 
 Valentine Dmitrieff did not go to Siberia as did Korolenko 
 and many others ; she spent four years in exile at Tver, 
 16 
 
242 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 in virtue of that system so difficult to understand which 
 sows revolutionaries in different provinces that are agi- 
 tated by their very presence without the change being 
 a very efficacious punishment. At Tver, continuing to 
 practise medicine, she collaborated in reviews and papers. 
 Hers is a very deep study of the actual situation in a 
 village of Great Russia. Among her intellectual types the 
 radicals of 1860-70 stand out. Usually she judges with 
 j. impartiality the exaggerations of the Russian mind. 
 I The social novel, born in 1870, was replaced ten years 
 1 later by the psychological novel, and Krestovsky is 
 1 distinguished as a writer of these. 
 
 To-day the literary movement is frankly realistic, there 
 is little room for sentimentality ; one thinks that every- 
 thing has been said on adultery, etc., and one passes on 
 to portraits of the less-favoured class of peasants. 
 
 A certain Nikolaieff has distinguished herself in criticism 
 and journalism. She was no other than Marie Tsebrikoff, 
 director of the review. Education and Instruction. The 
 rights of women to intellectual emancipation were defended 
 with warmth. 
 
 Among the poets let us name Anne Barikoff, translator 
 of the principal French, English, and German poets, and 
 among novelists Sophia Smirnoff. Rachel Shine is 
 original, if not superior ; she protests against the futility 
 of fashionable life. She places the intellectual Israelite 
 tjrpe in the front, pioneer of the awakening of ideas in the 
 Jewish world. 
 
 Tatiana Shtshepkin Koupemik of Moscow is at the 
 head of a numerous group of women. She has translated 
 Victor Hugo, Richepin, and Rostand. She was a prodigy : 
 at the age of twelve she dedicated a poem to the famous 
 actor Shtshepkin, her grandfather, and at eighteen her 
 first piece was played. And thus for thirty years Russian 
 women have made a considerable place for themselves 
 
LITERARY WOMEN 243 
 
 in literature, and a higher one still in science. What 
 country can boast of a mathematician above Sophia 
 Kovalevsky ? One need only recall the reception given 
 her in Paris when in 1888 she bore away the Bordin Prize, 
 awarded to her by the Academy of Sciences, the subject 
 of which had been proposed six years, one after the 
 other, by the Academy of Berlin without success, to 
 perfect the theory, on one important point, of the move- 
 men of a solid body. Many ladies give themselves up 
 to astronomy and natural science. Mile Perejoslavsiva, 
 member of the Imperial Society of Naturalists at Moscow, 
 was made director of the biological station at Sebasto- 
 pol, and carried out several scientific missions. Mme 
 Olga Fedtschenko, daughter of a professor, wife of an 
 explorer, took part in the perilous journeys in which her 
 husband met his death, leaving her to publish the 
 observations they had made together. 
 
 Mme Rossiskaya Kagevikova directs the study of 
 practical zoology in the upper courses at St Petersburg, 
 sharing at the same time the work of her husband, a 
 naturalist at the University. Mme Zerasskaya is 
 also worthy of mention for the discovery of a star — 
 she is also the wife of a professor. So in Russia science 
 is compatible with marriage, and draws hearts together 
 instead of separating them. 
 
 In the country of Rubenstein, music is the most culti- 
 vated of all the arts. Women painters are numerous, 
 if T follow the lists of them published in the Union, 
 founded at St Petersburg. We knew and appreciated 
 the most celebrated among them, Marie Bashkirtseff, 
 whose " Letters " and " Diary " rank her also among the 
 writers. For a long time art schools were few and badly 
 frequented. Now there are some in nearly all towns 
 as far as Siberia. Admission to the Academy of Fine 
 Arts was granted to women in 1871. 
 
244 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 We know how many women are studying in Paris, and 
 there are still more studying in Germany ; but they 
 mostly go to the Swiss universities, where it is cheaper 
 to live, showing ever5rwhere the same stoical courage 
 and the same poverty. Those who receive help from 
 their parents fight against difficulties as hard as their 
 friends do ; for they have all things in common : what 
 belongs to one belongs to all. Fraternity is never seen 
 to better advantage than in the student colonies. At 
 Montpellier there are about sixty students, and many of 
 them are Jewesses. They are divided into two groups 
 of thirty, each cooking and waiting at table in turn. 
 They hire a library and a dining-room all together, and 
 they lodge in small rooms in the town. They dine 
 together at mid-day, and the cooking is Russian. One 
 meal a day. One girl's family lives in Russia and leaves 
 her to do as she pleases. Her interests are divided 
 between science and singing. Why should she choose ? 
 She intends to succeed in everything. There is no flirta- 
 tion with her male comrades. And what a difference 
 between America and Russia ! In Russia the men do 
 not look up to women ; they are equals, comrades, nothing 
 more. 
 
 In Russian universities, where the two sexes are sepa- 
 rated, there is just the same solidarity between them. 
 
 When the manifestation at St Petersburg was repressed 
 in the Kazan Square, the women were side by side with 
 the men. Here is the story of one present, a female 
 student. She was on the steps of the church when the 
 crowd below was driven back by the police. When the 
 Cossacks charged, a panic ensued, a terrible crush, and 
 cries of madness and anguish. Some paces from her, a 
 student, already fainting, was stunned by three Cossacks. 
 She advanced quite indignant and reproached them. 
 One of them stopped, the others turned against her. She 
 
LITERARY WOMEN 245 
 
 was knocked on the head by the terrible nagaika, on the 
 arms and shoulders. With others she was arrested and 
 dragged to the police court. There they had to pass 
 hours in waiting. Only in the evening was food brought 
 to them. Fifteen days' prison, then exile in the provinces. 
 Generally speaking they were allowed to choose where 
 they would go. She chose the town in which her family 
 lives, where she is known, and where she will be able to 
 give some lessons. 
 
 She is quite young, and a pretty woman, small, thin, 
 with aquiline nose, large, sad, grey eyes, hair short cut, 
 and her dress is very simple. She speaks French very 
 well ; her voice is sad. She would like to give lessons ; 
 would she find any pupils ? I hsten to this poor child quite 
 moved. She does not seem strong enough to fight for. 
 her existence, but she is kept up by her indomitable will. 
 
 None of these brave women think of their own strength, 
 One can reproach them with not specializing willingly. 
 They have, with the desire to embrace all, a vague inJl 
 constancy, a burning thirst for new experience, a perpetualU 
 care for the development of their individuality, outside \\ 
 the work they have undertaken. The wish to devote h 
 themselves is a passion. It is not sufficient to comfort \ 
 the unfortunate ; they wish to share the burden of those j 
 who are heavy laden. They are the romanticists of i 
 philanthropy and intellectuality. I 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE PLEASURES OF THE TABLE 
 
 THE pleasures of the table occupy an important 
 place in Russian life — that is because of the 
 climate. 
 
 Before taking their seats at table, the guests, invited to 
 a dinner in Russia, approach a small side-table, where all 
 sorts of hors-d' ceuvres are laid out. These form a kind of 
 preface to the dinner, and one should be careful in yielding 
 to the polite insistence of the host to partake of every- 
 thing, as one may thus risk not being able to do honour 
 to the real dinner. The hors-d' ceuvres are very varied. 
 
 The small table standing in the corner of the dining- 
 rooms holds condiments to excite appetite — smoked 
 fish, salted fish, and fish in oil ; reindeer tongues, with 
 pickles of all kinds, and many sorts of cheese, to say 
 nothing of caviar. 
 
 The dining table is covered with flowers. 
 
 At the end of the meal the hostess gives small bouquets 
 to the guests, which they place in their buttonholes. 
 The guests kiss the hand that presented the flowers. 
 / The Russians are enormous eaters ; they have many 
 -[.Dgeals during the day. Both climate and custom are the 
 reasons for this. The digestion of these great eaters is 
 quickened by innumerable glasses of tea without sugar, 
 and little glasses of vodka, made of potato spirit, and 
 barley, flavoured with orange or vanilla. In most 
 houses of the bourgeoisie the cooking is French, but 
 national dishes are also served. Among the latter let us 
 quote the borshtsh, the konlibia, and the bithy. 
 
 246 
 
THE PLEASURES OF THE TABLE 247 
 
 Borshtsh is the national soup, made of beetroot, beef, and 
 sour cream, served cold. - „ 
 
 Konlibia is a kind (fttod? Slices of salmon boiled in 
 water, thick pancakes andspinach, are put inside a large 
 brioche, and the whole is covered with wisiga, the marrow 
 of sturgeon, with eggs and butter. Bithy is a fillet of 
 beef chopped very fine with bread crumbs soaked in milk, 
 eggs, salt, and pepper to taste, and fried in a pan. 
 We must cJso mention the kholvdetz, a sort of borshlsh 
 served very cold, pieces of ice being put into the dish, 
 and very refreshing on a hot summer day. Only Russians 
 know how to prepare and dress the various fishes in which 
 their rivers abound, and especially the famous sturgeon 
 of the Volga. Chicken cutlets and cutlets a la Puobra- 
 jensui are very favourite dishes. Like all Northern 
 nations, the Russians are very fond of fruit, and enormous 
 sums are spent on fruit imported from warm climes. 
 Although at table French wines and champagne are 
 mostly in honour, beer, stout, and ale are also partaken 
 of, and the Russian_x^ional beverage, -the &i;j2ss, is not 
 neglected. Fresh oysters being a rarity, the gourmets 
 pay fabulous sums for them ; fortunes too are spent in 
 Russia on exotic fruit, foreign wines, and rare delicacies. 
 The Frenchman says of a spendthrift that he has eaten 
 his patrimony — il a mangS sa fortune — but this expression 
 may literally be applied to the Russian, for he actually 
 often spends his whole fortune in eating and drinking. 
 One need only watch Russians eat in restaurants to be 
 convinced of the truth of the statements. A simple 
 dinner in a restaurant soon resembles a feast of Gargantua. 
 Moscow is famous for several of her restaurants, such as 
 Tyestow, where the Zakouska, or hors-d'oeuvres, are a 
 speciality, L'Ermitage, the Slavyansky Bazar, which has a 
 reputation for Russian soups. The Russian, however, 
 does not live in the restaurant and the brasserie as much 
 
248 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 as the Frenchman does. He prefers his home life — and 
 there is no necessity to go to the caj6 for either his apiritif 
 or his coffee. He gets it all at home, in the cosy comfort 
 of his own home, unless he has decided to go out to amuse 
 himself. Then he makes a night of it. The waiters in 
 a Russian restaurant — traktir, dressed in a long white 
 blouse, with a violet or rose girdle round the waist, are 
 called tshelovyek (man), and are often Tartars — but there 
 is always a head waiter, or mattre d'hotel, who can con- 
 verse in French — and nowhere is the knowledge of the 
 native language less required than in a Russian traktir. 
 
 Needless to add that gratuities are still in vogue in 
 Russia, and if one forgets the waiter he will not hesitate 
 to remind the customer of his duty and ask natshay — 
 (literally, to buy tea with). 
 
 The menu is often in Russian, but in many restaurants 
 it is in French, and will, for instance, read as follows : 
 
 3 Potages au choix, 
 Rassolnik — Shtshi, 
 Gigot de mouton braise, 
 Poussins rotis, 
 
 Salade, 
 Creme au chocolat. 
 
 / Coffee is always taken in the restaurant where one dines, 
 fas it is difficult to find an estabhshment speciahzing 
 in this beverage. The Russians drink vodka, but only 
 before diimer, never after. Vodka is an appetiser, not 
 a liquem:, a fousse-cafe, as the French call it. Cognac 
 and chartreuse are the favourite hqueurs of the Russians 
 with their coffee. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 LES RUSSES S'AMUSENT 
 
 WE have referred, in previous chapters, to the 
 amusements of the Russian people. The 
 Russians love all sorts of games and sports, 
 the latter chiefly consisting in pugilistic encounters. 
 The principal amusement of the women and girls of the 
 people is the pleasure of the sea-saw.,^ But. it is sing- 
 ing— and— dancing "tbat-Jtlie Russians"pxefer, and of 
 which they never seem to grow tired. Men and woihen 
 of the peasantry will often dance whole nights — in 
 summer and winter — in the open street, until they fall 
 down from sheer exhaustion. And it must be admitted 
 that the choreographic art of the Russians has reached 
 a high standard, and Russian national dancers are 
 admired and applauded in all the music-halls of 
 European capitals. Whilst at Court and in Society 
 people mostly dance foreign dances, the lower classes 
 remain faithful to the national dances, which they 
 enjoy on every occasion — when work is done and 
 amusement begins. If they do not dance they drink, 
 play cards, or stroll about. 
 
 Sunday is the day for strolUng about and idling, as are 
 all the numerous festivals. Some moujiks, but above all 
 women and children, walk to a church in a neighbotiring^ 
 village and spend an hour or two kneeling or standing 
 and making the sign of the cross. In the aftemoo|x 
 some play cards, or drink vodka and get drimk, while 
 others stroll about the plot of grass which serves as the '"i 
 village street, gossiping. The men smoke continuously. 
 
 ( 
 
250 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 not pipes — they take too long — ^but cigarettes, which they 
 roll themselves. 
 
 The peasants use a special kind of tobacco called 
 makhorka, for which a schoolboy would not exchange 
 the shoelaces he smokes clandestinely. This tobacco is 
 the worst kind produced in Little Russia ; it is coarser 
 than German pipe tobacco and the English " shag," and 
 has a very strong smell which most people consider 
 pestilential. To some it is not displeasing : in any case 
 it is so strong, and has such a peculiar odour, that you 
 can trace a moujik by it. What makes it so offensive 
 to most people is the fact that it is blended with the 
 perfumes exhaled by the dirty clothes of the peasants 
 themselves. The peasants never take their clothes off, 
 even at night ; in fact they wear them until they drop 
 off with old age. They are made of coarse material, or 
 of sheepskin ; the leather, turned on the outside and 
 exposed to all weathers, sometimes gives out an odour 
 similar to that of a wet dog. Fortunately for themselves, 
 Russian peasants are no more susceptible to what we 
 call bad smells than children are. 
 
 The moujiks use any piece of paper which comes to 
 hand to roll their cigarettes, the most delicate being a 
 kind of tissue paper, of which they make Uttle three- 
 cornered bags, folding the end piece to make a kind of 
 holder similar to that of the papirosses of the town folk. 
 
 But smoking is not sufficient occupation to while away 
 the interminably long Sundays and feast days. Few of 
 the peasants can read, and those who can have no books. 
 How to spend the day becomes a problem ; one can 
 understand the attraction which alcohol has over them. 
 Three or four little glasses of vodka, swallowed at a gulp, 
 means drunkenness, and drunkenness means sleep, and 
 sleep forgetfulness. Forgetfulness of one's self — is that 
 not happiness ? 
 
LES RUSSES S'AMUSENT 251 
 
 Towards evening, weather permitting, the peasants 
 assemble on feast days in the middle of the village ; while 
 it is still light, some of the younger ones dance, or rather 
 posture and pose in Russian fashion, mimicking the fliasta, 
 which is composed of amorous or grotesque gestures, 
 contortions, and gambols, to the accompaniment of a 
 concertina. Most of the Russian national dances express 
 by gesture and pantomime the various feelings of sensuality 
 and love-making ; and it is above all the dances of the 
 Cossacks which excel in this expression of sensuality and 
 love-declaration. The concertina is very popular in 
 Russia : there is at least one in every village ; its nasal 
 and monotonous tone is very suitable to the kind of 
 soothing music the moujik finds fascinating. 
 
 The village virtuosi can play the same air over and 
 over again for an hour without ceasing ; the dancers will 
 continue to posture, and singers to raise their voices as 
 earnestly at the end as at the begiiming. In fact the 
 monotonous rudimentary music and primitive airs have 
 certainly a soothing effect on the nerves. 
 
 As night falls the dancers cease, but not so the music : 
 it goes on sometimes until midnight, if the night is balmy. 
 Youths and girls sit on the apology for a grass plot and 
 listen with interest, occasionally joining in a chorus or 
 popular air. The girls sing in shrill, discordant tones, 
 without expression ; sometimes the sudden bursts of 
 shrill song sound more like fighting than music. The 
 songs they sing are mostly just silly, but sometimes 
 broadly suggestive, upon which the girls shout with 1 
 laughter. So much for the village. The urban inhabi- 1 ' 
 tants enjoy singing and dancing indoors, and when their/, 
 own apartments are not convenient they go to the clubs||l 
 to enjoy themselves in society. The Russians dislike(,^ 
 
 solitude. *'~--.~_— ; -^—^ 
 
 "~TFhere are clubs of the high nobility, accessible only to 
 
252 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 those of the highest rank ; and there are clubs of the smaller 
 nobility, and artists have their clubs also ; great merchants, 
 belonging to the first guild also have their club, very 
 sumptuous indeed, shining with gilt and blazing with light. 
 
 The two lower guilds have their dub too, called the 
 club of small merchants. So that each caste, planted, as 
 it were, in different districts of the town, lives without 
 coming into contact with any who are placed higher than 
 themselves in the official catalogue. Russia is more than 
 a century behindhand. 
 
 And yet, whilst making such a rigorous distinction 
 between the various classes of society and scrupulously 
 observing the degrees of the tshin, the Russians are in 
 advance of the rest of Europe, for they have put woman 
 on an equal footing with man, as regards amusement. 
 Woman is in this respect the equal of man. Russian 
 clubs are therefore not exclusively a privilege for Russian 
 men. Women and children have also the right of entry, 
 they are really family clubs, and thanks to them the 
 small employe and the less fortunate can, with but Uttle 
 expense, enjoy distractions, for example, which in other 
 countries are the privilege of the wealthy few, favoured 
 by fortune. All the clubs have a membership of four 
 or five thousand — even with a low subscription the total 
 becomes quite large — and every club has its concert- 
 room, its ball-room, a restaurant, a cafe, and a hbrary. 
 If anyone not well off and having but poor rooms wishes 
 to entertain for a small sum, he can invite his acquaintance 
 to dine at the club, and hold his reception in the club 
 rooms. For a very small sum all his family can enjoy 
 a concert, or some dramatic performance. For the 
 children, the club is a positive benefit, for there are 
 children's balls, lotteries, Christmas trees. The children 
 of the small clerk get as much amusement as the children 
 of the noble lords, and the mothers do not break their 
 
LES RUSSES S'AMUSENT 253 
 
 hearts thinking that the children of rich people get 
 amusements while theirs get none. 
 
 As for the dances at Russian balls, they are mostly the 
 same as those danced at balls all over Europe. Perhaps 
 the Ma5uxka«,alone is danced with more grace and charm 
 by Russians' than by other Europeans, as Th. Gautier 
 once remarked. All the clubs have balls — fuU-diess 
 and masked — and young people who knew each other as 
 children do not lose sight of each other — ^friendship 
 turns to love — thus the Russian clubs are responsible for 
 many marriages. They are very pleasant for widowers, 
 unmarried women, and bachelors, and for all those who 
 lack a comfortable home ; they spend their Sundays 
 there and their evenings, and only go home to sleep. 
 They play cards there, but, except at the clubs of the 
 high nobility and great merchants, the play is not high. 
 A game very much played in Russia is called freferenee.^ 
 
 The Slav has in his blood something inteilse7 which 
 ice generally causes. Hfi is extreme ia .everything. He 
 went to France first in the time of Louis XV:, and was 
 charmed by the easy, elegant manners of the Court ; he 
 carried them home with him, and, conservative as he is, 
 he keeps them still. He is an inveterate gambler, and ha 
 loses with remarkable sang-froid, blowing out his braim^' 
 when he has lost his last bank-note. ' 
 
 Card-playing became a fashion in Russia during the 
 reign of Catharine H., who set the example, and who 
 organized nightly card-parties to which her favourites, 
 foreign ambassadors, and diplomatists, were invited. 
 And since the days of the great Empress, the passion of 
 the Russians for card-playing has been on the increase. 
 They play, not only for money, but for valuables, house, , 
 and estate. Before the emancipation of the serfs it was I 
 quite common for the nobles to play for some of their t 
 serfs — and to lose in one night five hundred or a thousand 
 
254 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 of " souls," as the serfs were called. Card-plajing is 
 now going on in all the clubs of the principal Russian 
 towns. The club committees of Russian clubs are not 
 very particular about the respectability of new members;- 
 and card cheating in clubs is therefore qmte common, 
 as many professional card-players easily gain admittance 
 to the fashionable clubs. It may often happen that one 
 member will suddenly expose the cheat, and the latter 
 will have to leave the club ; but then the committee will 
 also invite the exposer to send in his resignation, as such 
 scenes only ruin the reputation of a club. Such a case 
 occurred in a prominent club in St Petersburg in 1906.^ 
 Women in Russia — and in this respect they form no 
 exception to their sisters in Western Europe — are even 
 more passionate card-players than the men. Noble 
 ladies assist their husbands in finding new victims, and 
 do not hesitate, when they have lost money and jewels, 
 to play for their honour, and stake their favours on the 
 card-table ! The clubs to which ladies used to have free 
 admittance were thus turned from maisons de jeu into 
 maisons de joie. Now ladies are not allowed to play at 
 the clubs. But they easily find compensation elsewhere. 
 For not only in the clubs, but also in private houses, 
 people play and gamble with passion and alacrity. Every- 
 body gambles in Russia, from the grand duke down to 
 the moujik — nobles, merchants, women, and soldiers. 
 There is no ball without card-plajdng. Women rush 
 from the arms of their partners to the card-tables, and 
 the most tragic love intrigues are played round the green 
 tables. A woman will lose enormous sums to one of her 
 admirers. It is a debt of honour — she must pay it, and 
 to-morrow she rushes to the rendezvous fixed with her 
 creditor. The money winner is satisfied^ — and I'honneur 
 
 ^ Cf. stern, B., "Geschichte der Offentlichen Sittlichkeit in 
 Russland," vol. ii. p. 347. 
 
LES RUSSES S'AMUSENT 255 
 
 est sauvi ! The most respectable families, highly situated 
 on the social ladder, do not hesitate to turn their drawing- 
 rooms into gambling dens. An invitation to tea or supper 
 often means nothing but a card-party, at which enormous 
 sums will be lost — which will enable the hostess, the noble 
 lady, countess or princess, and her charming daughters, 
 to continue the life of luxury they are leading. House 
 friends are always on the look out for new victims — ^young 
 bloods and wealthy merchants — who are highly honoured 
 to be allowed to have a little game with the dowager 
 princess and her accomplished daughters. Of course, the 
 honour will have cost him from 50,000 to 100,000 roubles, 
 but he often thinks it cheap at the price. The most 
 dangerous gambling dens are the salons of the big actresses 
 and the balleteuses of the Imperial Opera House. After 
 the performance, grand dukes and high Court dignitaries 
 crowd the salons of these modern hetairas — and courtezans 
 donning the cloak of art, and the visitors, victims of 
 Venus and Bacchus, lose heavily. The police, that 
 vigilant body, as far as Liberalism is concerned, tolerates 
 and even bestows its protection upon the gambling dens, 
 for they prove a valuable source of revenue. 
 
 Moscow, the holy city of the Raskolniks, is given over 
 to card-playing even more than St Petersburg. The 
 taverns are full till five in the morning, with a crowd of 
 men losing everything, while champagne corks fly — in 
 the company of girls with hearts of stone and an insatiable 
 thirst for gold. 
 
 But still the people of Moscow talk about the demorahza- 
 tion of St Petersburg — that is the hatred of the old capital 
 for the new. 
 
 The rich merchants of Moscow make men of other 
 nations grow pale with envy. This city of low houses, 
 with great gardens and wide streets, is sad and deserted, 
 it looks like a huge cemetery ; and the noise of laughter 
 
256 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 and the blaze of light only proceed from the taverns. 
 The only sound of life is concentrated in these centres. 
 
 A distinct, characteristic trait of the Russian is his 
 sweet melancholy and spirit of resignation. The moujik 
 and the working man often sing and dance, but never 
 when they are sober. Under the influence of drink only, 
 they forget their daily misery and suffering and appreciate 
 the joy of life. He becomes affectionate and expansive, 
 and will drink brotherhood with the first met stranger, 
 whom he will embrace and kiss. And therefore, no doubt, 
 in order to forget her misery, that Russia — ^rich and poor, 
 noble and peasant — -d rinks . The rich find oblivion and 
 joy of life in goblets of champagne and costly foreign 
 wines, whilst the poor content themselves with cups of 
 vodka and glasses of kvass. And once the Russian starts 
 to drink, he knows no limits. The bills of the jeunesse 
 dorie or rich merchants for champagne in a night restaurant 
 are absolutely fabulous. The Russian conception of 
 fmre la noce — or faire, la hombe — ^is a very generous one. 
 The Enghshman makes a night of it, the Russian makes 
 sometimes a week of it. Very often a restaurant is 
 rented by a viveur, who offers a feast to his friends. All 
 the other customers are sent away and even indemnified, 
 and the extravagances are indescribable. It is quite 
 usual for the party to break everything in the restaurant 
 — furniture, glasses, windows, etc., before departing — 
 but the proprietor is neither astonished nor annoyed. 
 He makes a good profit, as everything has been estimated, 
 and is put on the bill. 
 
 When he is enjoying himself calmly, the Russian goes 
 after supper to the Summer Gardens or to the theatre. 
 The Summer Gardens are immense parks lit by electricity 
 where all sorts of attractions are to be found. Orchestras 
 are plas^pg, conjurers and clowns are exhibiting their 
 various talents. There the Russians walk and talk, 
 
LES RUSSES S'AMUSENT 257 
 
 drink tea, smoke cigarettes, and often indulge in a little 
 love-making — ^for the avenues and secluded spots are not 
 without their sylvan nymphs. If he does not go to the 
 Summer Gardens he visits the theatre. As a rule, how- 
 ever, the Russian theatre is only patronized by the 
 aristocracy and the wealthy classes, but not by the people. 
 One of the reasons is simply that in some theatres there 
 is neither pit nor gallery — the so-called popular theatres 
 are not successful. 
 
 A play in a Russian theatre does not last very long, as 
 in France,. It is over at about 10.30, and then people go 
 to receptions and pay visits. 
 
 St Petersburg possesses five important theatres 
 supported by the State. They are : The Great Imperial 
 Theatre, the Marie Theatre, the Alexander Theatre, 
 the Little Theatre, and the French Theatre, or the 
 Michel Theatre. It cannot be said that the prices in a 
 Russian theatre are fixed beforehand — ^it all depends 
 upon the booking and the business done by the box- 
 of&ce. If the play is a success, if the principal actress is 
 a great favourite, or if the principal actor has many 
 admirers among the fair sex — ^well, then, the box-ofl&ce 
 takes advantage of such circumstances, and prices go up. 
 As the plays are over early, the Russians are in the habit 
 of having their supper in the foyer, which offers the aspect 
 of a buffet in some big railway-station. During the 
 summer months most of the theatres are closed, and then 
 the Russians visit other places of amusement, especially 
 those where one can enjoy oneself in the open air ! 
 
 17 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE WORKMAN 
 
 IF the son of a peasant wishes to take up a handicraft, 
 he leaves without a penny in his pocket, fully convinced 
 that he can find employment and wages in some 
 company. Russian hospitality will not let him perish 
 in the meantime. When he arrives in the town, he looks 
 up the Gostjinny dwor, where all branches of handwork 
 and trades are arranged in order. There is, for example, 
 one row for tailors, another for shoemakers, and so on, 
 and each trade forms a company for itself, in the same 
 way as was done in other parts of Europe during the 
 Middle Ages ; they hold together in certain streets, as 
 the names of the Niimberg streets bear witness. If the 
 peasant wishes to become a tailor or anything else he is 
 received without any difficulty, not as pupU, not as 
 apprentice — ^the Russian knows nothing of these steps 
 — but as workman. His more experienced companions 
 show him the most necessary things, and he finds work 
 and wages according to the degree of his endurance. If 
 he has specialized in any branch and got to like his calling, 
 he tries, in the course of a year, to find employment with 
 a German master, to learn the last secrets of his trade. 
 
 The ordinary Russian does this very unwillingly, 
 because the regular life of a German workman is distasteful 
 to him ; but the man who strives to raise himself, and to 
 whom the " company " or guild hfe does not suffice, 
 and who wishes to make his own way, puts up with a 
 couple of years of German restraint, to be able to work 
 for himself afterwards. But this is an exception to the 
 
 258 
 
THE WORKMAN 359 
 
 general rule. The Russian prefers the " guild." It is 
 his second nature, and he feels the want of it. If, for 
 example, there is company in a gentleman's house, and 
 the servants are together in the ante-room, they form a 
 kind of artel — choose a superior and a committee to 
 look after the furs, cloaks, and so on — and who are bound 
 to call the others from a neighbouring wine-shop if their 
 masters want them. 
 
 The principle of the artels runs through the whole of 
 that part of Russian life which is not circumscribed by 
 police laws. Is it to be wondered at that such a nation 
 finds the bureaucracy of the German pattern insupport- 
 able, and rises against it on every opportunity, and has 
 no conscience whatever about getting the better of it ? 
 
 It goes without saying that the German bears a more 
 individual stamp, and has a greater faculty for standing 
 on his own feet, to think and deal for himself — ^while the 
 Russian wants support ever5rwhere, and leans easily on 
 the guilds, and is glad of the community life they offer 
 him. 
 
 This explains the character of Russian history, and the 
 great national deeds of which the Russian is capable, 
 and also his tremendous power of sacrifice, by which 
 the country has been saved more than once ; and explains 
 also why he hangs behind when great things are to be 
 done, not by a nation, but by individual deed. 
 
 In 1899 a law was passed limiting a day's work to 
 eleven and a half hours. The first amelioration of the 
 condition of the working class dates from 1861, the era of 
 the emancipation. There has certainly been progress 
 during the last fifty years, but this progress seems to 
 conflict with so many interests, as reforms always do, 
 even necessary and wholesome reforms. The first effect is 
 to divide work. Because of the large manufactories, now 
 founded, it becomes more difficult to cope with the harvest 
 
26o HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 season, and with those 127 whole holidays which every 
 true moujik faithfully keeps. Good-bye to the village 
 will follow, the cities wiU keep the agricultural 
 labourer all the time : they will not be able to divide 
 their hves into two parts ; agriculture will eventually be 
 more and more neglected. To avoid this danger, the 
 Govermnent and many well-meaning people are trying 
 to prevent peasants from being employed in the city 
 factories, but they grant favours to village industries. 
 That is why these latter industries have increased 
 so much. One must not imagine that every] Russian 
 peasant working at a trade goes away from his home. 
 There are six times the number of domestic workers 
 as of workers in factories, yet in European Russia 
 factory workers number one and a half miUions, not 
 including Finland and Poland. 
 
 When the snow falls thickly over Russia, the summer 
 workers take refuge in their isbas, warmed with stoves, 
 and an astonishing munber of winter industries are pro- 
 duced. Where did they learn them ? A great many 
 were handed down by their ancestors. In the most distant 
 ages the Russian peasants knew how to make pottery, 
 they knew how to make swords, which were renowned 
 among the Arabs, and other objects of metal. Then 
 each association has to make everything it needs. Tradi- 
 tion has saved certain drawings, certain dyes, certain 
 manners of weaving embroidery. The nobles, by having 
 their serfs taught certain trades, developed the finger 
 skill for which the Russian peasant is noted. Many 
 masters in America did the same in order to give the slaves 
 a greater value. 
 
 Let us touch Ughtly on the nature of some of the village 
 industries and what they produce. Other countries, 
 Hungary, Sweden, Ireland for example, possess industries 
 encouraged by the State and different art societies, but 
 
THE WORKMAN 261 
 
 nowhere has the work done at home the importance that 
 it has in Russia. 
 
 Peasant industries are worked in six governments, 
 Moscow, Vladimir, Tver, Kostroma, Nijni-Novgorod, and 
 Jaroslav, and are divided into five distinct groups: 
 wood, metal, other minerals, leather, and woven goods. 
 Wood is the most important. Carts and vehicles 
 of all descriptions are made, and 2000 sleighs made of 
 juniper wood annually leave one district. Kaluga 
 '•peciaJizes in barrels. There are 2200 workmen and 
 900 workshops, each workshop managed by a master 
 — a peasant like the others. There are 87 villages in 
 the Moscow district making furniture. The fancy 
 goods of Nijni-Novgorod are famous; they are exported 
 to Khiva and Persia and sometimes sold as Japanese. 
 More than half a milhon wooden spoons are placed in 
 the market at Simeonoff, and peasants use them all 
 over Russia. They are sent down the Volga by special 
 boat. There are 120 workshops for making toys in the 
 Moscow district. 
 
 The skilled peasant produces an immense variety of 
 small wooden objects, very fine indeed — amusing hollow 
 dolls, fitting into each other like a nest of boxes. There 
 are ten dolls, beginning with a little baby, all dressed in 
 the national dress, one holding a loaf, another a fowl, a 
 third with a basket. Each face differs from the other, 
 yet remains faithful to the tjrpe of the country. Thousands 
 of minute toys, sent to Paris under the patronage of a 
 grand duchess, were so realistic that at the Paris Exhibi- 
 tion people paid enormous sums for them. They came 
 from Vladimir, which annually sends 7000 tarantasses to 
 St Petersburg. 
 
 The district of Zwenigorod manufactures baskets. 
 Mats come from Kostroma, and the village of Simeon- 
 ofka makes the lime-wood sandals worn by the peasants. 
 
262 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 At Nijni-Novgorod also 300 men make 400 pairs a piece 
 during the bad weather. Linen is woven at Jaroslav, 
 and spinning-wheels and distaifs are made in most villages. 
 Tar from trees is procured by 2000 peasants in Tver. 
 But Tver is really the boot country: 20,000 workmen 
 are employed in making boots. At Kimr, 55 per cent, 
 of the inhabitants do nothing else. At the market 
 held there, the work of 15,000 bootmakers is sold, 
 and sent into the big towns. These bootmakers are 
 at the mercy of the middleman, for the peasant 
 workshops are very badly organized. The most 
 flourishing trade in Russia is leather, specially in 
 the Moscow district, where skins of all kinds are pre- 
 pared, even kid for gloves. These skins are bought 
 and handed to peasants, who retiun the finished article. 
 At Tver 350 men produced 80,000 roubles worth of 
 worked leather. 
 
 The preparation of furs is also in the hands of the 
 peasants, and those of Nijni-Novgorod and Vladimir make 
 cloaks and caps of sheepskin. 
 
 Catskin caps occupy 6000 men in one district alone. 
 Peasant cloaks for men and women are made in Vladimir ; 
 hare skins are prepared by 1120 workmen. 
 
 Ploughs and other agricultural implements are made 
 in the Vladimir district, and are sent throughout Russia 
 and exported to Roumania. In a large village 4000 men 
 are occupied in the cutlery industry. At Pawlov they 
 make bolts which were renowned in the seventeenth 
 century. There are 1300 men making nails at Tver, but 
 this industry is failing owing to the invention of machinery. 
 Jaroslav is noted for samovars and saucepans. Chains 
 and spurs used by the cavalry are also made here and 
 sold in St Petersburg. 
 
 The peasants of Kostroma manufactiure a kind of silver 
 jewellery sold fairly dear at St Petersburg and Moscow, 
 
THE WORKMAN 263 
 
 which, as far as the peasants are concerned, is very badly 
 paid. The pretty enamel jewels inlaid with silver and 
 fancy objects in steel are made in their homes. The 
 Tula district is rich in minerals. Peter the Great founded 
 a manufactory of weapons to utilize them in 1712 ; it 
 employs 10,000 workmen, but this is no longer an in- 
 dependent industry. The imitation pearl necklaces are 
 exported in large quantities to the Moscow district, and 
 are worn by the peasant women. 
 
 Pottery is made in all parts of the country. There are 
 no large factories. The peasants simply reproduce the 
 old traditional shapes and designs, sometimes adding a 
 little to please themselves. I saw some pieces very 
 ingeniously decorated. The Committees who undertake 
 the education of the potter do not interfere with their 
 natural qualities. As one can see for oneself in the 
 museums, learned professors and gifted artists do all they 
 can to keep Russian art in its integrity. 
 
 Mile Polenova gave many models to the sculptors 
 of wood, travelling into all parts to discover and appro- 
 priate the antique productions of the national genius, 
 that the peasant might see them for himself, as it is said 
 that the peasant reproduces what is near him. The 
 industrial school of Abramtzovo, a village which does 
 nothing else but woodwork, owes its prosperity entirely to 
 that industry. It is enough to develop the aesthetic 
 side of any primitive industry to make it a paying concern, 
 for example, weaving and embroidery. 
 
 More women than men are employed here. All the 
 Russian women weave and embroider all the winter 
 months. More often they do not leave home at all, or 
 else they meet in some small workshop, the expenses of 
 which are paid by some co-operative society. The best 
 linen comes from Jaroslav, Kostroma, and Tver. In 
 Jaroslav, to avoid dealing with a middleman, the men 
 
264 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 become itinerant merchants, and go as far as the Caucasus 
 with their wives' work. Sometimes the women them- 
 selves go, to get a little more than they can earn at 
 Kostroma. There are 17,000 workshops, with 35,000 
 cotton looms, in Moscow. Wool-weaving goes on in most 
 of the Russian provinces, especially in Kaluga. 
 
 Silk-weaving in Moscow is successful. Grebenkow is 
 the Lyons of Russia. There is hardly a house without 
 a loom. Silk and velvet owes its perfection in Vladimir 
 to a number of old hands returning to the village and 
 instructing the peasants. Many women are employed, 
 but their chief work is embroidery and lace. Nearly all 
 are lace-makers. The lace is handed over to agents, who 
 exchange it for the materials the family has need of. 
 They are never paid in money, but in material. It is 
 weary work, and wears out the eyes. The same happens 
 to the embroiderers on linen which delights the whole of 
 Europe. Russian women are not capable of mending, 
 but embroider most beautifully. Aprons, handkerchiefs, 
 and towels, embroidered in Vladimir, are looked upon 
 as works of art in many coimtries. 
 
 Brocades, braids, gold embroideries for church work, 
 occupy 3000 peasants in the village of St Sergius ; there 
 are three fairs annually, and about 100,000 pilgrims are 
 attracted there to the celebrated monastery. Stockings, 
 gloves, mittens, and headdresses employ only women. 
 Tailors who make caftans number about 900. Felt 
 sUppers and fishing-nets are also peasant industries. 
 Nets are sent to the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, and the 
 Volga. A thousand peasants work at nets m Tver; 
 Kaluga and Moscow make brushes. Cigarette holders 
 are made in Moscow, where the cigarette is in as much 
 demand as daily bread. Combs and buttons and horn 
 objects are made there too. 
 
 JPump-handles are made at Tver, and 6000 peasants 
 
THE WORKMAN 265 
 
 and machine hands are employed. Clocks employ 500 
 in Kostroma. Musical instruments to accompany the 
 national dancing — guitars and violins are made in 
 Moscow, accordions in Kostroma, and flutes and zithers in 
 Kaluga. 
 
THE SOLDIER AND THE POLICE 267 
 
 did his soldier's business, knowing that he would be killed 
 if he did not kill, but he had no hatred for the Slavs of 
 Poland. 
 
 But it was different with the officers. The superior 
 officers wished to get on; they knew that by showing 
 themselves implacable towards the conquered Pole they 
 would be agreeable to the Tsar, and so they hanged and 
 shot, ordered old men to be knouted, and women too. This 
 meant rapid promotion. Ambition is the motive power 
 of much infamy. 
 
 A second feeling animated the Russian officer — ^jealousy. 
 He knew history, and understood the superiority of 
 education, and the culture and knightly nature of the 
 Pole. He was jealous of him with that jealousy which 
 the inferior often has of the superior — and that made 
 him implacable. 
 
 The Russian soldier, being, after all, only a uniformed 
 moujik, retains all the latter's mode of life, his habits 
 and superstitions. He is intensely religious and this 
 sense of religiosity in the Russian army is very useful to 
 the autocracy. 
 
 The struggle of Russia against Poland was a struggle 
 of barbarism against civilization — fierce on the one side, 
 with the energy of despair on the other. But in the wars 
 with other powers Russian officers are often true gentle- 
 men, and very gay viveurs ; they empty bottles and 
 march gaily to their death. The struggle ended, arms 
 laid down, they treat the fallen enemy with humanity, 
 they show themselves sympathetic and brave. The 
 Russian soldier is slow to listen to subversive ideas 
 — and the cases of mutiny and disobedience are very 
 rare. Witness the very few cases where soldiers sided 
 with the revolutionaries during the troubles a few years 
 ago. 
 
 In the blessing of the army at Borodino, Tolstoi gives 
 
268 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 us a thrilling picture of the way in which religion is 
 reverenced in the Russian army. 
 
 " ' They are bringing her,' they cried, and officers and 
 soldiers and militiamen rushed to the high road. A 
 procession was leaving Borodino and coming along the 
 heights. ' Our mother is coming, our protector, our 
 holy mother Tverskaia ! ' ' No ! it is our mother of 
 Smolensk,' said another. 
 
 " The inhabitants of the village threw their spades 
 away and ran to join the procession. In front of the pro- 
 cession on the dusty road, the infantry marched bare- 
 headed, with arms reversed. From behind them came 
 the chanting. Then the clergy, in priestly robes, repre- 
 sented by an old pope — deacons— sacristans and chanters. 
 Soldiers and ofi&cers carried a large picture with a blackened 
 face shrined in silver — ^it was the picture from Smolensk 
 which had followed the army from there. To the left, 
 to the right, to the front, to the rear, the crowd of soldiers 
 ran and bowed to the ground. The procession reached 
 the summit of the hill. The carriers halted, the sacristans 
 swung their censers, and the Te Deum began. The rays 
 of the sun were leaden, and a fresh and gentle breeze 
 stirred the uncovered hair and played among the ribbons 
 of the picture, and the song rose to heaven as a heavy 
 murmur. The superior officers stood behind the priests. 
 A bald-headed general, with a St Andrew's cross round his 
 neck, motionless and stiff, evidently a German for he 
 did not make the sign of the cross, and seemed to be 
 impatient of the prayers which were deemed necessary 
 to rekindle the patriotic spirit of the people — another 
 general, with martial air, kept on making the sign of the 
 cross, looking about him all the time. Peter saw many 
 faces of his acquaintances, but he took no notice of them ; 
 all his attention was attracted by the expression on the 
 faces of the soldiers who were looking at the picture in 
 
THE SOLDIER AND THE POLICE 269 
 
 feverish exaltation. It was the twentieth time of singing 
 the Te Dewm, and the chanters intoned the invocation 
 to the Virgin, but half-heartedly, for they were already 
 tired, all the faces seemed to reflect the feeling that Peter 
 had already observed on the greater part of those he had 
 encountered. The brows were bent, the heads thrown 
 back, sighs were more numerous, and the beating of the 
 breast also. A very important person, to judge by the 
 haste with which one moved aside to let him pass, drew 
 near the picture. It was Kutusof going towards Tala- 
 vinovo to examine the land. Dressed in a long cape, his 
 back bent, his pale eyes seemed to stand prominent in his 
 full face. Without looking at anything he entered the 
 circle, stopped just behind the pope, and made the sign of 
 the cross mechanically, bent down to touch the ground, 
 sighed deeply, and bent his grey head. The soldiers went 
 on praying without being distracted by the advent of 
 the . commander-in-chief. Prayers finished, Kutusof 
 advanced and, kneeling heavily, touched the ground with 
 his forehead, and then tried, almost in vain, because of his 
 weight and weakness, to rise ; when he did succeed, he 
 stretched out his lips like a child to kiss the picture. 
 The generals, and then the soldiers, quickly pushing each 
 other, did the same." 
 
 To what an extent the Government avails itself of 
 the religious feeUng of the soldiers, and continually 
 appeals to it, may be gathered from the following 
 document. It is a memento by General Dragomiroff, 
 of St Petersburg, called the soldier's memento. It was 
 distributed to aU the troops as a guide while they 
 served the flag. It appealed to the faith and good 
 sense of the men, to their contempt of death, and 
 to their spirit of duty : — The soldier is Christ's warrior. 
 Do not think of yourself, think of your comrades. Perish 
 if necessary, but save your comrades. Under fire, scatter 
 
270 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 yourselves. March in groups under attack, for one must 
 strike with the fist, not with fingers — foot helps foot, 
 hand strengthens hand. One misfortune is no misfortune, 
 two misfortunes are only half a misfortune. Breaking 
 the ranks, that is misfortune ! Only he is conquered who 
 is afraid. Strike, do not only ward off blows. Your 
 bayonet breaks — strike with the butt-end ; if that breaks, 
 use your fists ; when your fists are bleeding, use your 
 teeth. One only really fights when fighting to the death. 
 In the battle the soldier is sentinel : do not let your weapon 
 fall from your hands, even in death. Take aim for each 
 shot : shooting right and left only amuses the devil. Be 
 careful with the cartridges, for if you shoot at a distance, 
 you will find an empty case when you ought to have a full 
 one. For a real soldier, thirty cartridges would sufiice 
 in the hottest fight. Pick up the cartridges of the wounded 
 and dead. God protects the brave. The good soldier 
 has no sides or back — ^the front is always to the enemy. 
 Always face cavalry — let it come to 200 paces, fire, fix 
 bayonets, stand firm. In war, you will neither eat nor 
 sleep your full, you will be worn out — that is war, and it 
 is a difficult trade even for a soldier ; but it is terrible for 
 a soft soldier. But if it is hard for you, it is no better for 
 the enemy ; but you only see your trouble, not his ; all the 
 same it is there. So do not be discouraged. You will 
 conquer ! " He who perseveres to the end shall be saved." 
 Victory is not gained by one blow. Sometimes you 
 will not succeed at the second or third — attack a fourth 
 time, and more often if necessary, until you have attained 
 your end. He who leaves the ranks during the fight to 
 help the wounded is a bad soldier and not a feeling man. 
 His comrades are not dear to him, but his skin is. Beat 
 the enemy and all will be well, the wounded as well as the 
 whole. Never leave your place in a march. One minute 
 and you are 120 steps behind. March gaily. Rest is 
 
THE SOLDIER AND THE POLICE 271 
 
 not even for all at the bivouac. Some sleep, some watch. 
 If you are in command, keep your men together solidly ; 
 give them reasonable orders, and do not command them 
 as you would a brute. Begin by saying what they must 
 do, so that every man wiU know where and why he goes. 
 Die for your faith, for the Tsar, for Russia ; the Church 
 will pray for the dead, and also for those who will live to 
 get honour and glory. 
 
 Never ill-treat the inhabitant, he will supply your 
 bread. The soldier is no brigand. 
 
 Let your clothing and weapons be always in order. 
 Take care of your gun, your cartridges, your biscuit, and 
 your legs, as if they were your eyes. Wrap your feet 
 well in linen, and rub them with fat : it is good. 
 
 The soldier must be strong, brave, firm, just, and pious. 
 Grant that God give him the victory. Heroes, God leads 
 you — He is your General ! 
 
 And now a few words on the Russian police — a body 
 which plays an important role in Russian hfe. 
 
 The Russian police is a wonderfully organized army. 
 There are two distinct branches, independent of each 
 other, the visible and the invisible police. The visible 
 police maintain order : they are the municipal police, and 
 they manage the numerous millions of subjects who must 
 obey the will of the autocrat. 
 
 The invisible police must know the thoughts of the 
 Tsar's subjects, know their intentions beforehand, listen 
 to their words, and provoke them to speak their desires. 
 Their Grand Master lives in St Petersburg. This branch 
 forms the third division of the Home Ministry — that is 
 why Russians usually call the police the third division — 
 and the chief is called the head of the third division. He 
 is very important, having the rank of general, well known 
 for his serviUty, to which quality this office is always 
 confided. He has unlimited power: he is a kind of 
 
272 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 terrestrial and terrible God. He disposes of the Uf e, liberty, 
 and fortune of every Russian, from the lowest moujik 
 to the highest noble. He gives no account of his deeds 
 to anyone — ^his orders are secret. If he sends a man to 
 the fortress — ^no one has the right to say, " Prove his 
 crime ! " Every one must be silent ; those who speak 
 will share his fate. So the Russians have acquired a 
 very wise but cruel custom : when a man disappears, 
 they forget everything about him, even his name. They 
 drink and dance on, perhaps more than they did before, 
 in order to prove to the third division that they have no 
 regret for a man struck by disgrace and dead to them. 
 The head of the visible police imprisons thieves, assassins, 
 and revolutionaries. The head of the third division looks 
 for the guilty without gmlt, and buries them aJive in a 
 damp prison, or sends them to the mines of Siberia. 
 
 In Russia, police cind society represent two hostile 
 camps, eingaged in a continuous war one against another ; 
 and the former, far from being the servant of the latter 
 as in other countries, is practically its master. Society 
 is always being suspected by the police department and 
 its officials. Suspected of what ? Suspected of gradually 
 awakening to political consciousness, of gaining the con- 
 viction that a radical change from the political and 
 economical points of view is absolutely necessary for the 
 welfare of the country. But the Govenunent, convulsively 
 clinging to the status quo, is desperately fighting against 
 society, crushing all the latter's attempts to gain poUtical 
 liberty. It is a fierce struggle. Whilst, therefore, in 
 most European countries the purpose of the poUce is to 
 repress crime, to suppress noise and disorder, to regulate 
 the traffic, to correct indecency, and to prevent public 
 annoyances — ^in a word, to estabhsh the public peace — 
 its aim and purpose in Russia is to exterminate the arch- 
 enemy of autocracy — Liberahsm. The Englishman looks 
 
THE SOLDIER AND THE POLICE 273 
 
 upon the constable and inspector as public servants, 
 who are always ready to protect the peaceful citizens 
 against iniquity and injustice. One becomes aware of a 
 pleasant feeUng of safety creeping over one at the famiUar 
 sight of the " bobby," and I must emphatically declare 
 that frequent visits to various European countries have 
 tended to increase my appreciation of, and admiration 
 for, the police of the Enghsh metropolis. ^ But the Russian 
 poUceman is far from being the protector of the peaceful 
 citizen. The activity, however, of the general Russian 
 police in its endeavour to' crush the hydra-head of politi- 
 cal opposition, is almost nil as compared to the zeal 
 employed by the political section. The latter secretly 
 watches the entire Russian nation. It fights not only 
 against facts, but also against thoughts and intentions, 
 against reason, human conscience and consciousness! 
 With a thousand eyes autocracy watches the Russian 
 nation like some dangerous foe, whose manoeuvres, move- 
 ments, and whereabouts must be carefiilly studied. They 
 endeavour to penetrate into the innermost thoughts of 
 the people, and to read into their very souls. And if 
 the minions of the secret police succeed in discovering 
 — or imagine they do so — some liberal ideas in the 
 mind of a suspected citizen, punishments will follow 
 swiftly. 
 
 No other nation in the world has invented that crime — 
 to be guilty without guilt ! The dishonour of this inven- 
 tion falls on autocracy. What is a " guilty man without 
 guilt ? " He who must be got rid of. Then he who is 
 supposed to have liberal ideas, or who is thought to have 
 dealings with liberals. He who has let slip an imprudent 
 word, or a sentence which has been badly interpreted; 
 he who, by a terrible misfortune, finds himself connected 
 
 1 C/. my article on " The Russian Police " in " Fortnightly Review," 
 March 1909, p. 448. 
 18 
 
274 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 with a man who conspires. He knew nothing about it — 
 but he is suspected. 
 
 Every Russian suspected of not having a profound 
 horror of liberal ideas and of not having the worship for 
 the autocracy which he ought to have for a divinity ; 
 every Russian supposed to be attacked by that hated ill, 
 called " the Uberal spirit," is looked upon as a " guilty 
 man without guilt," and is denounced to the head of the 
 third division, who, without any trial or report, puts 
 him away. His power is unlimited, and while he has the 
 power of an earthly God, he has at the same time perhaps 
 some of the vices and faults of mankind ; — it is therefore 
 easily understood how the Russians fear to find themselves 
 at the mercy of the head of the third division. 
 
 The secret police has many agents — some in the upper 
 classes ; one meets them at Court and among the nobility, 
 at the gay suppers, or with actresses ; they are charming, 
 are shaking hands very frankly, and talk so as to make 
 others talk, then they make their report, and without any 
 remorse send to Siberia or to prison the man they called 
 " my dear friend " — they even send their own relations. 
 The spy is the vilest object in creation ; his soul is black, 
 if he has one at all. He is more infamous than any murderer 
 or thief. The horrible cunning, the odious lie, the hideous 
 betrayal, are his daily weapons. He has no moral sense, 
 and he uses his arms without shame or remorse. He is 
 a corrupt and degraded being. . . . Liar, he calls himself 
 " liberal," to make another say words he would not have 
 said, then he hes to his superiors and denounces an innocent 
 man for cupidity. Who says the word " spy " says the 
 most infamous word in the world. How can anyone 
 believe such a creature ? But the whole Russian nation 
 is given over to ten thousand spies ! And people are 
 sometimes surprised that Russians are discontented with 
 the system of government ! If these persons were to 
 
THE SOLDIER AND THE POLICE 275 
 
 become Russian subjects, they would quickly share the 
 discontent of the Russian liberals. 
 
 It is a shameful thing that autocracy, in the work of 
 demoralizing the human conscience, has also attacked 
 woman's conscience, and many women have become 
 sufficiently corrupt to carry on the vile trade of spy. The 
 third division pays high wages, especially if the spies are 
 ladies of high rank ! 
 
 To start a system of spies in a State, is to give the State 
 over to the demoralization which brings about ruin. That 
 is the crime of which the autocracy of the Tsars is guilty. 
 It is shameful to destroy bodies, to make mart3^s, but 
 it is a much worse crime, with nothing human in it, to 
 destroy conscience, loyalty, the honour of a nation, to 
 attack its soul, and to pervert its mind — and he who 
 commits this crime commits an infernal, devilish deed. 
 So, one meets the invisible police at Court, in the drawing- 
 rooms of the nobility, and in servants in livery ; clerks 
 in shops, workmen, coachmen, porters in the streets. They 
 are everywhere, in all costumes, even in boudoirs where 
 a man might reasonably expect to find only love and the 
 lures of Aphrodite. 
 
 The struggle of the political police against Liberalism 
 and its activity extends far beyond the confines of the 
 Russian Empire. The centres of the revolutionary 
 movement are situated abroad, and it is the duty of the 
 political Russian pohce to keep a close watch over them. 
 For this purpose a whole army of political agents and 
 spies is scattered all over Europe, and not only Russians, 
 but also foreigners in business and other relations with 
 Russia, are being carefully watched. 
 
 One must not therefore imagine that when a Russian 
 leaves his country he gets -rid of this incubus — certainly 
 not. He is followed by travelUng spies, thousands of 
 whom are spread over Europe ; some belong to the upper 
 
276 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 class, they are well paid by the third division, so that they 
 may cut a good figure, and frequent Court and drawing- 
 rooms. Each week they send a detailed report of the 
 deeds of their fellow-countrymen, who, when they return 
 to Russia, are arrested sometimes on account of some 
 liberal thought expressed at Paris, Naples or Monaco. 
 The amiable friend who denounced them was the com- 
 panion to whom they often were kind — and who made 
 them talk so that he might sell them. The Russians 
 know what weapons the third division uses. A Russian 
 will talk openly with a citizen of any Eiuropean country 
 but when a fellow-countryman joins them, he is silent, 
 changes the conversation, fearing that the latter may be 
 a spy. The following episode will sound somewhat 
 ridiculous — but it is sad all the same — and I cannot 
 remember it without laughing. 
 
 A friend of mine was in a drawing-room with three 
 Russians of high aristocratic society. He began to give 
 out liberal ideas. All three posed as worshippers of 
 autocracy and were indignant ; they praised the Russian 
 government with enough warmth to indicate profound 
 conviction. My friend was astonished ; but a moment 
 after, more persons came in, and he found himself alone 
 with one of the three. " Believe me," he said, " I do agree 
 with your opinions ; but for prudence sake, I pretend to 
 hold different ones. Those two gentlemen, I feel sure, 
 belong to the third division." Ten minutes later one of 
 the other two was alone with my friend, and he said 
 quickly, word for word, what the other had said. Then 
 the third, on leaving the house, gave my friend his arm to 
 take him home, and began : " I am more liberal than you 
 — I hold autocracy in horror — I acknowledge that I am 
 working to overthrow it ; but I pronounced conservative 
 ideas just now, because of those two persons who, I am 
 certain, belong to the third division ! " The listener could 
 
THE SOLDIER AND THE POLICE 277 
 
 not help laughing aloud ; and explained the cause of his 
 mirth by saying that the others had said exactly the same, 
 and the Russian repUed in the following words, true but 
 how sad : " They are right to be suspicious. The wise 
 man must not confide in his most intimate friend, nor in 
 the woman he worships, nor in his own brother." 
 
 A govenmient which brings a people to this cannot be 
 called a benevolent government. Strangers who arrive 
 in Russia are submitted to a thousand vexations if they 
 are of the lower class ; if they have a situation or a name 
 they are surrounded by spies, whom they can easily 
 mistake for friendly, hospitable Russians having no desire 
 but to be polite and to make their stay in Russia pleasant. 
 
 Now the secret police sections, with all the means at 
 their disposal, were absolutely unable to cope with the 
 numerous secret revolutionary organizations, but thanks 
 to the system of agents provocateurs they have succeeded 
 to a certain extent in nullif3dng the activity of the revolu- 
 tionary movement. In order to capture the confidence 
 of their comrades, the agents provocateurs arrange con- 
 spiracies and organize terrorist attacks. They, of course, 
 inform the police beforehand, thus enabling the latter tc 
 arrest the guilty conspirators at the right moment. The 
 agents provocateurs are recruited from all parts of the 
 nation, without any distinction as to nationality, sex 
 age, or social status ; one finds among them young girls 
 and mature women, greybeards and schoolboys. 
 
 A word or two now with reference to Russian prison life 
 
 Prisons and fortresses in Russia have a sinister aspect 
 one cannot look at them without trembUng, and whai 
 gives them this terrible appearance is not so much theii 
 blackened stones, as the silence of mystery which wrap; 
 them as in a shroud. 
 
 A man thrown into an English or a French prison 
 innocent or guilty, knows that his family and his lawyei 
 
278 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 can act for him; he knows that the Press is always 
 ready to lend its assistance to the victims of injustice 
 or error, and everything goes on in public — even the 
 executions. 
 
 But in Russia the Press is only tolerated ; a word 
 suffices to suspend, to finish a paper, and the censor is 
 most severe ; the writer has Siberia, like the sword of 
 Damocles, always hanging over him. Exile — Siberia — 
 the prison and death. Thought in Russia is held in 
 incredible bondage ; the papers may only say what the 
 autocracy wishes them to say, the victims cannot have 
 their help. The arrests are made in a mysterious manner. 
 The family must be silent, must seem as if it had forgotten 
 the prisoner, or else the whole family is arrested. The 
 accused man may not call a lawyer — he is in secret con- 
 finement and no one may have a word with him. In 
 England the Home Secretary is called to account for the 
 treatment meted out to impulsive suffragettes. In 
 France one knows the fate of the prisoners in the various 
 prisons ; the cells are visited, and if they are found un- 
 healthy, if the food is bad, or the gaolers cruel, the public 
 conscience protests, journalists write, public opinion 
 forces the hand in power, who is obliged to better the 
 lot of prisoners. Daylight penetrates even into the cell 
 of the condemned. A different state of affairs prevails in 
 Russia. No one may visit the fortresses, and those who 
 are put there seldom come out ; no one knows what goes 
 on there ; the gaolers do as they please. Power has the 
 right over life and torture, no law is over it. The Tsar is 
 the law ; if he is cruel, the law is cruel ; if he is imjust, 
 the law is unjust. The creatures he employs to execute 
 his decrees are zealous and human, and subject to error, 
 cruelty, injustice, and love of vengeance. The man 
 arrested knows not where he is going, or what to expect. 
 He is taken to a prison ; he knows he is going to the shadow 
 
THE SOLDIER AND THE POLICE 279 
 
 of the tomb, or worse, because the tomb offers peace and 
 the fortress gives the idea of hideous tortures. 
 
 The fortress of St Petersburg is an immense black 
 building, elevated on an isle in the Neva. It is a 
 military building, and the imperial burial place and State 
 prison. By an idea difficult to grasp, the autocrats have 
 united the bodies of the Tsars, and those who revolted 
 against their despotism, in the same building. This may 
 be expla:ined in two ways, perhaps they wished to tell the 
 victims, " Console yourselves, the old executioners are 
 there, near you, the worms are devouring their bones — 
 the present Tsar and the future Tsars will also come to 
 this sad chapel, and their remains will be eaten by worms 
 which attack the body of the autocrat with the same ease 
 as the corpse of the peasant." 
 
 It is evident that this philosophical thought ought to 
 console the victims of autocracy. But was the imperial 
 burial place put there for that purpose ? I do not know 
 —another thought may have guided him who had the 
 notion. Perhaps he wished to give, like pleasant offerings, 
 prisoners' tears and gnashings of teeth to the spirits of 
 the departed tyrants. 
 
NOTES 
 
 Workmen 
 
 During summer no able adult men are to be seen in the town, 
 the population is entirely composed of women and children and old 
 men. The women take their husbands' place in the fields, and 
 increase the value of the plot of land allotted to them. They gather 
 in the harvest, and even work alone in the windmills. The men are 
 at work in Siberia in building a railway. 
 
 There are thousands of Russian villages which are left entirely 
 to women. For example, all able men in the districts on the 
 western shores of the White Sea go to the cod fisheries of the Arctic 
 Ocean during the summer ; the male population of the central 
 provinces, such as Kostroma, for instance, are attracted by the 
 towns. In other places the moujiks, with the faintest glimmer of 
 hope, leave the land to their wives, and go out into the world in 
 search of real or imaginary fortune, where there is usually real 
 profit to be made ; the peasant, who is a good reckoner, does not 
 hesitate to neglect his land when there is more remunerative work 
 at hand. But very often Uttle bands of workmen go ofi together 
 in search of adventure ; they may be seen any spring scattered 
 over the country. In the winter they return to their isba, and go 
 off again as soon as the snow melts ; some will find permanent work 
 in the towns, or with some rural landlord. Sometimes years will 
 pass without their visiting wives and children, and they do not 
 appear to suffer from it. 
 
 A Russian Fair 
 
 The scene is a curious one, hundreds of Ught carts, or telegues, are 
 lined up on either side of the road, others left outside the houses ; 
 they obscure the view, block up the way, and are altogether a 
 nuisance. The unharnessed horses peacefully eat out of the carts ; 
 there are the same number of carts as of famiUes, no one comes to 
 the fair on foot. In the intervals of driving a bargain, the men 
 splash about in a little river which runs across the village ; a cloud 
 
 280 
 
2 r 
 
NOTES 281 
 
 of dust hangs over the whole picture, shutting out the rays of the 
 sun. 
 
 There is no very original merchandise to be bought in this dusty 
 market — earthenware vessels, narrow-necked milk jugs, green 
 polished bowls, and various articles in cut wood and horn more or 
 less coarsely fashioned. What principally strikes the visitor are 
 the large stacks of dry fish which people buy and eat as we eat cakes. 
 
 Beer and vodka are sold in the taverns, and the yellow kvass is 
 drunk all over the country. The kvass is a kind of household drink, 
 which every housewife prepares according to her special recipe. 
 Napoleon's soldiers, if we are to believe Tolstoi, called it pig's 
 lemonade. Kvass is made of various herbs and grain distilled 
 in hot water. Sometimes it has a bitter taste, sometimes sweet, 
 in any case it is very refreshing, and a favourite drink in Russia. 
 
 Here and there groups of hideous beggars of both sexes, dirty, 
 ragged and sinister looking, crouch in the dusty road in rings, 
 chanting monotonous litanies in piercing tones. Money pours into 
 their hats and aprons. The crowd circulates in high good humour, 
 elbowing each other in the broiling sun, laughing, chatting, and 
 nibbling sunflower seeds, without ceasing. Some of them sample 
 the pastries which the salesmen fry in the open air. It is a real 
 type of Russian fair, a dirty, good-humoured, evil-smelling crowd, 
 containing an amazing number of drunkards. 
 
 The men wear pink or scarlet blouses ; the women are dressed 
 from head to foot in startling colours, red, violet, blue, yellow, a 
 mixture dazzUng to the eyes at close quarters, but seen at a distance, 
 through the haze, the result is a charming contrast to the grey 
 landscape. 
 
 The Baptism of the Neva 
 
 The Baptism of the Neva is the most curious ceremony in St 
 Petersburg. Theophile Gautier writes about it in his book " Travels 
 in Russia." When the Neva is frozen it becomes one of the principal 
 thoroughfares of the city. 
 
 The ice, two or three feet thick, in spite of temporary thaws 
 which melt the snow, will not move till spring-time at the final great 
 thaw ; it can bear heavy carts, even artillery. 
 
 Fir branches mark out the way to take and the spots to avoid. 
 In some places the ice is broken to facilitate the drawing of water 
 which flows under the crystal floor. The water, warmer than the 
 
282 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 air, steams through these openings, but all things are only relative, 
 and it is better not to trust its warmth. 
 
 The Neva is a power — ^honours are given to her, and her waters 
 are blessed with great pomp. The ceremony, the sixth day of the 
 Russian January, is called the Baptism of the River. " We watched 
 it," writes Gautier, " from a window in the Winter Palace, to which 
 we had access by favour. The large rooms of the palace are fuU of 
 the elite of wealth and position. High dignitaries, ministers, the 
 diplomatic body, generals covered with gold lace and orders, came 
 and went between the rows of soldiers in full uniform. Divine 
 Service take» place first in the palace chapel. After mass, the 
 procession goes through the rooms to the Blessing of the Neva. 
 The Emperor, Grand Dukes in uniform, the clergy in brocaded gold 
 and silver — ^priestly garments of Byzantine cut — and generals and 
 high officials, formed an imposing and magnificent spectacle. On 
 the Neva, facing the palace, near the quay, a chapel had been 
 raised on light columns. In the centre, under the dome, the mouth 
 of a well, surrounded by a balustrade, opened where the ice had been 
 broken. Soldiers kept the passage of the river, with bare head, 
 feet in the snow, so motionless that they might have been posts. 
 The horses of the Circassian troops pawed the ground under the 
 palace windows. It is strange to see the Cossacks, the Emperor's 
 escort, in a civiUzed country — these warriors belong to the Middle 
 Ages, with their saddles of Persian rugs and their coats of mail. 
 
 " The procession left the palace, and from our window we saw 
 the Emperor, the Grand Dukes, the priests, enter the chapel, which 
 was soon so full that one could hardly see the movements of the 
 priests at the mouth of the well. Cannons fired on the other side 
 of the river ; a great baU of blue smoke, then the noise made the 
 windows rattle. 
 
 " The ceremony was over, the troops retired, and the lookers-on 
 went away quietly without any disturbance or tumult, as the 
 Russian people always do." 
 
 Russian Clergy 
 
 The Russians are very religious ; that is to say, reUgion plays an 
 important part in the life of Russia. The State religion is the 
 Christianity of the Greek Schismatic Church. Christianity was 
 introduced into Russia in the tenth century by Vladimir I., who 
 commanded his subjects either to be baptized or beheaded. 
 
NOTES 283 
 
 A Slav version of the scriptures used by the Bulgarians and Serbs 
 helped to propagate the new faith. The Tsar is the head of the 
 Church in Russia. The Raskolniks are Greek CathoUcs separated 
 from the national Church. 
 
 In Poland the religion is chiefly Roman Catholic. 
 
 There are about 4,000,000 Protestants, about 4,000,000 Jews, 
 and 3,000,000 Mohammedans. To the north of the Ural, there are 
 about 80,000 Buddhists and about 25,000 heathens. 
 
 Previous to the fall of Constantinople the Russian clergy enjoyed 
 great independence. 
 
 After the fall, the patriarchs of Kiev and Moscow took some of 
 the power of the Byzantine patriarch. 
 
 Peter the Great formed the assembly of Bishops and high 
 dignitaries C9,lled the Holy Synod. 
 
 Russian priests are called popes. 
 
 The clergy is divided into two classes — the black and white clergy. 
 The popes are white clergy. The monks, from whom the high 
 dignitaries are chosen, are the black clergy. 
 
 The Russian Church fetes do not coincide with the Church fStes 
 of Western Europe. The Russian State and Church still use the 
 Julian calendar. Time in 1900 was thirteen days behind Western 
 Europe. • 
 
 The offices of the Church are more ceremonial than among Roman 
 Catholics. Very fine effect is produced by the chanting without 
 any accompaniment. Church Russian differs from State Russian. 
 Every one understands, but no one speaks. Church Russian. No 
 matter how long the service, men and women remain standing tiU 
 the end. The Russian people are full of religious feeling, and pray 
 quite simply without thinking of other people. Russian monks 
 wear their hair hanging to the shoulders, and long beards, and 
 the secular clergy do Hkewise. They wear a high hat ; and 
 monks and bishops wear a veil which hangs down and covers 
 the back. 
 
 There are four titles for the ecclesiastical authorities : — 
 
 1. High Eminence for the MetropoUtan. 
 
 2. Eminence for bishops. 
 
 3. High Reverence for abbots and archimandrites. 
 
 4. Reverence for priests. 
 
 Bishops are always chosen from among the white clergy. They 
 are educated in monasteries, and destined to celibacy. The monks 
 do not number more than 12,000 for the whole Empire. Some give 
 
284 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 themselves up to study ; others less gifted make holy pictures, 
 according to the usual type and old traditions. 
 
 All the fStes are blessed by the Church. 
 
 The Orders are all under the guardianship of saints — St Andrew, 
 St Alexander, St Stanislaus, St Anne, St Catherine, St George, and 
 St Vladimir. 
 
 Picture Trade 
 
 There is a trade specially worked in Kazan and Moscow — ^the holy 
 picture trade. There are numerous factories in these cities and in 
 their suburbs. Ikons are painted on wood or copper and orna- 
 mented in relief with silver and gold. The eyes, hair, mouth, hands, 
 etc., all are made by specialists, according to the type given from 
 Mount Athos. This trade is one of enormous potentialities, for no 
 Russian who is orthodox refuses to decorate his house with a holy 
 picture, before which a lamp burns day and night. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Agbnts provocateurs, 277 
 Amusements, 249 
 Arkhierey (Archbishop), 121 
 Artel, the (guild), 168, 259 
 Ataman, 161 
 Aven, the, 40 
 Awakoum, 1 30 
 
 Ball, Students', 206 
 
 Balalaika, 11 
 
 Baranki (cracknels), 27 
 
 Bathrooms, 20 
 
 Batjushka, 109 
 
 Beggars, 93, 130 
 
 Bespopovtzi, 130 
 
 Bibikoff, 164 
 
 Blind passengers, 3 
 
 Bliny, 52 
 
 Boats, on the Volga, 169 
 
 Bohhak (head of the family), 82, 
 
 Borshtsh, 47 
 
 Bourgeoisie, life of, 191 
 
 Bride, 69 
 
 Brynsa (a Moldavian dish), 98 
 
 Burlaki, the, 168 
 
 Butterweek, the, 29, 52, 55 
 
 Caftan, 98 
 
 Cardplaying, 189, 253 
 
 Carnival, 37 
 
 Chasjaika (housewife), 19 
 
 Children, education of, 227 
 
 Cholodnije sjenij (cold corridor), 18 
 
 Christianity, 120 
 
 Christmas, 43 
 
 Church, Greek, 120 ; f^tes, 283 ; in 
 
 Moscow, 178 
 Clergy, 283; Fotapenko's description, 
 
 127 
 Clubs, 252 
 
 Colleges for ladies, 236 
 Communal life, 88 
 Cossacks, 157 
 Country life, 154 
 
 Dancing, 251 
 Datshas, 192 
 Daughters-in-law, 84 
 Dishes, Russian, 247 
 Djatshok (little priest), 109 
 Domowoi (house spirit), 48, S7> 62 
 Dowry, 68 
 Drawing-room, 188 
 -Dress, 48, 156, 175, 281 ; Moldavian, 
 
 98 
 Drink, curse of, 91 
 Dvornik, the, 177, 185 
 Duma, the, 186 
 
 Eastbkweek, 51 
 Eating and drinking, 246 
 Education, 138 
 Embroidery, 264 
 
 Family Life (Cossacks), 166 
 Festivals, 37 ; heathen, 48 
 Fires, 93 
 
 Gambling dens, 255 
 Gladjanky, 68 
 Gordowoi (policeman), 27 
 Grammar schools, 223 
 Gromada, 14 
 Gymnasiums, 223 
 
 Haymaking, id, ii 
 Houses, interior of, 18 
 
 17s 
 Hospitality, 154, 187 
 Huts, peasants', 17 
 
 ! ; in Moscow, 
 
 Ikons, 284 
 
 Ilja Murometz, 89 
 
 Income, of professional men, 190 
 
 Individualism, of Little Russians, 14 
 
 Industries, 260 
 
 Isba (hut), 15 
 
 Iswostshik (cabdriver), 181 
 
286 
 
 HOME LIFE IN RUSSIA 
 
 Kabak, the, 95 
 Kaldun, the, 187 
 Khorovod, the, 39 
 Kitchen, Russian, 248 
 Khati (pi. of Khata), 9 
 Knout, S 
 Koleda, 52 
 Kossovitza, 10 
 Koutja, 43. 44 
 Kvass, 281 
 
 Liberty, lack of, 278 
 
 Little Russians, honesty of, 13 
 
 Lyases, 223 
 
 Makhorka, 250 
 
 Mamalyga, 98 
 
 Marriage agent, 70; ceremonies, 72, 
 
 100, loi ; views of the Church, 
 
 106 
 Masleniiza. See Butterweek 
 Menu, Russian, 248 
 Mir, the, 14 
 Moldavian peasants, 97 
 Molebna, 71 
 
 Moscovites, character of, 13 
 Moscow, 173 
 Music, peasants' love of, 39, 103 ; 
 
 practised by Russian women, 243 
 
 Neva, baptism of, 281 
 
 New Year's Eve, superstitions on, 
 
 65 
 
 Nicon, 131 
 
 Officers, 267 
 Officials, life of, 190 
 Ouspenski, his description of peasants, 
 8S 
 
 Papiross (cigarette), 191 
 
 Pavlovsky Institute, 228 
 
 Peasants, cleanliness of, 18; food, 26; 
 huts, 30 ; industries, 261 ; Mold- 
 avian, 96 ; Nekrassoff's poems on, 
 124 ; restless mind, 90 
 
 Peter the Great, influence of, 180 
 
 Pictures, sacred, 181 ; trade of, 284 
 
 Pillars, the (married couple), 80 
 
 Pokoutia, the, 45 
 
 Poliani, the, 12 
 
 Police, 266 ; various sections, 271 
 
 Popes (Russian clergymen), 107 
 
 Pongatshev, 164 
 
 Press, the, 278 
 
 Priests, 105 ; Shtshedrin's description 
 
 of, 108 
 Prisons, 277 
 Proprietors, landed, 153 
 
 Railways, i, 3 
 
 Raskol, the, 133 
 
 Raskolniki, 133 
 
 Religious life, 118, 282 
 
 Restaurants, 247 
 
 Ridsvianni sviatki (Christmas), 43 
 
 Roads, 184 
 
 Roubashka, 155 
 
 Rousmlki (water-nymphs), 48 ; legends 
 
 of, 62 
 Russians, adapting faculty, 234 ; 
 
 character of, 256; melancholy of, 
 
 256 
 
 St George's Day, 50 ; feast of, 10 
 
 St John's Day, in Finland, 56 
 
 Schools, 138 
 
 Schoolmistress, in village, 142 
 
 Sects, religious, 130 
 
 Semik, the, 40, 49 
 
 Semskinaishalntk, the, 7 
 
 Semstvo, 8 
 
 Servants, 191 
 
 Setsh, the, 160 
 
 Shtshee (cabbage soup), 25 
 
 Slavs, character of, 13 
 
 Skobeleff, 54 
 
 Skoptzi, 130 
 
 Smoking, 250 
 
 Snokha (daughter-in-law), 84 
 
 SnokkatshestvQ, 86 
 
 Soil, the power of the, 86 
 
 Soldiers, 266 ; religious feeling of, 
 
 269 
 Songs, IS 
 Sopelka, II 
 Spies, 276 
 Slanitza, the, 167 
 Starcrveri, 130 
 Steam baths, 21 
 Storosh, the, 154 
 Streets, in Moscow, 182 
 Students, 194; aristocracy, hatred of, 
 
 202 ; ball, annual, 206 ; democratic 
 
 tendencies, 196 ; in Moscow, 197, 
 
 205 
 
 Stundists, 130 
 
 Swacha, the (marriage agent), JO 
 
 Sundays, 249 
 
 Superstitions, 58 
 
INDEX 
 
 287 
 
 Tarantass (a Russian vehicle), 5, 184 
 
 Tarass-Boulba, 160 
 
 Teachers, 140 
 
 Theatres, 256 
 
 Traktir, the, 248 
 
 Troika, the, 183 
 
 Tshekhov, his description of peasant 
 
 life, 18, 25 
 Tskemoziom, 9 
 
 Universities, 194 
 
 Vastshok, Marco, 241 
 Vedma (witch), 63 
 Villages, 8 
 Volga boats, 169 
 
 Waiters, 248 
 
 Wallace, Sir Mackenzie, his descrip- 
 tion of students, 198 
 
 Wedding breakfast, 78 ; ceremonies, 
 69 
 
 Wedding, Moldavian, 102 
 
 Witches, belief in, 50 
 
 Wizards, belief in, 64, 66 
 
 Wjeschi (wood spirit), 48 
 
 iVodnoi (water man), 48 
 
 Women, 32 ; as artists, 243 ; colleges 
 for, 236 ; of Cossacks, 166 ; de- 
 class^es, 235 ; education of, 223 ; 
 literary, 238 ; Moldavian, 96; posi- 
 tion of, 83 ; work, 34 
 
 Workmen, 258 
 
 Xbnia Institute, 230 
 
 Zaporogues, the, 160 
 Zlodyey, 14 
 Znaihar, the, 58 
 
PBIKTSD BT 
 
 ITKHBULL AHD SPSARfi. 
 
 XDINBCftOH