tihvavy of t:he theological ^mimvy 
 
 PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY 
 
 BX7433 
 
THE MESSAGE OF 
 THE DOUKHOBORS 
 
 A Statement of True Facts by "Christians 
 of the Universal Brotherhood" and 
 by Prominent Champions 
 of their Cause 
 
 COMPILED BY 
 
 ALEXANDER M. EVALENKO 
 
 THE INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY PUBLISHING CO. 
 NEW YORK 
 1913 
 
Digitized by 
 
 the Internet Archive 
 
 
 
 in 2014 
 
 
 
 https://archive.org/details/messageofdoukhobOOeval 
 
INDEX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Why axd Wherefore of This Book. By 
 
 A. M. Evalcnko '. 9 
 
 I. The Message of the Doukhobors. Traiisl. 
 
 by Leonard Lci^'cry 17 
 
 II. They Plan Moving Ox 66 
 
 III. Their Martyrdom ix Russia. By Jladi- 
 
 myr Tchertkoff 84 
 
 Appeal to Re.vsox. By Leo Tolstoi 93 
 
 IV. Their Origix axd Doctkixe. An Old Pa- 
 per 101 
 
 V. The Story of the Deliveraxce 115 
 
One of the crudest superstitions known is that 
 of the scientific men — that man can exist without 
 faith. 
 
 If we lack the power to burn and to diffuse the 
 light, then, at least, let us not stand in its way. 
 
 Christianity is so simple, that children under- 
 stand it in its direct meaning. Only men who 
 pretend to be and to call themselves Ciiristians, 
 will misinterpret it. 
 
 Leo Tolstoi. 
 
 A'ot every one. that said unto Me, Lord. Lord, 
 shall enter into the Kingdom of hearcn; but he 
 that doeth the zc';7/ of )ny Father. 
 
 Matthew, vii. 21. 
 
THE WHY AND WHEREFORE OF 
 THIS BOOK 
 
 ROYAL DOUKHOBOR CO^IMISSION is at 
 
 present sitting at Nelson, British Columbia, in- 
 
 vestigating the causes and chief factors of the 
 trouble which has been fuming threateningly 
 for some time past between the local government 
 authorities on one side and the Russian Doukhobor set- 
 tlements on the other. 
 
 Recently, with the officials resorting to drastic 
 measures in their wrathful eagerness to compel the 
 submission to if not recognition of their authority by 
 the Doukhobors and the latters' quiet but adamant re- 
 sistance, the trouble assumed such ominous proportions 
 that the central authorities could no longer leave the 
 situation entirely in the hands of the narrow-minded 
 and over-zealous local minions of the law, whose only 
 arguments in bringing the obdurate Doukhobors to 
 reason consisted in handcuf¥s and the lockup. So far as 
 that goes, the Doukhobors have already tested and tem- 
 pered the steel of their convictions in the fires of Gov- 
 ernment persecution in Russia. 
 
 Before the fierce intensity of those inquisition fires 
 the reprisals of local Canadian authorities dwindled to 
 
 BV A. M. EVALENKO 
 
 (9) 
 
— 10 — 
 
 the mild impressiveness of Fourth of July firecrackers. 
 It was ridiculous to imagine, of course, that by such 
 petty means of coeroion could the indomitable spirit of 
 tlie Doukhobors ("Spirit-Wrestlers") be broken. 
 
 Nevertheless I was set aghast at the lengths of sav- 
 age repression that can be reached by infuriated offi- 
 cials, even in our enlightened times, and right in our 
 midst, under the humane and noble regime of the Cana- 
 dian Commonwealth. The Russian Cossacks are cruel, 
 no doubt, brutally and blindly ; but somehow their atro- 
 cities, in all their hair-raising horror, inspired less sick- 
 ening disgust and mortification in me than the devilish 
 ingenuity of "humanitarian" torture practiced in some 
 up-to-date prisons and insane asylums of Canada over 
 meek, defenceless and absolutely non-resisting follow- 
 ers of Christ. 
 
 But is such a thing possible? Is this not in reality 
 a distorted upshoot of aroused passions? Flights of 
 wrath-inflamed imagination? No, the facts related by 
 the Doukhobors in their simple and artless narrative 
 have been proven to be just plain and unvarnished 
 truth. Then how could all this happen, and nobody 
 seemed to have heard or read anything about it? In 
 these days of glaring publicity penetrating every nook 
 and cranny of public life? 
 
 The explanation is simple. I could not have couched 
 it in terms more admirably and forcibly chosen than the 
 words of Mr. John C. Kenworthy prefacing an old 
 publication about the Doukhobors. (Christian Mar- 
 tyrdom in Russia, London, 1897). 
 
— li- 
 
 lt will seem incredible to many of ns that 
 the things here recorded can by any possibility 
 be true, in this the nineteenth Christian cen- 
 tury. ... It is true that the Doukhobors are. 
 or until recently have been, quite obscure, an 
 unknown peasant sect from Russia. But why 
 have they been obscure? For the same reason 
 that the present life and past history of all 
 such people is made obscure; l)ecause they are 
 men of sincere religion, who esteem it their 
 duty to live by those Christian jM-inciples 
 which the most of us profess with our li]-is and 
 entirely violate in our lives. 
 
 They arc a light shiiiiiiy in darkiirss — in 
 darkness T^'hicli )noirs actiz'cly to hide and 
 smother the light." 
 
 It so happened that the Doukhobors fixed their 
 choice on me as a champion of their cause and appealed 
 to me to come over and plead their case before the 
 Commission. I heeded the summons and betook me 
 to the charming wilds of the Grand I'ork- \'alley in the 
 Kootenay District. I spent quite some time in going 
 O'ver all the settlements of the Doukliol)! with their 
 remarkable leader. Peter A'erigin. Later I ajipeared as 
 w-itness before the Doukhobor Inquiry Commission at 
 Nelson. 
 
 By that time the chief cause of the trouble was pev- 
 fectly clear to me. The people do imt understand the 
 Doukhobors and the Doukli bors cannot make them- 
 selves understood in the manner followed by them, that 
 
— 12 — 
 
 is by merely going their own way and justifying their 
 doctrine by living it, and nothing else. Most fortun- 
 ately for the cause of the Doukhobors the investigation 
 of the Doukhobor Commission was presided over by a 
 man of deep human insight, sterling integrity and no- 
 bility of heart, before whom neither the Doukhobors 
 themselves, nor their antagonists, nor myself could 
 help but bow in profound respect. If more men of 
 the stamp of William Blakemore could be had in our 
 public offices, this would be a different world for us to 
 live in. 
 
 And even as I was answering to his questions on the 
 witness stand I conceived the necessity of this book. 
 The following is a fair sample how much informa- 
 tion about the epoch making drama now being unfolded 
 in British Columbia can be derived from the daily 
 press. It iis an item gleaned on the editorial page of 
 the hig^hly respectable N'ezc York Tribune: 
 
 Russian Socialists, variously called Douk- 
 hobors, Dukabors and Duke Hoboes, are try- 
 ing to persuade the Manitoban authorities to 
 release some of their comrades from a mad- 
 house Ijy going on the asylum groiunds and 
 stripping ofif their clothes. The ctiances are 
 about ten to one that they will get themselves 
 locked up before they get their fellow madmen 
 released. 
 
 And this is what the Doukhobors had to relate on 
 this subject and that only in answer to my direct ques- 
 tioning. Note the tone of their statement. 
 
— 13 — 
 
 The Christian Community of Uniirrsal Brotherhood 
 Doiikhobor Settlements in Canada. 
 
 Brilliant, British Columbia, 
 
 September 20, 1912. 
 
 Regarding those torturerd to death: 
 
 '"In 1903 over forty men were put into the 
 prison at Regina, men and women. They 
 were held in confinement for three months. 
 The "fasting" Doukhobors were beaten and 
 tormented a great deal for abstaining from 
 meat and for declining obedience to special 
 humiliating orders of the pri>.:;n authorities, 
 ^uch as cleaning out the privy, hauling water 
 instead of beasts of burden and in other ways 
 making themselves objects of mockery. The 
 doctors were forcibly injecting medical mix- 
 tures through their mouths, which led tn excru- 
 ciating stomach-pains and diarrhea, rc-^uliiui; in 
 utter exhaustion and feebleness. All were 
 forcibly fed by meat soups, scalding hot, 
 whereby tongues and lips were burned black. 
 All this bodilv torture was mostly carried on 
 during the night. As to beating, this was done 
 in broad daylight as well as at night time, using 
 rolling pins, lashes; trampling underfoot both 
 men and women. The men Alcxay Maka-aycv 
 and Nicholas Antiphayev were -tarved and had 
 their arms twisted backward^. They were sus- 
 pended by their feet with the head stuck in a 
 
— 14 — 
 
 barrel of water until rendered unconscious and 
 then thrown on the ground as good as dead. 
 
 "In the same year, 1903, Prokoph PogojefY 
 was tortured to death in the Brandon Insane 
 Asylum for his convictions in refusing all 
 cooked food, and taking naught but fruit and 
 vegetables for nourishment. The authorities 
 considered this abstention a grave menace, 
 which should not be tolerated even by way of 
 experiments over one's own self. So they 
 starved him to death. Firm to the end, he ex- 
 pired of sheer exhaustion, whilst placed in a 
 bathtub. He was taking baths very frequently 
 towards the end and sustained his life on grass, 
 which 'he gathered in the courtyard during the 
 common exercise of the inmates. 
 
 "In 1904 Alexay Ponomarefif was tortured 
 to death in the prison of Prince-Alberta by 
 having hot meat soups injected into his stom- 
 ach through rubber tubing. Ponomarefif died 
 during one of such operations with heart rend- 
 ing crying and praying for mercy. 
 
 "In the same manner and in the same prison 
 Alexay Alexievitch Ozerofif was tortured to 
 death towards the end of 1910 or the first part 
 of 1911, as nearly as could be learned. 
 
 Out of six men put into the cold room at the 
 prison of Winnepeg, Coozma Novokshonov 
 and Vass'il Makassayev were tortured to death 
 by being chained to the walls, hands and feet 
 
— 15 — 
 
 stretched stif¥ and held in this position for 
 three days in the midst of winter. Both have 
 swollen up beyond recognition through the cold 
 and expired in great sutifering. Two of the 
 others died upon reaching their homes." 
 
 This will do for a sample. 
 
 The facts related are in themselves awful. But hun- 
 dredfold more terrible is the consciousness that this 
 is plain and naked truth and that this could have hap- 
 pened in a most advanced Christian country in our 
 days. 
 
 The victims are people whose sole fault is the prac- 
 tice of the Christian virtues of a pure worship of God, 
 communism of goods, and peace — "non-resistance to 
 evil." All these circumstances are attested in this book, 
 by the direct and indirect evidence of men whose hon- 
 esty of purpose and scrupulous exactitude are shown 
 by the very manner of their speaking. 
 
 Surely the modern State condemns itself immedi- 
 ately and completely, when it thus brings itself into 
 direct and destructive enmity with people whose beliefs 
 and lives are precisely calculated to promote the ends 
 which the State so hypocritically assumes to serve — 
 the ends of social justice and well-being. 
 
 This book should be received by us as a record of 
 the deeds and suffering of people, who are casting their 
 lives agaJinst common enemy, the rule of brute force 
 in society. 
 
 "The Message of the Doukhobors" has been written 
 by the Douk'hobors themselves at my request when I 
 
— 16 — 
 
 realized during my sojourn with them, how cruelly they 
 are misunderstood and how perilously inadequate in 
 these modern days their own way of spreading their 
 message would be — just by living it. A popular Rus- 
 sian proverb runs : "Before the sun comes out the dew 
 may blind the eyes." 
 
 I feel that the first mission of this book is to let the 
 iK.'orld kiicnv how the life of truth is growing by suffer- 
 ing in its midst. 
 
 A. M. Evalenko. 
 
 New York, October 5, 1912. 
 
THE ME55AGL OF JHL 
 DOUKHOBOR5 
 
 (Translated by Leonard Lezvery) 
 I 
 
 An A)isu'er to the ivritings of unscrupulous persons, 
 Russians as ivell as English, zcho are meddling zvitli 
 tilings Zi'hich arc out of tlicir line, by ivriting zvhat 
 they ought not to say and condemning that zvhich is 
 not for them to criticize. 
 
 Not that things of this nature may disturb us as 
 Christians, as such should not rejoice in praise, nor 
 be vexed by slander. Because we shape the coursj 
 of our earthly life, as far as our reaosn conceives and 
 our physical powers enable us, after God, through 
 Jesus Christ, His true Son and Heir, who proclaimed : 
 "Praised be our Lord in Heaven, Peace on earth and 
 Goodwill to all men." Whose name is recalled, at 
 least once every year, by all nations alike : "Christ has 
 arisen." And the answer thereto is this: "In all true 
 men hath Christ arisen." 
 
 (17) 
 
— 18 — 
 
 "Thou art Peter, said Christ, and upon this rock I 
 ivill build my church and the gates of Hell shall not 
 prevail against it." Those were the words of Christ. 
 He lived nineteen centuries ago and preached by His 
 life to all mankind, that the Kingdom of God might 
 be installed on earth. 
 
 In our time a great man had lived and died as a 
 follower of Christ — Lyof Nicolayevitch Tolstoi, who 
 unto his very physical death extolled and practiced 
 His life. Therefore, having set as our example men 
 of so great and indomitable a spirit, we should really 
 go on undisturbed, yea, even heedless of such trivi- 
 alities, as petty calumnious attacks of both those 
 Russians and the Englishmen. In our estimation such 
 personalities are not even worthy of being mentioned 
 by name in this statement of ours, which is neither 
 intended for, nor issued on account of them, but for 
 the benefit of all those in sympathy with the Christ- 
 true hfe we are dwelling in. 
 
 It is a matter of universal knowledge, the suffering 
 that we have been subjected to, back in Russia; but 
 for those unfamiliar w'ith our previous history, we 
 would here briefly delve into our records and also 
 outline, iif very broadly, our position in this Land of 
 Freedom, amidst the civilized world. 
 
 When, l)ack in our home country we refused to take 
 the oath of allegiance to Nicolas Romanoff, at the same 
 time destroying by fire all arms and weapons in our 
 possession, have given up the use of meat, intoxicat- 
 ing liquors and smoking tobacco ; declared our protest 
 
— 19 — 
 
 ag^ainst military service, according to the doctrine of 
 Christ — \vc were subjected to rclentlc-- pcr-cculiDns 
 and torture, were arrested and thrown inbi ]iri-. nis. 
 
 Altogether about five hunch-ed men were am-ted in 
 tlie two governments of Elizaljethpol and Kar-k. After 
 two years' confinement in jail, tlicy were all exiled ; 
 two hundred men or thereabouts to Siberia — the 
 Yakootsk Province — where they were ensconced 
 amongst native tribes on the shores of the river 
 X'otora. three hun(h-ed and thrity-five miles distance 
 from Yakootsk. The others were dispersed in the 
 Trans-Caucasian provinces, no more than two men per 
 Aoul. or a Tartar village. And the Doukhol)ors of the 
 Tiflis Covernment, district of Akhalcalack, known as 
 the Kholodinskis, were all exiled, men, women and 
 children, and likewise scattered ihn «ii^h(>ut the (ijv- 
 ernment of Tiflis, among-t i ieuri^ian-. Inieretians and 
 Ossetes, at the same rate of two families per Aoul. 
 
 We will not expatiate here in a detailed narrative of 
 all the sufferings undergone by us. for this will make 
 the subject of a whole book, which will go dc-wn to 
 posterity as the history of our day^. In this, our gen- 
 eral spiritual revival Peter \'av-ilye\ itch X'crigin also 
 took part, who is now wantonly condemned bv men 
 ignorant of the ways of the world, each according to 
 his fancy. At that particular time he was in exile at 
 Obdorsk, of the Tobolsk Government, District of 
 Rerezov, Siberia. And in connection with these try- 
 ing hardships of ours he has sent to all of us the fol- 
 lowing letter of instruction, headed as follows: — 
 
— 20 — 
 
 "My Beloved Brother in Our Lord Jesus Christ, I 
 wish to discuss ivith thee, n'hcrein lies thy faith. 1 
 am follo'wing the law of My Ixird Jesus Christ and my 
 conception of it is inward and not outward. When we 
 abide in the Will of our God-Father, then God abides 
 lin us, too, and inspires our lives, and radiant light 
 descends onto our reason. Those wishing to fulfill the 
 Will of otir Father in Heaven should bend their hearts 
 to His command. God enjoins upon us "ye have been 
 paid for dearly, do ye not become enslaved of men. 
 And ye sliall know the Truth and the Truth shall make 
 you free. 
 
 In starting upon this great work of ours, we must be 
 prepared in full consciousness, that our sincerity is 
 liable to be subjected to severe tests. This task of ours 
 may inflict upon us insults and injuries, suffering, yea, 
 even death. We are bound to contend with misunder- 
 standing, misinterpretation, slander; we are to face a 
 storm — vanity, pharisaism, ambitions, cruel rulers, 
 powers-that-be — all this joining foirces in order to an- 
 nihilate us. Even so Our Lord Jesus Christ was dealt 
 with. Whom we are strivling to emulate in the meas- 
 ure of our strength. But we should not be baffled by 
 these terrors, our hope lies not with men, but with the 
 Almighty God. If we renounce all human assistance, 
 
— 21 — 
 
 what then is to tide us over, but faith alone, which con- 
 quers the world ? 
 
 And then we shall not be wondering at the dire trials 
 we went through, but will rejoice in having been chosen 
 to share in the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 In consequence of all this we entrust our souls to 
 God and pin our faith to the Saying, that whosoever 
 relinquisheth his house, or his brothers and sisters, his 
 parents or his children, or his hoard, for the sake of the 
 Lord, he will be rewarded hundredfold and will inherit 
 eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven. And so, 
 armed with firm belief in the ultimate triumph of 
 Truth, despite everything that may arise against us, we 
 trust in the reason and conscience of mankind, and 
 above all, in God's power, in which we should take our 
 resort. The Christian is urged to show obedience to 
 men and to the laws of men, just as if a hired man 
 could pledge himself to take all the orders of strange 
 men, as well, besides those of his master. One can- 
 not serve two masters. A Christian is released from 
 human powers by recognizing the power of God alone 
 over himself ; and the law which is revealed to him by 
 Our Lord Jesus Christ — he is imbued with the con- 
 sciousness of it within himself and obeys but its com- 
 mands. 
 
 The life of man consists not in satisfying one's own 
 
— 22 — 
 
 desires, but the will of God. A Christian may be sub- 
 jected to external violence and may be deprived of 
 personal bodily freedom, yet withal be free of his pas- 
 sions, iriiosoci'cr coDiiiiittcth sin is the scn'a)it of sin. 
 A Christian is resigned and meek, does not contradict 
 anybody, nor attack anybody, uses no coercion against 
 anybody, but on the contrary, endures violence un- 
 flinchingly and thereby vanquishes evil. 
 
 P. V. Verigin. 
 
 This instruction may be said to be embodying the 
 Divine Spirit, which manifested itself in Jesus Christ 
 as the Son of Our Lord. All those who were due to 
 come up for military comscription tried to learn it by 
 heart, in order with its aid to subdue the passions, 
 w'hich might be aroused in the stress of one's trial. 
 And Peter Vassilyevich, he enjoined upon us, that who- 
 ever was sincere in regard to this, should have this light 
 penetrate and permeate his reason and to keep the same 
 not in mind only but deep lin one's heart, to be able to 
 Avithstand all tests. This refusal on our part to take the 
 oath of allegiance and to submit to military conscrip- 
 tion was the original cause of our migration here, to 
 Canada, as the Land of Freedom. Peter Vassilyevich 
 addressed a letter to the Empress Alexandra Theo- 
 dorovna Romanov, in consequence whereof we have 
 been released for migration here. Here below follows 
 the said letter, word for word : — 
 
— 23 — 
 
 "May God Alm'ujiity preserve thy soul in this life as 
 li'cll as ill the future atje, sister Ale.va)idra. I am a 
 servant of our Lord Jesus Christ, dieelliug in the testi- 
 mony and (/lad tidings of His Truth. Have been in 
 exile since 1886, and Iiail from tlie Trans-Caucasia)i 
 Doukliobor settlement. The ivord "Doukhobor" 
 should be understood in this sense, that tir profess God 
 in the spirit and leith our soul. {.See — the Gospel; the 
 meeting of Christ leith the .S'ainaritaJi leoman at the 
 Ti'ell.) I beseech tJiec, sister in Christ . lle.randra, pray 
 th\ husband Xicolas to spare the Christians in tht 
 Caucasus from persecutions. It is to thee I appeal, be- 
 cause I think thy heart is )nore turned towards God. 
 And in those places women and children are now suf- 
 fering the hardest. Hundreds of jnen, husbands and 
 parents, are confined in jails, while thousands of fami- 
 lies are dispersed among the native mountain villages 
 where the poj^ulation is incited by the authorities to 
 treat the Douchobors roughly, and this tells especially 
 cruelly upon the Christian women! And lately they 
 started imprisoning 7eomen and children as well. Our 
 guilt lies in our endeai'oring to Ifecome Christians as 
 best zve can; possibly xee fall short of true conception 
 in some of our actions. Thou art probably acquainted 
 with the teacliing of I 'egetarianisni. J!'e are folloieers 
 of these humanitarian 7'iezes. Lately lee ga:'e uf^ using 
 flesli as food, to drink z^'ine and Jiave forsaken 7)iucli of 
 that Zi'hich is conducive to loose living and befogs the 
 radiance of Juiman soul. . Ind since we do not kill ani- 
 mals, we in no case regard it as possible to deprive men 
 
— 24 — 
 
 of life. If ive ivcrc to deliberately kill an ordinary 
 man, be he a robber even, we zvould feel like resolving 
 to assassinate Christ. 
 
 And therein lies the chief cause of the trouble. 
 The State requires our brethren to be trained in the 
 use of firearms, in order to become proficient in man- 
 slaughter. Christians unll not consent to this. They 
 are put into prisons, beaten and starved; ivhile their 
 sisters and mothers are savagely outraged, frequently 
 with profane raillery: "And zvhere is your God, 
 Why does he not help you?" {Our Lord is in Heaven 
 and on earth, and fulfills His ivill. See Psalms of 
 David 113 and 114.) 
 
 And this is all the more painful because it is all per- 
 petrated in a Christian country. Our community in 
 the Caucasus consists of about tiventy thousand souls. 
 Can it be possible that such a handful of people could 
 injure the organism of the State, if soldiers ivere not 
 recruited from among them? Although soldiers ARE 
 recruited now, but uselessly. Thirty men are held in 
 the fortress of Ekatherinograd in the penal battalion, 
 where the authorities are only tormenting themselves 
 by torturing them. We regard man as the temple of 
 the living God and will on no account prepare our- 
 selves for killing him, though for this zve ourselves 
 were to be threatened by death. The best xvay of deal- 
 ing with us zvould be to let us settle in some little 
 corner of the country, where zve might dzvell in peace, 
 engaged in pursuit of our toil. We zvill discharge all 
 the State obligations in the form of taxes, only we can- 
 
— 25 — 
 
 not serve as soldiers. Should the Government deem it 
 impossible to consent to this, then let them give us the 
 freedom to migrate into one of the foreign countries, 
 ll'e would willingly go to England, or the most coii- 
 venient resort for us would be America, i^'hcre zve 
 have a multitude of brethren in our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 From the fullness of my heart I pray the Lord for 
 the welfare of thy fa)nily — Christ's servant Peter 
 {Irving in e.vilc in the Governmoit of Tobolsk.) 
 
 The ( iovernment did not consent to our first sugges- 
 tion but released us to forsake the country. \\'here- 
 upon, with (iod's blessing and the assistance of good 
 men like Lvov Xicolayevitch Tolstoi, Madimyr and 
 Anne Chertkovs, Demetri Alexandrovitch Hilkov, and 
 others, we started our migration to Canada. \\'hat 
 with the great distance we had to travel to our new 
 abode and the utter and wholesale plundering of our 
 earthly goods by the Russian government authorities 
 prior to our leaving the country, we were not even in 
 a position to pay for our transportation to Canada. 
 But here, too>, good men came to our succour, not only 
 Russians, but Englishmen as well. 
 
 Upon migrating here, to Saskatchevan, Canada, we 
 lived here for three years without claiming the land. 
 We did not accept the land because we could not get 
 the substance of the fundamental law and order of 
 this country. Some men declared that full liberty 
 reigns supreme here, others asserted that here, as in 
 Russia, as soon as the Doukhobors would accept their 
 titles to the land alotted to them, they would have to 
 
— 26 — 
 
 swear allegiance to King Edward as well. And to sub- 
 mit to all demands imposed by his government. 
 
 In view of all this, fearful least they should once 
 agahi entaglc themselves with government bodies, the 
 majority of uur brethren and sisters set free all the 
 cattle in their possession and set forth at random, at 
 the mercy of Providence, to instil new life into the 
 teachings of Christ and to preach annunciation, peace, 
 fraternity, equality and liberty to mankind. Liberty — 
 not as license to do evil things, but in the sense of one's 
 own liberation from sin, that there should be no more 
 sanguinary wars, where human Ijeings are destroyed 
 the same as locusts. And that men should under- 
 stand that they are all children of one heather, and 
 should live among themselves like brothers in Christ. 
 And that men shuuld give up eating flesh, as a diet im- 
 proper for men. Smoking tobacco is likewise alien to 
 human nature, for even all animals shun this pernici- 
 ous weed, and its only use lies in the treatment of cer- 
 tain itching, scurfy sores, or rashes, which are healed 
 by this poison, tobacco. Likewise it is utterly unnec- 
 essary for men to imbide intoxicating licjuors, because 
 they lead directly to lust and perverse living. 
 
 Many of the English people sym]iathised with their 
 mission, while otiicrs scoffed. And tlie (lovernment 
 had great troul.ile in bringing them back to their settle- 
 ments. The troul)lc was due to the fact that the cru- 
 saders refused to go back to the place they set forth 
 from. l)Ut were l)ent on |)ressing onward, regardless of 
 all obstacles and dangers and even fearless of death. 
 
Whereupon the government officials adopted measures 
 of violence, trampling them under the hoofs of horses, 
 rapping them on the hands with hammers, whenever 
 they gripped hold of anything, scpieezing their bodies 
 by means of iron tongs and by such drastic measures 
 crowding them into railroad cars in order to ship them 
 back to their settlements. 
 
 It cannot be said, tliat the (iovernment was harming 
 them deliberately, for the time was well on towards 
 winter and frosts were setting in already, while all 
 of them were insufficientlv clad and many were quite 
 barefooted. And most naturally they would be catch- 
 ing their death of cold>. and fuid their graves any- 
 where and anyhow. In this respect the government 
 can be said to have acted humanely. But they did not 
 follow up this act of humanitv in anv consistent action, 
 as will be explained hi the following. 
 
 \\'hen tinally Peter \'assilyevitch came to us from 
 his .Siberian exile — this was on December 24. 1902 — 
 the first convention of the Doukhobor Communities 
 took place, in April, 1903, two delegates attending 
 from each settlement. The ol)iect of this conference 
 was the discussion of the land (|uestion. Two (lo\'ern- 
 ment land-agent> were invited to a'^sist in the discus- 
 sion, and we asked them to elucidate for us the law and 
 ■order of this country, but all thc\- could do for us was 
 to explain the form.alities connected with the allot- 
 ment of land to settlers, nanieh- lh;it anv man, from 
 the age of eighteen and up to consi(ler;d)le old age, can 
 be allotted a homestead — lf)0 acres. The applicant 
 
— 28 — 
 
 should register liis full name and surname on a special 
 form issued for this purpose by the Government, pay 
 the fee of ten dollars and that was the end of it. The 
 ten dollars is charged for surveying. 
 
 The land was accordingly accepted on the above 
 understanding, over two thousand homesteads in all. 
 And we bent to our task as one man, clearing the waste 
 land, ploughing it and sowing grain. In the meaur- 
 while Peter Vassilyevitch made the acquaintance of 
 the official who held charge of the post of Governor, 
 Spears by name, with whom the question of allegiance 
 was taken up. The official explained that all the in- 
 habitants oi this land assume allegiance, but that this 
 is not obligatory. If you do not wish to, you don't 
 have to do it. And furthermore, all the immigrants to 
 this country are anxious about being adopted as 
 citizens, for the reason that after assuming allegiance 
 the land becomes their property and they become en- 
 titled to a vote in the elections of new administrations 
 and other affairs of this nature. 
 
 Spears believed naturally that his explanations would 
 tend to make us anxious, too, to become subjects. But, 
 when after three years' possession of the land, the pro- 
 vision of the law about assuming political allegiance 
 was raised before us, all of us rejected this demand. 
 In the course of these three years we built up fifty 
 large Russian settlements, with substantial houses, 
 barns and stables, and have tilled a considerable 
 expanse of land. Formerly we used to buy our grain, 
 now we sell it in great quantities. 
 
— 29 — 
 
 Accordingly, when the official arrived in our midst, 
 who was commissioned tO' distribute among the 
 Doukhobors the legal forms for swearing allegiance, 
 every one of the said settlements refused to accept 
 these forms from his hands. The official then left in 
 each of the settlements three legal forms and a Gov- 
 ernment circular declaration and departed. Follow- 
 ing is the text of the Government declaration : — 
 (translated from the Russian.) 
 
 "The Government is pleased to observe that some 
 of the Doukhobors are tilling their own soil and 
 have become, or are becoming Canadian citizens 
 and British subjects. But at the same time the 
 Government greatly regrets to perceive the majority 
 of the Doukhobors, after seven years" residence in 
 Canada, still continuing to till their land commu- 
 nally and declining to acquire the citizenship of 
 this country. They have left large tracts of land, 
 which the Government let them reserve for them- 
 selves, without tilling or cultivating anything. The 
 law ordains, that the settler should he tilling his 
 own land, otherwise he is Iial)Ie to forfeit his re- 
 servation. Men born outside of the Doukhobor 
 persuasion demand that the Doukhobors should not 
 be allowed to go on holding their land without 
 cultivating the same and without adopting the 
 citizenship of the country. 
 
 "The Government of Canada represents the ma- 
 jority of the Canadian people and if the majority 
 of the people prescribe that the Doukhobors should 
 
— 30 — 
 
 not be allowed to retain in their possession the 
 land which is left witliout cultivation, then the 
 Government is in dut>- l)uinul to obey, and must 
 cancel the reservations for hmnesteads improperly 
 held present owners, in order that the same 
 could be reserxed for other penple, who might 
 claim possession in accordance with the law. Only 
 those Doukhobor claims will remain \alid in the 
 eyes of the law, where the land is owned by a 
 man, either li\ing on his farm, or in a village re- 
 m(i\-e<l no further than three miles from the said 
 tract of land, and who cultivates this land for 
 himself, and who either already adopted Canadian 
 citizenship, or intends to do so. .\ny man living 
 in a \illage and tilling his farm more than three 
 miles distant from the place of his residence, will 
 haw Ills title guaranteed for the period of six 
 niMmli^, with the \iew of enabling him to build 
 and settle on his farm. In default of his building 
 a farmhouse for his individual dwelling and mov- 
 ing to his own farm within the space of time 
 allowed, his title will be cancelled. 
 
 "Although it is desiraljle for the Government that 
 each man shoidd till his own soil and become a 
 citizen .of the country, it is far, hnwever, from any 
 intentions of theirs to compel the Doukliobors in 
 one way or another. The (iovernment will protect 
 them, as heretofore, in their lil)ert>- and in unham- 
 pered religious worship, but it cannot any longer 
 extend to them stich jirixileges in landownership, 
 as are ne\er granted t(} other persons. In the case 
 
— 31 — 
 
 of the land, occupied by a village settlement, or a 
 part thereof, being claimed for settlement by an- 
 other party, such occupied huul or part thereof 
 woukl be withhckl from isuch party, so that the 
 households of the Doukhobors could be safeguarded 
 by the Government. 
 
 "Henceforward the titles belonging to members 
 of the community for land reservations situated in 
 the vicinity of the various village settlements, allotted 
 to the settlers at the rate of fifteen acres per soul 
 and the lots having been sur\eyed in such a manner 
 as to comprise as nuich as possiljle of communal 
 plough-land in one tract, will be invalidated and 
 all such comnninal land will be witheld in the 
 hands of the Go\ernment, for the protection of 
 the interests of the Doukhobor community, so long 
 as the Governnicnt will see lit to hold it. All the 
 titles issued in the names of duumunal Doukhobors 
 will be invalid. All those Doukhobors, from whom 
 their titles are to be withdrawn, will be allowed to 
 claim afresh all and any unoccupied farmlands within 
 three months' time from receipt of this declaration. 
 Farms will be established in their possession im- 
 mediately upon application and no charges made 
 for the second time. -Ml those Doukhobors who 
 will register their claims for farms within three 
 months, either with the Commission, which will 
 visit your settlements, or through the Government 
 Agent, must state whether they have decided living 
 on their farms, or in the village, and must at the 
 
— 32 — 
 
 same time declare tlieir intention to become British 
 subjects. If the hind in question be located within 
 three miles from the village where such claimants 
 have chosen their residence, then they will be enti- 
 tled to the ownership of the farmland, to cultivate 
 the same for any produce required, while living in 
 the ^■illage. But should the farmland be located 
 at a distance greater than three miles from the 
 precincts of the village, then they must live on their 
 farm and furthermore should take up their residence 
 there within six months froni the date of the 
 registration of their respective claims. Claims will 
 be invalid, if any one desirous of retaining his 
 land and registering his claim for a new farm will 
 not comply with the above requirements of the 
 law. Should any communal tilth be found under 
 cultixation on any of the farmland claimed by any 
 person in accordance with the above requirements, 
 such tilth is to remain in communal exploitation in 
 the course of the year 1907, whereupon the land 
 will become absolute property of the title-holder.'' 
 
 In con'sequence of this a convention was called to 
 discuss the situation, two delegates from each Village. 
 At that particular time Peter Vassilyevitch was absent 
 on a trip to Russia. It was resolved at the convention 
 to dispatch a deputation of three on behalf of the 
 entire community to the Premier of Canada and the 
 Mira'ster of the Interior in order to explain our utter 
 beliefs and coii'victions to them in a facc-to-face talk. 
 A written statement to the same effect was also issued, 
 
— 33 — 
 
 which was translated into English, and was handed to 
 the Premier, the Minister of the Interior and published 
 in three English newspapers for the people at large. 
 The letter is here quoted verbatim : 
 
 The Christian Community of Universal Brother- 
 hood. The Doukhobors in Canada. 
 
 APPEAL to the Government and the People of 
 Canada. 
 
 "On January 28. 1907, our villages were 
 visited by John IMacDougal who was com- 
 mandered by the Government to declare to all 
 the Doukhobors that the land accepted and 
 owned by them for three years was not consid- 
 ered theirs any longer, but was reclaimed by the 
 crown; he left some special circular state- 
 ments in each village, wherein the Doukhobors 
 are given the reasons for taking their land 
 away from them. Although there was nothing 
 substantial in these statements in the way of 
 explanation, but John IMacDougal summarily 
 declared : I will be passing here again in three 
 months' time and the land will be redistributed 
 on new terms altogether, viz. : 1. Those of the 
 Doukhobors who will declare their intention 
 to swear allegiance to Great Britain, will be 
 granted 160 acres per adult. 2. Those de- 
 clining to swear allegiance to Great Britain, 
 and to relinquish their convictions and cultiva- 
 tion of the soil upon the communal order, will 
 
— 34 — 
 
 be cut down to a reservation of 15 acres for 
 each person. The whole remainder of the 
 land will be declared vacant, free to anj-body 
 to take possession of for the asking.' The cir- 
 cular goes on to say: "The Government of 
 Canada represents the majority of the Cana- 
 dian people and if the majority of the people 
 prescribe that the Doukhobors should not be 
 allowed toi retain in their possession the land 
 which is not cultivated by them, then the Gov- 
 ernment is in dutv Ijound to obey and must 
 cancel the reservations in order that the same 
 might be turned over to other people who 
 would claim possession in accordance with the 
 law. 
 
 "The principal cause of the troulile in the 
 oi)inions of the ( iovcrnment and the majority 
 of the people, according to the statements by 
 Jo'hn MacDougal, lies in our faihng to cuhi- 
 vate our land. Altliough we are inchned to 
 doubt that he represents the authority of the 
 Government, still we are anxious to give cor- 
 rect information on this subject both to the 
 Government authorities and to the people at 
 large. As regards the statement in the printed 
 circular that we do not till our land, this is 
 utterly without foundation and the unfairness 
 of this allegation can be confirmed by the Com- 
 missiion, wliich visited our settlements last year 
 and surveyed all the tilth and stated in its 
 
— 35 — 
 
 findings that we have more land under cultiva- 
 tion, in proportion t-j the total number of the 
 homesteads, than is the requisite in accordance 
 with the provisions of your law. 
 
 "Another thing- which can bear obvious testi- 
 mony to the fact that we are tilling our land is 
 our output of grain on the market. This year 
 the sales of our communitv aggregated 250,000 
 bushels of wheat. 500,000 bushels of oats and 
 with jdenty to spare for our own needs for the 
 sunnner and next winter. If we do not culti- 
 vate our land, where does all this grain come 
 from then ? 
 
 "And furthermore we will venture to de- 
 clare to the ( lox'ernmcnt and to the jicople of 
 Canada, that as agidculturists, we i)rcfer this 
 occupation to all the others, considering it the 
 most proper, honest, lawful ami fundamental 
 work of our life. And as far as ])iTssible, we 
 have always endeavored and always will de- 
 vote all our strength and abilities to the till- 
 ing of the land. 
 
 "When we first came here, in this countrv of 
 yours, having neither hordes, nor oxen, our 
 women used to hitch thenivch es to the i)lows 
 and till the land. We l^elieve this is still fresh 
 in your memories, for there was nnich gossip 
 about it even in the paix'rs. A\'c will admit, 
 looking from the outside this nn'ght strike peo- 
 ple as funny; but for us there was no way out 
 
— 36 — 
 
 of its since, at the same time, we considered 
 this work honest and lawful. And stop ye and 
 think — not men only but women as well ! 
 Were there no sincere devotion to the agricul- 
 tural work, is there a woman that could be in- 
 duced to hitch herself to a plow? This kind 
 of work was not meant for human beings, and 
 more particularly for women. All this we 
 understand perfectly well, but as stated before, 
 we had no alternative at that time. And our 
 eagerness to the toil of the land urged us to 
 do it. And if any reports to the contrary will 
 be made instrumental in forcing us off our 
 land, this will be unlawful and unhuman. 
 
 "True lit is, the people in our vicinity — not 
 those engaged in agriculture, but petty trades- 
 people of the township of Yorkton, of whom 
 Beekyanen and Makenzie could be mentioned, 
 regard our existence with hatred and are 
 surely trying hard by all means in their power 
 to undermine it as well as to instill this hatred 
 in others. But any man of plaiin common 
 sense and unbiassed in this matter, who is not 
 personally familiar with our life, should not 
 place his faith in their statements. For such 
 beliefs cannot be inspired otherw'ise than 
 throiugh an evil spirit, which abhors the idea 
 of reunion and close community of people, 
 regardless of the fact, that therein lies the law 
 of God and the doctrine of Christ. 
 
— 37 — 
 
 "Is it not acknowledged by all that Christ 
 summoned and is summoning in his teaching 
 all men to such reunion, as children of one 
 Father? And this manner of life was car- 
 ried in effect in Christ's time, as recorded in 
 the New Testament, nineteen centuries since. 
 In those days men who professed their faith 
 in the teaching of Christ, showed this faith in 
 their actions, not in words only ; their property 
 and hoards they brought toi the Apostles and 
 called them the common wealth. On this very 
 and sole basis our communal life here is 
 arranged. 
 
 "And it is about time men admittedly pro- 
 fessing the doctrine of Christ should come to 
 this manner of life. But so far from coming 
 to it, they are trying their hardest to break it 
 up among other men ; and what defence can 
 these men plead before that very Christ on the 
 day of His second advent? And what living 
 man can assert on his positive knowledge that 
 that day is not near as yet? For all we mor- 
 tals know, that that day may not be far distant, 
 yet men still goi on living in carelessness ; like, 
 for instance the tradesmen afore mentioned, 
 are they consciously expecting that day or are 
 they bent on hoarding up wealth by any truth, 
 hook or crook? 
 
 "And what is more, when the Doukhobors 
 had to come to them for every little thing they 
 
— 38 — 
 
 were in need of, then the Doukhobors were 
 all rig-ht, and good fellows, but now that they 
 have built their own stores for themselves and 
 are ordering all their supplies, as far as possi- 
 ble, from wholesale houses or even from the 
 factories direct, now the Doukhobors became 
 very bad men. And these untruthful men are 
 now longing and even fighting for having the 
 land being taken away from the Doukhobors. 
 As if that would ease their feelings any. But 
 we sincerely hope that the majority of people 
 with the Government on their side will not 
 stand for that. And will consider that the 
 earth, this wonderful creation of the Lord, 
 was created for mankind and all the beings 
 dwelling on it. The earth is our common 
 mother ; it nourishes us, shelters us, brings us 
 joy and the warmth of love from the moment 
 of otir birth and until we repose in eternal 
 sleep on its maternal bosom. 
 
 "So long as men have not arrived at a com- 
 mon understanding that the earth can be lived 
 on and utilized without any divisions or boun- 
 daries, they found it most convenient to divide 
 it up in lots and allot, let us say, 160 acres per 
 each adult. To some extent, this is just and 
 lawful. But should the population multiply so 
 that there would not be enoug-h land to go 
 around, then a redistribution would be neces- 
 sary, and maybe linstead of 160 acres, a body 
 
— 39 — 
 
 would be entitled to but 100 acres; this, too, 
 would be just and lawful. But in our time, 
 Canada abounds in vast expanses of waste 
 land, yet of two neighbors one Avould occupy 
 160 acres, another but 15 acres. Would this, 
 too, be just and lawful? 
 
 "John ^MacDougal, he assured us that the 
 Government would protect us, as stated in the 
 printed circular. 'The Government will pro- 
 tect them, as heretofore, in their liberty and in 
 the unhampered practice of their religion.' But 
 he added definitely : "it is necessary to take the 
 oath of allegiance.' We asked John !MacDou- 
 gal to explain, if he believed in Christ, and he 
 said, he did. Then we asked him again : 'do 
 you know the teaching of Christ?" He said, 
 'yes, I do.' 'Does Christ forbid in his teaching 
 to swear, that is to utter oaths?" and he said 
 'no. He does not.' Then we told him, through 
 the interpreter, 'tell him, he does not know the 
 teaching of Christ.' He became plainly dis- 
 concerted at that, and said, with the color ris- 
 ing in his face: 'it is said in the Gospel:' Yea, 
 yea; nay, nay, for ivhatsoever is more than 
 these cometh of evil.' So we said : 'On the 
 strength of this only we cannot give any oaths. 
 And furthermore, if as stated in your paper, 
 the Government of the people is intent on pro- 
 tecting us in the unhampered practice of our 
 religion; well our religion consists in Hving 
 
— 40 — 
 
 according to the teaching oi Christ, pure and 
 simple. We cannot understand faith in any 
 other way. To beHeve and esteem Christ as the 
 Son of God, and yet to Hve and act in opposi- 
 tion to His teaching, question is, what sort of 
 a faith is that?' 
 
 '"To end this conversation, MacDougal ex- 
 pressed himself as follows : T don't know any- 
 thing, I will leave you these circulars and you 
 will find everything explained in them ; you are 
 given the choice of two alternatives there and 
 you may do as you please about it.' And he put 
 in again, that the majority of the people de- 
 manded it. If what he said is true, then either 
 the people do not understand what we mean 
 and fail to get the substance of our posiition as 
 regards our religion; or else, we cannot under- 
 stand what the people's position is in this mat- 
 ter. 
 
 "If the land is taken away from us because 
 we neglect cultivating the same, then we have 
 dispensed with this accusation in the foregoing. 
 And if the land is taken away from us because 
 we decline to take the oath of allegiance, we 
 will say that this question was conisdered set- 
 tled by us even as we were forsaking Russia 
 to migrate linto this country. We pray that 
 these words of ours should not be taken for 
 rudeness, but in the spirit of brotherly expla- 
 nation. Is it possible that you should not be 
 
— 41 — 
 
 aware of the cause of all the complications be- 
 tween the Russian Government and ourselves ? 
 And why it was we forsook our native land 
 and took our abode with you in Canada? 
 There was no other reason, but that we de- 
 clined to swear allegiance to Nicolas Alex- 
 androvitch. We had our grounds for this re- 
 fusal, and have still — Christ forbids to swear. 
 And we believe in Christ. The Russian Gov- 
 ernment ignored the teaching of Christ alto- 
 gether and treated us very cruelly. We will 
 not go into details of their cruelties ; suffice it 
 to say that at the very least two hundred of our 
 brethren found their untimely graves in these 
 events. Whereupon we prevailed upon the 
 Russian Government to let us go. 
 
 "And if now it is to be the Canadian Govern- 
 ment and their people to bethink themselves of 
 raising this issue and forcing it by driving us 
 off the land, it will be the same thing as if one 
 ox, after being skinned once, were to be 
 skinned again, this time by other men. But 
 will not these latter stop and look, that the ox 
 had been skinned already and that a new hide 
 has not grown yet? And if the land is taken 
 away from us, even not all of it, this speaks 
 louder than words that the word of Christ is in 
 reality disregarded here, as well. And what- 
 ever is heard of it, is but in pretty words. And 
 as for ourselves, this means that we have to 
 
— 42 — 
 
 brace ourselves to face the same trials, which 
 we underwem in Russia for this very same 
 cause. 
 
 'in all sincerity we say, that all oi us are 
 deeply grateful to the (iovcrnment and to the 
 entire people of Canada for having extended 
 their hospitality to us, and made us exempt 
 from certain recjuirements of the laws, which 
 we deemed ohnoxious to our con\ ictions, such 
 as military service, and allowed us to settle in 
 villages and to till our land comnnmally. for 
 which we have official proofs in the shape of 
 Government w'arrants. 
 
 "Were it not for these concessions, \ve 
 would not have remained here for good, nor 
 would we have put in such heavy labors in this 
 place ; and especially in these last three or four 
 years since we were forcibly returned to our 
 dwellings, we have put in a great deal of con- 
 structive work. We have built houses, cleared 
 up and cultivated the land ; and not men only 
 we had to-iling at these labors, as more con- 
 genial for them, but women and children as 
 well helped along in everything to the verge 
 of exhaustion. We started steam grain-mills, 
 purchased steam tractors with threshing ma- 
 chines, put up brick works, driven by steam 
 power. A great elevator grain-mill lis 
 approaching com])letion which will cost about 
 fifty thousand dollars even with our own labor 
 
— 43 — 
 
 and materials. So tliat although we have spent 
 se\cn \car^ now in this country, we have not 
 yet seen any joy in life, not a moment of it. 
 For we were not even given a chance of re- 
 spite. Because we did not have anything at 
 all to start with and were forced td toil ever 
 so hard and heavy — frequently beyond the 
 measure of human endurance. Xow, thanks 
 the Lord, that we have, if but a little of every- 
 thing, now we might draw an easy breath and 
 unbend our aching backs and settle down to 
 enjov some comforts, as everybody wants 
 naturall}-, is it n. t so? Putt quite unexpectedly 
 cIiukN i^-.-itlicr and nn'sunderstandings crop up 
 like thundcrbMlts ffMin the blue, as for in- 
 stance this -^ame declaration of John ^lac- 
 Dougal's, which is liable to start trouble for 
 us, with more jiersecution and suffering fol- 
 lowing in its wake. In these enlightened days 
 men should feel more compassion in their 
 hearts, than to inflict suft"ering upon their fel- 
 low men. 
 
 "But this we pray of you, think it over seri- 
 ously and act as your heart will dictate tO' you. 
 If you take this brotherly remonstrance of 
 ours into consideration and try to get the right 
 view of our religi(Tn. then we mav rest assured 
 that the land will not be taken away from us, 
 and the declaration of the man MacDougal 
 will remain void and without consequences. 
 
— 44 — 
 
 For whic'h, we will say here in conclusion, we 
 will ht everlastingly grateful to yoiu." 
 
 February 10th, 1907. 
 
 But it was all of no avail — all our remonstrances and 
 matter-oif-fact proofs that we do cultivate our land 
 fell on deaf ears and all of the land was taken away 
 from us. But then this pretext about our failing to till 
 our land was nothing but a counterpart of those 
 clerical frauds, like communion of the body of Christ 
 in the shape of bread and wine. The whole substance 
 of it lay in the oath of allegiance. And some time 
 later the same official passed again through our settle- 
 ments and interrogated the people, stating that all those 
 consenting to assume allegiance under oath would be 
 given the full share of land, 160 acres, and those de- 
 clining toi do so would only get 15 acres per soul. And 
 the land will not be regarded as theirs but as crown 
 land, pending special dispositions of the Government. 
 And when this redistribution was effected the lion's 
 share of the land was taken away from us and forth- 
 with distributed to all comers. 
 
 We were not dismayed by this, only at the same time 
 we put our heads together and held counsel as toi what 
 was to be done lest the Government should bethink 
 themselves to deprive us of the remainder of the land, 
 and leave us all with the little children without even the 
 bare pittance of life. And so for two different reasons 
 we are now migrating, that is this particular settlement 
 of ours, to British Columbia. One and the most im- 
 
— 46 — 
 
 portant is the unjust cancellation of our reservation by 
 the Government. And the second is that we as vege- 
 tarians are in quest of a milder climate, the climate in 
 Saskatchcvan being rather too severe. This untimely 
 migration causes a lot of trouble and inconvenience to 
 us, since as stated above we have put in considerable 
 labor in building and tilling the land. It must he borne 
 in mind that the land we settled upon was virgin land, 
 w here no foot of man trod before we came there. The 
 only living creatures were wild bucks and moose and 
 suck like animals. And therefore each burrow of tilth 
 required nntch struggling and pains. And no sooner 
 were we through with this arduous job than the new 
 move came about. In this connection we petitioned 
 the Minister of the Interior he should look into our 
 ])light and see to it tliat some reimbursement was made 
 for our laljors in breaking in the waste land. Since 
 the price of cleared and tilled land ranges up to thirty 
 dollars per acre, that at least five or six dollars per 
 acre should be reimbursed to us and this would help 
 us along some in settling in tlie new country, where 
 we are purchasing land at the rate of 50 to 500 dollars 
 per acre. lUit will the Government heed our lawful 
 request or not this is still to be seen. 
 
 In migrating here to British Columbia, we assumed 
 that the Government would not disturb us any more 
 with their different regulations, since we declined 
 swearing allegiance on the strength of the teaching of 
 Christ and bore tlie sc\'ere i)unishment therefor. More- 
 over we arc buying u-ur land for ready money here, 
 
— 47 — 
 
 which we obtain by dint of strenuous physical toil. But 
 the authorities seem to disregard this, too. Possibly 
 the supreme authorities know nothing al>()Ut it, but the 
 local pett\- officials treat us in tliis manner. W'c have 
 settled in this sectinn (.n two tracts, within sc\-enty 
 miles' distance from one another. The first one we 
 gave tlie name oi" the \ alle\' of Consolation, village of 
 
 A VISTA 
 
 Brilliant, from a lirilliant (hamond of first water, on 
 account of the great river Columl)ia flowing through 
 the land, the water in that ri\'er Columbia being won- 
 derfully clear and of ideal purity. The second tract 
 we called tlie lM"uit A'alley, so named on account of the 
 land being orchard-land and fi r the time being the 
 Valley of Consolation is sui)plied with fruit from there. 
 
— 48 — 
 
 Here in Columbia we are even saddled with Eng- 
 lish government schools, as well as with registration of 
 all our births, marriages an deaths. We have suc- 
 ceeded in removing the English school from the Val- 
 ley o.f Consolation and installing our own school, 
 where an English lady teacher instructs the children 
 in the English language. In January inst. we were 
 tendered printed forms from the Government for the 
 purpose of registering all our births, marriages and 
 deaths. We have declined the acceptance of these 
 forms and have written a statement in explanation of 
 our action, which we are citing here below :- — 
 
 Brilliant, B. C, January 25, 1912. 
 To Stephen Ifaskin, State Commissioner in N^clson. 
 
 On the 25th of this month we were dehvered by our 
 Sherbinin the registration forms sent by you in con- 
 nection with records of births, marriages and deaths in 
 our community. We do not denounce such registra- 
 tions and ordinances of the laws estabhshed by you, 
 only such regulations should be the concern oif the 
 voluntary subjects, who are themselves desirous of 
 such regulations for themselves. But as you know full 
 well, we have not assumed allegiance, and this latter 
 fact should be predominant over this matter of regis- 
 tration. And therefore we beg to request you not to 
 force this on us. We do not believe that this matter 
 
— 49 — 
 
 should be of such import and ambition to you to war- 
 rant your going to the trouble of harassing us for it. 
 Pray understand that we are not doing so through 
 some whims or caprices of ours, but in accordance 
 with o^ir religious views of the law of God. through 
 which we could not get together with the Russian Gov- 
 ernment and forsook our native country, Russia, and 
 migrated hither, as the Land of Freedom. 
 
 The inhabitants of the town of Grand Forks treated 
 their neighbors unconscientiously and grudgingly sim- 
 ply because they had the power on their side. And so 
 it comes out again that the weaker will always be 
 guilty before the strong. This sort of thing is perpe- 
 trated in Russia. But then Russia is rightly con- 
 sidered behind the times as a nation. The English con- 
 sider themselves advanced people, ahead of all other 
 nations and this country therefore bears the proud 
 name of the Land of Freedom. But is this the way of 
 ef¥ectuating liberty? A man dies in their neighbor- 
 hood ; this death is known to everybody and brings 
 grief and sorrow into the bereaved family, but these 
 outside men, so far from showing any sympathy and 
 condolence with their affliction, on the contrary pro- 
 ceed piling trouble and torments on top of their suffer- 
 ing. They grab the son of the deceased like a thief 
 and clap him in jail, just because he did not call a doc- 
 
— 50 — 
 
 tor to the dead body. Is this reasonable and how 
 will ( iod look doiwn upon such doings? 
 
 W'e beg to remain yours respectfully, the Christian 
 Community of Universal Brotherhood of lirilliant. 
 
 This statement of ours elicited no reply so far. And 
 in the Fruit X'alley children do frequent the (Govern- 
 ment Engli>li school, but people are tried in court for 
 deaths anmng them. The first two cases led to the 
 imprisonment of two men for a month each. In the 
 following two cases two men were arrested in each and 
 put away for three months. In this ail'air the wives 
 and children of those arrested signed an ajipeal to the 
 justice who caused their arrest. W'e cite this appeal 
 \ er])alim : 
 
 JUSTICE UNJUST AND CRUEL 
 
 In pursuance to tliy order prompted Ijy the 
 license iif xiolence vested in lli\self, a policeman 
 took our husliands and parents and put tliem in 
 jail for three months, on the grounil of the first 
 two, Nicolas Zybin and his son, failing to call a 
 doctor to the dead body of his brother; the second 
 two. T\an and Vassil Dymovski's, likewise omitted 
 to call a dnctor to the dead body of their mother; 
 and all the four of them were for this crime taken 
 by force and thrown into jail. And we have now 
 been left to the mercy of fates. And we presume 
 on the right of self-preservation to e.xpress to thee 
 the fcehngs of our soul. 
 
— 51 — 
 
 Thou art acting as stated allegedly on the strength 
 of laws established since ancient tinief, which might 
 have been right in their place in those days when 
 these laws were enacted. But in our days if not 
 all men, at least those who adopted the law of 
 Christ, based on love, mercy and compassion to all 
 living creatures of the earth, can perfectly well 
 dispense with these laws. 
 
 And now thou hast been and deprived us by 
 force of these toilers and supporters of ours. Xow 
 tell us, what are we to do, we powerless in every 
 respect? Thou wouldst say, perhaps, that since 
 we are living in a conuuune, let the commune take 
 care of that. But this ci immune nf ours, is it not 
 composed of all like indix idu.ils, each one making 
 their li\ing and Mippnrt hy dint of heavy exertion 
 in hard and Imne-t tnil? .\nd if thou wilst keep 
 on snatching l)y force this thew and sinew of ours 
 and putting them into jail for no earthly reason, 
 we ask thee again, what are we, the weak ones, to 
 do? Can this be called fair, and not cruel, on thy 
 part? And canst thou not feel the disgrace of it 
 — not for thyself only but for this whole country 
 of thine, famed throughout the world, as the "Land 
 of Liberty." 
 
 The following are our losses incurred through 
 thee, which thou must consider in all seriousness. 
 Xicolas Zybine, besides being the head of his family, 
 also is the chief vegetable gardener of the entire 
 community. His services and work are paid for 
 
— 52 — 
 
 at the rate of ten dollars per work-day of ten 
 hours. And the three others are plain able bodied 
 strong laborers, who maintain and support their 
 families, wives and children — twelve souls in all. 
 .\nd at the lowest estimation their work is valued 
 at five dollars per day of ten hours. 
 
 These are our lawful demands for the bare pit- 
 tance of our lives, which thou art bound to satisfy 
 without delay. We appeal to thee directly, for 
 thou art the direct cause of our utter ruination. 
 And should this matter depend on somebody else 
 for settlement, then thou must also without delay 
 lay the same before that party who would have 
 the authority in this case. Because life emanating 
 from our Father in Heaven cannot be held back 
 by mere man. And life was not granted for suf- 
 fering and misery, but for joy. But we have to 
 suffer and to endure misery. And the suffering 
 is solely due to thy wdiimsicalitics. 
 
 Consider this earnestly, how canst thou inflict 
 such pain and misery on men, who strive whole- 
 heartedly and without reserve to fulfil the law of 
 the Father,, that is in Hea\cn, as elucidated to us 
 by Jesus Christ, His Son. 
 
 We remain awaiting thy decision. And if thou 
 heedest not our lawful demand we will plead our 
 injury before the entire world. 
 
 Jl'riTS and children of the imprisoned 
 men — their liitsbaiids and parents, of 
 the settlement of Grand-Forks. 
 
In the matter of rejecting the Government schools 
 
 we reject this kind of education for a number of 
 reasons 
 
 First. The way school is taught to children of the 
 present generation, with boy-scouting and military 
 drill and rifle-practice, we consider all this the most 
 pernicious and malicious invention of this age. The 
 manner of educating the childish mind renounces the 
 teaching of Jesus Christ, who brought peace, love and 
 equality to tlii- earth, which should be instrumental in 
 bringing about the Kingdom of (iod. Look where we 
 may. we find that it is those very educated men are the 
 strongest adversaries of the realization of the King- 
 dom of God on earth and w'ho are enslaving the ])Iain 
 and working classes of the people. The highlv edu- 
 cated and much read capitalists sit tight on the neck of 
 the common people, and like parasites keep draining 
 their blood in the most efficient manner. 
 
 Second. The school-teaching is primarily a matter 
 of easy lucre, from the Emperor and down to all 
 officials, lawyers, doctors and all manner and si:)ecies 
 of commercial buy-and-sell men. who have a great 
 need of arithmetics and rapid reckoning, in their in- 
 satiable greed for easy money and luxury. All these 
 ardent advocates of the light of knowledge are striv- 
 ing to acquire the knowledge for their own gain, in 
 order to have a soft time of it without doing a stroke 
 of anything good and worth while, and of anv real 
 work, in all their lifetime on earth, which earth thev 
 have grabbed up all over the surface thereof. 
 
— 54 — 
 
 We have cast all this aside, and instead of it we con- 
 sider indispensable spiritual regene ration, which Christ 
 summoned and is summoning us to by the means of his 
 doctrine. This we consider obligatory for each and 
 every believer in Christ, and this would be directly in- 
 strumental in bringing about the Kingdom of God on 
 earth, as stated before, for spiritual regeneration leads 
 to reuniting all mankind, as children of one Father 
 God. Whereas school teaching leads 'in precisely the 
 opposite direction, disintegrating men into endless 
 grades and divisions, vying with each other in seeking 
 quick and easy gain and all ready, for the greed of 
 their mammon, to shed the blood of innocent strange 
 men in warfare. 
 
 And if there are advanced men to be found among 
 the educated people, like for instance Lyov Nicolaye- 
 vitch Tolstoi, Henry George, and others like them, 
 those men have communed themselves of spiritual re- 
 generation, heeding the voice of Christ. And if such 
 great men are to be given the honor, it was not attained 
 by them through college education, but through spirit- 
 ual regeneration, which of its own accord subjugated 
 the college-teaching. Lyov Nicolayevitch, too, was 
 trained to become a great commander of troops, and 
 d'id, and covered himself with glory in wars, but sub- 
 sequently rejected all this. Who has not heard of the 
 words of Tolstoi that all universities are just so many 
 insane asylums? 
 
 In the life-story of Christ nothing is mentioned any- 
 where about His being of scholarly education. Like- 
 
— :)D — 
 
 wise in His teachings. He never enjoined upon men 
 to build such schools and so educate the children as to 
 divert them, from the tenderest youth, from Nature, 
 which created them and brought them into the world. 
 Take the Apostles, too — every one of them were 
 either fishermen, or toilers of the land, plain common 
 people all, and yet the glorious record of their sublime 
 lives has been passing from generation to generation 
 reaching to these very days. 
 
 Third. Being of Russian birth, we yet dwell in our 
 own community and consider ourselves citizens of the 
 entire earthly globe and therefore we cannot regard 
 our residence in British Columbia as fixed for all times. 
 To-day we happen to be here, after some time we may 
 find ourselves in another country altogether. Not be- 
 cause we are fond of wandering from place to place 
 Init for reasons similar to those which prompted us in 
 our migrations from Russia or from Saskatchevan. 
 Well then, the conclusion therefrom is that all the time 
 we have noithing else to do but educate ourselves — 
 here in English ways and manners and in some other 
 country after their ideas. And how about something 
 of our inner own, of the fundamental Christian, shall 
 we attend to acquiring this, or not? What will you 
 answer to this question you all who are anxious to 
 force the recognition of your concocted laws and regu- 
 lations down our throats? 
 
 Concerning our declining to comply with the 
 simple demands of registering all our births, mar- 
 riages and deaths, we fail to see any necessity of that. 
 
— 56 — 
 
 U'e have been entered in the general registration, as 
 the popular census. And now, when one dies in our 
 m'idst, somebody's father or mother, as it happened 
 already, what do we have to call a doctor for to the 
 dead body? Or is the O'bject of the doctor's visit to 
 charge a poor farmer five dollars for his uncalled for 
 services? We cannot see the justice of this. 
 
 If men are bent on repeating the outrage perpetrated 
 on the Saviour, they can of course practice it on us to 
 their hearts' content. But it will be O'f no avail to 
 them, and will bring naught but ill-fame and disgrace 
 upon their heads throughout the world, for their cruel 
 mockery over bodily unprotected men, who exercise 
 but spiritual arms in their defence. 
 
 As a protest against such unlawful and coarse action 
 of civilized men in the land of liberty, as throwing up- 
 right and innocent men in jails, all the children have 
 declared their rei)ugnance of frequenting the English 
 school. Because these cruelties over their kith and kin 
 are perpetrated by men brought up in those very 
 schools. So being loth to attain such enlightened edu- 
 cation themselves they have declared their protest in 
 this form. And the outcome of this whole afTair is 
 still uncertain for all concerned. But we bring this 
 whole afifair to the universal knowledge and judgment 
 and pray to approach our stand in the matter from the 
 Godly aspect of it, and not from the viewpoint taken 
 in their writings by base and unfair men, both Russian 
 and English, if such men wiill persist in their shame- 
 less and brazen attitude towards the work of God for 
 
— 57 — 
 
 which we are bearing our cross. Such base persons are 
 like the drift of clouds, driven by the wind. Not one 
 of them has ever cropped up amongst the people, but 
 vanished into nothingness before that wind. Such per- 
 sons consider themselves highly educated and throw 
 their conceited brows up in the air and go so far as to 
 devise their own cunning schemes of reform and seek- 
 ing publicity in newspaper columns, like that impudent 
 ignoramus did, the self-styled "Doctor" Shorin, in the 
 paper "Russkoye Slovo." This man Shorin ds greatly 
 offended because Peter \"assilyevitch summarily bade 
 him to clear out of our community and had him sign 
 an acknowledgment that he had no claims against the 
 community for the three months he spent among us 
 in the cai)acity of "doctor." This good-for-nothing 
 Shorin importuned himself into our midst on the pre- 
 tence of being an experienced physician and at the 
 same time as a follower of the teaching of Christ, very 
 devout and humble. But it did not take long before 
 he showed himself in true colors, Peter Vassilyevitch 
 being then absent, and spread himself to the full sw'ing 
 of the medical faculty, turning perfectly sound and 
 healthy men into invalids. 
 
 The Doukhobors were regarding these performances 
 of his with great disfavor, but had to put up with him 
 pending the return of Peter A'assilyevitch, in whom 
 Shorin found his guileless champion, because Shorin 
 kept ingratiating himself in his eyes by writing numer- 
 ous artless and ingenuous letters. And all those who 
 know Peter \'assilyevitch personally will fully endorse 
 
— 58 — 
 
 Ms action in regard to Shorin and for the benefit of 
 those who are not acquainted with him, we will vouch- 
 safe that Shorin fully deserved the treatment meted 
 out to him. 
 
 The fact of the matter is that Shorin wedged him- 
 self in uninvited into our life. And his motives in get- 
 ing in with us was by no means the Christian-like 
 spirit prompting him as be stated in his letters, but 
 his cunning calculations that the Doukbobors must be 
 a collection of poor, artless simpletons and that for 
 this reason he would be able to feather his bed very 
 softly among them. But his calculations turned C'Ut 
 to be very wide amiss and now after his ignominious 
 discomfiture he takes out his revenge in scurrilous 
 writings without knowing whom to sail into in par- 
 ticular and what for. 
 
 Among other things he grossly overrated the num- 
 ber of those segregating themselves from our com- 
 munity and knowingly misrepresented the facts in his 
 statement in that they are being thrown out naked and 
 without any means of subsistence. This -is a deliberate 
 falsehood. All such individuals without exception re- 
 ceive their full share of the communal property in 
 Saskatchevan. Some of the secessors, for instance, 
 might only have been working with us for a year or 
 two, yet they are doled out just the same proportionate 
 ])art of all communal acquisitions made without them 
 and this by way of compensation of labor by labor. 
 That they are not given any land, this could not be 
 done anyhow, since the land is not otir property, not ■ 
 
— 59 — 
 
 being paid for as yet, and such dispositions miglit 
 even jeopardize the position of the actual occupants. 
 For the terms of purchase are such that should we be 
 unable to make even our final payment for the 
 land then all of it may be forfeited Ijy us, for which 
 those very backsliders from our community would be 
 to blame. As a matter of fact they are just apostates 
 from their word of honor in our purchasing the land 
 conjointly. And they are all so fully conscious of their 
 backing out of their obligations that never is this 
 question of land mentioned by them at all, but with- 
 out more ado thev set to making their pile, and some 
 of them are already proud jiossessors of fat bank- 
 accounts. 
 
 Those individuals have brushed aside all that was 
 spiritual in them, for which they sulTered long and 
 heavily in Russia and now they have set as their aim in 
 life hoarding up wealth by all means fair and unfair; 
 and living solely in gratifying their mammon, that is 
 the whole amount of their ambition. There are some 
 of them in Prince-Alljerta owning considerable prop- 
 erty and as much as ten to twent\- thousand dollars in 
 capital. They lived l)ack in Russia and did not have a 
 cent. And arc tliose the men to find fault with \'eri- 
 gin ? With him, who entertains none but the kindest 
 feelings for anybo(l\- and ever_\ l)ody. It was due to his 
 endea\-ors, was it not, that they migrated here to 
 Canada.-' And s.> far as the matter of connuunal 
 ownership is concerned, it is just a matter of free will 
 and choice for those participating. And those who 
 
— 60 — 
 
 object to it, why, there are never any obstacles or re- 
 strictions set in their way — all roads open to the four 
 points of the compass. 
 
 There are of course had cases amongst these 
 secessors, like f(^r instance that of Savka Hoodakof¥, 
 who even write to the newspapers and condemn an 
 u])right man, whose bounties they are even then living 
 otY. There are even worse ones still, those who not 
 only turn l)ack on us. but rob us by brute force to boot. 
 Thus the now well known ex-member of our Com- 
 munity X'assili Potapoff, wh;:- held charge, during the 
 whole time of our communal life in Saskatchevan, of 
 our co-operative stores at the Station V erigin, those of 
 textile goods and agricultural implements. lie en- 
 joyed the greatest confidence of the community and 
 was the inirchasing agent for all of our supplies in the 
 above lines. In this manner he contracted numerous 
 acquaintances with the native people of Canada, and 
 the ways and customs of their life. Whilst continuing 
 his residence in the community he secretly negotiated, 
 through his handy men, for the purchase from the 
 Government of some of the land, which was part of 
 the then planned township-site of Verigin. He owns 
 this land now and has a big and wealthy store built 
 on it . . . Potapofif managed to wheedle out twice his 
 lawful share from the community and signed a legal 
 release to the effect that his claim was satisfied in full 
 and that he was quits with the community. Right 
 after this he drove into the village of Rodeonovo with 
 a Sheriff, who called out three Rodeonovo men and 
 
— 61 — 
 
 covered them with his revolver, whilst declaring that 
 Potapof¥ came there to take possession of anything- he 
 choise fit to take. "And I warn you men, at the first 
 attempt to interfere with his work or holding 
 anything l)ack from him 1 shall shoot to kill, and will 
 keep on firing so long as my cartridges hold out." 
 ]\lost naturally, none of us were anxious t>i i);irt with 
 our lives for the sake of our lawful goods whereupon 
 Potapoft' with his henchmen, ten men in all, proceeded 
 to the barn where we had stored up oats jjicked and 
 prejiared f .r sowing-seed of the entire village of 
 Rodeonovo, 1844 Inishels; along with 171 bushels of 
 barley, 100 Ijushcls of wheat and 4 bushels of peas, all 
 intended for sowing l)y the 200 souls of the village 
 Rodeonovo. and a])i)ropriate(l by this one man Potapoff 
 Ijacked by a sherifif with a gun. 
 
 This is a sample of the "justice and protection" we 
 are given here, and of how these officials handle our 
 ])eoi)le. We have made our complaint about this, toO', 
 to the higher Canadian authorites. although we are not 
 over oi)tinnstic about results, since there have been a 
 number of sinnlar outrages connived at, and all of 
 them were passed up by the ( iovernment without as 
 much as investigating the matter. 
 
 Axw brethren and sisters all, inhabiting this earth, 
 no matter what your nationalitv and religion mav be, 
 but so long as you believe in (iod. Whose testimony 
 Christ bore and is bearing to us, we appeal to all of 
 you as Ijrotlicrs and sisters in the >i)irit of Christ. Who 
 was the first in this world to bear testimony of the 
 
— 62 — 
 
 Father in Heaven and ordained to us all to do not the 
 bidding of our own will, but the Will of Him who 
 sent us into the world. And if one believes in God, 
 one should profess also the faith of Christ, because 
 Christ explained to us that "I open the gates to the 
 Kingdom of Heaven to all believers" and that "I and 
 the Father, we are One.'' So those denying Christ 
 have no faith in (jod, either, because we as believers 
 have only conceived and can be conceiving God 
 through Christ. And our faith should be manifested 
 in our actions, else, according to Christ "Faith is dead 
 without deeds." And vice-versa, "deeds without faith 
 are dead." Nevertheless there are a great many men, 
 who profess their faith in Christ, but renounce those 
 very deeds which He even went to meet His Death on 
 the Cross for. And what is more, they do not even 
 consider such deeds necessary to believers, under that 
 excuse that the faith in God as well as in Christ should 
 be professed spiritually. Faith in God can be pro- 
 fessed spiritually as the Divine Force Ubiquitous. But 
 Christ should be professed bodily and in actual deeds, 
 for Christ was born carnally, as is well known to 
 everybody, and furthermore He was the one to set the 
 example in proving faith in the Divine Power by 
 bodily suffering. We would be just demonstrating 
 our faith to be without void and empty, if we were to 
 renounce the work he bequeathed to us in order to up- 
 hold our misconceptions or to satisfy our carnal ex- 
 istence, "iriiosocvcr shall seek to sazr Iiis life, shall 
 lose it; and he that losctli his life for my sake shall 
 
— 63 — 
 
 find it." Those were the true words of Christ. 
 Again there are great numbers of men i)rofes<ing their 
 faith in God. but denying Chri>t. They sutler in body 
 and even lay down their Hves. These are men of deeds 
 but witliout faith. They seem to be bent on forestall- 
 ing and rushing (lod's work on earth. Rut if there be 
 no foundation to build on. how can a building be car- 
 ried out? The cornerstone in (iod"s works is the faith in 
 Christ. Therefore it is only through the medium of 
 His teaching the edifice can be reared up to come 
 nearer to our Father that is in Heaven. 
 
 Christ makes it clear to us: "// one smites thee on 
 the clieek. offer the other one." "But all tliey that 
 take the sieord shall f^erish with the s:eord." Tliere- 
 icre these two texts of the great doctrine elucidate the 
 true conception of life to us. The faithful must carry 
 into effect all that is ordained hy Christ. This will 
 bear out the testimony of Christ before the people. 
 He told us that whoever professed Him l)efore the 
 people would be ])lea(led for by Him before the Father 
 in Heaven. And for His pleading the faithful will not 
 only face suffering, but are made fearless of carnal 
 death, for in this manner is immortality attained, even 
 as Christ attained it. In this sense He summons every- 
 one to s])iritual immortality. One cannot serve two 
 masters, Cod and mammon both. One cannot swear 
 allegiance, i.e., utter oaths, but your word shall be yes 
 or no. One cannot avenge evil doing by evil doing, 
 one should not take human life, for man is destined to 
 be the temple of the Divine Spirit. One should not 
 
— 64 — 
 
 take life, whichever hcing it niioht he in, to satisfy 
 one's mammon, for Christ has made it clear to us that 
 life is (lod. And being endowed with reason man does 
 not belong to wild and blood-thirsty creatures and in 
 him should Ije manifested love and ci impassion to all 
 the creatures of ( iod's, which have been created for 
 the common hai)i)iness. Love thy enemies, this should 
 refer to the whole of mankind and the word love 
 should be interpreted as not to inflict i)ain or injury 
 upon anyl)ody, to bear no ill feelings to anybody and 
 in any circumstances. This is all that would be neces- 
 sary. 
 
 Christ says who is not with Ale is against Me, who- 
 ever does not gather, squanders. Christ warned ITis 
 Apostles, in sending theiu to annunciate ]ieace to all 
 men." ./;/</ iclirii yc conic into a liotisc, salute if 
 and let yoiii- f^cacc conic upon if: and lehosocT'cr shall 
 nof rccci'cc you nor hear your -jcords. ■:clicn yc depart 
 out of that house or cify. shalcc off the dust of your 
 feet. I'erily / say unto you it shall he more tolerable 
 for the land of Sodont and (iouiorra in the day of 
 judijincnf than for that city." Therel)}- Me reudunced 
 all cnninuminn with men denying the Truth and gives 
 all the faithful the right to shun them. W'e reiterate 
 in the face of all the iK^jples of the earth that the hosts 
 of Christ consist of those facing suffering and sacrific- 
 ing their ver\- carnal lives in His name, and the 
 memory of such men ])asses from generation to gen- 
 eration, and si)iritually they merge into eternity and 
 into the Unoriginated Father, While those who (lis- 
 
— 65 — 
 
 regard the teaching and the summons of Christ to 
 spiritual regeneration, and meet suffering, and sacrifice 
 their carnal lives in warfare and in such like pursuits, 
 be it husband or wife, old or young, chief or subordi- 
 nate, O'r thy very self bearer of the Caesarian toga — 
 they all are apostates from Christ and perish on the 
 battlefield like children of the contemporary age. 
 With the cessation of their carnal life their memory 
 ceases for ever. And as per saying of Christ's "good 
 were it for those men if they had never been born." 
 
 We desire peace of the soul, and love, fraternity and 
 equality for everybody on earth. Our Lord-God 
 Christ summoned all to this and is summoning still. 
 Blessed be His Name for ever and amen. May the 
 consciousness be unravelled in our hearts and may we 
 take the outstretched hand of Christ with love, which 
 he extends to us in order to jointlv a])proach the Crea- 
 tor of the Universe, (dory be to the Most-High Cod 
 and Peace on Earth. 
 
 In all siincerity we recjuest all good men to appeal 
 personally to the Canadian Government, in defence of 
 humanity and God's truth, that they should leave us be 
 in peace and would not stand in the way of our en- 
 deavors to live as Christians. 
 
 Herewith is a])pended our petition to the ^Minister 
 of the Interior oi Canada. 
 
 Delegated by the Doiikhohor Comiiiuuitx Xicliolas 
 Aiitifayci', Grigori J'eri(/iii and Ivan K on-Kin. 
 Valleys of Consolation. Fruit and others, British 
 Columbia. 
 
II 
 
 THEY PLAN MOVING ON 
 
 {I'roin the Xcw York Sun, Sept. 1, 1912.) 
 
 It is ten years new since the Canadian Government 
 5J;ave the Doukhr)l)ors their land in western Canada — 
 320,000 acres of land, which at the very lowest valua- 
 tion must he worth 30 an acre now. 
 
 True to their co-operative jirinciples, the Douk- 
 liohors cultivated one great tract at the center of the 
 land allotted U:' them, 2,000 homesteads uf 160 acres 
 each. c(|ual to fifteen acres for each settler. When 
 they came to ask for their title they did not ask for 
 indi\-idnal patents, hut for the whole piece. They 
 surcl\- met tlic s])irit and the oljject of the law, hut 
 there was no jirovision made in the law, the authori- 
 ties said, for the communal mcthnd of cultivation, 
 comhining so manv quarter sections into one huge tract 
 of ])r()i)crty. .'~^n the authorities held up their title, and 
 final]}- came forward with a thinly veiled ultimatum to 
 either hccome Uritish sul)jects cr cNe forfeit the land. 
 The IJoukhohors gave up the land without a moment's 
 hesitation. 
 
 The Doukhohors retained their freedom and fifteen 
 acres a homestead. It was nothing new for them to 
 contend with official coercion. And they are not afraid 
 
 (66) 
 
— 67 — 
 
 of work. Their name im])lies tliat their rehgion lies in 
 struggHng — "siMrit wrestlers" would he a literal trans- 
 lation, alheit somewhat lienuuldling their meaning. 
 Ahout 2,000 of them remained on what was left of 
 their land, and the others went far ofif into British 
 Columbia, where they ])urchased 10,000 acres at the 
 junction of the Columbia and Kootenay rivers. 
 
 T1II<K-HI.\(, .\^ IT IIOXK TUKKK V1:AK> A(,i> 
 
 The land is now all but completely paid for and the 
 accumulated wealth of the new settlement mounts well 
 up into the second million — in houses, factories, live 
 stock, sawmills, grain mills, agricultural machinery, 
 all Oif which i^ a>>essed and taxed to the full value. 
 Hut thi> is as far as the Doukhobors will go in their 
 recognition of political authorities. 
 
— 68 — 
 
 They will have no police — for there is no crime 
 among them, while theft is out of the question. They 
 will not apply for any certificates for interment, nor 
 birth certificates ; an fact, they will not have anything 
 to do with officials except pay their taxes. And this is 
 by no means on account of any nihilistic propensities 
 of their doctrine. 
 
 Their cult is Christianity pure and simple, simple 
 as can be, adhering to the dogma or Christ as closely 
 as possible to human endeavor. In his book on the 
 history of the Doukhobors.' migration from Russia, 
 Joseph Elkington, the noted Philadelphia Quaker, says 
 on this subject : 
 
 "Whatever may be the opinions of those whoi do not 
 know the virtues of these Russians by actual acquaint- 
 ance, we have had the privilege of learning of their 
 personal experience from their own lips and have been 
 witnesses of their self-sacrificing devotion to a high 
 principle and their afifection for one another, must be- 
 lieve in them and in their future. * * * A people who 
 will not fight, or steal, or drink anything intoxicating, 
 or smoke, or use profane language, or lie have a char- 
 acter which will bring forth the best qualities of 
 Christian citizenship." 
 
 All was going well in British Columbia for four 
 years. With the infinite patience and perseverance, 
 verging on obstinacy, characterizing the Russian 
 peasant, the Doukhobors have cleared hundreds of 
 acres of their new land of the dense timber and have 
 planted it with fruit trees. There is mapped out and 
 
— 70 — 
 
 in part operation an 'irrigation system covering tlie en- 
 tire territory, and already a domestic water supply 
 system fed by springs in the mountains connects all of 
 the dwellings in the settlements of Grand Forks, Bril- 
 liant, Glade, Pass Creek and others. The calm of the 
 mountain fastness is pierced by the shrill whistles of 
 steam tractors hauling modern ploughing and thresh- 
 ing machinery, by the noisy bustle of gigantic sawmills, 
 by brick and concrete steam works, grain elevators and 
 mills and foundries. 
 
 In connection with the sawmills, where alsoi all 
 lumber needed for the buildings in turned out, there is 
 a planing mill. Finished lumber is made there, and 
 mouldings, undistinguishable from the product of a 
 big factory, are manufactured. All furniture, tables 
 and chairs used '\n the Doukhobors" houses are made 
 by Doukhobor labor. 
 
 An enormous pumping plant is now nearing comple- 
 t^ion o>n the high embankment of the Kootenay river — • 
 the largest in the whole of Canada, as the president of 
 the company, Peter Verigin, pointed out to me with the 
 nearest approach to pride I ever witnessed in a Douk- 
 ho'bor. When this plant 'is in working order the fields 
 will be covered by a network of pipes. In connection 
 with the pumping plant a generating station will be 
 built to supply light and power to the whole colony. At 
 least this and many other enterprises were being 
 planned by the executive of the community but a few 
 weeks ago. at the time of my visit to the chief, Peter 
 Verigin. But storm clouds were already gathering 
 
— 71 — 
 
 then about the heads of the peaceful and prosperous 
 settlers. 
 
 On June 13th last year four Doukhobors were seized 
 and clapped in jail, l.ater an officer of the law visited 
 the house and was received by women, who threw him 
 out bodily. The infuriated minion of the law raved 
 and threatened dire reprisals. The women faced him 
 time and again with grim resolution. Finally the officer 
 flung the royal warrant into the house. The women 
 tore the paper into two little pieces and threw them 
 after him. 
 
 Thus a regular war was started between the Douk- 
 hobors and the rural police. Policemen would come 
 day after day prying among the graves of the Douk- 
 hobors on the lookout for any fresh interments. The 
 Doukhobors of the Grand Forkes settlement got to- 
 gether one day and ploughed up the whole graveyard 
 and then harrowed the land level. Following their line 
 of passive resistance the settlers refused to talk to the 
 police or answer any cjuestions at all ; the children were 
 kept away from the English school. The following 
 telegram was sent to the State Secretary of the Interior 
 at (3tta\va: 
 
 ■'( )n the 13t]i of June last two men were seized from 
 our midst and imi)risoned because thev did not make 
 out declarations aljout the death of their mother and 
 brother resiJectively ; and two others likewise for pre- 
 paring coffins for the interment of the deceased. They 
 are to be confined in jail for three months in the very 
 heat of such a busy season, when no hands can be 
 
— 72 — 
 
 spared us at all. All of us, the Grand Forks Doukho- 
 bor Community of 400 men, consider such treatment 
 cruel and unjust and request you, as ^Minister of the 
 Land, to immediately order the release of our 
 brethren." 
 
 No reply was vouchsafed to this appeal. 
 
 A letter was also directed to the chief constable, 
 Dinsniore, at Greenwood, B.C., which elicited a very 
 curt reply to the effect that compliance with the laws 
 of British Columbia will be strictly enforced by all 
 means in his power. 
 
 All of which bade 'ill for the Doukhobors. It 
 means, so far as they can make it out, that before long 
 they will have to gird their loins once more and start 
 out, for the fifth time since their persecutions began 
 back in Russia, in quest of some other haven of peace, 
 so long and patiently .sought. 
 
 Fortunately for the heart heavy toilers Uncle Sam 
 'is coming to their rescue, proffering the hand of cordial 
 welcome and the assurance of peace and freedom from 
 political and religious interference. The following let- 
 ter was directed through me to the Colorado State Im- 
 migration Commissioner : 
 
 "Kindly advise us whether the State of Colorado 
 could accept us as aliens, or rather sell land to us as 
 such. In view of the fact that in pursuit of their re- 
 ligious beliefs the Doukhobors are not inclined to adopt 
 the citizenship of any country they wish to live free 
 from any interference on the part of local authorities. 
 For instance, they wish to be excused from the obliga- 
 
— 73 — 
 
 tory registrations of any kind — of their birtlis, deaths 
 or marriages. They want full religious freedom, ex- 
 emption from military service and from war taxation. 
 
 "We can manage our own affairs within our settle- 
 ments, and if we should have any surplus of fruit and 
 vegetable crops at our disposal, the same would be will- 
 ingly turned over to the State in some indirect manner. 
 Now if all this should not be at issue with the laws of 
 your State and in case the land would be suitable for 
 us, we can at once purchase land to the amount of one 
 miillion dollars and devote same to horticulture and 
 vegetable farming. 
 
 "Peter Verigin." 
 
 Commissioner L. C. Paddock replied that the Douk- 
 hobors cannot be compelled to become citizens of the 
 United States, that as aliens they may own property, 
 are exempt from compulsory military service and free 
 to regulate their own domestic affairs and will not be 
 hindered in religious worship. 
 
 In the early fall the leader of the Doukhobors will 
 take a trip to Colorado, where a huge tract of irrigated 
 farm and orchard land has already been earmarked, 
 upon careful selection, with the view of making the 
 necessary provisory arrangements. Upon his return a 
 delegation of 100 Doukhobors will be detailed, like 
 spies into Canaan, to go out and investigate the land 
 from every viewpoint; also to put up the first necessary 
 buildings ; next the married couples and the families 
 will be sent over, and finally the single men. 
 
There is a system in all this. System and co-ordina- 
 tion of effort permeate the whole existence of the 
 Doukhobor c nnnunities ; everything is done upon joint 
 consideration ; no labor is wasted in single hantled ef- 
 fort and none is undertaken unless the requisite num- 
 ber of hands can be put on the job to effect the maxi- 
 mum saving of time coupled with highest efficiency. 
 Xo one is every left idle, except upon reaching the age 
 of sixtv. when men settle down to enjo}' their well- 
 earned rest. In summer time all work is suspended 
 between the hours of 11 to 3 in the afternoon. All 
 work stops at noon on Saturdays. 
 
 The tilling of the land is all di.>ne in (jne piece. There 
 are no hedges nor divisions of the whole 2.* '00 acres, 
 as far as ownership is concerned. Men are i)ut to work 
 on whatever task tlic\- are best suited for, and may be 
 changed to another, more congenial to them, if it means 
 greater efificiency. .^ome are at w. ^rk in the fields, while 
 others are engaged in machine shops, others in garden- 
 ing and others again at carpenter work. And every- 
 body being thus interested in his jiarticular line of 
 work, laziness is very seldom met with. 
 
 ^\r. James Lightbody, who also visited the Douk- 
 hobors at the same time with me, was greatlv im- 
 pressed by the harmony and contentment reigning in 
 this communit}-, whose motto is "The Christian Com- 
 munity of Lhii\-ersal llrotherlKu xl." .\nal\'zing liis im- 
 pressions in a communication to the \ ictoria Pailx 
 Tillies, he says : 
 
 "It is the socialist Uto])ia, the realization of ecjuality, 
 
— 76 — 
 
 which is being advocated for the rest of the world 
 to-day." 
 
 At Brilhant, unlike the modern city, there are no 
 cares as to where the next day's meals are to come 
 from. There is no stinting or grudging to provide sus- 
 tenance when one's strength has ebbed in declining 
 years. There are no divisions between "mine" and 
 "thine," no man is richer than his fellow — therefore 
 there are no jealousies or envies as to the possessions 
 of another. 
 
 Cares as to money are totally absent, for there is no 
 money in circulation. One member of the executive 
 does all the outside selling and purchasing for the com- 
 munity. Any money received by individual members 
 from outside sources is turned over into the terasury. 
 It would have no purchasing value within the com- 
 nuniity, nor is there any need for it, for food and 
 clothing and all necessities of life are doled out from 
 the various departments in charge of these matters. 
 
 The government is in tlie liands of the people, ef- 
 fectively and simply, although with no machinery of 
 government whatever. Once a week all persons, both 
 men and women, who have reached years of mature un- 
 derstanding crowd into the large assembly house, which 
 has a capacity of 2,000, and discuss the affairs of the 
 community. At these meetings, held every Sunday 
 afternoon, the managers of each department are given 
 their instructions, according to the popular sentiment. 
 No definite time is specified at the appointment of an 
 officer, but he holds office as long as he does his work 
 
well. This is the initiative, referendum and recall sys- 
 tem without the cumbersome machinery in use at the 
 present day. 
 
 All the houses are built pretty much after the same 
 plan. Like everything built or used or worn by the 
 Doukhobors their residences are devoid of all elabor- 
 
 A PRAYER MEETING 
 
 ateness or ornamentation of any kind, but eminently 
 substantial and practical for all intents and purposes. 
 They are always built in pairs, and at a respectful dis- 
 tance from other buildings for sanitary reasons and 
 fire isolation. There is an abundance of air and light. 
 Each dwelling accommodates no less than thirty peo- 
 
— 78 — 
 
 pie. Married folk have double bedrooms. All beds 
 are taken out of doors every morning and given a thor- 
 ough sunning and airing. At the rear of each pair of 
 buildings there is a bath house, with a boiler in the 
 centre, supplying steam for the hot room and hot water 
 for the numerous baths around. 
 
 All the women of each household take turns at cook- 
 ing and baking the bread for all the inmates. The 
 food is very appetizing and well cooked. Needless to 
 say the Doukhobors eat no meat or eggs. The first 
 impression which strikes a stranger entering a Douk- 
 ho'bor settlement at night, as I did, is the absolute still- 
 ness of the place, which at first seems almost uncanny. 
 One realizes before long that this is due to the absence 
 of either dogs or poultry in the place. The Doukhobors 
 have no use for either, since chickens cannot be raised 
 or sold for any other purpose than eating, and dogs 
 would have nothing to watch. 
 
 The men look hale and sturdy and the children are 
 almost without exception pictures of blossoming health. 
 In your walk, if school be not in session, you will be 
 passed by numbers of them, the girls picturesque in 
 bright colors and the boys — well, as growing mischief 
 loving boys always dress. All have an inquiring, in- 
 quisitive look, for strangers are not seen every day, 
 yet disrespect is totally absent, and they call to you 
 "Hello!" their first word of English probably, and 
 the boys dofif their hats and the girls nod their heads. 
 
 The top floor of the great assembly house contains 
 several big class rooms. The school has recently been 
 
— 79 — 
 
 put in commission by the provincial Government, with 
 an EngHsh speaking schoohna'am in it, and the chil- 
 dren, so they say. follow their studies with such an 
 aviditv that playing truant is practically an unheard of 
 offence. In fact they come around to the school before 
 their teacher rises in the morning, and she is an early 
 riser. 
 
 Sure enough they have a large and well appointed 
 hospital at Brilliant, and they have everything there ex- 
 cept doctors, nurses or inmates. The building is in- 
 habited by a superannuated and very affable janitor. 
 Each dwelling comprises two special emergency rooms 
 — one of them adapted for women in confmement. 
 
 The Doukhobors show great consideration and so- 
 licitude for their women. As a general rule no family 
 is encumbered with more than two or three children, 
 and this by no means for reasons of economy. In fact 
 equality of sexes has reached its highest expression in 
 their social life. Women are recognized as being com- 
 petent to judge upon all of the affairs of their com- 
 munity. Xot only do they share in all administrative 
 work and take part in all the counsels, but they also 
 perform all the religious rites and conduct divine serv- 
 ices on the same footing with men. as can be seen from 
 accompanying photographs taken by me. 
 
 Prayers are always held in the open air, weather 
 permitting. The congregation always stand, and not 
 only bareheaded but in their bare feet as well, in sum- 
 mer. Prayer books they have none, neither is there 
 
— 81 — 
 
 a place of worship in the direct sense. In nasty 
 weather prayer meetings are held in the great as- 
 sembly hall, but the place bears not a trace of any re- 
 ligious emblems' — anything to impart any sacred sig- 
 nificance to itself, (iod is within men, they hold, so the 
 place of worship is where the congregation happens tc 
 meet. They have no written laws or rules, and no 
 written prayers. There is nothing fixed or moulded 
 in their worship — it is a live and spontaneous religion. 
 The hymns which they sing pass from generation to 
 generation by oral tradition — ^modified and added to. 
 
 The figure of Peter Verigin, the leader of the entire 
 Do'Ukhobor sect, now in America, is indeed one of al- 
 most awe-inspiring personahty. If ever there was a 
 born leader of men Peter Verigin is one. He is the 
 seventh leader of the Doukhobor sect, which has been 
 in existence for 200 years. The one preceding him 
 was a woman. Lookeria ^'assilevna, who succeeded her 
 husband in this capacity. She found and marked 
 \^erigin for leadership when he was a mere boy. He 
 belonged to a very wealthy family of the Doukhobor 
 persuasion and he followefl her implicitly. 
 
 He was given a thorough education and prepared 
 very ])ainstakingly to assume this important post, 
 which she passed on to him on her deathbed. No 
 sooner had he assumed the leadership than he started a 
 movement of passive resistance to the Russian Govern- 
 ment's system of compulsory military service. He was 
 soon seized by the authorities and exiled to Siberia. 
 He was kept in exile for sixteen years — long after the 
 
— 82 — 
 
 last of the Doukhobors migrated from Russia — but he 
 never relinquished leadership over his herd. 
 
 He maintained a constant correspondence with 
 Count Leo Tolstoy, who was an ardent champion of 
 
 PETER VEUICrX I.\ HIS GARllEX 
 
 the Doiikhobor cause. Tolstoy nex'cr sold the copy- 
 right for his l)0(iks or accepted any ^()yaUie^ from the 
 publishers, but he made an exception in the case of 
 
— 83 — 
 
 the famous novel "Resurrection,"' the proceeds of 
 which went to assist the Doul<hobors in migrating from 
 Russia. 
 
 Peter A'erigin is now 55 years old. He is possessed 
 of a powerful constitution and a quiet energy, which 
 knows no obstacles and no. defeat. Yet he is simple, 
 affable and good natured in the extreme. He is con- 
 stantly oscillating among all the Doukhobor settlements 
 attending to all matters accumulating during his ab- 
 sence. 
 
 There is no doubt that the migration of the Douk- 
 hobors into the United States could only be welcomed 
 by this country. With the more propitious climate and 
 the freedom of which they are assured, they are cer- 
 tain to prosper and help to develop the natural wealth 
 of the State. 
 
Ill 
 
 THEIR MARTYRDOM IN RUSSIA 
 
 BY VLADIMIR TCHERTKOFF 
 
 The Doukhobors first appeared in the middle of the 
 18th century. By the end of the last century or the 
 beginning of the present, thdir doctrine had become 
 so clearly defined, and the number of their followers 
 had so greatly increased, that the Government and the 
 Churdh, considering this sect to be peculiarly obnox- 
 ious, started a cruel persecution. 
 
 The foundation of the Doukhobors' teaching con- 
 sists in the behef that the Spirit of God is present in 
 the soul of man, and directs him by its word within 
 him. 
 
 They understand the coming of Christ in the flesh, 
 His works, teaching, and sufferings, in a spiritual sense. 
 The object of the sufferings of Christ, in their view, 
 was to give us an example of suffering for truth. 
 Christ continues to suffer in us even now, when we 
 do not hve in accordance with the behests and spirit 
 of His teaching. The whole teaching of the Doukho- 
 bors is penetrated with the gospel spirit of love. 
 
 Worshipping God in the spirit, the Doukhobors af- 
 firm that the outward Chui-ch and all that is performed 
 lin it and concerns it has no importance for them. The 
 
 (84) 
 
— 85 — 
 
 Clnirc'h is where two or three are gathered together, 
 i.e. united, in the name of Christ. 
 
 They pray inwardly at all times ; while, on fixed days 
 (corresponding for convenience to the orthodox holy- 
 days), they assemble for prayer-meetings, at which 
 they read prayers and sing hymns, or psalms as they 
 call them, and greet each other fraternally with low 
 bows, thereby acknowledging every man as a bearer of 
 the Divine Spirit. 
 
 The teaching of the Doukhobors is founded on tradi- 
 tion. This tradition lis called among them the "Book 
 of Life," because it lives in their memory and hearts. 
 It consists of psalms, partly formed out of the con- 
 tents of the Old and New Testaments, partly com- 
 posed independently. 
 
 The Doukhobors found alike their mutual relations 
 and their relations to other people — and not only to 
 people, but to all living creatures — exclusively on love; 
 and, therefore, they hold all people equal, brethren. 
 They extend this idea of equality also to the Govern- 
 ment authorities; obedience to whom they do not con- 
 sider binding upon them in those cases when the de- 
 mands of these authorities are in conflict with their 
 conscience; while, in all that does not infringe what 
 they rgeard as the will of God. they willingly fulfil the 
 desire of the authorities. 
 
 They consider murder, violence, and in general all 
 relations to living beings not based on love, as opposed 
 to their conscience, and to the will oi God. 
 
 The Doukhobors are industrious and abstemious in 
 
— 86 — 
 
 their lives, and always truthful in their speech, account- 
 ing all lying a great sin. 
 
 Such, in their most general character, are the beliefs 
 for which the Doukhobors have long endured cruel 
 persecution. 
 
 The Emperor Alexander I., in one of his rescripts 
 concerning the Doukhobors, dated the 9th December, 
 1816, cx])rcsscd himself as follows: — "All the measures 
 of severity exhausted upon the Spirit-Wrestlers during 
 the thirty years up to 1801, not only did not destroy 
 this sect, but more and more multiplied the number of 
 its adherents." And therefore he proposed more hu- 
 mane treatment of them. But, notwithstanding this 
 desire of the Emperor, the persecutions did not cease. 
 Under Nicholas I, they were particularly enforced, and 
 by his command, in the years '40 and '50 the Douk- 
 hobors were all banished from the government of 
 Tauris, where they were formerly settled, to Transcau- 
 casia, near the Turkish frontier. "The utility of this 
 measure is evident," says a previous resolution of the 
 Committee of Ministers of the 6th Fe'bruary, 1826, 
 "they (the Doukhobors) being transported to the ex- 
 treme borders of the Caucasus, and being always con- 
 fronted by the hillsmen, must of necessity protect their 
 property and' families by force of arms," i.e., they 
 would have to renounce their convictions. Moreover 
 the place appointed for their settlement, the so-called 
 Wet Hills, was one (situated in what is now the Ahal- 
 kalaky district of the Tiflis government) having a se- 
 vere climate, standing 5,000 feet above the sea-level, 
 
— 87 — 
 
 iu which barley grows with difficulty, and where the 
 crops are often destroyed by frost. Others of the 
 Doukhobors were planted in the present government 
 of EHsavetpol. 
 
 But neither the severe climate nor the neighbour- 
 hood of wild and warlike hillsmen shook the faith of 
 the Doukhobors, who, in the course of the half-century 
 they passed in the Wet Hills, transformed this wilder- 
 ness into flourishing colonies, and continued to live the 
 same Christian and laborious life they had lived before. 
 But, as nearly always happens with people, the temp- 
 tation of the wealth which they attained to in the 
 Caucasus weakened their moral force, and little by lit- 
 tle they began to depart somewhat from the require- 
 ments of their belief. 
 
 But, while temporarily departing, in the external re- 
 lations of life, from the claims of their conscience, they 
 did not, in their inner consciousness, renounce the basis 
 of their beliefs; and, therefore, as soon as events hap- 
 pened among them which disturbed their outward tran- 
 quility, the religious spirit whidh had guided thdr 
 fathers immediately revived within them. 
 
 In 1887, universal military service was introduced 
 in the Caucasus; and even those for wdiom it was 
 fO'rmerly (in consideration of their religous convic- 
 tions) replaced by other service or by banishment, were 
 called upon to serve. This measure took the Doukho- 
 bors unawares, and at first they outwardly submitted to 
 it ; but they never in their consciences renounced the 
 belief that war is a great sin, and they extorted their 
 
— 88 — 
 
 sons taken as recruits, though they submitted to the 
 various regulations of the service, never to make actual 
 use of their arms. Nevertheless, the introduction of 
 the conscription among people who considered every 
 murder and act of violence against their fellow-men 
 to be a sin, greatly alarmed them, and caused them to 
 think over the degree to which they had departed from 
 thdir belief. 
 
 At the same time, in consequence of an illegal deci- 
 sion of the Government departments and officials, the 
 right to the possession of the public property of the 
 Doukhobors (valued at half a million roubles) passed 
 from the community to one of their members, who, 
 for his own personal advantage, had betrayed the public 
 interest. This called forth the protest of the majority 
 of the Doukhotors against this individual and his 
 party, who had thus become possessed of the public 
 property, and against the corrupt local administration, 
 which had been bribed to give an unjust decision in the 
 case. 
 
 When, besides this, several representatives of the 
 majority, and amogn them the manager elected to ad- 
 ministrate the communal property, were banished to 
 the government of Archangel, this awakening assumed 
 a very definite character. 
 
 The majority of the Doukhobors (about twelve 
 thousand in number) resolved to hold fast to the tra- 
 ditions left them by their fathers. They renounced 
 life, they also renounced all participation in acts O'f vio- 
 lence, and therefore refused military service. 
 
— 89 — 
 
 In confirmation of the sincerity of their decision not 
 to use violence even for their own defence, in the sum- 
 mer of 1895, the Doukhobors of the "Great Party," 
 as they were called, burnt all their arms which they, 
 tobacco, wine, meat, and every kind of excess, divided 
 up all thdr property (thus supplying the needs of those 
 who were then in want), and they collected a new pub- 
 lic fund. 
 
 In connection with this return to a strictly Christian 
 like all the inhabitants of the Caucasus, kept for their 
 protection, and those who were in the army refused to 
 continue service. By general resolution they fixed on 
 the night of 28th June fo rthe purpose o'f burning their 
 arms, which were their own property and therefore at 
 their absolute disposal. This holocaust was accom- 
 panied by the singing of psalms, and was carried out 
 simultaneously in three places, namely, in the govern- 
 ments of Tiflis and Elisavetpol and in the territory of 
 Kars. In the latter district it passed off without inter- 
 ference; in the government of Elisavetpol it resulted in 
 the imprisonment of forty Doukhobors, who are still 
 in confinement ; while in the government of Tiflis the 
 action taken by the local adniinistration resulted in 
 the perpetration by the troops of a senseless, unpro- 
 voked, and incredibly savage attack on these defence- 
 less people, and in their cruel ill-treatment. 
 
 The burning of arms in the Tiflis government was 
 appointed to take place near the village of Goreloe, lin- 
 habited by Doukhobors belonging to the "Small Party," 
 in whose hands was the public property they had ap- 
 
- 90 — 
 
 propriated. This party having learnt the intention of 
 the "Great Party" were devising a rising and preparing 
 to make an armed attack upon the village oif Goreloe. 
 and informed the authorities that the Doukhobors of 
 the "Great Party" were devising a rising and preparing 
 to make an armed attack upon the village of Gorloe. 
 The local aitthorities, then, without verifying the truth 
 of this information, ordered out the Cossacks and in- 
 fantry to the place of the 'imaginary riot. The Cos- 
 sacks arrived at the place of assembly of the Douk- 
 hobors in the morning, when the bonfire, which had 
 destroyed their arms, was already burning out, and 
 they made two cavalry attacks upon these men and 
 women, who had voluntarily disarmed themselves and 
 were singing hymns, and the troops beat them with 
 thdr whips in the most inhuman manner. 
 
 After this a whole series of persecutions was com- 
 menced against all the Doukhobors belonging to the 
 "Great Party." First of all, the troops called out were 
 quartered "in execution" on the Doukhobors' settle- 
 ments, i.e., the property and the inhabitants themselves 
 O'f these settlements were placed at the disposal of the 
 officers, soldiers, and Cossacks quartered in these vil- 
 lages. Their property was plundered, and the inhabi- 
 tants themselves were insulted and maltreated in every 
 way, while the women were flogged with whips and 
 some of them violated. The men, numbering about 
 three hundred, who had refused to continue in the army 
 service, and about thirty who had refused active ser- 
 vice, were imprisoned or sent to a penal battalion. 
 
— 91 — 
 
 Afterwards more than four humlred families of 
 Doukli()l)or> in Alialkalaky were torni from tlieir pros- 
 perous lioldings and splendidly cultivated land, and 
 after the forced sale, for a mere trifle, of their prop- 
 erty, they were banished from the Ahalkalaky district 
 to four other districts of the Tiflis government, and 
 scattered among the Georgian villages, from one to live 
 families to each village, and there abandoned to their 
 fate. 
 
 Before long, epidemics, such as fevers, typhus, diph- 
 theria, and dysentery, appeared aiiiong the Doukhobors 
 (scattered as above stated), with the result that the 
 mortality increased largely especially among the chil- 
 dren. The Doukhobors had been exiled from a cold 
 mountain climate and settled in the hot Caucasian val- 
 leys, where even the natives suffered from fevers. 
 
 In one place of exile situated in the Signak district, 
 106 deaths occurred among 100 families (about 1,000 
 people) settled there. In the Gory district, 147 deaths 
 occurred among 190 families. In the Tionet district, 83 
 deaths occurred among 100 families. In the Dushet 
 district, 20 deaths occurred among 72 famulies. Al- 
 mist all were suffering from diseases. 
 
 Besides these deaths there have been others (due to 
 actual violence) among the Donkholiors in prison and 
 in the penal battalion. 
 
 The first to die in this way, in July 1895, was Kirill 
 Koaikin, the cause of death being blows received as 
 corporal punishment. He died on the road, before 
 reaching the place of his exile, in a .state of hallucina- 
 
— 92 — 
 
 tion, vVhich commenced while he was heing flogged. 
 Next, in August 1896, died Michael Scherbinin in the 
 Ekaterinograd penal battalion, tortured to death by 
 flogging, and by being thrown with violence over the 
 wooden horse in the gymnasium. Among those con- 
 fined in the prisons many have already died. Some 
 of them, while dying, were locked up in separate rooms, 
 and neither their fellow-prisoners, nor parents, wives, 
 and children who had come to 'bid them farewell, were 
 allowed even to enter the room where the dying lay, 
 alone and helpless. 
 
APPEAL TO REASON 
 
 BY LKO TOLSTOI 
 
 The facts related in this Appeal, gathered by three 
 of niy friends, have been repeatedly verified, revised, 
 and sifted; the Appeal itself has been several times 
 recast and corrected ; everything has been rejected from 
 it which, although true, might seem an exaggeration ; 
 so that all that is now stated in this Appeal is the real, 
 indubitable truth, as far as the truth is accessible to 
 men guided only by the religious desire, in this publi- 
 cation of the truth, to serve God and their neighbors, 
 both the persecuted and the persecutors. 
 
 But, however striking the facts here related, their 
 importance depends, not on the facts themselves, but on 
 the way in which those who hear them will regard 
 them. And I fear that the majority of those who read 
 this Appeal will not understand all its importance. 
 
 "Why, these fellows are a set of rioters ; coarse, il- 
 literate peasants; fanatics who have fallen under evil 
 influence. They are a noxious, anti-governmental sect, 
 which the Government cannot put up with, but evi- 
 dently must suppress, as it suppresses every movement 
 injurious to the general welfare. If at the same time 
 women and children, innocent children, innocent peo- 
 ple have to suffer, well, what is to be done?" 
 
 This is what, with a shrug of the shoulders, people 
 
 (93) 
 
— 94 — 
 
 who have not fathomed the importance oif the matter 
 will sa)'. 
 
 On the whole, these occurrences will, to most peo- 
 ple, seem devoid of interest, like all occurrences whose 
 places are strongly and clearly defined. Smugglers ap- 
 pear — they must be caught ; anarchists, terrorists — so- 
 ciety must get rid of them ; fanatics, self-mutilators — 
 they must be shut up, transported; 'infringers of public 
 order appear — they must be suppressed. All this seems 
 indisputable, evident, decisive, and therefore uninter- 
 esting. 
 
 And yet such an attitude towards what is related in 
 this Appeal is a great error. 
 
 As 'in the life of each separate individual (I know 
 this in my own life, and everyone will find similar cases 
 in his own), so alsoi in the life of nations and human- 
 ity, events occur which constitute turning-points in 
 their whole existence; and these events, like the "still 
 small voice" (not the "great and strong wind") in 
 which Elijah heard God, are neither loud, nor striking, 
 hardly even perceptible; and in one's personal life one 
 always afterwards regrets that at the time one neither 
 know nor guessed the 'importance of what was taking 
 place. 
 
 "If I had known it was such an important moment in 
 my life," one afterwards thinks, "I would not have 
 acted so." 
 
 It is the same in the land of mankind. A Roman 
 Kmperor enters Rome in noisy, pompous triumph — 
 how important this seems ; and how insignificant it then 
 
— 95 — 
 
 seemed that a Galilean was preaching a new doctrine, 
 and was executed therefore, just as hundreds of others 
 were executed for apparently similar crimes. 
 
 And so now, too, how important, in the eyes of re- 
 fined members of rival parties of the English, French 
 and Itahan Parliaments, or of the Austrian and Ger- 
 man Diets, and in the eyes of all the business men in 
 the city, and of the bankers of the whole world, and 
 their press organs, are the questions as to who shall 
 occupy the Bosphorus, who shall seize some patch of 
 land in Africa or Asia, who shall triump'h in the ques- 
 tion of bimetalism, and so on ; and how, not only un- 
 important, but even so insignificant that they are not 
 worth speaking about, seem the stories which tell that 
 somewhere in the Caucasus, the Russian Government 
 has taken measures to crush certain semi-savage fanat- 
 ics, who deny that it is their duty to obey the author- 
 ities. 
 
 And yet, in reality, how not merely insignificant, but 
 comic, beside events of such immense importance as 
 are now taking place in the Caucasus, is the strange 
 anxiety of full grown people, educated and illuminated 
 by the teaching of Christ (or at least acquainted with 
 this teaching, and capable of being lilluminated by it), 
 as to which country shall have this patch of land, 
 and what words were uttered by this or that erring, 
 stumbling mortal, who is merely a product of sur- 
 rounding condiitions. 
 
 Pilate and Herod, indeed, might not understand the 
 importance of that for which the Galilean, who had 
 
— 96 — 
 
 disturbed their province, was brought before them for 
 judgment. They did not even think it worth while 
 learning what his teaching meant, and even had they 
 known it. they might have been excused for thinking 
 that it would disappear (as Gamaliel said) : but we — 
 we cannot but know the teaching itself, as well as the 
 fact that it has not disappeared in the course of 
 eighteen hundred years, and will not disappear until it 
 is realised. And if we know this, then, notwithstand- 
 ing the insigmficance, illiterateness, and obscurity of 
 the Doukhobors, we cannot but see the vast importance 
 of that which is taking place among them. Christ's 
 disciples were just such linsignificant, unrefined, un- 
 known people, and other than such the followers of 
 Christ cannot 'be. Among the Doukhobors, or rather, 
 "Christians of the Universal Brotherhood," as they 
 now call themselves, nothng new is taking place, but 
 merely the germinating of that seed which was sown 
 by Christ eighteen hundred years ago : — the resurrec- 
 tion of Christ himself. 
 
 This resurrection must take place, cannot but take 
 place, and it is impossible, — merely because it is occur- 
 ring without the firing of guns, parade of troops, plant- 
 ing of flags, illuminated fountains, music, electric 
 lig'hts, bell-ringing, and the solemn speeches and the 
 cries of the people decorated with gold-lace and rib- 
 bons — it is impossible to shut one's eyes to the fact that 
 it is taking place. Only savages judge of the import- 
 ance of events by the outward splendour that accom- 
 panies them. 
 
— 97 — 
 
 Whether we wish to see it or not, there has now been 
 shown in the Caucasus, in the Hfe of the "Christians 
 of the Universal Brotherhood," especially during their 
 persecution, an example of that Christian life towards 
 which all that is good and reasonable in the world is 
 striving. For all our State institutions, our ParHa- 
 ments. societies, sciences, arts, — all this only exists and 
 operates iin order to realise that life which all of us, 
 thinking men, see before us as the highest ideal of 
 perfection. And here we 'have people who have real- 
 ised this ideal, no doubt only in part and not com- 
 pletely, but have reaHsed 'it in a way we did not dream 
 of doing with our complex State institutions. How, 
 then, can we avoid acknowledging the importance of 
 this event? For that 'is being accomplished towards 
 which we are all strivin'r, to\v?.rds which all our cotii- 
 plex activity is leading. 
 
 It is generally said that such attempts at the realisa- 
 tion of the Christian life have been made more than 
 once before ; there have been the Quakers, the Mennon- 
 ites, and others, all of whom have weakend and de- 
 generated into ordinary people, living the usual politi- 
 cal life. And, therefore, it is said, such attempts to 
 realise a Christian life are important. 
 
 To say so is like saying that the pains of labour 
 which have not yet ended in a birth, or the warm rains 
 and sun-rays which have not as yet brought spring, 
 are of no importance. 
 
 What, then, is important for the realisation of the 
 Christian life? It is surely not by diplomatic nego- 
 
— 98 — 
 
 tiations about Abyssinia and Constantinople, papal en- 
 cyclicals, socialistic congresses, and so on, that man will 
 advance to that for which the world endures. For, 
 if the Kingdom of God, i.e., the kingdom on earth of 
 truth and good, is to be realised, 'it can only be by such 
 attempts as were made by the first disciples of Christ, 
 afterwards by the Paulicians, Albigenses, Quakers, 
 Moravian ]>rethren, Mennonites, all the true Chris- 
 tians of the world, and now by the "Christians of the 
 Universal Brotherhood." 
 
 The fact that these birth pangs continue and increase 
 does not prove that there will be no birth, but, on the 
 contrary, that the birth is near at 'hand. People say 
 it will come about, but not in this way, — in some other 
 way, by books, newspa])ers, universities, theatres, 
 speeches, meetings, congresses. But even if it be ad- 
 mitted that all these newspapers and books and meet- 
 ings and universities help to the realisation of the 
 Christian life, yet, after all, the realisation must be ac- 
 complished by living men, good men, with a Christian 
 spirit, ready for righteous common life. Therefore, 
 the main condition of the realisation is the existence 
 and gathering together of people who shall even now 
 realise that towards which we are all striving. And 
 behold, such people exist ! 
 
 It may be, though I doubt it, that the movement of 
 the "Christian Universal Bortherhood" will also be 
 stamped out, especially if society itself does not under- 
 stand the importance of what is taking place, and does 
 not render brotherly aid ; but that which this movement 
 
— 99 — 
 
 represents, that which has been expressed in it, will 
 certainly not die, cannot die, and sooner or later will 
 burst forth to the light, will destroy all that is now 
 crushing it, and will overcome the world. It is but a 
 question of time. 
 
 True, there are people, and, unfortunately there are 
 many, who hope and say, "But not in our time," and 
 therefore strive to arrest the movement. Yet, their 
 efforts are useless, and they do not arrest the move- 
 ment, but by their eft'orts only destroy in themselves 
 the life which is given them. For life is life only when 
 it is the carrying out of God's purpose. By opposing 
 Him, people deprive themselves of life, yet neither 
 for a year, nor for an hour, can they delay the accom- 
 plishment of God's purpose. 
 
 And it is impossible not to see that, with the out- 
 ward connection now established among all the in- 
 habitants of the earth, with the awakenling of the 
 Christian spirit which is now appearing in all corners 
 of the earth, this accomplishment is near at hand. 
 And the obduracy and blindness of the Russian Gov- 
 ernment, in directing against the "Christians of the 
 Universal Brotherhood" a persecution liike those of 
 pagan times, and the wonderful meekness and firmness 
 ■with which the new Christian martyrs endure these 
 persecutions — all these things are undoubted signs of 
 the nearness of this accompHshment. 
 
 And therefore, having understood the great import- 
 ance of the events that are taking ])lace, both for the 
 life of humanity in general and for the life of each 
 
— 100 — 
 
 of us, remembering that the opportunity to act which is 
 now presented will never return, let us do that which 
 the merchant in the Gospel parable did, selling all he 
 possessed that he might obtain the priceless pearl ; let 
 us disdain all mean, selfish considerations, and let each 
 of us, in whatever position he be, doi all which is in 
 his power, in order, — if not directly to help those 
 through whom the work of God is being done, if not 
 to share in this work, — at least not to oppose God's 
 work which is being accomplished for our good. 
 
IV 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE DOUKHOBORS 
 AND THEIR DOCTRINE 
 
 A Paper Written in 1805 
 
 The name "Doukhobors" or "Spirit \\'restlers" was 
 given as far back as 1785, probably by the then Bishop 
 of Ekaterinoslaff. It was at the time evidently in- 
 tended to distinguish, by this name, those holding this 
 teaching, just as the repudiation of ikons (images) was 
 in its time called "Ikon-Wrestling." But the Douk- 
 hobors themselves, giving their derivation of the name 
 from "spirit," say that thev in the spirit strenuously 
 serve God. Thus, following their explanation, the 
 term ought to be understood. 
 
 As to themselves, they awlays called, and call, them- 
 selves merely "Christians," whilst others they call "men 
 of the world." 
 
 Their origin is unknown, even to themselves ; for, 
 beiing common people and illiterate, they have no writ- 
 ten history ; neither has tradition preserved amongst 
 them any information upon the subject. 
 
 Communication among the Russian Doukhobors 
 takes place when occasion oififers, for example, when 
 the brethren have to travel upon business ; but, when 
 necessary, special messengers are sent. 
 
 (101) 
 
— 102 — 
 
 TiiKiR Mode of Life and Organization 
 
 Apart from the question of the pecuHarities of their 
 religious faith, the Doukhobors may be regarded as 
 afifording the model of well-OTganised family and social 
 peasant life. In 17*)2, Kohovsky, the governor of Eka- 
 terinoslaff, in his report to the higher authorities, said, 
 amongst other things, that the Doukhoibors are of ex- 
 emplarily good conduct, and, avoiding drunkenness and 
 idleness, are continually occupied with the welfare of 
 their homes, leading a moral life. They have always 
 regularly paid the State taxes, and fulfilled their other 
 social duties, often even to excess, as compared with 
 the other peasants, owing to the oppression to which 
 they are always subject from the local authorities. 
 
 But as soon as question is raised as to principles and 
 actions of theirs which in any way touch their religious 
 faith, there is limmediately disclosed a complete dif- 
 ference from, and even opposition to, other peasantry. 
 
 The Doukhobors never frequent the churclies; they 
 do not woirship images ; during prayer they do not 
 make the sign of the cross ; they do not keep the or- 
 dinary fasts ; and they take no part in the recreations 
 and loose pleasures of worldly people. There are 
 many such circumstances which completely separate 
 them from all ordinary society of peasants, and which 
 'have always been a cause of unceasing persecution 
 against them. 
 
 The Doukhobors deem that all externalism in the 
 work of salvation is utterly useless, and that the ex- 
 ternal Ohurch, owing to the lapse of true Christianity, 
 
— 103 — 
 
 has become a den of robbers ; and they therefore ac- 
 knowledge one sacred, universal, and apostolic Church, 
 which the Lord by His coming has assembled, conse- 
 crated, and replenished by the gifts of the Holy Ghost, 
 and which is, of course, the union of all faithful and 
 true Christians. 
 
 In this persuasion, they often have meetings of the 
 brethren ; yet they have not for this purpose any 
 specially appointed place, as they do not see any sanc- 
 tity in locality ; but they meet at each other's houses 
 without any distinction. They do not even fix any 
 special days for their meetings, deeming all days equal, 
 and having no holy-days : any free day is a day for 
 their meetings. These meetings, however, in most 
 cases, for convenience sake, take place during the or- 
 dinary Church or national holy-days. Thus, any of 
 them may arrange a meeting at his house by invit- 
 ing all the brethren. If such a meeting is held at the 
 house of a poor brother who cannot provide food' for 
 those wlio have assembled, then the others previously 
 contribute the necessary food, or else bring it with 
 them ; for at these meetings they have supper. Enter- 
 ing the meeting, the men greet the men, the women 
 the women, by grasping each other's right hands, bow- 
 ing three times, and kissing each other. At the com- 
 mencement, each one says a prayer. The three bows 
 and kisses are intended to signify the cleansing of the 
 body and the repulsion of pride; they take each other's 
 hands as a sign of union and love, mutual understand- 
 ing, the sense of a God revered in their souls. 
 
— 104 — 
 
 During the meetings, one after another recites the 
 prayers he knows ; they together sing psalms and ex- 
 plain to each other the Word of God. As almost all 
 are illiterate, and therefore without books, all this is 
 done from memory. They have no priests in the or- 
 dinary sense of the word ; they acknowledge as priest 
 the one just holy, true Christ, uplighted above sinners, 
 higher than the heavens; He is their sole teacher. 
 Thus at their meetings they hear the word of God form 
 each other; each one may express what he knows or 
 feels for the benefit of his brethren ; the women are 
 not excluded from this, for, as they say, women also 
 have understanding, and light is in understanding. 
 They pray either standing or sitting, as the case may 
 be. 
 
 At the end of the meeting they again kiss each other 
 thrice as at the beginning, and then the brethren return 
 home. 
 
 The virtue most highly respected among the Douk- 
 hobors is mutual love. They have no personal prop- 
 erty; but each regards his property as belonging to 
 all. After emigrating to the IMilky-Waters they 
 proved this in practice; for there they stored up all 
 their property in one place, so that at present they have 
 one common treasury, one common flock or herd, and 
 in each of their villages is a common granary. Each 
 brother takes from the common property that which 
 he needs. Hospitality also is not the least virtue 
 among them, for they take nothing from travellers 
 who stop at their houses, either for lodging or food. 
 
— 105 — 
 
 The Doukhobors are compassionate towards their 
 fellow-men. The local authorities themselves, notwith- 
 standing all the calumny they spread against these peo- 
 ple, have moTe than once witnessed before the higher 
 Government to the fact that the Doukhobors give help 
 and do acts of great charity to their fellow-men in 
 need. They are compassionate even to household ani- 
 mals, and almost entirely refrain from killing them. 
 
 Respect from children to their parents is also strictly 
 observed, and in general from younger men to those 
 older; though the latter, and even parents, do not ap- 
 propriate to themselves any ascendency over the 
 younger ones, regarding themselves as spiritually their 
 equals. 
 
 There exist no punishments among the brethren. 
 As soon as any brother thinks another has behaved 
 improperly, he, according to the precise gospel instruc- 
 tion, reminds him that he is acting wrongly; if the one 
 in fault will not take consideration, he is admonished 
 in the presence of two or three of the brethren ; if he 
 does not take heed of them, he is invitd to appear be- 
 fore the general assembly. 
 
 There have been cases, though very seldom, in which 
 some of the brethren have left the Society, doubtless 
 in order to live at liberty according to their own un- 
 restricted desire. It has even sometimes happened that 
 wives have deserted their husbands. The husbands, in 
 such cases, do not detain their wives, but give them 
 liberty, at the same time giving them means to live 
 upon as far as possible. 
 
— 106 — 
 
 Deserters may, liowever, be again accepted into the 
 Society if tliey completely repent and leave their im- 
 moral hfe; of which there have also been examples. 
 
 The general round of occupations is filled by each 
 taking a calling. Thus the tradesman does the com- 
 mercial business, and the agriculturist works on the 
 land. Uut the majority of them are agriculturists, as 
 they give preference to this noble occupation. 
 
 In their Society there are no elders who rule or 
 administrate, but rule and administration are by all 
 and each. \\'ritten regulations or rules they also have 
 none, and one might suppose that there ought there- 
 fore to be disagreement and disorder amongst them. 
 Yet no such diisorder has ever been noticed. In the 
 Milky-Waters, three, and even five, families live peace- 
 fully together in one large cottage 
 
 As 'to the management of the families separately, 
 the weakness and dependence of the female sex, the 
 inexperience of youth, and the education of the chil- 
 dren naturally require another system. In every fam- 
 ily there must of necessity be an elder one, and the 
 father in the flesh is this elder one. His duty is to 
 care for the needs of his family, to watch the conduct 
 of the children, correct their faults, and teach them the 
 law of God. When the father dies his place is taken 
 by the elder of the brothers and in the case of 'incapa- 
 city of the latter, his place is taken by the one most 
 capaljle. 
 
 The system of education among the Doukhobors is 
 most simple and uniform. As soon as the child begins 
 
— 107 — 
 
 to speak and understand, his i)arents commence verbally 
 to teach him pravers and psahiis, and to tell him some- 
 thing out of the 1 lolv Writings ; and they thus continue 
 to instruct him in the Christian doctrine. When the 
 children have learnt a few prayers and psalms they 
 accompany the elders to the meetings, recite in their 
 turn the prayers they have learnt, and sing i)salms 
 together wiith the others. Not only the parents, but 
 every Doukhobor regards it as his duty to teach every 
 child something useful whenever he has the oppor- 
 tunity to do so and to keep him from evil whenever he 
 has occasion. 
 
 Owing to such education, the spirit of the parents 
 by degrees passes into the children ; their ways of 
 thinking take deep r(jot, and the tendency towards 
 good lis most strongly encouraged by good exami)les. 
 It is said, and indeed seems quite natural, that amongst 
 a numljcr of children one can distinguish Doukhobors' 
 children from the rest hke ears of corn among oats. 
 
 Their Teaching 
 
 1. The chief article in the Doukhobors' profession 
 of faith is the service and worship of God in the spirit 
 and in the truth. 
 
 2. They know no creed, and only say of themselves 
 that they are of the faith of Jesus. The creed wdiich 
 is recognised in our Church they accept as true in 
 everything, but they regard lit as one of the ordinary 
 psalms. 
 
— 108 — 
 
 3. They acknowledge God as being in three person- 
 ifications of the One and Unutterable. They believe 
 that through the memory we assimilate ourselves with 
 God the Father, through the understanding with God 
 the Son, through the zvill with God the Holy Ghost ; 
 also that the first person of the Trinity is the light— 
 the Lord our Father; the second person is the life — 
 the Son our Lord ; and the third person is peace — the 
 Hoily Spirit our God. 
 
 4. The conception they have of Christ is based 
 on the teaching of the gospel ; they acknowledge His 
 coming in the flesh, His works, teaching, and sufifer- 
 ing; but chiefly they accept all this in the spiritual 
 sense, and aflirm that all contained in the gospel should 
 be accomplished in ourselves. Thus Christ must in us 
 be begotten, born, grow up, teach, suffer, die, revive, 
 and ascend ; and it is thus that they understand the 
 process of the new birth, or renovation of man. They 
 say that Jesus Himself was and is the Gospel of eternal 
 and living, and has sent it forth, preached in the Word. 
 He Himself is the Word, and can be written only on 
 our hearts. 
 
 5. They believe that, except through God and His 
 Christ, there is no salvation ; but if God is invoked 
 without a pure heart. He Himself cannot save man. 
 
 6. For the salvation of man, lindubitable faith in 
 Christ is necessary; but faith without works is dead, 
 as also are works without faith. The only living faith 
 is the hearty acceptance of the gospel. 
 
 7. Concerning Baptism, they say that they are bap- 
 
— 109 — 
 
 tized into the Word through the Father, Son, and Holy 
 Spirit, as Christ taught the apostles, saying: Goi forth 
 and teach all nations, baptizing them lin the name of the 
 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This baptism takes 
 place when a man repents with a pure and willing 
 heart, and calls upon God, and then his siins are re- 
 mitted, and he turns to God, and not to the world. 
 This is the only baptism for the remission of sins which 
 they proifess. 
 
 The new birth and baptism, according to their un- 
 derstanding, are one and the same. The means of at- 
 taining the new birth are living faith in God and 
 prayer. The signs of the newly born, or baptiized, are 
 the works of the new man. 
 
 The consummation of baptism or new birth, they 
 say, a man attains when he is united to God ; and such 
 a man may see God with !his spiritual eyes. External 
 baptiism they regard as useless, saying that water only 
 washes off uncleanness of the external body. 
 
 8. They confess their sins in prayer toi the heavenly 
 God, good and merciful, who forgives all our sins. If 
 they sin against their brethren, they confess before 
 all, and ask their brethren to forgive them. 
 
 To deny one's sins when others remark them is 
 regarded by the Doukhobors as a great wrong. They 
 also condemn the practice of calling oneself a sinner, 
 and making this a kind of boast, a sham meekness, 
 to excuse one from trying to correct one's errors. 
 When a man has fallen, he should immediately re- 
 cover himself, ask God's forgiveness with humbled 
 
— 110 — 
 
 heart, and with all his might strive not to fall again 
 into a similar sin. 
 
 9. As to the Communion, they partake at all times 
 of the sacred, life-giving, eternal sacraments, in the 
 forgiveness of their sins spiritually, through the in- 
 ward acceptance of the Word of God, which is Christ ; 
 and such a communion, they say, penetrates the un- 
 derstanding of man, as it were, to the marrow of the 
 bones. 
 
 The communion of the body and blood of Christ 
 in the form of bread and wine they do not accept; 
 saying that bread and wine enter the mouth like ordi- 
 nary food, and are oif no avail to the soul. 
 
 10. Fasting they regard as a matter not of kind 
 or quality of food, but of abstinence from gluttony 
 and other vices, of purity, meekness, and humility of 
 the spirit. Mere outward abstinence from food does 
 not, accordiing to them, yield any good to the soul. 
 
 11. They respect the saints, but do not call for 
 their help, saying that they — the saints — ^have pleased 
 God on their own behalf, and that we must simply 
 imitate them. 
 
 They do not, however, indiscriminately count as 
 good all the deeds of the so-called saints ; thus they 
 deem that when St. Nicholas, during a Church Coun- 
 cil, hit Arius on the cheek, the Word of God had then 
 deserted him. 
 
 12. Marriage amongst them is not regarded as a 
 holy sacrament, and is accomplished merely by the 
 mutual consent of the young couple. As among the 
 
— Ill — 
 
 Doukhobors no preference is given to wealth or rank, 
 the parents do not at all interfere with the marriages 
 of their children. There are also no marriage rites 
 or ceremonies ; the mere consent of the two, and a 
 promise to live together, suffices. 
 
 Abstinence from marriage for the sake of purity 
 is regarded amongst them as a high virtue. 
 
 13. The dead they commemorate by good deeds, 
 and in no other way. God Himself, they say. will 
 remember the righteous in His kingdom. Therefore 
 they do not pray for the dead, deeming it useless. The 
 death of a Christian they do not call death, but change; 
 therefore they do not say ''our brother has died," but 
 "our brother has changed." 
 
 14. Concerning the state of the righteous in heaven, 
 they say that the kingdom is in man's will, and that 
 heaven is in the soul; that the souls of the righteous 
 are 'in the hands of Cod, and, therefore, no torments 
 of hell can touch them. As to the torments of the 
 unrighteous and hell, they believe that unrighteous 
 souls walk in the dark, expecting soon to perish, and 
 that hell consists in evil feeling. 
 
 As to the transformation of souls after death, they 
 believe that man is either justified by deeds, or by 
 deeds condemned ; that the deeds o>f each man take him 
 to his true place, and that after death there is no 
 repentance. 
 
 15. As to the general resurrection of the righteous 
 and unrighteous, the Doukhobors do not enter into 
 discussion, leaving this 'in the care of God. 
 
— 112 — 
 
 16. For a man to save his soul, they do not think it 
 necessary for him to belong to their Society. They say 
 that conduct brings a man salvation, and that for this 
 it is only necessary to understand the way of God, 
 and to follow it. 
 
 17. The Doukhobors are careful as to the neatness 
 of their houses, and say that for a Christian it is 
 proper to live cleanly and tlidily (in this they have 
 always been distinguished from the other peasants in 
 the same village), and that it is only necessary to take 
 care that the spirit be not set upon these things. 
 
 They think in the same way about pictures in their 
 rooms, portraits of remarkable men, and even of 
 saints. They say that such pictures serve to ornament 
 the house, and are pleasant for the eye; but they 
 should m no case be worshipped, for that is a deadiy 
 sin. 
 
 18. The Doiikhobors like to express their religious 
 thoughts and feelings in the form of allegories. Thus, 
 for example, they speak of seven heavens, the first 
 being humility ; the second, understanding ; the third, 
 abstinence; the fourth, brotherly love; the fifth, com- 
 passion; the sixth, good counsel; the seventh, love, 
 where God lives. 
 
 In a similar way they denote twelve Christian vir- 
 tues, under the guise of twelve friends, thus — 
 
 1. Truth: which delivers man from death. 
 
 2. Purity : which brings man to God. 
 
 3. Love : where love is, there God is also. 
 
— 113 — 
 
 4. Labour: honourable for the body and helpful 
 for the soul. 
 
 5. Obedience : a quick way to salvation. 
 
 6. Not judging: salvation without labour. 
 
 7. Reasonableness: the highest of virtues. 
 
 8. Mercy: of which Satan himself is afraid. 
 Self -Control : the work of Christ our God Him- 
 self. 
 
 10. Prayer and fasting : unite man with God. 
 
 11. Repentance: there is no higher law or com- 
 mandment. 
 
 12. Thanksgiving : gladsome to God and His higher 
 angels. 
 
 We will give as examples, two of the prayers which 
 are recited at the Doukhobors' meetings — 
 
 I 
 
 To w*hom shall I go from Thee, my God; from 
 Thy face to Whom shall I run? If I were to ascend 
 to heaven, Thou art there; if I descend into hell, Thou 
 art there; if I had wings to fly to the farthest seas, 
 there would Thy arm reach me, and Thy right hand 
 hold me. To whom shall I go, and where shall I find 
 eternal life, if it be not in Thee, my Creator? To 
 whom shall I go, and where, to find consolation, joy, 
 a home, peace for my soul ? To whom shall I go from 
 Thee, my Lord God, for Thou hast in Thee the words 
 of life? Thou art the source of life, the giver of all 
 
— 114 - 
 
 blessings. My soul is thirsting after Thee, my heart 
 is thirsting after Thee, the God of my life! Let us 
 rejoice in Thy sacred name, () Lord Jesus, full of 
 blessing; let my soul be pierced by it, let my heart 
 be penetrated by it, so that nothing in all my life be 
 dearer to me than Thv sacred Sjyirit. Let Thy words 
 be sweeter to me than honey, let Thy ways of salva- 
 tion be dearer to me than gold. 
 
 II 
 
 How shouldst Thou be loved. () (Jod? For Thou 
 art my salvation, glory, and praise ; for Thou 
 art my wealth, my eternal treasure ; for Thou art ni}- 
 hope and my trust; for Thou art my joy, my eternal 
 peace. Is it better for me to love emptiness, or the 
 unknown, or that which is perverse, perisliablc, or un- 
 true, more than Thee, my true life? Thou art my life, 
 my salvation ; and therefore in Thee alone do 1 place 
 all my hope, my faith, my desire. To Thee, Lord, will 
 I call with all my heart, all my soul, all my thoughts ; 
 deep into Thee shall I penetrate ; to Thee alone shall 
 I pour forth my soiil ; I shall wholly be in Thee, and 
 Thou in me. I shall see and know in Thee the true 
 and only Lord (lod, Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast 
 sent. In Thy light shall we see light, by the grace of 
 Thy Holy Spirit. 
 
V 
 
 THE STORY OF THE DELIVERANCE 
 
 As a result of the ptiblicity given to the sufferings 
 of the Doukhobcrs by the press, the activity of the 
 Society of Friends, a considerable >um of m^ney for 
 the relief of these Christian Martyrs of the Nineteenth 
 Century was subscribed, chiefly by "Friends." This 
 ■was conveyed to the Doukhobors by the hands of Ar- 
 thur St. John, an ex-captain of the British Army, 
 who took out with him also letters of introduction and 
 sympathy; but after a short stay among the sufferers 
 St. John was arrested and forced to leave Russia. In 
 their own country sympathisers had not been idle, al- 
 though in nearly every case the sentence of exile was 
 meted out to the helpers. From their letters we take 
 the following passages : — 
 
 "The great heat, and the unaccustomed climate are 
 doing their work," wrote a Russian officer from the 
 Caucasus. "There is not a single healthy looking face. 
 As these people are, by nature, of a strong constitution, 
 this feverish yellowness and paleness is the more strik- 
 ing. Some of them are so exhausted by the fever as 
 to lose all strength and consciousness. It is clear to 
 
 (115) 
 
— 116 — 
 
 everyone that they are dying out. The surest way for 
 the Government to get rid of them!"* 
 
 Arthur St. John summed up his general impressions 
 of the Doukhobors thus: — "What doi other people 
 think of these outlaws, whom the authorities have been 
 driving about? How do they impress those around 
 them? It appears that the universal opinion of them, 
 as regards practical life, such as people are ordinarily 
 capable of appreciating, lis one of respect. The police 
 officers themselves speak well of them, say they are 
 good people. I was told that the Georgian nobles, 
 when they want work done, compete with each other 
 for the service of these Doukhobors. As for the im- 
 pression they made on me, I wish I could in some way 
 descr'ibe it. The brotherly way of them — Freema- 
 sonry is nothing to it. The interest they took in one. 
 The intense feeling of a mutual tie. There is a sure- 
 ness, a safety about them of something human real- 
 ised, something of which we have dreamed. They 
 move and have their being in an air of human brother- 
 hood. It is ev^ident what is their 'God,' their main 
 principle of life. Their life is a song of days toi come. 
 But the theme of it — surely it is not new, surely we 
 have heard it long ago, for lit tells of 'Peace on earth; 
 good-will towards men.' " 
 
 Another sympathiser, who accompanied St. John 
 from Moscow gave a description of the meeting, which 
 he attended iin company with Arthur St. John. He 
 said : — 
 
 *As a matter of fact, more than 1,000 perished from fevers 
 and semi-starvation. 
 
— 117 — 
 
 "All those who had come over for the meeting as- 
 sembled in one hut; altogether there were about 150 
 persons. It was so crowded that all had to stand. The 
 door was open and the passage also was crowded. 
 St. John and myself and a friend from Tiflis were 
 seated round the table. Notwithstanding the crowd 
 there reigned complete silence. Altogether I must 
 say that not in any cultivated society, or circle of 
 either young or old people have I ever met with such 
 good behaviour at large gatherings, with such tact and 
 tolerance during debate, as I noticed among these peo- 
 ple. One at a time speaks, calmly, not hurrying, know- 
 ing beforehand that nobody will interfere until he has 
 finished what he had to say. If it happens that several 
 persons begin to talk at once, precedence is given — 
 without unnecessary persuasion or displeasure — to one 
 of them. When anyone leaves oft speaking, the next 
 one, before beginning, generally asks: 'Well, A'anya, 
 have you finished?' There is in all this such respect 
 for the personahty of one another and such love. 
 From this results an order such as it is impossible to 
 keep in an ordinary company by any number of chair- 
 man's bells. 
 
 ''Fir-t of all I gave them the greetings of all their 
 friends — Russian as well as foreign, also fr(im Leo 
 Tolstoy. I told them I had to hand over some monev 
 and letters. The letters I proposed to read aluid. In 
 a few words I related how and where the money was 
 collected, then it was counted and handed over. One 
 of the Doukhobors then said that all who were pres- 
 
— 118 — 
 
 ent wished to express their thanks in their own way, 
 and the whole crowd began to move and made — a 
 very low — bow. A general sigh stifled with emotion 
 was uttered, and one could hear sobbing. Seeing be- 
 fore me the backs and heads of the bowing people — 
 people whom I respect so highly, and who have suf- 
 fered so much for the truth — expressing this murmur 
 of gratitude, and seeing also their deeply moved faces, 
 I was touched to the soul. 
 
 "After this, I read the letter from V. Tchertkoff 
 (containing messages from English sympathisers) ; it 
 made a deep impression. All the time one could hear 
 slighs and words of gratitude; 'Save them, oh Lord!' — 
 'Grant them eternal life!' — 'Help them on their right- 
 eous path !' — and so forth. jMore than once we were 
 ofcliged to interrupt the reading, in order to allow them 
 to express themselves. They were especially affected 
 by the conclusion of the letter; they saw in it a com- 
 plete hnderstanding of their life, and deep sympathy 
 wlith it. After the reading was over one of them 
 said : 'We thanked you for the charity you bestowed 
 upon us for the body, and although it is very dear to 
 us — this charity, being spiritual, which nourishes the 
 soul, is much dearer to us; how are we to thank you 
 for it? Let us once more bow to our brethren, let 
 us thank them for their love and remembrance.' And 
 again all made a low bow, and again, like a wave, arose 
 a murmur of gratitude and love. 
 
 "Then I read a letter from the Colonists at Purleigh. 
 They asked a great deal about them, and how each 
 
— 119 — 
 
 one came to this comprehension of life. I regretted 
 that I could not answer all their questions. They also 
 told me how formerly — in moments of weakness — 
 they felt lonely, and how they were rejoicing to learn 
 that not only in Russia, but abroad, all over the world 
 'the flame of love is kindled.' " 
 
 "Contrary to my expectations I saw that they do not 
 subject themselves to any oppressive principles which 
 limit the freedom of their individuality. Each one 
 when considering any question- is guided exclusively by 
 his own spiritual understanding. That is why they 
 are so energetic, joyful and free, more so than :it is 
 possible for any of us to be. And all their actions 
 which to us seem extraordinary are to them quite 
 usual. This results from the fact that their conduct 
 is looked upon by them only as the outward manifesta- 
 tion, as the result of continual inward spiritual force. 
 And out of this conception arises the fact that there is 
 no need for people to carry out this act or that, 
 prompted by any other motive than the impossibility to 
 act otherwise. 
 
 "Therefore there are no vain actions, as nobody will 
 praise them ; there are no actions from fear of censure 
 on the part of the brethren, as no one will blame them ; 
 there are no actions out of blind submission to the ma- 
 jority, as none either expects or demands anything 
 from another. Moreover, if there be anyone who-se 
 inner consciousness does not strongly exhort him to 
 live this life, he always has the possibility of joining 
 the Small Party. 
 
— 120 — 
 
 "In my presence the news came that one of the 
 Doiukhobors, who was kept in a penal battalion, not 
 having strength to bear the tortures, consented to 
 serve. All who were present in the hut had only just 
 heard about it, and I was able to observe their imme- 
 diate attitude towards this matter. Nearly all of them 
 spoke with sorrow about him, and pitied him: 'Dear 
 lad, he had to bear much pain ; and now it will be 
 still harder for him, poor fellow.' All spoke of him 
 with such affection, such grief ; they feared that he 
 would find it still harder to live after his consent to 
 serve in the army. They spoke of his youthfulness, of 
 the sensitiveness of his nature, and of his severe suf- 
 fering. 
 
 "Their relations to their neighljours, who have never 
 shared their faith, are equally kind. Soon after the 
 settlement of the Doukhol)ors in the Government of 
 Tiflis a Georgian in one of the villages fell ill. It 
 happened to be in autumn, and the corn gathered in 
 by him was not yet removed, and was lying in sheaves 
 in the yard. The corn would have spoiled as the rain 
 was pouring down. The Doukhobors got to know of 
 this, went to his place, thrashed the corn, put it in its 
 place, and went away, almost without seeing the 
 owner. 
 
 "In another village one of the DoukhoboTs once 
 heard during the night some noise going on near the 
 horses. He went out to see what was the matter, and 
 saw that a Georgian had led. his horse out, and, mount- 
 ing on it, was about ready to gallop away. The Douk- 
 
— 121 — 
 
 hobor began to shout: "Stop, stop!' so persistently, 
 that the Georgian — though he was already some dis- 
 tance away — stood still. The Doukhobor said : "I only 
 wanted to tell you that you need not be afraid, and 
 that you should not consider this horse as a stolen 
 one ; if you want to take it.' The Georigan stood still 
 for awhile, reflected, came back and returned the 
 horse." 
 
 In spite of all help, however, it became evident that 
 the Doukhobors would eventually, at no distant date, 
 die out. And this would have happened but for one 
 thing unforseen by the Russian officials, who were 
 steadily pressing on the extermination. In the autumn 
 of 1897 the Dowager Empress of Russia visited the 
 Caucasus to see her son, and while there the Doukho- 
 bors managed to submit to her a petition, explaining 
 their sufferings and requesting that they might be al- 
 lowed to settle somewhere all together, and failing that 
 to emigrate. 
 
 In March, 1898, the leaders of the Caucasus Douk- 
 hobors wired their friends in England the joyful news, 
 "Permission has been given for our emigration at our 
 own expense. We ask for help and guidance." In 
 England and America the work of raising an emigra- 
 tion fund (rendered necessary by their impoverish- 
 ment during exile), of procuring land and organising 
 the journey, was at once undertaken by the Societv of 
 Friends, the signatories to the original appeal, and 
 other friends. Three appeals for funds and other 
 help — by Leo Tolstoy, by the Society of Friends, and 
 
— 122 — 
 
 by V. Tchertkoff, were ^issued and much Christian 
 liberality was shown. The Doukhobors themselves 
 wished to go to America, or failing that to Cyprus, or 
 some other place nearer the Caucasus, their one desire 
 being to get out of the precincts of Russia, whatever 
 fate might await them after that. Nothing worse 
 could happen they felt than they were then under- 
 going, and by migrating the weaker ones might be 
 saved from the temptation to renounce their faith. 
 
 Under the circumstances 'it was felt that the selec- 
 tion of Cyprus, at any rate for the exiled Doukho- 
 bors who were in the last extremities, would afford 
 the best solution, as the matter was too urgent to 
 allow waiting until the large sum necessary to convey 
 seven or eight thousand people to America could be 
 collected; and learning that the sufferers had made 
 up their minds at any cost to leave Russia, even if it 
 entailed walking all the way to Batoum, the nearest 
 seaport, the Committee of the Society of Friends 
 pressed forward their arrangements and began nego- 
 tiating with the Cyprus Government as to the condi- 
 tions under which the first party might be permitted 
 to settle on that ^island ; while two of the Doukhobor 
 delegates, accompanied by Aylmer Maude, an English 
 sympathiser, who had lived many years in Russia, and 
 Prince Hilkoff, proceeded to Canada to make arrange- 
 ments for the larger party. It was found that a much 
 larger guarantee would be required for Cyprus than 
 had been expected. So the Comm^ittee was brought 
 face to face with a serious crisis. No other land was 
 
— 123 — 
 
 available without considerable delay in preparation, 
 and a telegram came from the Caucasus announcing 
 that 1,100 Doukhobors were on their way to Batoum 
 ready to embark. They had previously undertaken 
 to engage their own steamer as being most convenient, 
 paying for it out of the sum of £4,700 which they had 
 collected for the purpose of emigration at the begin- 
 ning of the persecutions, and which they could not 
 use for any other purpose. 
 
 So there was nothing to be done but satisfy the de- 
 mands of the ISritish (jovernment as regards Cyprus. 
 In this crisis two circumstances saved the situation. 
 Thanks to the sym[)athy and energetic action of ihe 
 Friends, they, in three days, insured a sum of 
 il 1,500. which together with the £5,000 already 
 collected by subscriptions, was just sufficient to 
 make up the £15 per head required by the Gov- 
 ernment; and secondly, the Sorietv of I'ricnds 
 inspired the Colonial Office with conlidcncc. that 
 they were willing to accept the guarantee without the 
 money being actually paid down, insuring the support 
 of the emigrants for two years from the time of their 
 landing in Cyprus. 
 
 On August 26, the first party of Doukhobor immi- 
 grants, 1,126 in number, for whom the guarantee 
 was raised, landed in Cyprus. They were welcomed 
 by Arthur St. John, who has been for some time in 
 the island to make ready for the immigration. On 
 August 29, Wilson .Sturge (a "Friend" from England 
 representing the Friends" Committee, and wdio passed 
 
— 124 — 
 
 away from this life on his return journey to England), 
 and Paul Birukoff (exiled in their cause), arrived in 
 Cyprus to assist in the settlement of these people. 
 
 News of arrival in Cyprus came first by telegram. 
 Then on September 5th came a letter from Arthur 
 St. John, posted on the evening of August 26th. He 
 says : 
 
 "You people at home seem to have been very en- 
 ergetic in very perplexing circumstances lately, and 
 I now have to thank you for the joy of the arrival of 
 this large number of sisters and brothers. The good- 
 will called forth in so many all round is also a joy, 
 the appreciative remarks of people and the meeting 
 w'ith the dear ones themselves. We have them all 
 enclosed in the quarantine here at Larnaca, and every- 
 thing is being done to help me. and everyone seems 
 to want to help me. Now I have revived hopes of 
 their staying in Cyprus for good, and' be'ing a blessing 
 to the island and an instrument of the manifestation 
 of good-will, God's kingdom on earth, here lin the 
 Old World, between Europe and Asia. Who knows? 
 It will be manifested somehow." 
 
 About the same time the Friends' Committee sent 
 a letter to the Doukhobors immigrants in Cyprus, as 
 follows : 
 
 "Dear Friends, — We are rejoiced to learn that after 
 many hindrances and difficulties you have safely 
 reached Cyprus. 
 
 "We earnestly desire that under the Divine bless- 
 ing you may be enabled to make homes for yourselves 
 
— 125 — 
 
 and your children in the island, which we cannot doubt 
 will be the case, as you will there be able to reap the 
 fruit of that patient endurance and industry which has 
 distinguished you in the past, free from all attempt 
 on the part of the rulers to force you to do what your 
 consciences forbid. 
 
 "May you be enabled, in your new homes, to keep a 
 conscience void of ofifense towards God and toward 
 man. 
 
 "It has been cause for satisfaction and thankful- 
 ness to us to be permitted to share in the work of your 
 deliverance, and to hold out to you the hand of 
 brotherly assistance. 
 
 "Strangers as we are in language and race, we are 
 brought very near to you in the testimony which we 
 both bear against all war as contrary to the teaching 
 and example of the Prince of Peace. 
 
 "We have heanl, from those who are acquainted 
 with your history in the past, of your God-fearing 
 lives, your honest industry, and your brotherly sym- 
 pathy for one another, so that we have felt we might 
 safely give to the government of the island the heavy 
 pecuniary guarantees they have, not unreasonably, de- 
 manded before permitting your settlement in Cyprus, 
 lest you might become chargeable to, and a burden 
 upon, the other inhabitants. 
 
 '■\\'e feel that we can depend upon you doing your 
 part and making the best of the circumstances In 
 which, as we believe by the will of God, you are now 
 placed. 
 
— 126 — 
 
 "We have desired in all the steps we have taken on 
 your behalf to be guided by the Spirit of Truth, the 
 standard to which, we are assured, you also desire to 
 bring all your actions ; we may therefore, both you and 
 we, trust that your removal to Cyprus is in the Divine 
 ordering, and will be blessed to you. 
 
 "We greatly desire to see all your brethren who 
 remain 'in Russia, enabled to leave it, and with others 
 of your friends we are labouring to this end. 
 
 "Your example, and the encouragement which you 
 will be able to give by your endeavours to make the 
 best of your new surroundings, will greatly help our 
 efforts in this direction. 
 
 "We send this letter by the hand of our friend and 
 brother, Wilton Sturge, who is now among you, and 
 for whom we ask brotherly consideration and help. 
 
 "With the salutation of Christian love, 
 
 "We are your friends, 
 (Signed by several members of 
 
 the Friends' Committee.)" 
 
 On first arriving in Cyprus, the Doukhobors were 
 full of joy at being at last free, and at having before 
 them the prospect of reviving their Communal life. 
 Letters 'were received from Paul Birukoff, Arthur St. 
 John, Wilson Sturge, an agent of the Eastern and 
 Colonial Company, and others, expressing their ad- 
 miration of the character and conduct of the immi- 
 grants. A lady in Cyprus wrote : "I hear from various 
 acquaintances in the island the highest opinions of 
 
— 127 — 
 
 these people, and I must say that no peasantry ever 
 produced the same impression upon me as they have 
 done. The fine dignity of their bearing and expres- 
 sion, the clear, kindly acuteness of their eyes, the 
 steadiness of their questioning look, the marvellous 
 activity of their work — all are deeply striking. The 
 contrast of their sturdy, quick walk, when you meet 
 them on the road, with the lazy gait of the Cypriate 
 men is also noticeable. 
 
 "At Pergamo, the 500 Russians settled there were 
 building their mud-brick houses, and swarming at the 
 work like boys playing football. And for force and 
 strength, and regularity like a steam engine, I never 
 saw anything to equal a middle-aged woman who, 
 with garments kilted up to her thighs, was kneading 
 the earth for brick-making by treading it. Such 
 mighty limbs were a revelation to me. 
 
 "And on every face was a brightness and cheerful- 
 ness that amazed me when I considered their story and 
 circumstances. 
 
 "At Kuklia the houses were all built and the roofs 
 were being finished by a young giant who was pitch- 
 ing spadefuls of earth from the ground level to the 
 tops of one-storied houses. The roofs are of timber 
 and reeds, covered with thick earth to keep out the 
 heat. Well beaten they resist the rain also.'' 
 
 But afterwards the Doukhobors found the climate 
 trying, illness appeared among them, which carried off 
 over 90 of their number, and the conditions of life 
 were so unfamiliar that they despaired of being able 
 
— 128 — 
 
 to adapt themselves to them. They felt, finally, that 
 Cyprus could only be a rest-place, and not a perma- 
 nent settlement. All this they expressed in a letter to 
 the Doukhobor Committee of the Society of Friends, 
 dated September 20th, from which we take two ex- 
 tracts : — 
 
 "Brethren, — In the first place we transmit to you 
 our deep gratitude — such as we are even unable to ex- 
 press to you — for your I)rotherly care aljout us and 
 the help you extend to us. 
 
 "Secondly, we desire to cxi)lain to you the position 
 of our affairs, and we once more appeal to you not 
 to withdraw your kind assistance from us. 
 
 "As our brethren Ivin and Mahortofif (who had pre- 
 viously been sent by us) have already ex])laincd to 
 you, hfe here is very difficult for us, and it will hardly 
 be possible for us to stay here a long time. 
 
 "What we arc chiefly anxious for is to settle down 
 altogether, tlie whole community, and this is impossi- 
 ble here, as there is very little convenient and cheap 
 land to be got here, and rather than buy expensive 
 land, one could use this money for our transporta- 
 tion to America, to Canada, which land is attracting 
 us, both by its spaciousness as well as by its climate, 
 which resembles that of the Caucasus, where we have 
 been living for 50 years. 
 
 "Even if it were possible for all our brethren to 
 settle down here, even then we dread the extremely 
 hot climate here, which resembles that from which 
 
— 129 — 
 
 we suffered in exile, where, out of 4,000 of our peo- 
 ple, about 1,000 have already died. 
 
 "We fervently appeal to you not to enter into great 
 expense in establishing us here, but in as much as will 
 be possible to transport us into a place more suitable 
 for us to live in. From what we hear, Canada is such 
 a place, and we will patiently and in obedience to God's 
 will, await our turn when, with the assistance of our 
 friends, it will be possible for us to join our brethren. 
 We are well aware that a great number of our brothers 
 have yet remained in the Caucasus, amid great op- 
 pressions and without any means of subsistence, and 
 we beg you first to think of them. And we hope that 
 our friends will also not forget about us here either, 
 and will relieve our position. 
 
 "We are greatly in fear of grieving you by this our 
 letter, but we wish to tell you the whole truth, and to 
 openly express to you our opinion, in order that we 
 might afterwards not have to be responsible before 
 you and before God. 
 
 "We are also thanking you, from our hearts, for 
 your letter, which we received and read. May the 
 Lord save you ! 
 
 "Signed for the whole community by seven repre- 
 sentatives." 
 
 In the meanwhile, active steps were being taken in 
 England for the deliverance of the remaining 6,000 
 Doukhobors who wished to emigrate. On September 
 1, 1898, the two Doukhobor delegate families, accom- 
 panied by Aylmer Maude, started for Canada with 
 
— 130 — 
 
 Prince Hilkoff. (The latter was specially qualified 
 by his practical knowledge of agriculture to advise in 
 the selection of land, and he remained in Canada, as- 
 sisting in this and' other ways, till the whole migration 
 was completed.) The object of the journey was two- 
 fold; (1) to select suitable land for the permanent 
 settlement of the Doukhobors, and (2) to endeavour 
 to enlist the sympathy and support of the Government 
 and negotiate with the railway company, etc. 
 
 They duly arrived at Quebec on September 10th, 
 and on September 29th a long letter was received from 
 them. 
 
 On arrival at Quebec, on Saturday, September 10th, 
 the Doukhobors and Hilkofif remained in the clean and 
 comfortable Immigrants' Rooms provided by the Gov- 
 ernment, while Maude went on to Montreal and in- 
 terviewed various officials of the C.P.R. (Canadian 
 Padific Railway). The following Monday, Maude 
 went on to Ottawa, and there met Professor Mavor. 
 who had taken much interest in the Doukhobors, and 
 had prepared the way for negotiations in connec- 
 tion with their emigration to Canada. The following 
 extract is from Maude's letter: — 
 
 "He (Prof. Mavor) had succeeded in interesting a 
 number of officials, and did not doubt but that the 
 Doukhobors would be looked after and helped when 
 they were once here, but no money would be given 
 to bring them here. Money-collecting, in Canada, for 
 such an object was no use. 
 
— 131 — 
 
 "Marriages must be registered, i.e., the Government 
 wants to know who is married, to whom and when. 
 
 "As to military service, the law is satisfactory. The 
 following is an extract from ^lilitia Act, secton 21 : — 
 
 "Every person bearing a certificate from the Society 
 of Quakers, ]\Iennonites, or Tunkers, and every in- 
 habitant of Canada of any religious denomination, 
 otherwise suljject to military duty, who, from the 
 doctrines of his religion, is averse to bearing arms 
 and refuses personal military service, shall be ex- 
 empt from such service when ballotted in time of 
 peace or war, upon such conditions and under such 
 regulations as the Governor in Council, from time to 
 time, prescribes.' 
 
 "Education relates not to the Dominion Govern- 
 ment, but to the State Governments. Till we know in 
 which State they want to settle, nothing can be said 
 about it. except that education is not compulsory in 
 the outlying districts, and no religious instructon is 
 forced on anyone. 
 
 "The case seems to be that Canada is as free as 
 any country in the world." 
 
 The interview with the Deputy Minister of the 
 Interior was very satisfactory. Land would be allot- 
 ted as nearly in one place as possible; free shelter in 
 the Immigration Halls during the winter would prob- 
 ably be granted for those who were obliged to leave 
 the Caucasus before the spring; employment could be 
 found on the railway, or at lumbering; vegetarian food 
 was very cheap ; and the Government would be recom- 
 
— 132 — 
 
 mended to pay to us (the promoters of the migration) 
 the usual bonus of £1 on every aduU landed. 
 
 In a letter dated September 17th, ]\Iaude said: — 
 
 ''To sum up the whole case : — 
 
 "Canada is a most satisfactory country for the 
 Doukhobors. 
 
 "There is plenty of good, free land. There is as 
 much freedom as in any country. Immigrants are 
 wanted. Wages are good : from 3s. to 8s. a day for a 
 labourer. 
 
 "Every good workman who is here in Alarch or 
 April may reasonal^ly expect to earn, even by wage- 
 labour, more than enough to keep him and his family 
 through the coming winter. 
 
 "Those who have even a little money to start on 
 the land can do far better than by wage-labour . 
 
 "The winter i> the worst time of year for employ- 
 ment." 
 
 These letters and a caljle (in answer to our en- 
 quiry). "Let exiles come. Land ready. Arrange- 
 ments progressing favourably," were cheering in the 
 extreme. We had received from Rusisa accounts of 
 the condition of the 2,100 exiles still near Batoum, and 
 of the Elizavetpol Doukhobors. Leo Tolstoy wrote 
 strongly urging their speedy emigration, and his eldest 
 son. Sergius Tolstdy, came over to England specially 
 to see if something could not be done at once. We 
 counted our funds and estimated the cost of emigrat- 
 ing the 2,100 exiles. (The Kars and Elizavetpol 
 Doukhobors, numbering together over 4,000 souls, 
 
— 133 - — 
 
 were able to i)ay the greater cost of transportation 
 themselves, not having been reduced to the extrem- 
 ities of their exiled brethren, whom they had all tlie 
 time been assisting. ) Leo Tolstoy hoped to oljtain 
 £3,000 by the sale of his novel. "Resurrection. which 
 he wrote for the pur]K^^e ; the I'urleigh Colony, h-ssex, 
 held nearly £1.000 at the disposal of the Doukliobors 
 (the balance of the colony funds, after allowir.g for 
 six months' mauntenance of the colonist^), and the 
 exiles themselves had about £4.500. Tlii^ made a 
 total of £8,500. P.ut on estimating tlie necessary ex- 
 penditure it was felt no movement cnuld Ijc made 
 under £11.000 (about 5 per head). ( )n laying the 
 facts before the Friends" Doui<hobnr Committee they 
 guaranteed the £2.500 balance from their funds on 
 condition that thev were understood to take no re- 
 sponsibility for the organizatii.in of the cniiL;r:iU( m ; 
 their hands being already full with the Lypru^ settle- 
 ment. L. Soulergitsky was therefore wired to at 
 Batoum to engage a steatuer and arrange for the 
 emigration of the 2,100 exiles to >tart in Decemljer ; 
 and a second party, consisting of almut 2.000 Klizavet- 
 pol and Kars Doukhobor^. who were liciter off. com- 
 menced their preparation^ to iea\e before tlie end of 
 the year. 
 
 Regarding the results of tlie negotiations with the 
 Cannadian ( .ox ernincnt. etc.. the following is a sum- 
 mary of the Official notification from the ^^linister of 
 the Interior, dated October 5th, as modified by his let- 
 ter of December l.st. 1898:— 
 
— 134 — 
 
 "1. Those responsible for the organization of the 
 emigration to receive a bonus of il for each immi- 
 grant, man, woman, or child, who reached Winnipeg. 
 
 "2. The use of the Immigration Halls lin Manitoba 
 and the Northwest Territories granted during the 
 winter months. 
 
 "3. One hundred and sixty acres of gool fertile 
 land to be granted to each male over 18, in township 
 blocks in the Northwest districts." 
 
 Beyond this, the agents of the Government in vari- 
 ous ways faciltated the arrangements by purchasing 
 supplies on our account, etc. From all the Govern- 
 ment representatives Maude met with courteous con- 
 sideration and sympathetic assistance. 
 
 The Canadan Pacific Railwav also met us in a gen- 
 erous spirit. They assisted the emigration of the 
 parties to l)e moved in the winter, and agreed to ex- 
 change land with the (lovernmciit, and thus enable 
 the settlement to be compact. (X.I!. — The C.P.R. 
 own alternate blocks with the Government, and thus, 
 unless an exchange were effected, the Doukhobors 
 would not have been able to be altogether as they 
 wish, but separatel by the intervening divisions be- 
 longing to the C.P.R.) 
 
 The reception accorded to the immigrants by Cana- 
 dian public opinion was mixed. Some papers attacked 
 them, accusing them of fanaticism, etc., and re- 
 proached the Government for aiding the immigration. 
 Other papers were well-disposed, published accounts 
 
— 135 
 
 of their sufferings, and welcomed them as desirable 
 settlers on the vacant land in the Northwest. 
 
 But the adverse public opinion seemed solely rep- 
 resented by the newspapers. If we come to the per- 
 sonal effect of the Doukhobors. the opinion of those 
 who came into contact with the two families there, 
 there seemed only one verdict, for, to quote Maude 
 again : — 
 
 "All who have come in contact witli tlie Doukhobors 
 speak well of them. In the Immigration Hall at 
 Winnipeg they were allowed to cook their meals in 
 their rooms (which is against the usual rules), and the 
 woman in charge reported that they made less mess 
 in their rooms with cooking than other people who 
 cooked elsewhere. 
 
 "The general verdict of those who have seen them 
 is : 'If the bulk is equal in quality to the sample shown, 
 send on as many as you have got.' " 
 
 Maude, in another letter, bore personal witness to 
 the reasonableness of the Doukhobors in the follow- 
 ing remarks : — 
 
 "Ivin and Mahortoft' are really very good fellows, 
 and I found them, on the whole, remarkably amenable 
 to reason, considering how very difficult and confusing 
 everything must seem to them in such novel surround- 
 ings. Still they are men with human limitations and 
 deficiencies, and not the plaster saints that I had sup- 
 posed, after reading the literature published about 
 them. Being men. they are much more interesting 
 and better worth helping. Had they been saints, it 
 
— 137 — 
 
 would have seemed almost a pity to prevent their be- 
 ing martyrs also." And again, after the women and 
 cildren had left W innipeg to join their husbands in 
 the Xorth-W'est : — "Their memory and much that was 
 charming about them — especially tlie expression in the 
 eyes of the children — dwells with me, and I am sorry 
 to think I may not see them again." 
 
 On January 23, 1899, the steamer Lake Huron, of 
 the Beaver Line, arrived at the port of Halifax, Nova 
 Scotia, bearing the first party of 2,100 Doukhobors. 
 On the 27th the second party, numbering 1,974, ar- 
 rived in the Lake Superior. The greater number were 
 housed in the various immigration halls at Winnipeg, 
 Brandon, and Yorkton. A large party of the men pro- 
 ceeded at once to the settlements to cut timber for 
 storehouses and dwellings, and generally to prepare 
 the way for the occui)ation of the land in the spring, 
 and as soon as the weather broke a great manv found 
 work on the railways. The money thus earned, to- 
 gether with gifts and the Government bonus granted 
 to ^Maude as acting agent for the migration, and at 
 liis desire handed over for the use of the new settlers, 
 sufficed, not onl}- for the summer and autumn, but, 
 with some further aid from the Government and the 
 '"Friends" in England and Philadelphia, to carry the 
 settlers through their first winter, and to do something 
 towards furnishing them with the stock, implements, 
 and seeds necessary to work their land. 
 
 In order to give an idea of how the first parties 
 of Doukhobor refugees were received in Canada, and 
 
— 138 — 
 
 what impression they produced upon the inhabitants 
 of that country, we cannot do better than reprint the 
 following extracts from some of the local papers as 
 representing an impartial expression of opinion. 
 
 The reporter of the Halifax Moniiiig Chronicle 
 wrote : — 
 
 "Singing psalms of thanksgiving to Almighty God 
 over two thousand souls freed from Russian tyranny 
 and oppression sailed into Halifax harbour under the 
 folds of the British flag yesterday afternoon. Their 
 hymns of thanksgiving ascended for a double reason. 
 They were thankful for their safe transportation over 
 the mighty waters of the Atlantic, and thankful be- 
 cause they were far removed from the land in which 
 civil and religious freedom are unknown, where they 
 are at liberty to practice the tenets of their faith, in 
 perfect freedom. One reason why they left tlicir own 
 country was because they refused to take up arms, yet 
 they received a warm welcome in a harbour studded 
 with forts. 
 
 "Those wlio were privileged to go down in the 
 tug-boat to the quarantine quarters to meet the steamer 
 Lake Huron witnessed a scene never to be forgotten. 
 The Doukhobors, crowded on the upper decks, 
 watched the approaching boat with intense interest. 
 Few, if any, had ever laid eyes on anyone except a 
 Russian, and it was only natural they should feel 
 some degree of curiosity to see what the people with 
 whom they had decided to cast in their lot looked 
 like. When the boat drew near the strain of voices 
 
— 139 — 
 
 blended in song floated over the waters. They were 
 singing psalms of praise. The music was like that of 
 a mighty choir chanting a solemn Te Deum. Only 
 those who understood the language could catch the 
 words: 'God is with us and will carry us through" — 
 appropriate words after a passage attended with no 
 disaster to speak of, when other steamers were tossed 
 and buffeted by the hurricanes which swept the At- 
 lantic." 
 
 It was indeed a picturesque sight. There was not 
 a ripple on the water, the sun was shining brightly, 
 and as the two thousand strangers crowded the decks 
 the steamer presented the appearance of a huge ex- 
 cursion boat. The immigrants were well clad — that is, 
 warmly clad. The men and boys wore goatskin coats 
 and caps, while the women wore skirts of bright red 
 or blue, lieavy black jackets and coloured -liawls a-; 
 head-dress. As the tow-boat containing the Dominion 
 railway and steamboat officials, pressmen and others 
 drew up to the gangway, the Doukhobors watched the 
 proceedings with interest. The singing continued all 
 the time. 
 
 \Mien within hailing distance Mr. De W'oM ('agent 
 of the steamship line) hailed Captain Evans and the 
 reply dispelled all misgiving. "AlKs well."' was the 
 welcome reply which came from the bridge of the 
 big Beaver liner and permission was given by the health 
 officer to come alongside. In a short time there was a 
 general scramble up the gangway. The health officer 
 announced that only Mr. Smart and staff' and Prince 
 
— 140 — 
 
 Hilkoff and statf would be allowed on board, but some- 
 how or other the pressmen got there all the same, 
 and the others followed. 
 
 The Doukhohors were the great objects of interest, 
 rhey excited the admiration of all. They are a fine 
 looking lot of people, with honest faces and stalwart 
 
 verigin's elder brothers 
 
 frames. Even the children^ — and there are many, from 
 the little tot of a couple of years up — looked the per- 
 fect picture of health. Young people seemed to pre- 
 dominate. One old gentleman, with flowing beard, 
 commanded the attention of all. He was as active as 
 a boy and as happy as a bridegroom, though he had 
 
— 141 — 
 
 passed his 85th year. His history is the history of 
 Russian tyranny. It, in a measure, told the story of 
 whv those people felt happy in coming to live under 
 the Union jack. Xinc years ago his property was 
 confiscated and he was sent into penal servitude, in 
 the Russian galle} s. ( )nc year ago he was allowed to 
 return to Russia projier, Imt not to his friends, with 
 tlie understanding that he would leave the coimtry 
 at the first opportunity. The opportunity came, and 
 the okl man is now in a land of freedom with his 
 frienls. The immigrants are in charge of Leopold 
 Soulerjitsky. 
 
 Friend Elkinton (of the Philadelphia Society of 
 Friends) was soon on board and surrounded by the 
 Doukhobors. He ofifered up a prayer of thanksgiving 
 for them and invoked a blessing on the future of the 
 immigrants. 
 
 J. T. Buhner was soon mingling with the immi- 
 grants. He adlressel the Doukhobors as follows, 
 Prince Ililkofl: acting as interpreter : — 
 
 "T have been appointed by a society of working- 
 men to welcome you to Canada, which I do most 
 heartily. Not only are you a great accession of emi- 
 grants of a most desirable class, but more, vou bring 
 to Canada something more needed in tliis country 
 than even immigrants — men who would stand by their 
 principles, no matter how nuich sufi:'ering it cost them. 
 Your noble stand in refusing to bear arms, and be- 
 coming exiles from your native land for the sake of 
 principle, will strengthen every good cause in Canada. 
 
— 142 — 
 
 I have never witnessed so touching a spectacle in my 
 life as to see 2,000 people driven from Russia — over 
 half of them woman and children — and entering the 
 new world through a port, every point of prominence 
 of which contained a frowning fort or bastion. Nev- 
 ertheless peace will have her victories, and the same 
 gentle force which caused you to throw your guns 
 down iin Europe will dismantle even the forts of Hali- 
 fax. I have only had a few minutes on the steamer, 
 but in that time I have seen enough of the 2,000 people 
 on deck to convince me that the Dominion Govern- 
 ment made no mistake in bringing you to Canada. 
 You belong to the races which we want in this country 
 — the great northern races of Europe — like the Rus- 
 sian, which in its commercial organisation and cor- 
 poration has a lesson for even as advanced a country 
 as Canada. I do not know the name of your em- 
 peror, but the name of your patron and friend. Count 
 Tolstoy, is as well known in Canada as in Russia, and 
 I hope that one of the boys now listening to me fifty 
 years hence, will fill like him, with honour to his 
 country, the literary throne of the world. On behalf 
 of the working-men of this country I welcome you 
 to Canada and bid you God-speed." 
 
 Captain Evans came down from the bridge and 
 readily answered the many questions put to him con- 
 cerning the \oyage. Fine weather was experienced 
 from Liatoum to Gibraltar, but a succession of gales 
 was encountered crossing the Atlantic. Heavy seas 
 came on board on several occasions, and one sea 
 
— 143 — 
 
 smashed in a door of one of the deck-houses. That 
 was all the damage. The foretopmast was lowered 
 to steady the ship. 
 
 I will now say a few words about the impression 
 produced upon me by the Doukhobors. 
 
 The Doukhobors are people of the purest Russian 
 Type, large and strong, men and women both being 
 
 THE BEE MASTER AND HI 
 
 of magnificent physique. They are characterize! by 
 broad, square shoulders and heavy limbs and a massive 
 build generally. Their features are prominent, but 
 refined, and bear the marks of a life that is free from 
 vice of any kind. The men wear moustaches but do 
 not let a beard grow. Their hair is usually quite 
 short, with the exception of a little tuft which they 
 allow to grow over the forehead, which is broad and 
 
— 144 — 
 
 open. The most .striking characteristic of all is the 
 briglit, kindly sparkle of their e^yes which gives a win- 
 ning expression to the whole face and cpiickly wins 
 confidence in their character. All their habits demon- 
 strate that they are possessed of keen minds, which, 
 however by reason of their persecutions and the na- 
 ture of their occujjation, they have not been able to 
 develop in a way that gives a proper idea of their 
 mental ability. They are, however, a class of people 
 that is rarely found among immigrants — industrious, 
 frugal, clean and moral in a high degree, and emi- 
 nently desirable in every way." 
 
 Another writer, in the "St. John Daily Star," Jan- 
 uary 24th, 1889, wrote: 
 
 "The Doukhobors are a simple and for the most 
 part illiterate people. They are reputed to be good 
 agriculturists and skilful people at various kinds of 
 village handicrafts. That they are willing to work was 
 ami)ly proven Ijy those who came out on the 'Lake 
 Huron." From the time the steamer reached liatoum, 
 where the party emijarkcd for Canada, till she docked 
 at St. John, men, women, and children, 2,000 in all. 
 showed a willingness to do anything and everything 
 that had to be done on board the ship, in order to make 
 the passage as pleasant as possible for all on board. It 
 was a holiday trip for the ship's crew, for the im- 
 migrants did the greater part of the work. All that 
 was required was that some one in authority should 
 indicate that a certain thing should be done, and im- 
 mediately a swarm of Doukhobors were at the spot 
 
— 145 — 
 
 ready to perform the work or lend what assistance 
 was needed. 
 
 ''The faces of both sexes, old and young-, are intel- 
 ligent and keen. Xo fault can pos>ibly be found with 
 their habits. They are a godly people and live up 
 to the rule that cleanliness is next to godliness. The 
 condition of the "'Huron" when she reached this side 
 of the Atlantic after a voyage of over 5.000 miles, 
 with a passenger list of 2,000, who had lived on board 
 about a month, was all the replv that was iiecc^>ary 
 for the refutation of the charge that ihc-L' people 
 were not a desirable lot of settlers. The ship's deck 
 was clean enough to eat a meal from. AA'hen the 
 authorities at Halifax boarded the steamer their first 
 remark was. 'Why. how clean the ship is.'" 
 
 The ■■^lontreal Daily Star" concluded its account of 
 the arri^•al of the Doukhobors in the following words: 
 
 '■\A'hen we were leaving the ship after a most en- 
 joyal)le trip. Captain l-Lvans ga\'c hi-; te-timonv as to 
 the character of the pe^iple who had lieen hi^ passen- 
 gers on a long and ~i()rm\' vovage. lie had been 
 agreeal)ly surpri-cd at the intelligent. in(lu>trious and 
 cleanly nature of the Doukhol)ors. Xot only had they 
 cared fur thcmsel\ c< and kept the ship perfectly clean. 
 l)ut tlic}- had earned small wages shifting coal from 
 the liold to the bunkers. (Ixer 800 tons they had 
 moved as skilfully a^ an}- crew could liavc done. They 
 were quiet and peacealde and always seemed cheerful. 
 
 "He had not seen a row or heard a cross word 
 among them during the voyage. There was no vice of 
 
— 146 — 
 
 any kind among them, and he heheved they would 
 make a superior class of immigrants. "You will 
 scarcely believe it," said Captain Evans, "but I am 
 lionestly sorry to see them leave the ship. I do not 
 know when I have been so much interested in any 
 class of people as in these Doukhobors." 
 
 The Doukhobors are the finest agriculturists in Rus- 
 sia : wherever they have been left alone for a short 
 time they have prospered, making the wilderness smile 
 with cultivation. This, and the moral character of 
 a people who have so steadfastly adhered to their 
 principles through the cruellest persecution of recent 
 times, "should." as a writer in a Canalian paper says, 
 "be sufficient to inspire every confidence for their 
 future." 
 
 THE END. 
 
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