The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1877-09-01
4 LUCKY FIND.

The Romance Of an Old Burcau-HoW
a Russian TradcSman Made His For
tune.
Russia has been canstically defined
as "a country with its upper class
gone, its lower class not yet come,
and no middle class at all y and it is
undoubtedly true that the CONNER
cial and manufacturing interests of
the empire alc still very 'nadcqo*tcly
represented. At the time of the
emancipation of 1861 there were in
Russia proper, out ola population OF
55,OOO,OOO, only 4,OOO.OOO bnrgesses
and substantial tradesmen, a large
proportion of whom were utterly IN.
educated many. indeed, has actually
been, S"lrs themselves, and owed their
advancement rI",;, y tn their own IN.
lu>',, ~ i nnli,r >;l"rIn">S. II nn-
". ma rnj'.,," Anh ~. :'vr!nnrr
ruus,l. ru':'!r +" ':"},'&, III" i"mrn>
Nn2ar3ti. u"N. III" t?>2lunahtc con-
trrliuncr at 81. lrt.,< '"'tt. "n@h 70
stand very high ON he rnl" nt"S"I
made men, is also the brothers Sa-
pujHikol1, OF A>rl ,',han, who HOW
own. a. i.iTiinn.I.rs. the office whose
floors they >Nt,t fifteen years ago.
But it must be. nN ned that the bulk
of this class are very trough dla-
mond>,' indeed. The Russian mcr-
chant, as he appears on the stage and
popular novels. unkcmpt, unwased,
redoIent of bad brandy and worse to-
bacco, galnl>htd his conversation at
every turn with coarse Oatls, and
Jokes coarsrr, still, is merely hum
orous exaggrration Of the real indi-
viuual, who changes his shirt once a
month"; dripks tea 10y the gallon, and
eats sailed cucumhcrs by the bushcl,
combs his hair with his fingers, and
SrettS every acquaintance with ~
stcntorian shout of "Wcll, you son Of
dog how the devil are You to-day?
I'm internally glad to see You l."
Rough and uncu|tivatcd as the maj
oritv of this class are, however, they
yield to no men living in their apti-
tudc for business, and not infrequent-
" accumulate enormous fortunes.
One of the richest tradesmen in ST..
Petersburg at the present time was a
scrf before the emancipation, and
owes his wealth entirely to his own
industry. In one or two cases, how
ever. the altered fortunes of the Rus
sian traders, have had a much more
romantic history, and one such in
+ stance, which occurred while | was
in Russia, IS we'll worth quoting in
the words of the hero himself:
"Whcn my old uncle Nikolai Oisi'
po1f (may the kingdom of Heaven be
his), came to die, we expected that he
would leave us something handsome,
for had always been IL favurite with
him but all that he gave us was
his old carved oak bureau, telling
me that there was more in it than
there seemed to be- However, that
wasn't the case, for we found jus,
nothing in it at all SO we made sure
that the old man must have been wan
derny, and thought no more about it
"At that time | used to keep a lit
, tic shop down at the far end Of tho
Gorokhovaga Zone of the three main
thoroughfares of St. Petersburs) ;an'
although l didn't get very far upo'
what | made, yet still there wa'
enough to buy bread and salt, Al
the saying is. But when the bat
times came in the year 'GG, and every
body was short of money, began t
run short, too; and short got to short
er, aud shorter still, till at last hard
" knew which way to turn. How
, ever, as the proverb says, 'cryinI
won't mend a broken Leg so I jus
set my teeth and worked on. But
can tell you that sometimes, when tn
children came about me at night, an
asked why l never brought them an.
$ pretty things now, as used to Ito, i
" was as bad as if somebody had beate
me.
. "Well, at last it came to this of !
" that either we must sell Oft all OF
things for what they would fetch,
else 90 to the wall altogether so tn
= da, for the sale WAS fixed, and the al
nnuurc,nrnt sent out. Aud thel
! ,E, night before it was to come OF
after the children had been put
bed (ru, little Sr'@i "a> i'll ln~' '':"
and Iad't >lrpl for tlIrr ul~;! : l.
t, gcthcr), my wife and | we've >i't''
h anon" the old furniture that won
" be scattered all over town l"-m"il"
ts holding each others hands witho
ID saving wnrd-Nhrn all at on
st there came a Knock 1T the door
,y II went to open. and there was Il
he Police Inspector Of the quarter,
&C. kind man as ever lived, and an q
8 friend of mine, aud in he came, a
shook us by the hand quite hearth
"'Checr up, Stepka, my lad,' sa
he to live u lifetime is not like crt
sing field, you know. Perhaps t
luck will tnrn yet every man mt
- have his ups and downs
~ " That's true enough says ; y
I'm sorry to part with the old thin
for all that. However, a man MI
have money to live upon; IT'S tt
enough what the provcrb says, Mo'
is not God, but it shows great mere
, "Well, anyhow, I'll Go what I
for yon,' says he, clappins me on
shoulder. l'vc told some OF
friends about it, and they'll all
eed here tomorrow, and give you SC
IKE price for what they buy. Ihc'
no that old bureau, now, in the COZ
p yonder that ought to tetch so'
J.. thing handsome. 1suppose It's
solid oak p
. "And he went over to the cor