The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1877-07-16
LUCKY FIND.
The Romance of AN Old Burcau-HOw
Russian Trade sman Made HIS

The Romance Ofan Old Burcau-HOw
u Russian Trad, sman Made His
Fortune.
Russia has been causticslly defined as
- country with its upper class gone, its
lower C!ass not yet come and no middle
cIa.s ut NJ. and II is undoubtedly rue
that the commercial and manufacturing
interest % the Empire are still very in
adequately represented. At the time OF
the emancipation OF 1861 there were In
Russia proper, out of population OF 3d.,
100000, only 100000 burgesses and
su bstantiai tradesmen, u large proper
ton of whom were utterly une1ucated;
many, indeed, had actually been serIs
themselves, and owed their advance
ment entirely to their own industry and
native shrewdness. If unwearied cour-
aye and perseverance, constitute n title 10
honor, the famous NaZaroh, now the
fashionable contectioner of st. Peters
burg. ought TO stand very high on the role
of "self. made men, rs also the brothers
SupCnikoh, OF Astrakhan, who now own
rs mIlhUuaires, the office whose floors
they swept fifty years ago. But it must
be owned that the bulk of this class are
very rough diamonds indeed. The
Russian merchant, rs he appears on the
,lage aud in popular novels, unkempt,
unwashed, redOlent of bad brandy and
worse tobacco, garnishlng his converse
Ion ut every turn with course oaths, and
.1kr- coaser STILL is merely humorous
.Aau-eruLiuH of the real individual, VINO
changes his shirt once a month, drinks
'ra by the gallon, and eats sated Gu
..umbers by the bushel, combs his hair
with his fingers, and greets every nc
iualntauce with every stentorlan shout
If Nv ell, you son OF q dog! how the devil
are you to day. I'm internally glad to
see you.
Rough and uncultivated as the ma
I iority OF this class are, however, they
/ Weld To no man living in their aptitude
tor business, and not untrequently ac-
rumu.a ate enormous fortunes. One OF
/ tie richest traders IN st. Petersburg Al
I the present time was sert before eruan-
/ rlpaLlon. and owes his wealth entirely TO
his own industry. In one or two cases,
/ however, the altered fortunes OF the
Russian traders nave had II much more
romantic history, and one such instance,
+ which occurred while | was in Russia, is
wel-worth quoting in the words OF the
hero himself:
"When my old uncle, NikolM Oislpott
NAV the kingdom Of heaven he hlsG
came to die, We expected that he would
leave u something handsome, for had
always been y tsvorte with him; but all
4 that he gave W. WAS his old carved oak
bureau, taIIn. me that there was more
IN II pan there seemed TO be. How
ever tuat wasn't the case Tor We found
lust nothing IN il Al; so we made
sure that the old msn must have. been
wandering, and thought no more about
It..
.,At the time / used to keep little
shop down n the far end of the Gorok-
aovaga tone of the three main thorough
fares of - Peters burg; and although l
didn't get very fat upon what | made,
We. .tll there was enough to buy bread
and salt, rs the saying Is. But when the
bad times came IN the year 90, and
every body was short of money, | began
to run snort too; and short got - shorter,
ana shorter still. till at last hardly
ku,w which way 10 turn. However AS
the proverb says. Crying won't mend a
broken leg so | Just set my teeth and
worked on. But can tell you that
some times, when the children came
about me at night, and asked why |
never brought them any pretty things
low, as l used to do, it WAS as bad us II
some body had beaten me.
"Wel al last it came to this Of it, that
either we must sell off our things for
what they would fetch, or else goto the
wall altogether; so the day for the sale
was fixed, and the announcement sent
out. Ard then the night before 1t was to
3 come of, after the children had been put
to bed four little Sergi was i'll just then,
and hadn't sept Tor three nights to-
getnerj, nv wife ard | were sitting
among the old furniture, that would be
scattered ell over the town tomorrow
holding esch others hands without say
/ inga word-when sll at once there
came knock al there door.
Il went TO open, and there was the 70
hce Inspector OF the quarter, as KIND
man rs ever lived, and an old friend OF