The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1877-05-26

last revision list.
The Assembly has, therefore, no diff
lcult questions to decide. The commuh-
al revision list determines the number |
OF shares into which the land must be |
divided, and the number of shares to be |
allotted TO each family. The only difd- |
Guilty likely to arise is as to which par |
tieuiaf shares particular family shall
receive, and this d I'll aulty is commonly |
| obviated by the custom OF casting lots. |
There may be, it is true, some differ |
ence OF opinion, as To when redlstrlOu-
| tion should be made, but this is easily |
decided by a simple vote of the Assem- |
bly,. Very different is the process OF dl-
| vision and allotment in. many opnmnnes
OF the northern provinces. Here the
soil is often very intertile, and the taxes
lexceed, the normal rent, and couse-
lQuently it may happen thai the peasants
strive to have as little land possible.
In these cases such scenes as the tol-
lowing may occur: Ivan is being asked
how many shares Of the communal land
he will take, and replies in slOw, con-
templative way 81 have two sons, and
there is myself; SO I'll take three shares,
or some What less il it is your pleasure"
l"Less" exclaims a middle-aged peas
j ant, who is not the Village Elder, but
merely an influential member, and takes
the leading part in the proceedings.
you talk nonsense. Your TWO SONS
are already old enough to nelp you, and
soon they may get married, and so bring
you two new female laborers"
-"My eldest SON." exPlains Iyal, ".tl-
ways works in Moscow, and TIE other
leaves me in summer"
"But they both send or bring home
money, and when they get married, the
wives W ill remain with YOU"
II "God' knows what Will be-" replies
Ivan, passing over in silence the first
, part OF his opponents remark. "Who
/ knows if they will marry?'
, "You can easily arrange thatW
"rhat l can not do. The times are
changed now. Theyoung people do as
they wish, anu when they do get mar
ried they all wish TO have houses of their
own. Thre5 shares Will be heavy enough
for meT
sNo, no. II they wish to separate
. from you they will take some land from
you. You must take at least four. Tue
old wives there who lraye little children
can not take shares according 10 the
number Of souls"
ale is rich MuzhikW (peasant)
says voice in the crowd. Lay Oh him
five soulsY (tnat is to say, give him
tive shares VI the land and 0l the bur-
uens.)
Five souls can not! BY God, 1 can
not!'
every well, you shall have four" says
the Leading spirit TO Ivan; and then,
; turning TO the crowd, inquiries. "shali
/ lit be sop
-Four! fourW murmurs the crowd; !;
and the question is seltIed.
Next comes one OF the Old wives lust
, referred to. Her husband is perman-
, ent invalid, and she has three little
boys, only one OF whom is Old enough
I lor field labor. If The revision list were
1 taken strictly as the basis Of distribu.
Lion, she would receive four shares; but
she would never be abe to pay four
shares OF the communal burdens. Sne
must therefore receive less than that
, amount. When asked how many she
Will take, she replies with downcasL
eyes, LAS the Mir decides, 30 be lt!'
: 'Then you must take three"
"What do you say, little iather" cries
/ the woman, throwing OFT suddenly her
air of subservient obedience. "Du Won
/ hear that, We orthodox? They want to
, lay upon me three soulsl Was such a
v thing ever heard OF? Stnce 81. Peters
!. day my husband has been beIridden-
n eWitcheo, it seems, for nothing doe S
h him good. He eau not put a foot to the
lgrounu-Lll tne same as il he were dead;
& only he eats breadW
l. "1ou talk nonsense" says neigh.
n Dor; "he was III The hablk sln snop last
:. week."
"And youw retorts the woman, wand
q erlng from the suOJect i'll hand; "What
II did you do last parish fete? Was it not
!. you who got drunk and beat your wife
# I'LL she reused Lhe whole village with
). ner shrieklng? And no turtner gone
than last Sunuay-piuV
| ItI.iStan Savc tha aid MAJ, oton,,l..
ii cutting snort the torrent OF inYectiye
''You must take at least TWO suares
:. and hall. Ii you can not manage il
i yourselt,you can get some one to hell
you"
l. Glow can that be? Where am I tt
d get the money to pay laborer?' asks
Tue woman, with much walling and
}. flood oil tears. "Aave pity, ye ortho
= uox, on the poor orphans! God will re
|. ward you;" and so on, aud SO on.
d need not weary Une reader with
Is further description OF these scenes
d which are always very long and some
,r times violent. All present are deepl,
a interested, for the allotment OF the lane
il 10 by lar the most important event il
Ie Russian peasant LIE, and the arrange
,r nent can not be made without endles!
talking and discussion. Atler the num
s. ber OF shares ior each family has beel
. decided, the dis tribution OF The lot Civ,
rise to new tfficulties.
r. The families VINO have manured plen
,e titully their land strive to get back thei
e. Old lots, and the commune respects thei
claims so far as these are consisten
g. With the new arrangement; but often i
happens that il is impossible to conciIi
ID ate private rights and communal inter
}; eats, and in SUCH cases the former ar
r. sacrificed in way tnat would not b
, tolerated by men of the Anglo-oaxo
p race. This leads, however, 10 no seriou
consequences.
IL The peasants are accustomed to worI
ID together in this way, to make conces
siOns for the communal welfare. and 1
al bow unreservedly TO the will OF the Mil
IL l know OF many instances where tn
peasants have set at defiance the au
e. thority of the police, of the Proyincia
I'd Governor and OF the central Govern
to ment itself, but l have never heard q
IL any instance where the will OF the Mi
Id was openly opposed by one OF its mem
bers.-[ ION Russia. BY d. Mackenzie
be Wallace, NJ. A.