The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-07-05
Russian Social Life.

huSSldu OOCldl AllOs
1t is naturally to be expected that, in
q land so backward in modern civiliza-
ton as Russia, the social life of the peo-
pie should present to the stranger points
of novelty and quaintness even beyond
what is usually met with in an unfamil-
lar land. In the primitive there is al
ways something of the picturesque, and
there is much of the charm of antiquity
in the manners and customs of nation
whose habits have practically undergone
but little change for centuries.
Although serfdom is abolished in Rus
STA, traces of the old feudal system
which so long prevailed there are still
strongly marked, and the gulf between
the upper and the lower classes is almost
rs wide as ever. Even now the peasant
has virtually no remedy at law against
the noble who wrongs him; for a small
grievence it is hopeless to proceed
against his superior in rank, while, if
the great men seriously Injuries a poor
one, the matter can easily be settled by
the former paying few roubles to the
local magistrate. The result is that the
peasantry often take the law into their
own hands against their oppressors, by
acts Of petty and secret malice, such as
rick-burning, which Of late years has be-
come terribly prevalent in Russia.
Nevertheless, it cannot be said, that
the lower classes of Russia are an un-
happy people. The peasantry are in
dustrious and ingenious, and though
their services can no longer be command
ed gratuitously by the landowners, they
are always ready to work for the rich for
q small consideration. And the Rus
sian peasant can turn his hand to many
things. One day he will be at the
plough, the next he is weaving cloth or
cotton, on the morrow he will help to
build house, and the following day he
will be ready to mount the box and
drive four horses with admirable dex-
terity, if some great man should need an
extra coachman.
He is generally we'll fed and we'll
dressed, his costume consisting of red
shirt, fastened round the waist with
q leather belt, pair of loose trous-
ers tucked into boots reaching half way
up the legs, the whole being covered in
winter with a warm overcOat of sheep
skin, worn with the wool inside. His
hair he wears parted at the top and down
the middle, and cut evenly all round the
neck, to which it descends, though he
generally ties a band round it, to prevent
its falling into his eyes when he is at
work. Such is the appearance also pre-
sented by the iUostchik or yemstick, the
driver or position, with whom every
traveller In Russia soon makes acquaint-
ance. The iyostchik is, for the most part,
q good humored, light-hearted fellow
very civil, as a rule, but much given to
over-charging, like all his race. When,
however, you make your bargain with
him, he will be we'll enough satisfied if
he only gets his eosssim griepnik, or eight
penny-piece, as nOeodka-that is, dram
money" called by the more genteel class
Of drivers, nactdi, {. e., ''tea- money"
though it comes to the same thing in the
end. Yet the crafty fellow will get more
money out of you if he can. He ad-
dresses you affectionately as batushka or
''little father" and will sometimes in
sinuate that be is an old friend of your
family, the names Of whom he will
probably have got from your servant,
and, therefore, you might give him a
tride extra for the sake Of old times.
Another class Of hard bargainers are
the wandering Tartars one meets with in
most parts Of Eastern and Southern Rus
sia. These usually malodorous gentle.
men are great dealers in dressing-go
which they are constantly pressing the
traveller to buy, asking eight or ten
times as much as the articles are worth
to begin with. They are generally seer
going about with one of their dressing
gowns ON rs a specimen, and with these
and their round skull-csps, ribbed with
red and yellow, they look not unpic
turesque.
But by far the most slightly class Of people
to be met with in Russia are the fsmoui
singing gypsies of Moscow. These PEG
pie, Who are generally well-to-do, and
arc not accustomed to wander about lika
others of their race, dress with grea
Anery but yet with natural eye to artist
ic eject. Their songs, which nearly 81
vsys consist of IN air with . chosue
ed ere usually accompanied on tn
SslassSks, . sort Of guitar, are greatly
admired By travellers. In fact, il ~