Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1877-04-20
The Russian Peasant.

The Russian peasant is not bad fellow,
but he is not picturesque, chiefly because
be is a trihe too well off TO he sentimental
himself or TO be the subject Of senlimen-
tality in others. The law makes him at
birth member OF the rural commune, or
village community, and secures 10 him as
long as he lives the means of earning liv.
ing. He is his own master, or as much so
as any man not a hermit can be that Is TO
say, he has as much weight as any of his
fellows in the councils of the commune,
and tie commune is to him the source of
all law. His land, in many paris of the
empire, is apt TO he sterile, but it belongs,
as he does, 10 the commune, and cannot be
taken away. His homestead is exempt
from execution, and so are his horse and
his farming implements, and his tools, if he
is a mechanic. He must work hard all his
life, and his taxes are heavy, but the obli-
CATION 10 pay them rests upon the COM
mune, not upon him individually, except
as the commune requires him 10 pay. He
eats black bread, and drinks bad liquor,
but be has enough of both. His condition
is not quite so coed 10 some respects as 1t
was NnCu uC WAS II SeEI, Dul tue ulntTeuCc
is largely the result of his own choice. It
arises chiefly ou. of the desire of each mar
ried peasant to set up an establishment for
himself, practice which has increased the
cost of living without adding anything to
the working-power of the community.
The practice works its own cure, in part,
aud peasant families are still large, as a
rule, the family being in all cases a sort of
cooperative society for purposes of work.
The family may consist of any number
of persons, and embraces commonly the
representatives OF two or three generations.
There is one recognized head in each fam-
lily, who may be either a man or a woman,
and may or may not be the eldest member
of the family. The qualification requisite
for this domestic headship is executive abl-
ity, and IFS possession secures authority by
common consent; but in grave matters
this family president acts only by and with
the consent OF the family senate. He di-
reefs The working, sells the products of the
work, aud buys supplies, but OF every step
advice is offered and needed. The family
sually includes the married sons and
their wives, but not the married daughters,
who belong 10 their husbands families.
All the earnings are held in common, AMI
this rule prevails even when some of the
male members, whose labor is not needed
at home, 90 away to St. Petersburg or else
where to work at handicrans. There are
some such workers in nearly every family,
and in winter, when the farm-work is done,
other members go away in like manner in
search of employment, each sending his
earnings home TO be placed with the conf
Mon fund. If married son secedes from
the family, and sets up one of his own, he
is entitled 10 take nothing away with him,
but must begin over again, working upon
his part of the common land. For this he
is fully equipped, and, like his brethren,
he can exc out the scanty livelihood thus
earned, by working occasionally for hire,
under the steward of the neighboring great
estate. His farm work is simple. His
land divided by communal authority into
three parts one for summer grain, one for
winter grain, and one TO lie fallow, and
even his days of beginning particular OPP
erations are fixed for him, so that he has no
need of judgment as part of his equipment
for independent farming. He has need of
three things namely, himself, his wife, and
his horse, and these he has. These three
constitute the labor-unit, as Mr.. Wallace
phrases it /; that is TO say, all the work is
done by precisely this combination OF
forces, and, no matter how large family
may be, its members work in groups of
two, one man aud one woman, each group
using one horse.-FTOm AppletonS JouT7l-
al for Ipril.