The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-08-18
TIE PRESS.
From Littelps Living Age.]
The Russian Peasants Sill
yer ROubIes.
FROM THE FRENCH OF HENRY GREvfLLE.

rnVM IdE FRENCH OF HENRI MELVILLE
Nikita Vlassief was born in the reign O
Catherine OF Russia, who died in 1880, blu
his memory went no further back than III,
war of 1872. The Russian peasant has very
little memory for past events, unless. indeed
he gives up farm labor, and expands his in
telIigence by trading.
what possible "reminiscences can a mar
nave who never saw any change except th'
cnange OF the seasons, for whom all othel
Innings remain the same as they were on the
day he was born?
There are however, two dates which hay,
made deep impression on the Russian peas
ants mind one is February (19) 1861, tn,
sate of the emancipation of the serfs through
vut the empire, and other is 1872, the date o
Ahe French invasion.
Nikita was serf on very large estate il
The government of Smolensk. His life til
1872 had been passed in the usual monotony
He had been married, had half a dozen chill
dren, had lost three of them, his stalwar
form was getting somewhat bowed by scanty
food and by hard labor, he paid his dues reg
ularly to his master In days work or in kind
add got tipsy no oftener than his neighbors
when rumor got abroad that the Mussul
men were attacking Holy Russia.
BY "Mussulmen" the Russian peasant
meant all foreigners at that day, and ever
now in distant provinces of the empire it il
more than likely that he calls every stranger
Mussulman or pagan, so strong is the I'm
preston left by three centuries of struggle
with the Turks upon the national memory
No.newspaper ever circulated on the estate
of greet proprietor-why should it? since
nobody on the estate could read except the
proprietor himself, the parish priest, or thu
family chaplain.
But love OF country needs no book learn
ing to nourish it. What news came of thu
French invasion, every creature who coul(
carry arms shouldered his scythe, his fork, O.
pickaxe, and made ready tor the enemy.
The route of the advancing host did moi
pass near Nikita's village, the inhabitants o.
suilenly waited for their turn, They had moi
long to wait. When the first snow came the
French army was in full retreat from Mos.
COW, and this time the line of march was moi
so well preserved. The main body Indeed
followed its route, but many a column lost its
way, and so surely as any party attempted O
short cut, it never rejoined its regiment.
The peasants had laid plans how they
would hide in ambush, in woods, rayines and
brushwood, to defend their country. The
country wanted no defending now, but they
were eager W dVeuS6 uer.
Forty years later Nikita, who had forgot.
ten the incidents of his wedding and the
ages of his children, distinctly recollected ali
that happened at that day.
came down on them," he would grow
under his breath, with his grey bleary eyes
lighted up with the recollection, s'the pagan
dogs who came to attack our countryl But
we got rid of them. At first we cut them
on with picks and scythes, and axes, but
afterwards we killed them off with their dead
mems guns. ! had never seen a gun till then
but soon learned how to shoot one, and
when all who could run had run away we
buried the rest of them. Hi! but there were
lots OF guns, and swords. and knapsacks, and
everything! We loaded carts full of them,
we sold them in the towns, and shared the
money. Hadn't money at that time? hadn't
l, though? l never thought there was SC
much money in the world as saw then.''
The proverb says, "Ill-gotten gains will
never prosper" Nikita prospered however in
small way; and it may be questioned
whether arms and munitions stolen from in.
vaders on their retreat, can be Justly consid.
cred 'il-gotten." This is matter that we
leave to neutrality-suspicious. it will be solved
only at the last judgment.
Nikita's fortune, however, was not that OF
millionaire. He bought two COWS. and,
"-SN sAS AAOASy AduuC Wy UubtcT,
into his village the use of pins, and tiny look
iDg-glasses and other similar wares, Ped.
ding these knickknacks from town to hamlet
and from hamlet to town, he accumulated a
good deal OF latent rheumatism, brought on a
slight stroke of paralysis, and scraped togeth-
er in all about twenty-five silver rOubles; the
silver rouble being equal to our dollar.
a commercial crisis swept over Russia in
those days. taking its revenge on capital and
accumulation, but 1t did no damage to the
capital OF Nikita, for his was in hard cash,
and not In paper.
When he found himself possessed of twen-
ty i've silver roubles, all in small silver OF
copper coins, which he had tied in an old
rag and hid in hole in the wall, he grew
full of anxiety about their future safety.
A peasant family in Russia lives like the
Esquimaux, in one hut, containing only one
room, sometimes divided by a thin partition.
Generation after generation inhabts the
same cabin; grandparents, aunts, uncles,
fathers, mothers, brothers. sisters, infants,
and little children sleep at night on top OF
the room, enclosed in brick-work, and stand.
ing couple of feet or so from the ground.
In summer they repose on wooden benches
which stand round the chamber. Occasion
ally on very hot nights some of them 60 and
sleep on the haymow; but this is rare piece
OF self-indulgence. In the first place the
Russian peasant always breads draught; in
the next the haylofts are filled full after hay
harvest, besides which animals ALWAYS dislike
hay that man has laid upon, and mer-
charitable crop is too precious to have any.
thing subtracted from its value.
So Nikita did not feel comfortable about
his roubles. The two sons and the daughter
who lived with him had a whole hive of chill.
dren. It was probable, he thought, thai
some Of them might one day come upon his
hiding place, and then small copper coins
would disappear and after that some of the
silver, and by-and-by he might come to look
for it and find it gone.
The old man at last resolved to make one
more journey TO the nearest city. He bor-
rowed the cart and horse of his Oldest son,
put on his Sunday sheepskin, was absent ali
one night, and the next day returned home
again in gay spirits and little tipsy, with
his hand pressed tight against his chest, an
attitude unusual with him before.
The children looked at him with all their
eyes.
"Ah, yes, my little chicks" he cried, emy
twenty-five roubles have all turned into a Bit
of paper! a beautiful bit of lilac paper, sewed
up in little parcel. Granddaddy means to
sleep with it every night, look you! and you
know he always sleeps with one eye open.
All, alb, you young rogues, it is all safei Nc
more picking and stealingp'
The little ones, who very probably had
found out his old rag, and may have fiched
an occasional copper from his store, did moi
appear to share in his extreme hilarity,
whereupon he kicked several of them, pulled
the two youngest by the ears, and lay down
upon the stove to sleep off both his liquor
and his excitement on the occasion.
From that time forth the old man never
did stroke of work, but sat basking in the
sunshine, while everybody round him toiled
from morning to night.
''Ifs your turn now" he said between his
teeth, when he saw his household going
forth to labor for their master, fpve paid all
he can ask of me. I've made my fortune.
I've brought you into the world and fed you
till you grew to be men and women. Now
take care of the old man. When you are
old your children will have to look after
YOU"
When they were gone, the old fellow
would draw out of his bosom the calico bag
which contained his bank note. He would
tnrn it over and over, smell it, rub it against
his cheek, pat it and make the paper crackly
between his fingers and thumbs.
One day a sudden terror seized upon him.
He ran and got sharp-pointed knife, came
back into the sun before his cabin and began
to cut the stitches OF his little parcel. A
dreadful apprehension had arisen in his
mind.