The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1877-04-05
The Russian Peasant.

low, but he is not picturesque, chiefly be.
cause he is trifle too we'll off to be senti-
mental himself, or to be the subject Of
sentimentality in others. The law makes
him at birth a member of the rural com.
mune, or village community, and secures
to him as long as he lives the means Of
earning living. He is his own master,
or as much SO as any man not hermit
can be; that is to say, he has as much
weight as any of his fellows in the coun-
ellis of the commune, and the commune is
to him the source of all law. His land,
in many parts of the Empire, is apt to be
sterile, but it belongs, as he does, to the
commune, and cannot be taken away.
His homestead is exempt from execution,
and so are his horse and his farming i'm
plements, and his tools, if he is a me-
chanic. He must work hard all his life,
and his taxes are heavy; but the obliga-
ton to pay them rests upon the commune,
not upon him individually, except rs tie
commune requires him to pay. He eats
black bread. and drinks bad liquor, but
he has enough of both. His condition is
not quite so good in some respects as it
was when he was serf; but the difference
is largely the result of his own choice. It
arises chiefly out of the desire ct each
married peasant to set up an establish
ment for himself, practice which has
increased the cost of living without add
ing anything to the working-power of the
community. The practice works its own
cure, in part, and peasant families are
still large, as rule, the family being in
all cases 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 genera.
tons. There is one recognized head in
each family, who may be either man or
. woman, and may or may not he the old.
est member of the family. The Qualifica-
ton requisite for this domestic headship
is executive ability, and its possession Sc.
cures authority by common consent; but
in grave matters this family president acts
only by and with the consent of the family
senate. He directs the working, sells the
products of the work, and buys supplies,
but at every step advice is offered and
needed. The family usually includes the
married sons and their wives, but not the
married daughters, who belong to their
husbands families. AL the earnings are
held in common, and this rule prevails
even when some of the male members,
whose labor is not needed at home, go
away to St. Petersburg or elsewhere to
work at handicrafts. There are some
such workers in nearly every family, and
in winter, when the teamwork is done,
other meu. beers 60 away in like manner in
search of employment, each sending his
earnings home to be placed with the COM
mon fund. If . married son secedes from
the family, and sets up one of his own, he
is entitled to 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 teamwork is simple.
His land is divided by communal authori-
ty into three parts, one for summer grain,
one for winter grain, and one to lie fall0w,
and even his days Of beginning particular
operations are fixed for him, 80 that he
has no need of judgment as part of his
equipment for independent farming. He
has need only 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 and one
woman, each group using one horse
Apptet0ns' Journal.