Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-06-15

ii'cu t'IuU Vi NthTaSSOI, as over That OF ler
INST and mos beloved poet. the chief reason is
! 20 he sought in the character and tendency of
ms MTltlngS Nekrassof nay be truly called
| popular national poet. His pen was exclusive
| ly devoted to the suiferings and grievances of
the lower classes, and he did not Scruple to en-
ier Into nc minuteSt particulars, thou n Of the
| weak 4 he oppressed, o-in-i,tlry w,nln
ana children, commanded his sympathies, and
| ni life incompatible with his muse H
! lied last December after ions an
e.ueii illness which could not deprive him Of his
! faculties, and in spite of which he continued
! 20 compose nearly up to his last moment. st.
| petersburg never saw such gathering of
nourners as on the day OF his fu lerat, and
every honor that could be shown TO a sim pie
| s1uzPn was lavi>hed on him. All the distance
! from his house to the burying ground, his
coffin never touched the funeral car. being
/ borne on the shoulders OF his numa rouS admir-
! erS. Ladies wit garlandS of laurelS and flow
! efS, bearing different inscriptions, Went in
! 'front.' oil the procession, which contained all the
! representatives of literature, students of all
! high schools, and even peasants, who came to
! pa a last farewell to their own poet. We were
Told by the Old generation that such crowd
had only been seen once before, at the funeral
| OF our Incompatible fabulist krylOf. The
| church could contain only small part of those
| ed at the grave detained the crowd for some
December day.
In order to understand more clearly the
cause OF NekraSsof great popularity, SO mucn
| above that OF other contemporary poeIS We
must enter into some biographical particulars
| The experiences of his earlier life were closely
| connected with the character of his work., and
! With the aid of his passionate and fiery nature
| he Transformed hem into weapons for the fight
| he I'll dertoOk with political and social wrongs
His athletic pleadings in favor of the people
| gave rise to the rumOr that he belonged by
! pilth to The lower classes. 1t was said that he
! hogan lie by watching his sheep and plough
! & his field However these tales proved to
/ De false. and the Russian peas intry must re-
nounce the honor vi counting the new favOrite
| NekraSsof was born in 1921. in the govern
ment OF Tai Oslay and passed his childhood in
! the country. His father, though posse >sing a
country seat and serfS, belonged to the poor
nobility. After having rived in the army he
retired thither with his wife and numerous
family OF thirteen children. Tne Scarci V of
pecuniarH means did not allow him to give "A
brilliant tducatiOn to his children, and in fact
their intellectual level was not much above
that OF their neiEhborS, the peasants. The
young boy was quite fee 10 run about an
observe the exacti ms of maste As well aS the
! unfOrunate life of their slaves. These first
| impressions lever got eflaced from his mi Id
and it was not merely from power of imlyina
| ton that he pictured the cruel suIferngS of
| dependence and mise "
From his ca hest days the boy evnced h
| strongest desire for learning, and the univer
| sity studies were continually the object of his
| ore ans. But his father who, like many O her
| military men, could not See the use of Sucn
| S,udleS, would heai nothing about this folly.
|
| begun at the classical gymnasium of TarUs av
| lie sent him to ST. Petersburg to enter a mil
airy school there. Having inherited the
| man rebellrd, Set himself free and prepared
hlnsrlf to pass the examination the Uni
Nersity of st. Petersburg. The ma ural conSe
',uoI &c of il was that his father renounced him
ma ct MED him every assistance.
The whole fortune of Mex "a S>of consisted
| IN the raltry sum of 80 roublAS and his
| Knowledge was so scanty that he soon fount
|
Examination which in the year 1898 opened
he doois Of the university. After this tiasco
IL was Obliged to cOnient himself with attend
ing tie lectures as an outsider, and he had to
htht With the utmost poverty and want being
often acquainted with hunger, and even com
pelled TO ROAM the streets without a roof over
| his head.
He hired at that time miserably furnished
rUOm, let by a retired soldier and was ALWAYS
III aIrear with his rent; the landlord fnIsne
by growing angry, and IN tde him sign d
| ,aper, by which he left all his thugs in pawn
| ill payment of the debt. Returning home
! nat evening. N-krassof found the doc. closed ;
hat he never had ledger Of his name. What
was he to do, with an empty purse, on that
| vet aud cold uumn night.
For long time he wandered about the
| ,'rte;S; then, weary and benuuOtd, he
Town on the steps OF shop AMI burst ln5o
ears An old beggar passing by with boy
ook pity on him, and asked him to follow
of TO h sexes and all ages. Here is a ma
Who can read and write said his PROTECTOR
| introducing him to the company, land he is
without a a, refuge; give him some hing TO
rink" They offel ed him a glass oi gin, aud
20 Old woman made him a coarse kind OF bed
When he awoke they had All gone except her
! Write me an manifestations" said she: Il CAM
! do without one" Having done what she
| asked, NekraSsOf left her, with fifteen coppers
ID ms pocket, which she had given him for his
| pains:
While student he suhsisted by giving les
sons, correcting proof sheets and writing for
| The press; but all these resources were very
| precariOus, and he still often wanted the mer-
est necessaries, and frequen ly remained with
| out dinner. In the meantime he became init
| dents, thus learning TO measure the contrast
| between wealth and poverty, and tasting Of
he pleasures reserved to the former. In spite
OF his poverty, his genius made him play a
prominent part in company; he appreciated
| the advantages of wealth, and determined moi
to remain forever excluded from them.
He soon convinced himself that, badly pre-
pared for the University studies as he was,
hey were OF no real use to him, and he ex
chaIged them for literary career. His first
poem, The Thought" dates from 1873, and
pearfd in 1910, was severely indled by the
| est critic of the epoch, Belfnsky this failure
dld moi discourage him: After some time his
| pOetlcal talent was duly recognized, and his
| .urther works blamed a great success At
| he age of twenty-siX his fame had grown so
! Iar that he could fearless!y enter upon the Ca
ittl vi d JOuI iidllNt, anu guy, III connection
| with the novelist Panaiet, monthly review
| named the Contemporary, founded by Poush-
nlne some years before. From that time till
| Ills death, that is to say, during a period of
| thirty years, NekraSSOf never ceased to labor
| as journalist and poet, standing at the he ad of
| The contemporary, and from 1868 at that OF the
annals OF the Country, our two best reviews
| The success of his publications brought with it
| a large income, and the days of poverty never
| returned 10 trouble our poet any more.
| Nevertheless, Nekrassoff's personal eXpe-
| lit noes were very favorable to the growth OF
| his talent, and he would scarcely have de-
| Scribed with such truth and viVdneSS the
| depths OF human misery if he had not faith
Oned them himself before tasting the advant.
ages Of wealth. 1t is true that in his prosperi-
| ~ he did not lead life in accordance with his
theories. and that he frequently forgot the suf-
feringS Of his brethren while reveling in plea
sures unworthy of his genius, but he had ouly
to take UP bis pen to recOllecI the past and the
| dark side OF life so familiar to him in his ear
| iier days.
| The humorous epic named, "Who Lives Hap
| PLY in Russia?" belongs to the best and most
| original of NekrasSOfS works. The subject is
the following: Seven peasants, engaged in a
lively talk, get suddenly puzzled by the ques-
ton, Whose life Is the happiest?' and each of
| them expresses his own opinion. The first said
| 1t Is the landlords; the second the clerks
| The third gave 1t for the priest, two brothers
| Tor the Fat merchant; an old man thought it
| must be the minister's, and the seventh named
the Car. As nobody was disposed to yield