Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-06-15
nix themselves with the crowd. and offer wine


to each who can declare himself happy
Though some laugh at them, the offer is to
tempting not to find others ready to accept it.
| The first that presents himself is a retired sex
| ton, as thin as skeleton; he gives a speech to
the effect that happiness cannot be measured
consists in resignation when the sun WAR Warns
| me and glass of gin comforts my mind. | feel
happy coneludeshe. But the peasants refuse
to give him this glass on which he counts and
laughing bid him go his way
| The next candidate is an old woman, who a f.
firms that she is happy, because her turnipS
have grown uncommonly well that year; and
though she uses much eloquence to depict
| how large they are our inquirerS do not be
lieve her, and send her away.
| she Is succeeded by an aSthmatic soldier,
drink by declaring himself a happy man.
NET 40 tell he sTG'h What if SOLDER
inswei ed he, as il not good luck to have ueen
! in twenty battles without being killeI? See
,ndly. did | not always feel half starved in
| inc OF peace, without dying? And thirdly,
have not been cruelty logged for great and
! small "ffrnseS, and yet survived all those pun
| lSiimentS?" This time the peasants were con-
VII ced "Thon art ri4ht, old man; nobody
can dispute thy happiness" exclaimed the
company, ard drank the soldiers health.
IL would be TOO long to reproduce all the
tales that our inGnirerS heard during their
! travels but tier meeting with a nobleman
Ieseryes 10 he mentioned, as illustrating,
| though in an exaggerated form, the present
| ,iiuati0n OF thu. Russian landed gentry, as also
the views of the au hor on that matter The
| specimen presented mere cannot De called
proud or naughty; when he has convinced
| himself that the peas ants, who dared to stop
his ca riage on the road, do not mean any
harm but want only to be enlightened on such
an interesting question as happiness, he readi.
ly consents to it, and, sitting down on the
grass, begins thus: g promised to tell you the
| truth, and yet l do not know how to begin.
You are, no doubt, very respectable men, but
your learning is defective, and you ought first
to understand the meaning of the word noble
or gentleman. Tell me- my friends, have you
| heard anything about the genealogical tree"
woods and forests are well known to us,
and there re is no tree that we have not seem
l will speak more plainly. My pedigree is a
! very famous one. My paternal ancestor is
mentioned in historical documents of two and
| = hall centuries ago; he played with a bear fer
! the amusement OF the Czar, for which he g.
| present of good clotn. and was afterwards Iorm
TO pieces by the beast You understand ne
n"wT Certainly; We all have seen the drivers
know them we'll: You are farther than ever
ceStor my go meaming tb Listen the Pa,erna an
not so ancient as the one on the mo,her's side :;
tne latter got involve in conspiracy 10 burn
,io>cow ala plunder the crown, for which he
vas :, n enced to death three hundred years
! go. DO YOU guess now where NY genealo lical
tree comes from?' Yes, aud th0u ART, 80 TO
| say, an apple from that tree asked the peas
arts Wei hit now you must own tn It the
| '.der he nee, the more its bearer is wOr ny of
aspect and h"nors.'-
After tina the nobleman tells them his sal
| story, how the emancipation of he SarfS had
! deprived hum Of his power and weat /, and
rduced him to his present miserable cOndi-
ton The sketch of his former life belongs to
| the test pages of the poem, aud tyanSl lGiOm
cannoI give here an adequate idea. Even his
| hearers cannot but SympathiZe with his SOr-
row When. relating his lost splendor, he $ tyS:
| "A Frehchman has never dreamed of such
mons II feaStS that We gave, las ing not days
Hut We Ks and months. The fat geese, the
Hwtet vine, the performers, the bands of mu,
sic. the whOe regiment OF servants, We're all
| our own. alone kept five cooks and ba
ker. Two farrlerS, an uphOlStere seventeen
musicians, and twenty-five hunters"
At these words the speaker became silent
ard, buryIng his face in his hands, sighed
deeply; Then, passing to. the present, he
| painted Ii i'll the blackeS; cOlorS. "And now"
aid he, what do we see? The pretty squires
| house is pulled down and turned into a heap
Of bricks; his garden and park, his old trees
are hewn down by the peaSantS axe. am
| ashamed to pass through the village, where
| he peasant sits still and doesn't stir at my
approach. In the forests it is not the sound of
ne hurting norm that is heard now, bat that
in the woods? Half of the fields remain un
Mreci sad aG mas dpPsayed fe from
| earn, toll, bat they forget TO whom thry are
talklng am not rough peasant; am, by
the Lords grace, Il Russian gentleman, and |
haNe been taught what means pride and deli
cac! OF feelings. Our higher classes do MOI
| learn to Labor. Even poor clerk will nlyer
cul.Sent to sweep his floor OF heat his stove
Withou boasting, have lived for 70 ty yeas
! .ilherenct between an ear of wheat or that OF
| harley, While they go Oh preaching toll And
| III case we really erred in believing thai oar
| aim was to sustain the dignity Of the ationa
| i:lStocracy by hunting, Teasing, and living by
The labor of other men, why were we not told
| so carrier? What have | learned and what
| have | seen gu ing my whole life? | stood
| Gazing in the air, wore a gorgeous livery.
! lmeW away the peoples earnings thinking
that il would 60 on ike that forever. + \
! And suddenly-Oh Cod"
| The landlord Wept bitterly at the thought of
What had befalien him, and the soft hearted
| peasants were on the point of doing the same
! so they parted with the new knowledge that
| happiness was not the lot of gentlefoIks
| Where was II, them to be found? Their fol
| lowing inquiries did not prove more success
full, and they went home, without having
solved the riddle.
Such is the color of NekraSsof's poetry and
Ii may safely be guessed how great his fufiu-
ence must have been on he young GENERATION
He became one of the strongest pillars of the
realistic and radical school, and, compared to
! his vigorous and fiery muse the lyrical ami
Rsthetical poetry of his competitors seemed
| pale and insipid The same evolution that we
have seen in the novel took place also i'm
| poetry; it was declared to be the only medium
! through which new ideas about equality and
fraternity were to be prOpag ated the art and
| the genius itself being quite unworthy of no
tlce. We possess till now species of critics
who measure poets by this test; these give the
| preference TO NekTaSSof not only over all con-
| tempOrarleS, but even over our unriyaled
| POushkine, because the latter, living at the
epoch Of ByrOniSm, did not understand the
| peoples woes and the radical views of our