The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1879-05-21
Pictures of Russian Life.

The Scnnaya ebay markeD is in the actual
centre OF st. Petrsburg's working popula-
ton. 1t is bounded ON all sides by tene-
ment-houses, cheap taverns, eating houses
and especially-gin shops. There is
is not to be found. During the early
morning hours they are usually de-
serted; only occasionally moujik2 or two
drop into warm themselves. But after
market time these dingy palaces Of liquor
begin to fill with visitors. The tzelovalni-
d, lbarkeeper) cladin faring red shirts,
fly from one end of the bar to the other,
scarcely able to answer all the calls for
''vodka" which resound around them,
keeping an eye in the meanwhile on each
OF the guests, lest some smart moujik
might, in quitting the place, forget to put
his 5-copeck piece on the counter, Lei us
enter one of these dingy, dark, and smoky
dens. Here is the place to study that
cardinal vice which all observers attribute
to the Russian Observation-Disclosures The
fact is beyoud doubt that the Russian
peasants, artisans, working men-in short
all those classes Of society which are CON-
prised in one denomination, ''the Black
People, as a rule, addicted to
drinking iquor--so much so, indeed,
that from the excise taxes the exchauer of
the Russian Empire derives its greatest
revenue. And yet, if we were to
infer from the fact that drunken
ness is a Russian national vice,
paralyzing the moral and intellectual de-
velopment of the people and brutalizing
its character, We would commit serious
error. Why docs a Russian peasant
drlnkz He has two excellent reasons for
doing so-first, the climate, and second,
the fact that drinking on holidays is al
most the only recreation afforded him. In
countries possessing so severe climate as
Russia, the food OF people must necessar-
lily be stronger and of a better quality
than in more moderate zone. Now un-
fortunately, the customary food of the
Russian working classes is extremely in
sufficient; it. consists chiefly of; bread,
cabbage soup, and buckwheat cruel. Meat
is rarely seen on Russian peasants ia
BILE, and even tea the chief national relish,
is mostly too expensive FOR the miserable
yearly budget of Russian working man
Thus, it becomes for him a peremptory
physical necessity to find some equivalent
for the missing food, and alcohol he be-
tleves furnishes him, to certain extent,
this equivalent. This alone would suffice
to explain the necessity of moderate
absorption of liquor. As to the excess OF
it, into which the Russian peasant is I'M
deniably apt to fall, his past life and
present condition sufficiently ex.
plain it. In judging the moral stand
ard Of the ~ Russian peasant one
main fact must not be forgotten; that
less than 20 years ago he was still serf.
abeing without human rights, a thing that
could be bought and sold, and in which
moral and intellectual faculties we're hard
" recognized. Less than 20 years ago
you would have vainly sought in most
Russian villages for man who could read
and write. The life Of a serf was an end
less, hopeless drudgery, night without
dawn, q life like death, misery the more
keenly felt as the people subjected to it
were at all times naturally Intelligent, i'm
aginative, and impressionable. Oblivion,
on occasional insensibility toward all the
ordinary surroundings, such has been for
centuries the only relief, the only amuse-
ment, (ifsucha thing may I've called by
that name,) which the Russian peasant
could enjoy. What could he become but a
drunkards Indeed, to all who are
familiar with the past history of the
Russian people, it may appear incompre-
hensible how drunkenness has not really
taken the proportions of an incorrigible
national vice, instead of bad habit,
gradually waning away, or malady, los
ing daily some Of its intensity. That
drinking has become more national
.mI p than vice, is clearly shown by
the fact, that cases of drinking mania