Daily globe., 1879-05-18
Pictures of Russian Life.

4 IL
The Sennaya (hay market) is in the actual
centre of St. Petrsburg's working popula-
ton. tits bounded on all sides by tene-
ment-houses, cheap taverns, eating houses
and especially-gin shops. There is
scarcelg a house in which one of the latter
is not to be found. During the early
morning hours they are usually de-
serted; only occasionally moujik or two
drop into warm themselves. But after
market time these dingy palaces Of liquor
begin to fill with visitors. The tzelovalni-
di, (barkeepeD clad in 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 Let 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 drunkenness. The
fact is beyoud doubt that the Russian
peasants, artisans, working men-in short
all those classes of society which are COM
prised in one denomination, "the Black
People"-are. as a rule, addicted to
drinking liquor-so much SO, indeed,
that from the excise taxes the exchquer of
the Russian Empire derives it's 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-
VpiNn1Nanf Of Ia J. Fol,
its character, we would commit serious
error. Why docs a Russian peasant
drink? 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 better quality
than in a 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 ta-
BILE, and even tea, the chief national relish,
is mostly too expensive for the miserable
yearly budget of a Russian working man.
Thus, it becomes for him a peremptory
physical necessity to find some equivalent
for the missing food, and alcohol he be-
lieves furnishes him, to a 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
dcniably 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,
being without human rights, a thing that
could be bought and sold, and in which
moral and intellectual faculties were hard
ly recognized. Less than 30 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, a night without
dawn, a life like death, misery the moro
keenly felt as the people subjected to il
were at all times naturally intelligent, i'm.
aginative, and impressionable. Oblivion
on occasional insensibility toward all the
ordinary surroundings, such has been 70,
centuries the only relief, the only amuse
ment, if sucha thing may be called by
that name,) which the Russian peasan1
could enjoy. What could he become but (;
drunkard? Indeed, to. all who arc
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 q bad habit
gradually waning away, or malady, los
ing daily some of it's intensity. That
drinking has become more national
malady than Il vice, is clearly shown py
the fact, that cases of drinking mania
! (sapoy) are nowhere SO frequent as in
Russia. Among the artisans, the servants
and coachmen in the cities, or among the
laborers in the country, hundreds OF
steady sober men are to be found, who
lead in every respect an orderly, respect.
able life, and for months consecutively
never touch Il drop of any Intoxicating
liquor, but who suddenly almost uncon-
sciously, against their will, and without
having the power to resist the strange
spell, as if demon had possessed them
drink incessantly for days and nights
They generally feel some time IN advance
the approach of the ssfit" 1t often hap
that poor sufferer of that kind implores
his employer OF his fellow working mer
to lock him up, or to watch him closely
and to stop by force every attempt on his
part to procure liquor. But all such pre-
ventive measures are generally fruitless
In one way or another he contrives It
circumvent them, and drinks, drinks
until he falls into heavy sleep. from
which he awakes again a sober, orderl,
| man.