The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-01-13
THE PROVERBS OF RUSSIA.
Some Features Of Peasant Life Told in
Popular Sayings.
Leisure Hour.

AANAS'AS ch''
Russia is II country whose name is now
constantly in the mouths of Englishmen.
Few, however, know much about it owing to
the difficulties connected with learning its
language. Not many foreigners have the op-
portunities of knowing these people and mere
tourists are very apt to come way with
wrong impressions. We shall endeavor in a
short article to glance at the peasantry as they
are described in their own proverbs, which
hold the picture up to life.
One popularity of Russian peasantry life is
the joint family system, according to which
the members of a family share a common
heritance and live together. This system pre-
vailed in parts of England in Anglo-Saxon
times, but it is not favorable to individual eX-
ertion and 1t leads to family q~uarrels. They
find that :" two bears cannot live in one den."
The wife particularly suffered from 1t.
The fathcr-in-law grumbles at her.
The mOther-in-law abuses her,
The brother in-law mocks her,
The sister-in-law does her mischief.
The husband is jealous.
Sister>-in-laW arc nettleS.
While some Russian ladies belong to the
class of strong minded women and are advo-
Gates OF women's rights, the peasantry in their
proverbs recognize the distinct sphere of
women:
If you bea cock. crow
If a hen. lay eggs.
~ NV u l'i tii' "liIti III LLiS IL
Nor II woman with too much liberty.
The proverbs of Russia, like those of India,
though treating women with contempt yet
recognize thpir power in the domestic circle:
She stoOps to conquer"
The wife. without beating the husband. rules
him by her temper"
The husband is tn" head. the wife The soul of
the house.
Bachelors are not in high rcputc.
"A BACHELOR is a goose without water"
q" y mar Without a wife is like a man in winter
WithCuta fur bonnet
=. Nah under p~etti2Oat government. or. as
the Germans say. under the slipper. is thus
painted
E. \ crab is NOT a fish among fishes.
\ bat is not Il bird among birds.
50 a heh-pe"ked husband j. not ii man among
men.
The cleapnr>s IF hYtndN has done immense
mischief among the peasantry. In ~collec-
ZION Of 10000 Russian proverbs whicl. | have
800 It late TO drunkenness and its effects. The
soldiers. Wh0 are recruited from the ranks Of
the prasantry carry the village drinking habits
with them. and this trait appears in various
strongly pllaSed proverbs. The peasants have
suffered not only from drink, but bad land
lords, who have spent their money in the dis.
sipation of great cities, leaving the peasantly
IN the hand Of grinding agents. who were GEN
orally Germans.
The landlords court has a wide entrance. but a
narrow exit:
/. E., it is easy to get into his debt. but diff
cult to get out OF it.
Praise not the crop until it is stacked.
Praise not the landlord until he is dead.
The Insurer in Russia, as in India, is a
scourgc to the peasant. sin the other world
says the prOverb, :" Insurers have to count ed
hot coins with bare hands"
But the worst plague to the peasant is the
Tchinovik: or official, as the Russian bureau
cracy are noted for their gross oppression and
brihe-taking ~propensities.
The Tchnovik only takes up MS pen.
The peasants pray and birds tremble.
Iodefend youselt against a thief take a stick.
To defend yourself against 4 Tchnovik take a
rouble.
Fear not the law but the Judge.
a Judge is like q carpenter. what he wants he
Go before God with justice.
Before the judge with money.
The Raskolniks, or Dissenters, of Russia,
amount probably to fifteen millions, and are
an interesting class. Some express their de-
t~estation of the Greek Church thus &.
He who fears God does not 60 to church:
The church is not in beams, but in ribs;
!. e.. not in the building, but in living mem
bers. They agree with the old Tartar say
ing:
Songs and dances are Satan's daughters.
And they go farther than the teetotalcrs, de-
~rouncing tobacco, tea and coffee:
~ The smoker is brother to a dog.
Tea. the Chinese arrow, has pierced the Russian
heart.
Thunder Stays the coffee-drinker.
The peasants hold the Jews in great alb
horrence on account of their usury and op-
preston.
\ tanned wolf, a baptized Jew and a recon-
ciled enemy are of equal value"
= When you baptize a jew keep him under
water -
i. e., drown him, orhe will turn renegade.
A Russian can be cheated only by a gypsy.
A gypsy by a Jew.
A Jew by a Greek, ....
And a Greek by the devil.
One Jew is equal In cheating to two Greeks.
One Greek to two Armenians.
We conclude this brief sketch with two
proverbs that contain q valuable moral:
With God go over the sea,
Without God go not over the threshold.
Against forming distant plans:
:. His thoughts are over the mountains,
But death is behind his shoulder