The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1881-05-27

As for the Russians being "barbar-
ians," and to q great extent incurnbly
barbarous, that is position susceptible
OF great deal OF argument from many
different points of view. The most ia
miliar, most al cdptand,tnt, and per-
haps the most unjust theory is that even
the better educated and refined of Rus
slams are ut the very best only coated
with thin veneer OF civilization. The
great master of cynical terseness in ex-
preston, Prince Bismarck, has lent the
immense weight of his celebrity and his
repute for far-reaching sagacity in judg-
ing the characters of mankind to he
"veneering" and barbarian j" hypoth-
esis is his famous dictum. "The Rus
sian is a capital fellow till he tucks his
shirt in" TO understand the tremendous
force of this merciless resume of the
Muscovite character one must have lived
IN Russia. Ivan Ivanovich, the moujik
peasant, droschky driver mechanic,
laborer, or what not-wears his shirt
usually red cotton one-outside his
other garments. All those familiar with
Russian humanity know Ivan Ivanovich
to DO, on the whole, q o"capital fellow. !"
He is frank, brave, generous, affection
ate and docile. He is q fervent devotee
OF the grossly idolatrous rights Of the
Russo Greek Church which some Angli-
can Ritualists are insane enough to think
can, without much difficulty, be brought
into communion with the Church Of
England. He is grossly ignorant; but
he has the utmost reverence for the
offices of the church, and does not think
the worse of his pope or priest when, in
his village, he Is occasionally called
upon to assist In carrying home from the
dramshop the ecclesiastic, dead drunk,
on stretcher. Ivan himself gets tipsy
whenever he has the chance of doing 80:
but he is the best-natured of sots, and
too much beer or vodka scarcely ever
makes him riotous or pugnacious. Inc
briefly the rather incites him to the
shedding of maudlin tears, or to an ex
cess OF piety in expectorating to the
right and left in order to exercise the
devil.
Truthful he can scarcely be said to be.
He has been too recently q slave to be
able to understand the moral culpability
of telling lie, but he Is passing honest.
He is, in fine, "good wood" capable of
being seasoned and fashioned to many
useful purposes and he is in particular,
industrious, patient and submissive. He
is not very inventive, but he has curl
ously strong initiative faculty, almost
Chinese in its concentration and labori-
GUS fidelity to the thing to he initiated.
Thence he can be taught to be an admi-
rable cabinet-maker, an inlayer, an
EVANGELIST, o pottery painter, and a worker
in metals Similarly his womankind are
the most skillful of embroiderers. He is
very domesticated and very fond of his
children, although he occasionally
thrashes his wife. OF strong liquor, rs [
have limited, he is passionately fond;
otherwise he is content to live On the
simplest and coarsest fare. White bread
he seldom tastes; "brick tea" is, after
corn brandy, his favorite beverage; half
picked ogurts, or dwarf cucumbers, en-
ter largely into his diet, and with bad
drainage, help to give him typhus and
the cholera; and he can sleep anywhere
the top of stove is his most chosen
resting-place quite Indifferent as to
bed-clothes. There is no drawer soldier
than Ivan Ivanovich when he is drawn
for the CONSUMPTION, and cropped and
shaven, and put into hodden-gray
gaberdine, with a spiked helmet on mis-
head and a rifle in his band.-R.ochange.