The Labor enquirer., 1883-08-25

iSfde1 dence Of mind and intelligent
male empany were within his reach.
The iii fd3 an occupation in accordance
with lii tastes. is lacking, but as he is
Intelligent, and Russia is wanting in ed
ucsted ppople, he VII find it easily
sWelL and what will happen after
wards?' asked young man full Of ardor,
who had just arrived from some distant
province, and come to visit his old mas
ter.
Il am happy replies the latter.
eyes, = the young man will say to him.
ayou are happy, see. But how can
you be happy when in the country
| u here you were born people are dying
of hunger where the government takes
from the people their last farthing and
compels them to 60 forth andbeg for q
crust Of bread? Perhaps you do not
know this; and if you know it, what have
you done for your brethren? Did you
not tell me years ago that you wished to
combat "for theIhappiness of human ma
ture?" 5-Isi
And the model Nihilist, the Nihilist,
Of Turghenef, will be troubled by that
look which knows nothing Of compro-
mise; for the enthusiasm and the faith
that animated him in the early years OF
the struggle have vanished with victory.
| He is nothing more than. an sintelligent
and refined epicure, and his blood circu-
lates languidly in his plump body.
And the young man will go away full
of sadness, asking himself with ali accent
of despair the terrible question, "What
are we to do ?' st
We are now at the year 1871. Through
those. marvellous inventions by means
of which the mar of modern days may
be called omnipresent, the picture is
placed before him of an immense city
which has risen for grand idea, that OF
claiming the rights of the people. lie
follows with breathless interest all the
vicissitudes of the terrible drama which
is being enacted upon the banks of the
Seine. He sees blood flow; he hears the
agonizing cries Of women and children
slaughtered upon the bouIevards. But
for what are they dying? For what are
they weeping? For the emancipation
of the workingman; for the grand social
idea.
And at the same time falls upon his
ear the plaintiye song of the Russian
peasant all wailing and lamentation, in
which so many ages of suffering seem
concentrated. His squalid misery, his
whole life stands forth full of sorrow, of
suffering,of outrage. I ook at him ex-
hausted by hunger, broken down by toll,
the eternal slave Of the privileged classes,
working without pause, without hope of
redemption; for the Government pur-
posely keeps him ignorant, and everyone
robs him, everyone tramples on him, ,and
no one stretches out hand to assist him.
No one? Not so! The young man
knows now "What to do" He will stretch
forth his hand. He will tell the peasant
how to free himself and become happy.
His heart throbs for this poor sufferer,
VIII o can only weep. The flush OF en-
thusiasm mounts to his brow, and with
burning glances he takes in his heart a
solemn oath to consecrate all his life, all
his strength, all his thoughts, to the lib
Grafton of this population, which drains
it's life-blood, in order that he, the favored
son of privilege, may live at his ease,
study, and instruct himself.
He will tear off the fine clothes that
burn into his very flesh he will put on
the rough coat and the wooden shoes of
the peasant, and abandoning the splen-
did paternal palace, which oppresses him
like the reproach of a crime, he will 60
forth among the people" in some re-
mote district, and there, the slender and
delicate descendent of noble race, he
will do the hard work of the peasant, en-
during every privation in order to carry
to him the words of redemption, the gos-
pei of our age-Soc1alism. What matters
to him if the cut-throats of the Govern
ment lay hands upon him? What to him
are exile, Siberia, death Full of his
sublime idea, clear, splendid, vivifying
as the midday sun, he defes suffering,
and would meet death with a glance of
enthusiasm and smile Of happiness
1t was. thus that the Revolutionary