Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1884-08-27

The Slavonie race is fond of moving
about. The late Emperor traversed an
enormous amount of space during the
course of his reign. The nobility in
Russia Is more migratory than those
in other parts of Europe: and the peas
ants travel hundreds Of miles, or even
thousands, in search of work, or on pill
grimages. The railways now afford
them facilities which were wanting
six and twenty years ago, and every
spring trains arrive at ST. Petersburg
and Moscow with the third-class carri-
ages crammed with workmen from the
provinces, who leave their wives and
children to attend to the pig, cow, and
the plot OF land which belongs to each
peasant proprietor, and act as wood
cutters, porters, carpenters, white
washers, and In almost every mechan-
ical capacity, in the two capitals dur
ing the summer. They live out of
doors, and work day and night taking
a well-earned sleep at any odd moment
when it is convenient. In the autumn
they return with their wages to their
villages; and to save lights many sleep
all the dark hours, which in a Russian
winter gives them at most day not
much longer than from nine to three.
The virtue of ensllage has long been
understood in many of the Russian
provinces. A tourist passing through
the Russian towns in the Summer sees
the men waiting with the change of
horses for the tram cars, fast asleep on
mats OH the ground, the horses bending
over them, and the bride held firmly in
their hands. He goes away with the
impression that the Russian peasant is
as lazy as Neapollton mendicant, but,
on the contrary, these men are sleeping
when they have time for it, to enable
them to do without sleep during the
sun-lighted night; for the street is their
only lodging. IL they perform any ab-
lutions at all, it is in the Neva, the
Moskva, or one of the canals; their
prayers, which seem never to be omit
ted, morning and evening, are said in
public before one of the many chapels,
in an open church, or before an image
of the Virgin and Holy Child; a street
fountain supplies them with beverage;
the itinerant dealers in fried bacon, fish,
squares of minced pork, fruit, cakes,
bread, and all kinds of food, carried
about on trays or cheap traktir, sup
plies their meals. The dealers who are
attlred in clean white aprons and cuffs,
know all the fast days, and adjust their
wares to suit them. On Saturday night
when washing Is obligatory if the peas
ant is to assist at mass the next day, a
Russian workman usually goes to one
of the cheap vapor baths, at least in
cold weather; but in summer he can
often get bath in a river for nothing;
and in summer his clothing is of the
lightest. This is no worse life than
that of many of the lowest class in our
large towns; and sleep in the open air
under hot sun is undoubtedly health
ier than In a sitting night lodging. In
this way food is their only expense, ex-
cept two or three kopecks weekly for
the vapor bath, and the small contribu-
ton all respectable Russian workmen
put into an alms-box. Tea. large jugs
of iced lemonade and milk are sold in
the streets, and the sight of review or
a public procession. particularly if the
Emperor is present, would reward a
provincial Russian for many weeks of
hard work. Even in winter some of
the Russian workmen contrive to sleep
out of doors, kept alive by the warmth
they obtain at the large fires which are
lighted in the streets for public conven-
lence and for the droshky drivers, when
the weather is very severe.