Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1888-08-03
\ Call on Mother Moscow.
ApyrtgGt AtI,,t;

'hN1"+'p .ANl-tiltlN-
10 sojourn in Moscow, and find a
protounder meaning III ones surround
lngs than any which can be suggested
oy the glIded dOmes of churchts and
the painted roofs of dOmicile and palace
and tower; to wander through the treas
ure-houses of the Cd capital with an eve
tor something far other than crowns he
spangled With diamonds, worn by princes
centuries dead, or costly armor IN which
the boyars once fought, or stately car
rlages wherein Tsars and Tsaritsas per
formed their imperial journeys; to stand
over the sacred cOffigs of ten generations
OF Russian loyalty, and yet feet greater
chasm yawning between one and the
z1gtt-seer at ones side than that which
separates both from the oldest sarcupha-
gus which tho priest shows at roubie n
head,-to do these things is not to take
delight, but to be profoundly sad at heart.
If not miserable, in Moscow.
81. Petersburg is European, and half
the things which pain one there arc foIt
to be III some sort of association with the
evils and vices of the west. But Moscow
has Its own mlseries, and they are so in
tensely Russian, so Characts istic of that
yaster Moscow of which the old capital II
merely the tiny centre, that in becoming
sensible of them one snudders. not for a
community merely, but for n whole peo-
pie. The contrasts which life 0ffers in
st. Petersburg are contrasts mainly be
tween things which it is scarcely lust to
compare, between well-being which is
foreign and a want that is native: but in
Moscow wealth is elder brother to poyerty,
yet stands divided from it by chasm as
Impassable as il is merciless. There il "A
distinct alliance of rOughness and semi
culture between the rich merchant, who
does business daily in the White Town.
and the wretched street-veDder. whom he
passes on his way dozen times; vet the
Two are farther apart than the poorest
ana the richest classes in western Europe
Moreover, POVERTY Is so uns peakably mis-
cradle IN Moscow that it seems to be the
characteristic rather o f distinct species
OF the animal man than of any particular
layer of the population. The streets
daily yield figures which can only on gen
erai principles of anthropology be called
human. The eye diseptanples face
from these moving masses of rags but
slowly and painfully; unless the iDsp-
ton Is at long range, the nose itself is
apt to protest.
Inc RUSSIAN summer calls ehCmerable
peasant beggars and country paupers JC
Moscow. In the daytime they explore
the city from gate to gate, hating from
time to time TO beg aims, or MUNICH the
fragments of Hack bread which form
the chief spoils of their diurnaI quest.
Many women of this class are Young and
robust; fresh from the labors of the field:
but some are old, infirm, haggard. All
trudge along with the aid of q staff, and
all wear rude canvas bag tied around
their neck. At night, long after the last
ve3per has died away, when the White
Town Is deserted, and the suburban resi-
dences are gay with lights, with music,
and with the laughter Of happy mel, and
women, this vast army of penniless and
the miserable seeks its nocturnal repose
Heaven alone knows where,-on the for.
seken field of the days markets in the
open air, on the gteps of churches and
cathedrals, or in the quadrangIes and
courts of palaces and public buildings.
To be unutte-ably wrstched, and vet to be
nightly solourner in the "outer courts
Of heaven" TO be poor, and yet to fall
asleep with only the thickness of a wall
separating one from some of the most
use e . and costly accUmulations treas
oip III LuEOptY 'ns conversion OF which
INTO money would furnish the means for
banishing acute poverty from Russia al
sogether.-such experiences as these are
the lot of thousands to whom Moscow is
less place of pilgrimage thsH centre
OF hot, weary, dusty life, focus OF bum
ing despair.
The very bells in Moscow suggest the
impression maze by many visits TO Rus
sian citiss,-the impression of some
strange complex of sociological condi-
tions, the unrayoling whereof disclose
new and moro intricate eptangIements
still, of some mighty power of special
lied manners, unyielding as the coercive
force of rsgnitized steel; and withsl Of
some awful tragedy bending over indi-
vidual and collective humanity with
destiny of iron. In these silver tick
lings, IN this m1ltitQdinous claruor OF
sounding me a., in the sonorous, perer-
slTe, vibrating boom. running ike a
ground swell through all the higher notes
you listen but to the clumsy play of some
cruel titan on that instrument of mapy
strings-rude, it may be, but wonderful
~ sensitive-the Russian heart. Yet
these uery ciscords are the delight of the