The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1888-10-25
vAoRahr siagalAk cove Is.
One of the Peculiar Institutions ~ this
Great Gsslssict lemuire.


One Ut the f'ecutsar Instttntlans II this
/ Great consict Empir~.
1 The "Taign.' tile Siberian forests
which cover tilo,isands of square miles,
are thickly peoIIed with ..Brodiagas. /"
runaways and vagrnnts who slowly adj
| vance, like continuous stream, toward
the west, moved BY the hope Of finally
/ reaching the border line Of European
aiussia. AS soun as the cuckoo begins to
cry. announcing that the woods are free
from their snow covering. so that q man
may BE sheltered without the risk OF be-
| coming motiollIess block Of ice during
the night. and that they will soon pre-
| vide the wansicrer with mushrooms and
berries. thousands Of cony:icts make their
escape from the gold plines and salt
works. from the prisons and lockups;
thousands Of exilcs leave the villages 10
which they ara banishcd, the convict set
elements where thoy are starving. and
run to the woods. Guided by the polar
star. by the moses on the trees. or
by old Migrants who possess tie
precious information about the RUNAWAY
paths and RUNAWAY stations" they
undertake the long and perilous back
ward journey. They pass around Lake
a'aikal. climbing the high and wild
mountains on its shores or they cross it
on RATS. When possible they aroid the
highways. the towns and settlements Of
the I}ouriats-wlio. are still numerous in
the province of 1rkut-k-but freely camp
IN the woods around the towns populated
by Russians. At the city of .Chita, the
capital of Transatlantic, each spring can
be seen the .fires,of the Migrants lighted
on the woody slopcs.of the surrounding
mountains. They freely enter the Rus
sian villages, where they always find a
piece Of bread and can of milk in the
houses Of the peasants.
The forests conceal and feed the wan
'derers during the warm season, though
they are filled with clouds Of small mus
quitoes-the .moshkas.' that Siberian |
plague which pirsues and maddens man |
and cattle alike. even among the clouds |
.of smoke that are spread around the vii |
lagos in Siberia. The vagrant when met |
in the summer is horrible to look at. His /
face is but one swollen wound, his ewes |
are inflamed. and can hardly be seen |
from beneath the burning and swollen
'eyelds; his swollen nostrils and mouth |
are covered with sores. Still he ;pursues
Ibis march toward the border chain Of /
Siberia. and his breast beats more strongly |
and faster as he perceives the BLUSH hillg |
of the Cralecn the horizon.
Thirty thousand men are continually
living this life, and hundreds of thou
sands of people have sought to gain lib
erty in this way during the lost fifty (
years Thousands have found their
grave in the '.Taiga," and happy were
those whose eyes were closed by de-
voted fellow traveller. Thousands have
returned Of their. own accord to the lock-
ups. when the.mercury was freezing and
the frost stopped the circulation of the
last drop of blood in their emaciated
bodies. They Submitted themselves to
the unavoidable 100 slashes, they were
taken back to the penal settlements of
Transhaikalia, and the next spring they
tried the same journey again, with more
experience. Other thousands have been
hunted down, seized or shot by the
BOuriats or some Siberian trappers.
Others. again, were seized few DAYS
after having reached the soil of their
''mother Russia" after having thrown
themselves at the-feet of their dsparents
in the village they had left many years
before to satisfy the caprice of the is
pravnik or the Jealousy of the local
us,1rcr.
There is touching trait in the char
acter Of the common, uneducated Rus
sian; trait of love for hiskindred which
makes life far away from the circle of
his relatives almost unbearable to him.
The common Russian, exiled to Siberia,
and deprived Of all civil and personal
rights, feels himself.inshis place of BAN
ishment as in grave. He cannot read
OF write TO keep up correspondence
with his relatives in Russia, nor are the
latter in position to send letters to him,
Being equally sunfanliliar with reading
and writing. In the course Of years he
becomes homesick, and he undertakes
The long westward journey, hoping to
reach his native place and see his loved I.
ones once more. As to the perspective
of being arrested and banished again he
cares little about it. He is accustomed
10. prison life, and knows that nothing
could keep him in Ibis new place of BAN
theidea to visit his relatives in
Russia should again get into his head. H
There are hundreds of Migrants in Siberia
who live thus continually from year to
year, one year tramping from Siberia to
Russia. another year marching as con-
victs, undersa military escort, back to r. ,
kutsk.
There isa sort of tacit mutual agree
ment between the Migrants and the ST.
oerian peasants. As long as nothing is
stolen. or nothing offensive done, by the |
gamblers. they may be sure of not being
by anybody. But as soon as
my one OF them breaks the agreement
he Siberian peasant becomes pitiless, and
he crime of one vagrant has q disastrous
Effect on ALL The Siberian "oblava''-
,attue against the yagrAnts-is famous
or its ferocity. The peasants arm them
elves with.axes- and sticks and guaTd all F.
he roads leading out of or into the viii
ages: the hunters and trappers spfeadI
through the forest; every suspicious
raveler is arrested; in a few days the
prisons and lockups of the entire locality,
which often embraces hundreds of square
niles. are filed with seized Migrants,
Who, after receiving the 100 lashes pre-
cribed by the law, are sent to the gold
vashings in Transbaikalia- The Job
ava" is dreaded even by the most daring
md experienced Migrants. For this
eason they are anxious to prevent the
commission Of crime by any one of them,
nd they punish the guilty themselves
Nth even greater severity than do the
Michael Malkoff in Chicago
lews-
The courts Of Ohio ana sinuiana nave
lecided that q hotel can make no extra
harges for meals sent to the room of
'erson not physically able to attend the
able.
TO preserve the elasticity Of india rub
'er, wash it five or six times year with
lightly alkaline water. 4
'Evolu&ion Of blaine on Trusts. rs