The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1892-06-29
uNscRuPuLous RUSSIAN PRIESTS.
Disciples of the Christian Church VINO
Often Get Drunk.

A Russian correspondent writes as
follows to the London Times: Ny
friend took me round the villages in
his district, and the impression left
upon my mind from this visit was
that at any rate the peasants of Tam
b0ff live less like pigs than their breth-
rem in Voronezh and Riasan. Their
distress seems, also, to be less acute.
There were, of course, individual cases
of great suffering, but, on the whole,
the peasants seemed to be less deSti-
tute and less abject. All the huts that
have seen in this province present an
appearance of cleanliness, which con-
trasts pleasantly with the dirt and
squalor of the central provinces. In
some of the huts we found stores of
stale crusts, on which the family hoped
to exist for week or SO.
"Let US go to the village priest"
said my guide; she will interest YOU"
readily assented. The priesthood of
Russia represents d sort of caste, and
is the only independent estate in the
country. Their attitude towards the
peasant leaves much to be desired.
The average village priest is often a
drunkard-always uncultured. unedu-
Gated, unrefined. From whom is the
unfortunate peasant to get his ideals?
The gentleman he distrusts, the priest
he hates, and neither the one nor the
other is capable of exerting the proper
sort of influence over him.
We paid visit to the village priest.
He lived in one-story house, furnished
very plainly. 1t was something better
than peasants hut, and it was scru-
pulously clean. The priest himself
was a consumptive-looking young man,
with restless, cunning eyes and a nerv-
GUS manner; his wife was a stolid-
looking person, little above the level
of a peasant woman. The priest re-
ceived us with marked courtesy. A
visit from the Zemski Natchalnik was
an honor indeed. We were offered tea
and homemade biscuits, and remained
some time. The priest came from
Voronezh, and had but poor opinion
of Tamboff.
"They are a self-indulgent, vain and
foolish people here" he said. "Some
of them have nothing to eat; but they
will wear red shirts and leather boots,
and they keep their huts ridiculously
clean" This was quite new view Of
social ethics.
The Zemsk Natchalnik, in the course
of conversation, told US how he had
been implored by a peasant for help.
"As usual" he said, "the fellow had
not touched food for three days. l
asked him where he was going. To
the BAZAAR he answered. What are
you going to do there?" | asked. i
want to buy bark to make Shoes the
fellow replied. And yet he has not
tasted food for three days! There is
no relying upon anything they say.
90! your honor" said the priest, II
wanted to ask you about some corn
that have. have a few hundred
poods. Do you think the Zemstyo
would buy it of me?" "I will see
about it," said the Zamski Natchalnik.
Here was curious revelation! Be-
fore me stood the disciple of Christ,
with long hair, pale, cassock touching
the ground, looking like sacred pict-
ure. Round him was a starving peo-
pie And what was his dominant
idea? The succor of the afflicted? The
feeding of the hungry and the clothing
of the naked? Nothing of the kind.
His one concern was the price of the
corn he had contrived to hoard. Yet
this priest, the Zemski Natchalnik told
me, was the best he had come across.
/ was even assured that many of the
priests had no scruples against accept
ing their share of the Zemstvo's allot-
ment of corn. In further conversation
about the famine the priest told us
that reverend brother in neighbor-
ing parish had sent a woeful story to
the bishop concerning peasant who
had murdered his children because he
was unable to feed them. The story
proved to be an invention, but it served
its purpose. The bishop was so horri-
fed that he sent a considerable sum
from the fund at his disposal for the
relief of that particular village