Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-20

Each of these villages is in theory, thou

Each Of these villages is in theory, though
not always in practice, tiny republic, or
commune, in which each family is allotted
q share of the common land and assessed a
share of the common tax. Moujik republics,
called mfrs, are the administrative and fnan-
cial units with which st. Petersburg author
tiles deal The mir is the unit Of assess
ment for imperial taxation, and if any Of
the members of the community are incapa-
BILE OF paying their share the burden has to
be assumed by their neighbors, who arrange
for compensation according to the law and
usage of the village.
From the Tar down the long sliding
scale of Government officers to the Stsrosta
or village Mayor, all treat the Moujik as
one quite incapable of managing his own
affairs; simple Simon, whose usefulness in
life is measured by his capacity for grubbing
the soil and yielding taxes. Always poor,
always improvident, he is forever in debt
to the village usurer and grog-shop keeper,
and is usually behindhand, and conse-
quently in hot water about his taxes Oc-
casionally his stock, implements and grain
are seized for debt, in which case he is no
longer able to farm his share of the mir
land, and so becomes batrak or "landless
one" The batrak state is the bette noir of
the Russian peasant. Without land to work
out living on he becomes a wanderer and
outcast, and either joins the vast army Of
ragamufin Moujiks that are forever tramp
ing the roads of Russia son pilgrimage" or
in search of work, or he ekes out miser-
able and precarious existence by drudging
for neighbors who are but little better of
than himself.
They Are Full of Superstition.
The ignorance and superstition of the
N L.
pathetic. In his house, the same corner that
was, in old pagan times, occupied by the
family idols, is now devoted to the Icons or
sacred pictures of the orthodox church.
Now, as then, this is the Beautiful Cor
ner, (" and food is reverently placed before
the Icons, as it was before the idols, by his
pagan ancestors, centuries ago. The patron
saint of the Moujik is St Nicholas, whom
he supposes, in his foggy way, to be the
Third Person of the Trinity.
To man, almost, the Russian Moujiks arc
experts with the az, and can hew logs and
build house far neater than the average
log cabin of the West. While in process OF
building wooden cross is always erected
close by, as measure of protection against
evil spirits. These crosses, indeed, are
in evidence.
Ordinary periods of drouth are overcome
BY the simple process of digging up dead
body and consigning it to the nearest river,
relic of paganism that nowadays has to
,e done in secret, as 1t is prohibited by law.
During the present extraordinary drouth
md famine many a corpse has been secretly
lug up from the cemeteries, and under cover
# the darkness consigned to the waters Of
he Volga, Don, Dneipsr and other Russian
treama
They Do Not Live High
No class of people in the world are so well
ontent with course fare and hard conditions
f life as these most hardy peasants. The
rdinary fare is coarse rye bread, porridgo
made OF buckwheat and cucumber picked
q brine. On these rude edibles the Moujik
manages to do O long and hard days work,
cid from early dawn to late at night.
On Sundays and holy days the village
odka shop is the rallying point of the male
opulation, whilst the women gather about
Is the prevailing vice, and
odka drinking is at the root of most of the
lisery that comes upon him in ordinary
mes. Though by nature an 1mproyidens
I him, and, what must seem to the vast ma
,rity, the uselessness of attempting 20 bet
II their condition in life, is, no doubt,
Irgely responsible for the prevailing druk-
Next to the Moujiks the most numerous
lement of the population to whom we are
3nulng relfcI are IartarS. S6vofai OF tho
olga provinces and parts of the Crimea are
lhabited largely by Tartars. They are Of
ne Mohammedan faith, and as you pass up
+ down the Volga, the Tartar quarters OF
amara, Simbirsk, Kazan and other chief
tiles are distinguishabIe from the Russian
uarters with the gilt domes of the magnif-
,nt orthodox churches by the minarets OK
,e mosques.
Church Differences Don't Count.
In these provinces Of mixed Christian and
oslem population, the spires of the ortho-
Ok churches are ornamented with devices
lustrating tho victory of the Cross over the
rescent. Yet although this sort Of thing
ould seem to be a standing menace to the
1ltivation OF friendly feeling between the
vo races, they, in reality, get along famous
well together.
The fourth great division are the Cossacks.
hese are as improvident rs the Moujiks,
1t ordinarily much better on. Tho are
,turaliy predatory, however. and capable
wandering to the uttcrmost limits Of the
npire to forge for the wherewithal to
,ep body and soul together. They, as all,
q In sore need Of assistance, but the mos
table mendicant Of them all 10 the ortho-
" Moutk. THoxAs srEvHaar