Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-24

of the Russian famine as of the Russian
people. and the great Slavic race is one OF
the strangest and most peculiar on God's
green earth. They are the baby race among
the great races of the world. They are not
out of their swaddling clothes and into even
the knee pants of the boyhood of civiliza-
tion. But for all that their limbs are mus
cular, their features are strong and they
have the lungs and the staying power of the
bull of Bashan.
Something About the People.
You see the evidences of the bappy-go-
lucky character of the people everywhere
you 60. Their condition mas been such that
they have never come to understand the
value of money, and this has been the case
| with both rich and poor. The rich have
been so rich that they had all they could
want. The poor have been SO poor that
there was no chance for them to get more
| than enough for mere existence, and SO
| with no ambition but for the day both
classes have been rushing madly along until
they are now at the end of their rope, and a
turn will have to come very soon. Said a
Russian bureau officer to me this afternoon:
1.-THE trouble with us is we never think of
| the morrow. five have much to-day we
spend it, and if we have little tomorrow we
make the best of it. If 1 should give my
droschky driver 100 roubles to-day it would
all be gone tomorrow, and our people have
| not vet the least idea of accumulation and
thrift For this reason many of the best
| business establishments of the country are
managed by the Germans and the English,
and most of the factories here are owned by
| foreigners.
"But how about the future?" I asked
81 think we are gradually learning" was
| the reply. 'The famine has taught us much,
Il
movement toward better business methods
| and better ideas of life. The Russian
| peasant is, however, hard to change, and
the great trouble is that he seems to have
an entire lack of ambition. He is satisfied
with his hut and his poverty. When you
| can get our people to want socks instead of
rags about their feet, and when they think
they need drawers under their calico pants,
you will have made the first great step to-
ward the Russia of the future. The spark
of ambition once kindled believe we have
the foundation elements of one of the great
est peoples of the world"
How the Russians Look
No one who visits Russia can be unim-
pressed with the strength of character seen
in the faces of the people. first saw these
Russian peasants at Jerusalem about four
years ago. 1t was at Easter time and they
had come by the thousands ON pilgrimage
to the holy sepulcher, and of the polyglot
humanity which was gathered there from
the four quarters of the world there were
none so strong in feature and in frame as
these Slavk 1 see here every day walking
the streets of ST. Petersburg with bundles
on their backs, driving cabs or droschkies
and working on the streets, men whose
nobility and strength of features would
create remark in any American crowd, and
at every corner you meet men whose faces
are such that you would be proud to ac-
knowledge them if you found them among
your ancestral portraits.
Their toreheads are high and broad, their
eyes straight, honest and kindly Their
noses are large and clean cut. and their
cheekbones often rather prominent Nearly
all are bearded and many are long-haired
and part their hair in the middle Their
frames are as strong as their faces. They
are big-boned, well-jointed race, and they
look as though they were made to stay.
The women are of the same character as the
men. They are not handsome nor pretty,
but they look kind and motherly and what
we would call fne-looking. They lack taste
in dress, have no ideas of the harmony of
colers, and wear-I mean the peasants
handkerchiefs of all brightest colors of the
rainbow upon their heads. Their dresses
are of red, blue or other gay colors, and they
are gathered in at the neck and waist, and
fall to the feet in ungraceful folds. They
have no ideas of corsets and many of them
wear long aprons tied over the bust, gath
cred in at the waist and falling almost to
the feet over their gowns
Men Wear the Picturesque Dresses.
They are sturdy of frame and rather dull
and quiet in manner. They do as much
work as the men and the men and women
work in the fields side by side. The men of
the lower classes, as 1 see them here, are
more picturesque in their dress than the
women. Russia is the land of the cap, the
long coat and top boots, and the peasants