Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-07

all the time, and Wnen tney nave cnance
to steal anything they even thank God for
giving them the chance"
This is rather hard on the Russian peas
ant. but there is a grain of truth in it not
withstanding. The people pray so much
that they do 1t automatically, and though
there is great deal of religion among the
people there is more superstition and form
than real intelligent piety.
| Just before the men stopped work I
visited the kitchen of the contractor, where
| about 700 men were boarded by him at
cents day. The board was voluntary on
| their part, and they only patronized him
| because he had better food for the money
than anyone else.
In a Russian Contractors Kitchen.
Imagine room about 30 feet square tax
| ing up the whole of a shed of logs and
boards, and in this put q great oven about
| four feet high, and SO made that it forms a
| square box, filling nearly the whole Of the
room. This oven box Is made of brick, and
in its top are great holes, in which are sunk
| six kettles, which will each hold about a
hogshead of fluid and in which were boiling
| the evening ration of soup for the men.
Some of thi. soup was of beans and another
kettle was of cabbage, while in a third hogs
head buckwheat mush was steaming away.
1 tasted all of these, eating a bit with
| WOOuSu SpOOu Oul VI thC SiCdt lduies HhuuCu
me by the cooks, and did not find them at
all bad In another part of the kitchen
were stacks of great loaves of the black
| bread which the peasants eat, and as we
| looked at this asked for the bill of fare of
| this 9-cent eating house.
The reply was that each man got four
meals for this sum, two of which consisted
| of cold bread and water and the other two
| of which were hot. Each man received four
IL, Is ID 81 o1a
| taken in the following order: At in the
| morning, after working three hours on an
empty stomach, the men eat q breakfast of
| bread and water. At II they knock off for
| dinner, and at this time they sit down at
long tables and have some of this hot soup
and bread. At 5 P. NJ. they take another
lunch of bread and water, and at 8, after
they are through with their days work,
thev have more soup, with a little of this
buckwheat mush. In his soup each man
gets three-quarters of pound of meat, and
the rations all told for the sum of cents
are better than can be gotten anywhere else
in the world. They are far superior to what
the peasants are accustomed to at home and
they grow fat on them.
How the Peasants Eat
don't know whether this peasant board
ing house contractor furnishes the dishes or
not, but suppose he does. watched meal
of the workmen and the extra expense in
this regard could not be large. The men ate
as 1 have seen the peasants in many places
where they are served with dinners by the
famine relief people, and in fact just as they
eat in their own homes The only dishes
were wooden bowls the size of those in
which the ordinary American family chops
its hash or the farmers wife works her but
ter. These bowls were about three inches
deep and they were filled with a thick
soup. The tables were knocked up, only of
rough planks, and were feet wide and 100
| feet long, with benches running along both
| sides of them so as to form seats for the men.
| There was no cloth upon them, but the
| white surface of each table was marked off
with charcoal into squares, and each square
had number up to ten, and at the end of
the ten squares second series Of ten num-
bers began.
Each man had thus his own square place
| at the table, and one OF these bowls was set
in the center of each gang and contained
| enough tor ten persons Instead OF plate,
cup or a saucer, each man had in his hand
| a spoon of yellow wood which would hold
about twice as much as the ordinary table
spoon, and the men took their turns in dip
ping their spoons into the soup and carry
| ing il to their mouths. There was rigid
order about the whole and there was no
than his share. As to this service, however,
not one of the 100 long bearded men at the
table objected, and the majority of them
| would not know how to handle dishes of
porcelain and knives and forks.
| Living on La Cents Day.
! The above is, as have said, fat living
for these people They are furnished it by.
a contractor, who makes some money out of
it and who is dependent for his custom on
the excellency of his board The famine
relief Kitchens which are supported by the
Government and charity. give dinners for
kopecks piece or 2H cents day. Dur
ing the worst part OF the winter dinners
| were given for less than 1 cent a meal, and
during the famine one such meal was given
daily to thousands who could not even pay
these kitchen, a Mini Novgorod, which was
serving hundreds of the 21l-cent meals to
all who paid ior them and giving them to
such as could prove themselves destitute.
For this 21S cents they gave bowl of
soup, with a bit of meat as big as the palm
of your hand and pound and half of
bread, and on fast days fish took the place
| of meat.
One of the customs in regard to this din
ing room seemed to be an excellent one,
and if eating rooms on similar plan could
be established in America it would be q
good thing This custom was the giving of
beggars meal tickets instead of money. The
| proprietors of the establishment sold 20 of
| their dinner tickets for so cents and the
citizens of the town bought these by the
hundred, and when approached by beggars
for aims they give them tickets for these
! 2T-cent meals instead of money. Such
tickets could not, of course, be used at the
Vodka shops or saloons and they prevented
fraud on the part of the beggars.
A Russian Governor on the Famine.
During lunch which DR.. Hubbel and
| myself took with the Governor of Mini
Novgorod we had a long talk about the
famine, and as Mini Novgorod was one of
| the first districts to take measures to aid
the people his story of the situation was
interesting. The Mini Governor saw that
the famine was at hand long before it came.
The crops had been bad for several years,
and as far back as May, 1891, he sent for
| reports from the various districts Of his
province and found that out of II, which
| comprised it. only two had enough to carry
| them through the winter. This is one of
the greatest grain centers of Russia and the
Governor at once bought lot Of grain on
his own responsibility, and before he had
| even notified the Gar he had purchased
1000 tons of grain and sent it to the afflicted
OF his province. He then applied to the
Minister Of the Interior for loan for his
people and got $500, 900 or about 1,000, 900
roublea FRANK G. CARPENTER