Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-08-20

wardrobe. He puts on one suit and wears it
out sticking to It night and day. Neither sex has
any use for night shirts and all the family sleep
in the same clothes that they wear in the day
time. They know nothing Of bed clothing or Of
the luxury Of clean sheets and soft pillows and
they sleep more like sheep than like men.
Young girls and young men, married and single,
babies and Grandmother, all crowd in to-
gether, and the animal heat Of the whole added
to that Of the stove must give them warmth.
Their winter clothing is made up largely of
sheepskins with the wool turned inward, and
the people seem to stand the heat and cold
equally well. Their clothes cost them but little.
The men Wear calico pantaloo1s in the summer
and they have red calico shirts, which they
wear outside Of their pantaloons. The latter
are held up by string around the waist and
often turned in at the legs below the knee. be-
ing wrapped about with the rags which form
the stockings of peasant Russia These rags
are wrapped about the feet and over the ankles
and around the lower part Of the calves. II the
Russian Is rich enough he pulls a pair Of high
boots over them. and into the tops Of
these he stuffs his pantaloons. II he
is poor, as is the case with ninety
nine hundredths of his kind, he wears felt
boots in the winter and low slippers in the sum-
mer. These slippers are Of woven grass or
bark. They are made without heels and are
worn by all. The peasant girls, In fact, wear
the same kind Of footgear as the boys. and the
belle of one of the Russian villages never knows
the delights Of barber-pole stockings and her
carriers do not cost her shilling in a lifetime.
Neither sex wears any underclothing, and o
great step will have been made when you can
make these people believe that such items as
drawers and uhdershirts are among the abso-
lutte necessities of life. As 1t il their needs are
so small that they have not the incentives to
work to satisfy them that we have. and man 8
whole summer outfit would not cost as much as
an American farmer spends for n coat. Their
headgear is as cheepas the rest of their clothes,
and the men all wear caps-when they wear
anything-and the women tie up their heads in
bright coiored handkerchiefs, fastening these
by knotting them under the chin. No
buying or wearing corsets or stays
and her entire outfit at this time Of the year
consists of this handkerchief for her head, a
Mother Hubbard gown Of white cotton red
or blue calico which reaches almost to her
ankles, and an apron which is gathered in and
cut low at the neck. and which falls to below
her knees, sometimes being belted in at the
waist and sometimes left to fall over her full
bust without being SO tied In addition to
these she has rag stockings reaching to the tops
of her calves and 4 pair of bark shoes. In
many cases she dispenses with the belt, apron
and the shoes, and rs she tucks up her dress
rather high while at work you have constantly
before you here in the fields the pictures Of a
comic variety show without the relief Of tights.
THE RUSSIAN BATH.
This habit Of wearing the same clothes day
and night and the lack of undertaking would
naturally make you think that the Russians
must be the dirtiest of races. do not find
them SO, and it seems to me that they have been
greatly sandered in regard to their uncleanli-
ness. How they keep themselves SO cannot
see, but they are not half 80 dirty as the Chi
nese, and they will rank in cleanliness with the
other very poor people Of the world They do
not wash as often a. we do, but when they do
wash they make a business of it, and clean
themselves with the famous Russian bath.
The way they clean themselves is by copious
Precipitation continued for some time.
These people boil themselves at least once
a week in steam to bring about this result.
and if they cannot get the steam they crawl
into their ovens and sweat it out. Nearly every
village has a steam bath house and the whole
population turns out every Saturday and before
every holy communion. confession or fast day
and for the time becomes bodily clean. am
told that in the villages both sexes 20 into the
bath at the same time and that the men and
women. boys and girls all battle together. 1t is
said that no other person but q Russian could
stand the experience of one Of these vapor baths
such as are taken in the same oven in which the
family bakes its bread. and l am sure no other