The Yellowstone journal., 1894-03-06
8E!z1hR45 8@sM5
SETTLERS FROM RUSSIA.
Remarkable Success In Agriculture by the
Mennonite Exiles-


Mennonite E1iies-
Quick As are Americans TO criticise the
manners and customs of Russia, and in
ferior as the subjects of the car are fire.
auently considered, the settlers on the
western prairies might well learn lesson
of the Russians who have their unique
settlements among them. The Mennon-
ties. .exiled from southern Russia because
of their religion, made as systematic an
exodus as did the Israelites of old. They
sent out their agents 10 spy out the land
and purchased 100. 600 acres of the Santa
Feand Kansas Pacific railways for homes.
Then the people packed up their house
hold goods and came TO America. On
the depot platforms they landed. wearing
sheepskin coats, the woolly ide out, and
black handkerchiefs over their heads.
They carried iron teakettl and regard
ed the gazing Americans with as much
curiosity as they themse yes attracted
They built their villages f yellow lime
stone. the houses having queer hip roofs,
green blinds and doubl' doors like those
seen in a mill. Curiou ovens, in which
prairie nay Or straw ould be burned,
overcame the lack of uel, and a street
looked for all the wo- d as though it had
dropped out of an i'll lstration in al aSiberi-
an sketch. Such 4mes as Catherine
stadt. "Leberthal" and '.Pfeiffer" grace
their towns. and NJ man not of Mennon-
ite persuasion is allowed inside the limits
as a resident. though visitors are cordial
ly welcomed.
The Mennonites number several thou
sand. but they are never heard of in poll
tics They are busy tilling their 100000
acres, raising stock, planting orchards
and piling up We alth. The wide awake
wesuerner standing on the street corner
explaining the contraction of the cur
rency" to knot Of listeners sees halt
dozen odd looking wagons come toiling
up the road. They are loaded with
wheat and solemn faced Mennonites, who
guide the sober teams, pocket the pay
mert and trudge hpneward. The ora.
tors hold forth III the country school
house. and the eager real estate agent
plats additions - the towns. bur the
MennomJes pay no attention to either
They keep on selling wheat and corn
and cattle until thy bone the richest
bers con-ij+~aI. 'aa. .Iu-a, afLa-..s
They take w paper. p. cp not Vote
they care nothing wu"'4. the govern
ment Is Republican "r y raocratic in 1t.
management. They rr- .. isolated as
though they were upoU g. E island. ex,
cept as they bring IN their pr luce to TIE
shipping station.
II is noticeable that nearly all the
lands are in the much discus ed arid
belt" yet the Mrnuonitrs never ask aid
or seed wheat. They prosper very year
and their homes are veTitable store
houses Of garden and field products. To
step into them l. like visit TO the land
of the Volga Curious furniture. strange
garb and peculiar habits impress one
with the feeling that he is in another
land and another age. The houses are
for the most part surrounded by stone
walls and old country fashions III fenc
ing. Barns aud implements are every
where apparent.
They have their own minister. theil
own church and their own schools
When a higher" education is desired
(and some Of the young people are as
forward in their ambition for learning
as American youth, there is plenty Of
money in the village bank to send them
to Europe or to some eastern college tc
acquire it.
There is an important lesson in their
success. They have shown by their works
what industry and frugality can accom-
plish upon the prairies and what can be
done with the right kind Of effort. Still
it is doubtful if the American settler
could bring himself and his family to the
grinding economy of European peasan,
life which the Mennonites have trans.
planted in their ettlements.-Abilene
KAN Cor. st. Louis Globe-Democrat.