The DeLamar nugget. [volume] (DeLamar, Idaho) 1891-1900, 1894-03-17
EXILES FROM RUSSIA.
Remarkable Success Of the Men.
nonites in Kansas.
4 ssIf-sustaining and Independent People
Who Have Nothing to DO With
tho Outside World Save In
Commercial Way.

Quick as are Americans to criticise
the manners and customs of Russia,
and inferior as the subjects of the car
are frequently considered, the settlers
on the western prairies might well
learn a lesson of the Russians who have
their unique settlements among them,
The Mennonites, exiled from southern
Russia because of their religion, made
as systematic an exodus as did the Is
raelites of old, says Kansas CORE
spondent of the ST. Louis Globe-Demo-
crat They sent out their agents to
spy out the land, and purchased one
hundred Thousand acres of the Santa
Fe and Kansas Pacific railways for
homes. Then the people packed up
their household goods and came to
America On the depot platforms they
landed, wearing sheepskin coats, the
woody side out, and black lxerchiefs
over their heads They carried iron
teakettles and regarded the gazing
Americans with as much curiosity as
they themselves attracted. They built
their villages of yellow limestone, the
houses having queer hip roofs, green
blinds and double doors like those seen
in mill. Curious ovens in which
prairie hay or straw could be burned
! overcame the lack of fuel, and street
looked for all the world as though it
had dropped out of an illustration in
Siberian sketch. Such names as Cath
crime stadt," "Leberthal' and ssPfeif-
fer" grace their towns, and no man not
of Mennonite persuasion is allowed in
side the limits as resident, though
visitors are cordially welcomed.
The Menonnites number several
thousand, but they are never heard of
In politics. They are busy tilIing their
one hundred Thousand acres, raising
stock, planting orchards and piling up
wealth. The wide-awalSe westerner.
standing on the street corner explain
ing the contraction of the currency
to knot of listeners, sees a half-dozen
odd-looking wagons come toiling up
the road. They are loaded with wheat
and solemn-faced Mennonnites, who
guide the soberer teams, pocket the |
payment and trudge homeward The
orators hold forth in the country |
'schoolhouse, and the eager real estate
agent plats additions to the towns. but 1
the Mennonites pay no attention to !
either They keep on selling wheat |
and corn and cattle until they have
become the richest class of farmers, |
their number considered, 7
that Kansas affords. They take few
papers, they do not vote, they care
nothing whether the government is re-
publican or democratic in its manage
ment- They are as isolated as though
they We're upon a sea island, except as
they bring their produce to the station.
1t is noticeable that nearly all the
lands are in the much discussed .'arid
belt" yet the Mennonites never ask
aid or seed wheat. They prosper every
year, and their homes are veritabIe
of garden and field prod
icts. To step into them is like a visit
% the land of Volga Curious furni-
,ure. strange garb and peculiar bab-
is impress one with the feeling that ;
lie is in another land and another age.
The houses are for the most part sur
'ounded by stone walls and old coun- t
ry fashions in fencing barns. and inn a
Elements are everywhere apparent. '
They have their own minister. their L
'wn church and their own schools. F
When a higher" education is desired t
and some of the young people are as t
Onward in their ambition for learning
S American YOUTH there is plenty of
noAsy in the village bank to send
hem to Europe or to some eastern col {
eye to acquire it. During the last j
ear, when common complaint of hard c
ines went up from the jewellers on '
be plains, when seed wheat has been i
ent by the thousand bushels to Amer I
,an settlers, the Russians have CON
nued to thrive. Their old-fashioned C
ehicles have come regularly to the t.
and carload after carload {
wheat has been sent east Lumber cl
callers in the towns where they do W
heir buying say that there has been Ii
0 diminution in their purchases, and
nat by far the larger portion of their il
ards sales have gone to their Russian L
lstomers. There is an important les
IN in their success. They have shown 81
Y their works what industry and fru- ST
Atty can accomplish upon the prai- al
es, and what can be done with the
ght kind of effort Still it is doubt m
i if the American settler could bring Of
mself and his family to the grinding #,
onomy of European peasant life
hich the Mennonites have trans :
anted in their settlements. :,