The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-04-03

Id dpoul one hundred and n1ty mile
due south of Moscow on the Sebastopo
railroad, and it was here that L me
MARIA. She has not the, manner of I
girl who thinks that she is doing any
| thlng particularly special or is Yer,
dlHerent from other girls. She natural
~ notices that her girl friends who visi
lat 1asnaya Polyana spend most of thei
! tllne on the tennis court and in the mu
SIC room, but she seems to look upon thu
way they live as perfectly natural ant
! proper. 1t seems to her to be equally
natural to spend the bulk of her time
among the peasants, and her absence al
games and family gatherings is not re-
marked. Occasionally she also plays
tennis and helps to entertain her moth
er's guests, and when she does this gives
the impression of being as much inter
ested as when working in the fields, but
her best efforts are given to the viii
layers and to the sick in the surround
ing neighborhood.
Her efforts are about equally divided
| betWeen the workers in the fields and
the ailing ones in their huts. When she
works in the fields she is just as much
an employee of her mother and quite as
definitely under the direction of her
mothers baliff as any peasant on the
property. She is paid for her work
either in kind or copecks--a copecl is
half cent in our money-according to
the season. All the peasants in the viii
lage are bound to do certain amount
OF work for the countess in exchange
for the hay and grain which she allows
them for their stock. Women as we'll as
men have to take part in this work, and
Mara's main interest at the season of
the year when the peasants work for
the countess alone is in taking the place
of those women who are unable, on ac-
count of sickness or laneness, to do
their share. On such occasions she does
the work which would have been ex-
pected of the absent peasant woman,
and the latter or her family profits by it.
The same is true when Maria works
for a money wage. She only under
takes this work, however, when some
woman absolutely needs the money and
would work for it if she were able.
From twenty to thirty copecks a day lie
about what peasant womans labor is
worth on Russian farm, and this is all
that Maria receives, but she believes
that it has sufficient value to the Wo-
man for whom she tolls to Justify her in
turning hay in the fields for twelve long
hours, day in and day out A natural
thought, and one that came to me one
day when working with her, was wheth-
er it would not be better for her to use
her energies in some occupation that
would pay her more money, which could
likewise be handed to the woman she
was interested in. Her reply to my
question on this matter was typical.
''As matter of fact, I know of moth
ing that I can do that will bring me in
more money than my work in the fields
does. ] have not been trained to make
living equal to that which 1 now enjoy
at home, and if We're forced to shift for
myself l don't know that l could do any
better than by working as a peasant
woman AS matters now stand, / have
my living at home, and there is also this
opportunity to help the peasants Be
sides earning little money for them, /
think that l am doing them some good
by associating with them. 1t took them
a long while to get accustomed to my
companionship. and | don't feel that
NtIl NOW llCy dCCtpl me DIS l. SnOulu
ike to have them do, but a few, at any
rate, have learned to realize that l am
not playing with them or the work, and
hat | really want to be Of service to
hem. What | shall succeed in accom-
llishing by way of example and sugges-
ion is but an infinitesimal part of what
S necessary to be done before the peas
.nts learn what it is that my father be-
ieves the Bible teaches that men ought
o be and do, but it is a satisfaction to
ne to try to achieve even this slight re-
ult, and / am sure that already some !
f the women have views and ideas that |
hey did not have when they saw me
laying tennis or sitting in the music |
DOM the day long"
I can testify in all seriousness to the |
everity of the work which Maria does |
nd to the inspiring influence which she |
as over some of her companions. for ! |
worked with her in the hay field and |
aw to my full satisfaction what kind of |
abor it was that she did and how valu-
BILE twenty copecks seem to those who
eceive them at the end of the days
york. We went to the field at seven
clock in the morning, and excepting
n hours intermission at noon, when we
lnched on black bread. melons and
,ater, we worked hard until six o'clock
the evening, when ] frankly confess I
as used up and had blistered hands
} boot Maria was also tired, but the
blowing morning she was in the field
gain at the same hour, and l did not
low up, even on the tennis grounds,
ntil noon. Even had | been able to go
the field again. however, it would not
ave been advisable, for it had been OBJ
ous the day before that the peasants
oked upon me as playing philan-
,ropist. For Maria, on the other hand |
/ had the profoundest respect, and
lere We're a number, including some of
lie uncouth men, who had a great af-
ction for her From an economic
)int of view, as stated above. it might
; better for her to earn money in a S
ore profitable employment, but she is
rtan1y doing the peasants good mere
in being with them, and, as she her l
If would argue, this is more valuable |
IAN copecks. If bright faces, grateful t
ances and affectionate manners are in S
cative of her influence over her moth 6
s peasants, she is at least teaching I
EN- that although "God is high and s
e Car far away" nevertheless they I
e not so forgotten and helpless as their 6
/ would lead them to believe. t
1t is this that Maria is anxious shall I
the outcome of her efforts She be- J