Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1900-10-13
THE RUSSIAN PEASANT.
lis Primitive Life is Almost Aui.laI
in it, Nature.

lis Primitive Life is Almost Animal
in it, \aturc.
Here is the life Of the Russian peasant.
as seen 10y an Eugushman living in Rus
STA, in the government OF SmoleuSh:
The Russian village consists of from
fifteen to forty log cabins, each twenty
FIVE TO thirty feet square and about seven
feet high to the square. They are heated
by a large brick stove, about six feet
square, IN the center of the hut, and on
three sides OF the stove there are Wood
benches, about three feet from the floor.
On these the Russian sleeps, and under
the bed, or bench, the pig sleeps and
the hens roost The only other furniture
is a table, about three feet square. and a
plank on the side of the hut To sit upon.
In one corner You will see the store of
onions and potatoes. and overhead are
sheep and CalfskinS beng dried and pre-
pared ready to make the winner coat. In
one of these huts three, four or five fami-
lies huddlc together. The Villagers work
the land together, p.oWlng, sowing, TIL
Ing and rcapmg and moving IN body,
aud they divide the produce, not equally.
| Their noeks Craze IN one lot, and are
attended by hcrders, usually a couple OF
( boys or girls They have plots of
ground for cahhagcs and pota. oes. and
some villages have a few fruit trees
app,VS. pears, plumS ana cherries. Inc
crops they rails, in this district are hay.
rye Uhc staple food of the peasant, bar
ley, millct and oats, flax. beans and peas.
There is either windmill or horsemhl
in most villages to grind the rye
The whole of the peasants work lies
! In attending to his cattle and land. cuts
/ ting his wood for fuel and cartlng any
/ surplus he may have To the nearest town
| to sell. so that he may he able to buy any
| of the iron tools he requires. such as pillow.
/ mr. d
/ only cooking utcnsil most of them have.
| In addition. he may buy Il little tea. sug-
/ ar tobacco, gin or some sailed hcrrlngS,
piece of gaudy cotton print for sun
! day dress for his wife, or ii print hand
| kcrchief for her head. These are about
all the things the peasant wishes for that
! he does not produce himself. They. SPIN
and weave 10y hand their own wool and
| fax, and make their own clothing out OF
| the cloth Their feet they cover with
| strips of the homemade cloth, and they
make sandals from hirchhark lie Is
! thought rich peasant who can AFFORD Il
! pair Of leather boots for sundays ana
I HOLIDAYS His winter coat consists of
/ h0mr-rurcd or tanned skins of sheep or
/ calf. and his dress IN winter consists OF a
| shirt a coat Of skin, pair of homc>puu
/ trousers rags for his feet aud Sk,n
/ cap. They make their own wooden carts
| and SIcdgcS. Some of them have IRON
houps on their cartwhecls, aud that is all
the iron on them; many have not even
that. The whole of the fuel is wood, AMI
the artificial light is furnished by pine
stick or spill, lit and stuck in a creyice
Of the hut, when burnt out TO be replaced
by another
They seldom get meat and their food
is mostly rye bread, cabbage and onion
and potato soup, fat bacon and millet pnr-
ridge and skinned milk. Tho butter
they make they sell in the towns. Few
of them can read or write, and few can
tell the time from watch or clock.
Many villages have no clock OF watch al
all The people are about in the same
stage Of civilization that the English at
tained in the Seventeenth century, al
though. of course they are rapidly being
transformed by means of the railway.
Another thirty years win completely
change the whole tenor of their lives, and
the change will increase their wants, and
in this way find markets 10 absorb the
goods which their own mills and work
shops produce. or course, there Is no
opening for foreign textile goods because
the protective tariffs are too heavy. II
these tariffs were abolished the Russian
mills would get their machinery for -
per cent less money, and this is no little
item when the interest on money ranges
from to Il per cent