The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1900-12-29
lWoMANls vIEW d sIBERIA.
Trodden Race So MANY Have
Described

-
il think that there is a great deal
Of misconception concerning the Rus
sian peasant, He does not present
the listIess, d-own-trodden, hopeless
picture which so many people have
drawn, says Anna N. benjamin., in
Ainslee's. Physically he seems almost
pecrless. 1 do not refer alone to his
health and strength, for the massive
blond type is pleasant to look at, and,
as a whole, presents more claim to
personal beauty among the men
than any other except, perhaps
the italian. One element of the more
or less latent power Of the Russian
peasant is his ability to live in the
utmost simplicity. His Drawn is pro-
duced by the consumption Of black
bread and sour milk. He requires no
luxuries. He is simple, and he is.
stolid, but not dull. In Siberia, at
least, he is contented with his lot;
he is devoted to his family, and shows
a nev~er-failing tenderness for his
children. If he lacks in enterprise
and in business ability, it must be re-
membered that he has encountered.
nothing to develop those qualities
He makes up for this to a certain ex-
tent 10y his thrift and fruga1ity. His
greatest curse is drink, which is the
besetting sin of the Russians, but if
lanY ace a stand excesses, they can.
/ have spoken entirely Of the peas
ant, the moujik, as he is called, yet
no description Of the growing popula-
tion Of Siberia would be complete
without reference to the Cossacks,
whom we met at every turn. The
Cossacks are the arms and legs of Rus
! STA, while the moujik is the backbone.
The Cossacks won Siberia for Russia
when they were the daring fringe Of
her population grown adventurous
and warlike by their frequent con-
fiicts with the Tartars who crowded
Russia's borders. In them is concen-
trated the enterprise and the agrees
s~iveness which the mouiik lacks.
They cut the path and the moujiks
followed, and the descendants Of these
hardy pioneers live throughout ST.
IBERIA to-day, forming a hereditary
military caste. In every group of
people who crowded to welcome our
steamer on the shore shone the white
blouse and KEPT of the Cossack, while
his sons are dressed in a miniature
uniform of the same kind. The mil
itary. governor at Vladivostock is a
Cossack, and several Cossack officers
travelled for some distance on our
steamer. Their regiment was scat
tered among the different villages
along the bank. Since the trouble in
the east it has probably been mus
tered in and gone to the front. So
strict are the laws of heredity among
the Cossacks that it is almost impos-
sible for an officer who was not born
one to obtain a command in a Cossack
regiment. I saw no greater evidence
Of Russia's administrative ability than
the present results Of turing an az
most Iawless force into a loyal and
powerful arm of her service.
The people themselves form the
most picturesque element Of the ST.
berian village. The men wear the
Russian cap, and the blouse, most
often Of red, while the only boot that
they know comes to the knee, or above
1t, in manifold wrinkles. The women,
in bright print gowns, are mostly
bare-footed, except in winter, and
wear a gay kerchief over the head.
But even before you see the people
you are impressed with the dual
spires of the small Greek church
which rise above each small place,
bringing to this distant land the Rus
sian message Of Christ and a faint
echo of Byzantium. In the group on
the bank is the village pope in a
long cassock, his fair hair falling in
silken waves about his shoulders. ]
found it impossible to withhold my
admiration for the thoroughness and
the consistency Of the Greek church
Though we mag object to its exclusive
system, we must admit that there i.
nothing Of the dog-in-the-manger at
titude about it, Wherever Russia
sends her moujik she senus also hel
pope" whose life must often be Z
dreary exile; The most insignificant
Siberian village is not without tn,
same religious privileges that are K
be obtained n Russia.
Fighting Spiders,