The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-03-09

the suppression of the Boxer insurrec-
ton, which was mainly composed of |
Ussuri Cossacks, and did splendid work. |
General Chicagov is a Cossack by birth,
and is now military commander at
Vladivostok.
At home in his native village the Co.'S
sack is remarkably quiet and peace
full person He tills the soil and raises
his focks and herds without giving the
least trouble to the authorities or any
body else. He is a thoroughly, domestic
man, a kind husband and good,
though stern, father. Indeed, his char
acter is all that can be desired. He is
honest. faithful to his friends, ex-
tremely sensitive to points of honor
and chivalry. most hospitable to
strangers and frank and truthful in all
his dealings. Everybody who visits a
Cossack village comes away with the
highest possible opinion of the inhabi-
tants
When he is nineteen years of age the
Cossack youth begins his military serv-
ice. For three years he undergoes pre-
paratory instruction in his birthplace.
or in the nearest village if he lives at
an isolated homestead. The following
four years are spent in the first line of
the active army, and four years after
that in the second line, which means
that the man lives at home and is
called up for three weeks drill every
year. Then follow four years in the
| third line with only one drill of three
weeks during the whole of that serv-
ice. The fully trained veteran is then
transferred to the depot reserve for
| five years, and in that branch of the
army is only liable to be called out in
| time of war. After those five years his
military obligations are not cancelled,
for all Cossacks capable of bearing
arms may be called out by the en-
peror in national emergency.
| When he goes abroad on his military
service, the character of the Cossack
seems to change entirely. From quiet,
/ 1awless Scythian depicted by Gibbon
and other writers. He has profound
contempt for the people among whom
he is CHARTERED. and nothing gives him
| greater pleasure than to dispense a
| mob of rioters in a Russian town by
the ruthless use of his terrible leather
whip. In time of war the CosSack is a
| scourge to the civilian population, as
we'll as to the enemy in arms. Until
recent times he was given unrestrafn-
/ ed liberty to loot and massacre, but he
| is now subjected. in theory at all
events. to the same discipline as the
rest of the Russian army.
Unlike other Russian soldiers, the
/ CossackS are very intelligent in mill
! tary matters and do not hesitate to
criticize their generals freely among
! themselves. They have bitter tongues
and a genius for satire. There is Ia
vorite story which has been told IN
| Cossack camps for generations. 1t is
handed down from father to son, the
names being changed to fit the mill
tary commanders of the day: Freely
/ translated, it runs something like this;
The War God of Russia was asleep
| in heaven one day. when he was awak-
| ened by the confused clamo- of two
hosts in battle on the earth beneath.
He shouted to the Angel Gabriel:
Look out and see what my Cossacks
are doing"
.'They are fighting the Turks. and
Prince Potemkin is leading Them
'Oh, that's all right said the War
God. Hes good man.
So the deity went asleep again only
to be awakened by another turmoil.
whats that?" he asked, sleepily.
They are fighting the Turks again,
under Suwarrow'
He's a fine fellow They'll do all
right
And so the story goes on interminably
around the campfire, each man adding
the name of his favorite commander
| Skobeleff, Kuropatkin, Grodekoff, Sto-
ietoff and the rest-until at last one Of
them makes the Angel Gabriel mention
the name of some general who happens
to be regarded by the Cossacks as a
| duffer. Then the next man makes the
War God reply in accents of great
alarm:
sOh, my beloved Cossacks! They must
be perishing under that man! 1t is
time 1 interfered. Hasten, Gabriel, and
bring me my long boots, for | must go
| down at once and save them"
Alike in their native villages and in.
their camps, the Cossacks are inordi-
nately fond of amusements, especially of
songs, dances and listening to their own
wild, barbaric music. Their women are
worthy OF a race of warriors, for they
always encourage the men to go to war.
and no Cossack girl thinks of marrying
a man until after he has finished his
period of military service, received his
farm from the Russian authorities and
settled down into the reserve. Women
whose husbands sons have died in the
service of the car, are always treated
with the greatest honor in the Cossack
| villages.
| In war time the Cossacks are the eyes
and ears of a Russian army. They pride
| themselves on being always able to sur
prise an enemy and on never being sur
prised themselves To be taken una
wares, indeed, is regarded by them as be-
ing q military crime hardly second to cow
ardice This offense," said Platow, the
most famous Ataman in Cossack history,
| would not only sacrifice the army to the
swords of the enemy. but entail a re-
proach on all Cossaeks and a distrust of
all Cossacks that valOr or service
could retrieve. New York Globe.