The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-03-17

thoughts, our old men write such IA
nous big books. a soul is namely i
man-in Russia the women have not
yet begun to seek their rights and lose
their privileges. \ man is therefore q
"soul" in Russia and as such enjoys
the doubtful privilege of contributing
to the land tax and to every other ta,:.
That the Russian peasant is by ma
ture one of the cheerlest, the noisiest
and lightest hearted of men is only an
other proof of the Creators power, for
this dimly lighted soul has nothing
to cheer him on his forlorn way but Tie
memory of the last indulgence in
strong drink and the hope of more to
come. He is harassed by ruthless
tax collector; he is shut off from the
world by enormous distances over inn
practicable roads. When the famine
comes, and come it assuredly will, the
mouiik has no alternative but to stay
where he is and starve. Since Alex
ander H. of philanthropic memory
made the Russian serf . free man the
blessings of freedom have been found
to resolve themselves chiefly into a per-
feet liberty to die of starvation, of
cold or of dire disease. When he was
serf this man was of some small value
to some one; now he is of no conse-
quence to any one whatever except
himself, and, with considerable intelli-
gence, he sets but small store upon his
own existence. Freedom, in fact, came
to him before he was ready for it, and,
hampered as he has been by petty de-
partmental tyranny, government neg
lect and natural stupidity. he has
made very small progress toward q
mental independence. All that he has
learned to do is to hate his tyrants.
When famine urges him be goes blind
~, helplessly. dumbly, and tries to take
by force that which is denied by force.
Some day there Will be in Russia a
Terror, but not yet Some day the mou-
jik will erect unto himself a rough sort
of a guillotine, but not in our day. Per
haps some of us who are young men
now may dimly read in our dotage Of
a great upheaval beside which the Ter
ror of France will be tame and I'M
eventful Who can tell? When a coun-
try begins to grow its mental develop
ment is often startlingly rapid.
But we have to do with Russia of to-
day and the village of Osterno, in the
government of Tver; not famine"
government, mind you, for these are
the Volga provinces-Samara. Pcnsa,
Voronish, Vintka and a dozen others.
No. Tver the civilized. the prosperous,
the manufacturing center.
The street, bounded on either side by
low wooden houses. is. singularly
enough. we'll paved; this, the traveller is
told. by the tyrant Prince Pavlo. who
made the road because he did not like
driving over ruts ana through pudGles,
the usual Russian rural thoroughfare;
not because Prince Pavlo wanted to
give the peasants work, not because
he wanted to save them from starya-
ton, not at all, although in the gratfi-
cation of his own within he happened
to render those trifling services, but
merely because he WAS great BARN.
q prince who could have anything he
desired. Had not the other BARN, Stein
metz by name, superintendent the work
-Steinmetz, the hated, the loatled, the
tool of the tyrant whom they never
see? Ask the ''starost,' the mayor of
the village. He knows the BARNS and
hates them.
Michael Room, the starosta Or elder
of Ostelno, president of the mir, or vii
lage council, principal shopleeper, may
OF and only intelligent soul OF the 800,
probably had Tartar blood in his veins.
70 this strain may be attributed the
narrow Tartar face. the keen black
eyes, the short, spare figure which
many remember to this day, although
Michael Room has been gead these
many years.
1t was late in the autumn. one even
ing remembered by many for it's death
roll, that the starosta was standing at
the door of his small shop. He was
apparently idle. He never sold vodka.
and the majority of the villagers were
In one of the three thriving inns which
drove a famous trade in strong drink
and weak tea. 1t was very hot even
ing
The starosta shook his head fore
bodingly. 1t was cholera weather
Cholera had come to Osterno; had
come, the starosta thought. to stay.
1t had settled down in Osterno, and
nothing but the winter frosts would
kill it, when hunger typhus would un-
doubleday succeed it,
Therefore the starosta shook his
head at the sunset and forgot to regret
the badness of the times from 4 COM
mercial point Of view. He had done
all he could. He had notified the
zemstvo Of the condition of his village.
He had made the usual appeal for
help, which had been forwarded in the
usual way to Tver, where it had APP
been received with the usual
philOsophic silence.
But Michael Room had also tele- |
graphed to Karl Steinmetz, and since
the dispatch of this message had the !
starosta dropped into tie habit of
standing at his doorway in the even
ing, with his hands claspcd behind his
back and his beady black eyes bent |
westward along the princes highroad. |
On the particular evening with which |
we have to do the beady eyes looked |