Long Valley advocate., 1905-07-06
ON RUSSIAN ESTATE
RELATIONS OF THE BOYAR AND
THE PEASANTS. t-
Land Owner and Land CuItivstor
More Friendly Than is Generally
Supposed-T Built DWELLINGS
the Rule in the Country.

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conditions of existence more stIik-
'ngly national than in Russia. The
idea carried away by the average
visitor that Russian life is much like
That in other European countries is
based on misconception, failure to
grasp salient features of the Russian
national character. A visit to the
country home of a Russian landowner
reveals the immense contrast pre-
sented by the life of the Russian
noble in town and his more nearly
normal existence on his country es-
tate. Nothing shows more clearly the |
versatility of the Slavonic nsture than
this ready adaptability to either mode
OF life. The man seems transformed. |
Once back in the country the mask of |
the cosmopolitan dweller in one of the
gayest capitals in the world, ST.
Petersburg, falls away like a wornout
garment and he is again a Boyar, like
his forefathers.
A group of peasants, large or small
according to the size of his estate,
will be waiting to greet him on his ar
rival there. Their warm welcome to
the khazyaeen (master Of the house)
is evidently sincere, and as they bend
reverently to kiss his hands, or pos
sibly his feet in the case of the older
ones, just as they would have done in
| the days of serfdom, one begins to see
that the real relations between land
owner and peasant are much more
friendly than is generally supposed.
The heart of the average Russian
landowner, however, is not, and never
has been in his country estate Thus
his personal influence in his own To-
cality, which would, no doubt, have
led to the development of healthier
national life than is possible under
present conditions, is almost entirely
lacking.
Wood is the material employed in
the construction of all buildings in the
rural districts, with the possible ex-
ception of the churches. In the eli
mate of Russia where the average
life of these wooden buildings will not
exceed seventy years, there are no
castles like those of the old feudal
| mobiles of England or of the continent
to connect past and present.
The timber-built dwellings of even
the richest landowners in Russia lack
the picturesque construction familiar
to travellers in Norway and Sweden.
The walls are generally formed or
square beams, from one foot to eigh-
teen inches in thickness, laid one on
the other and neatly joined at the
corners. They are fastened together
by wooden bolts, sometimes three feet
in length, driven at short intervals.
The interstices are made alright with
dried moss, saturated with pitch, then
dried in the sun, and the whole is
covered with a sheathing OF thin
planks, on the inside as well as the
outside of the walls. When these
walls are covered with paint on the
outside and plaster within, they are as
| impenetrable to the winter blasts as
the hull Of ship, and far warmer
than the same thickness of stone or
brick would be.
The old houses have thatched roofs,
like those of the peasants izba (cot-
tage). but more modern dwellings are
shingled. The rooms are almost al
ways lofty and some of them, notably
the drawing room and the dining
room. are of large dimensions.
The plaster walls are tinted with
wash of some light shade for the
drawing and bedrooms, and a darker
one. possibly brown. for the dining
yoom. The furniture is simple. very
likely homemade, or, as is frequently
| the case of late years, one OF the