The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-06-01
CHARACTER QF RUSSIANS
Are Ready to Make Any Sac.
rifice for "White Gar
DO THINGS BY IMPULSE
They are Socabe and Very Chart.
able, Never Turning Any One
Away--Also believers in Fatal
ism Whatever Comes is GeneI.
ally Accepted as Gods WILL"

HWdJ-AlSo pelleNSTS III = dtal-
ism, Whatever Comes is Gener
ally Accepted as Gods WILL"
Without considering further the d.
verse and varied elements that are
represented in the peoples OF Rus
sia-for a book on each would scarce
give one a complete understanding of
them alive may turn to the real
Russian for the soul of Russia of to.
day.
Scratch a Russian and you viii
find Tartar" say the French. This
is only half true There is Tartar blood
in the veins Of many of the Cars
subjects, but in the Iiuss:an Of old
Russia, found in the center of the
imperial domain, there is none.
Great Russia, as Russia proper is
known, contains the heart of Rus
sian civilization. Hence. If at all.
one may see something of the real
Russian character.
"But." says a European authority
on Russia, only that man who can
sympathize with Russian character
can hope to understand and define it.
The basis of the character and the
prime move of all the actions of the
Russian. is the heart, with its lights
and shades, its noble sensations and
its erroneous impulses
This writer, who Is by no means
unsympathetic enumerates the chief
traits of the Russian character under
these heads:
Devotion to country and religion.
The Russian is ready to make any
sacrifices for the white Car" VINO
to him is the personiGcation of both
religion and country. Fidelity is thus
q prime element in the Russian char
acter.
A love of the paternal authority
and a veneraton for fatherhood are
strong elements in the Russian char.
acter. A Russian calls the Car, the
priest, his own father, and the aged
father" he calls all men brother"
Between different ranks there may
be an implied modification of the
brotherhood, but the form of address
is always brother" The colonel Of
a regiment addresses his men as my
sons" and the men address a parent
calling him my colonel"
Open-handed hospitality. Whoever
knocks at Russian door is received
with kindness. Though the house
holder may love money. he will make
no charge for the best his larder
holds and will give up his bed to
stranger. The aged beggar is not
sent empty handed from his door, and
in the earlier days of the exile sys-
tenn it was custom in Siberian vii
lagos to put outside the window at
night on a high shelf built for the
purpose, where dogs could not reach
It, food left from the table for the
homeless prisoner who might wander
that way on a night Journey toward
supposed liberty.
Fatalism. Whatever comes, It Is
accepted as Gods will" In the case
of a child sick with Group, a Russian
nurse refused to do anything for it.
on the plea that God had sent for the
little one" When called to arms the
Russian would not think of doing
aught but obey the call. 1t Is the
voice OF fate.
Lack of individual perseverance.
The Russian does things by impulse.
being guided by his temperamental
dictates, and not by the head. II he
fail in an undertaking he will abandon
II and begin another. Individual per-
sistence Is not a virtue in his eyes.
System and order do not appeal to
him. He loves change and lacks fore
sight. He works with precipitate
energy, but unsteadily. He has no
idea of thrifty management.
He looks lightly on discomfort, and
submits gracefully to circumstances.
He is sociable at all times, charit-
able, and never says i'll Of a fallen
enemy.
Such are the main characteristics
OF the great" Russians, that is, the
Russians of central Russia, whether
found at home, as settlers in Siberia.
or with the cars armies,
or their faults so much has been
heard, through unsympathetic chan
nels, from which none have escaped,
! that we may well leave them to those
who do not care to dwell on the
better side.
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