Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-09-14

then known, divided into two groups: one
group lived in the villages and titled me soil, mar
ried and brought up their children to be warriors
also. The other group lived in what was known as
the Setcb " settlement situated in an iDaccessl-
Bile stretch Of country beyond the cataracts or the
Dneiper river The Setch was the great power Oh
the Kossatchestovo. From it came the signal for
war, and from 1t went the messages to other coun-
tries These latter, being written by some monk or
knight who had fed his own country, we're said 70
have surprised the nations receiving them by their
excellent language and poetical expressions.
In the Setch everybody, with the exception OF a
few elected officers, such as the chief, or hetman
and couple of judges. was equal No one owned
any private property. All of the property OF the
Setch kept in the &C nmunal warehouses; ana
at times there was a great deal Of it after sue
cessful trays. The men lived in primitive nuts.
ate a primitive diet and drank a great deal OF
vodka although the drinking Of vodka in time OF
considered crime punishable with deatn.
They wore very old and dirty clothes and smeared
their faces with mud and tar, to show how con-
temptuOus they were of Injuries but they were al
ways careful how they kept their weapons. Inc
Cossack called his saber his sweetheart anu
never used it Turk. believing that 1t was TOO
good for him.
No woman was ever allowed inside the Setch,
and any man guilty of bringing a woman there,
even if she his sister mother, was instantly
hanged For the laws of the Setch were not
Ienient. Trey we're: Complete equality OF rank
and riches; complete chastity and celibacy after
entering the Setch; the orthodox creed; allegiance
to Russia, and the South Russian dialect for all
No questions ever asked newcomer When ne
entered the Setch. His past life was HIS own Sc
cret but while in the Setch he must obey its laws
If he sought a quarrel with another man, he was
punished by having his arm or leg broken. Steal
ing was punishable with death, while murderer
was burned alive, and the coffin OF his victim
placed on top Of him.
So for two hundred years dwelt the Cossacks,
growing ever stronger and waging war first on one
country and then another, sometimes the suo9ects
of Russia, sometimes of Poland, sometimes OF the
sultan It all depended upon whose cause they
t"etifed.
The Cossack OF these days striking ngure.
He wore his head shaved, except for one wlsp OF
hair across the crown, which was twisted with MS
beard and wound couple Of times around MS ears.
His belt was loaded with knives and firearms, and
In his hand he habitually carried whip Once
one of the Cossack leaders taken prisoner oy
the Turks who suspended him upon an iron nook
caught between his ribs in order that the populace
might behold his anguish. But the Turks were
destined To be disappointed. The old Cossack neFer
tainted for a moment, and kept up continual u
rade against the Turks, their religion, their GUS
toms and their country, until they could stand IL
no longer and finally shot him dead.
But in the seventeenth century the CossacKs en-
countered a streak of misfortune. They organized
a war against Poland, forming an alliance with the
Tartars but Just as Poland practically con-
ouered the Tartars turned traitors. Exhausted
with a long period of bloodshed the Cossacks were
compelled to appeal to Moscow for protection,
which was only too glad to give 1t, and thus gain
hold over the organization. Thereafter the ch1er OF
the Cossacks was appointed by the throne. Later
thew incurred the hatred of Peter the Great, who
believed they had sided with Charles OF Sweden
AGAINST him and he RACED the Setch to the ground.
From that time on the Cossack has worn chains,
so to speak but so he has been freer tnan the
average Russian. His schools have been better, his
farms larger and his influence greater. No won
dor he has served the Russian govern ment faith
he once maintained so valiantly-the freedom that
; Kere0sky offers