Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1922-07-27

llnldn women.
At times they even captured Polish
peasants and sold them as slaves to
the Tatars, who in turn passed them
on to Perslans.
Lovers of the Soil.
The Little Russians have worked
hard and fought hard, and they have
emerged fairly united and still vigor-
Gus people. The population increases
more steadily than that of Great Rus
STA. as the people are greatly attached
to home and do not care to wander
far from their native villages They
are great lovers of the soil and cling
to it with a passionate tenacity
The Ukraine includes old southeast
ern Russia. with the exception of the
province known as Bessarabia, which
partakes of the character of the Bal
kan states and is peopled with Ru-
manians and Bulgarians. The great
seaport of Odessa and the surround
ing country were added to it under its
new alignment after the breakup Of
the Russian empire.
The Ukraine does not reach much
north of Kiev or east of Kharkov, but
it is a large state in itself, about as
large as the German empire, with
some twenty-five or thirty millions Of
people living in it.
The largest city of the real Ukraine
is Kiev, around which national life
centers probably because of the deep
religious associations In connection
with the shrines and many holy places.
1t was at one time the capital of all
Russia. Kharkov is the leading COM
mercial town in 1t unless Odessa. on
the Black sea, is considered.
There is lure about the limltless
stretches of the steppes in the Ukraine.
In wide, level spaces, or in gentle
undulations, they reach out. until sky
and horizon meet in barely percept-
ible line. Parts of it remind one very
much of our own western prairies. In
spring and winter it is an ocean or
verdure, with the varied shades OF
green of the growing vegetation inter-
spersed with flowers of many hues;
later, in the autumn, after the crops
are harvested. it becomes brown
waste of stubble and burned-up pas
lures; in winter it is a white, glisten-
ing expanse Of snow.
WindmiIIs in General Use.
Windmills are exceedingly common
and dot the landscape on every hill
side. Silvery gray they appear from
age, as all are built of wood and they
are usually implanted. Many Of them
seem ready to fall to pieces from age.
The general use of windmills is due
not so much to lack of water, for they
will be found near streams, but the
fatness of the country does not give
enough fall to allow the use of water
power. They are used to grind grain.
Kiev is the holy city Of the Ukraine
and hundreds of thousands of pilgrims
visit it each year The natural land
scape is heightened at all times in its
pictorial effect by the picturesque
groups of pilgrims, slaves in hand and
wallets on backs, who may he seen
clamboring up the hills, resting under
the shadow of a hill, or reverently
bowling the head at the sound of a
convent bell.
The pilgrims made 1t point to visit
the CHASTITY catacombs in which are
rows upon rows of the skulls of re-
puted monks. Access is had by narrow
steps, and then through labyrinthine
subterranean passages one descends
deeper and deeper into the bowels OF
the earth, winding hither and thither
along a pathway. Finally there be-
gins a series of inches, in which re-
pose the bodies of the sanity re-
cluses.
The pilgrims pass each holy tomb,
reverently kissing the shriveled hands
laid out by the monks for that purpose.
They do not distinguish between the
holy and holier, but pay tribute to
each one impartially in order to con-
ciliate all.
Much contagion must be spread by
this insanitary method of homage. No
doubt many an infection, and possibly
even great pestilences, could be traced
directly to this spot where the indis-
criminate OSCILLATION of church relics
is practiced.