The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-08-06
(Reminiscence from RUSSIA.

Hm~4azSa y n
THE orphan Usik was the terror of the village He
nicknamed "Driftwood," and was given to
horse-steang. The village Krasnoe, of which he
considered himself native well other villages
of surrounding territory, eagerly awaiting the
day when 'Driftwood" will be apprehended
l CHANGED upon "Driftwood" one July afternoon.
Krasnoe quiet, hot, and fragrant with sweet
honeyed clover All folks were out in the fields
busiy harvesting their first crops of oats Only
elderly women and very small children could be seen
about here and there reposing in a shady birch on
the sand near a hut
Usik appeared from his lair smiling and whist
ling. He boy of about twenty and wore
home-spun white blouse girdled by a bright red
handmade cotton belt He stocky and short,
and had watery blue eyes and shiny oily face
unlike White Russian at all He was like drop
of mud in the White Russian human stream He
had a carefree attitude and approached me with
POPULARITY. He patted my chestnut-brown horse and
l foolshly inquired whether he was working He
reached down deep in the bullying bosom of his
shirt and handed large fragrant red apple
1t was fragrant with honey and flowers and Drift
woods" strong young body
Here boy" he said smilingly. Don't listen to
anybody. Work chains one for life. When man
starts working he stops smiling. =" He gave my
horse juicy blue plum and pointed to his large
black fearful eye.
"Once a gets the bad habit of steady hard
work he becomes dangerous and is beast Of other
mems burdens, and should be put in jail He is
dangerous tell you boy.'
He bit into small green very juicy apple and
continued:
81 tell you boy, know. I worked upon a
time myself. :"
The sizzling juice ran down his mouth and he went
"Worl makes a man full of sores and anger, like
after a beating. :"
He &c Itch al bo;r
"And besides there's too much food produced
around, that mortal should have to work on these
hot days. Surprising rich mans son? Come
lad, there is the cool Dnieper waiting"
He hoped into my cart and roared like boy with
laughter:
''You know it is enough that my three grand
fathers fools and worked themselves to death
to provide fat living for the kulak in yonder es-
tate and the fat pope who is almost bursting around
the belt. :"
AS it happened in his case "Drftwood" only
worked when he thought that the surrounding fruit
orchards were overladen with ripe juicy fruit, or
whenever he knew it was about time that the kuak's
yearling colts large enough to sell for ten
roubles. Work was thing that life could never
convince Usk the necessity Of However as it hap
pened that "Driftwood" joined band of roaming
gypses, and not hesitating to practice his art in
horse stealing, he caught 1t was winter. At
the end of the village, in tiny hovel-ke hut where
the widow Mary lived with her two pale small
daughters, Uslk was apprehended and dragged out
through the window to the snowy street.
storm raging furiousy, and "Drftwood"
was half naked and barefoot. He dragged about
the craggy street and maued all the while by the
enraged mob. Usik beyond recognition.
He was one bleeding sore. Soon from somewhere
appeared sled and "Driftwood" was thrown into
it. Followed by a cursing mob it disappeared in the
distance beyond the village the snow wastes
All the while the half dead Usik lie thinking how
to escape his captors, and suddenly his chance came
Once at sharp "Driftwood" rolled eff of
the sled, and as if suddenly awakening from ter
ible dream, he took off storm-swept snowy