LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
tAccassiou
mApm «""
IN THE LAND OF TOLSTOI.
J 11 l':\
COUNT TOLSTOi.
. IN
THE LAXD or TOLSTOI
EXPERIENCES OF FAMINE AND MISRULE
IN RUSSIA.
KY
cIONAS STADLmCI AND WILL REASON.
Eonlicin :
JAMES CLAEKE .^ CO., 18 & 14, FLEET STEEET, E.C.
1807.
;!]t^'^.
PREFACE.
Amid the broken recollections of classic lore that begin to
fade into the limbo of " the subliminal consciousness," as soon
as we leave the discipline of our Alma Mater, is a Roman
saying that it is better to do doughty deeds than to write
about them.
The bearing of this observation lies in the fact that it is my
friend, Herr Stadling, whose experiences and gleanings in the
land of Tolstoi are here set forth. He has borne the fatigues of
travel, gone in and out of plague and famine-stricken huts, and
gathered from eyewitnesses and authorities the facts that did
not come under his own observation. These he recorded in a
Swedish work, " Fran det Hungrande Ryssland." It has been
my pleasant share, dui'ing a summer holiday on a pine-clad
granite island between Stockholm and the Baltic, to co-operate
with him in the rearrangement of the matter, to offer sugges-
tions, and provide the whole with an English dress. While most
of the matter is contained in the Swedish book just mentioned,
it has been entirely rewritten, with complete change of form and
many omissions and additions, for the English public. Some of
the experiences in the relief work proper have been narrated in
different language in The Century Magazine (June and August,
1894), and the story of Prince Kliilkov has appeared, in other
words and shorter form, in The Sunday Magazine.
The illustrations are reproduced from the originals used in the
Swedish book. They are for the most part from photographs
taken by Herr Stadling, and afterwards drawn by Herr J. Tiren,
one of Sweden's foremost living artists.
WILL REASON.
Canning Town.
-84738
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH COUNT TOLSTOI. page
Arrival at Bjasan — Tolstoi's Early Life — Education— His Opinion of the
Universities — Unsiicccsful Efforts to Help the Peasants — Years of
Dissipation — Establishes Schools on his Estate — Tolstoi as "Peace-
maker" — Educational Work and Opinions — Influence in Russia, &c. —
Tolstoi and his Critics ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 1
CHAPTER II.
CAUSES OP THE FAMINE
Contrast of Famines in Russia and Western Europe — Condition at the
Emancipation — Broken Promises — InsufBciency of Allotments —
Action of Landlords — Prince Vasiltchikov's Opinion — Proportion of
Agriculturists in Russia and other Countries— Nomadism — Capitalism
and the Peasants — Kulaclcs and their Usury — A'wJacfcs and Officials —
Oppressive Taxation 12
CHAPTER III.
TOLSTOI ON THE FAMINE.
Tolstoi's Warnings to the Government — Their Reception — Government
Measures and Tolstoi's Criticisms — The True Cause of the Distress —
Russian Society— The True Remedy 29
CHAPTER IV.
RELIEF WORK IN RJASAN.
Countess Tolstoi's Letter— General Organifation — An Illustration of the
Position — Defects of Government Relief— Tolstoi's Methods — Visit to
a Famine-Stricken Village — Countess Maria Tolstoi and her Father's
Work — "Traits of Civilisation "^Destitution, Disease, and Death —
Miss Kuzminsky and the Mir — More Starving Villages — Tolstoi's
Difficulties — S( me of his Helpers ... ... ... ... ... ... 41
CHAPTER V.
TOLSTOI'S TABLE TALK.
War — An Expensive Conscience — Modern Religious Sects — Religion and
Invention — The Russian Sectarians—" The Cafe of Surat" — Attitude
to Political Governments — Western Literature and Mammon — Forth-
coming Books — Is Tolstoi a Christian ? — The Nature of his
Christianity ... 61
X Contents.
CHAPTER VI.
SPEING SCENES IN SAMAEA. page
On the Cars — Conditions of Eussian Travel — A Prison Car — Eelief Work
in the City of Samara — Eailroad Punctuality — Mushik Hospitality —
AMolokhan Meeting — My Lodgings with Count Lyeff Tolstoi — Famine
Scenes— A Wakeful Night—" Vot Klop ! "—Visit to Petrovka— In a
Snowdrift — Von Birukov — Feeding on Clay — " He must be the
Devil ! " — Orphaned Children — Upper-class Opinion and Government
Opposition — -An Address of Thanks — Birukov and the Priest — A
Lenten Service — The Popes and the Villagers — A Cheap Marriage —
The Pope and the Bell — A Peasant's Burial— The Burnt Sheepskin —
Fine Feathers — The Eouble Note — Eastertide — Visit to a Horse-Farm
—A Stormy Night — Black Thoughts — A Peasant Superstition —
"Christos Voskresje ! " — Lack of Seed — A Farewell Visit— Count
Lyeff Tolstoi — Th^ Honest Physician ! 75
CHAPTER VII.
A POLICY OF DEATH.
Ignorance and Superstition Due to the Government — Eepression of Schools
— Schools under the Priests — An Extensive Curriculum — Attitude to
Private Schools — An Educated Mushik — The Story of Semjanov —
Educational Statistics — A Battle of Circulars — Ignorance and Disease
— Superstition — Official Folly — Practical Consequences — A Sister of
the People — The Hospital — Eavages of Disease — Eesponsibilities of
the Church and Government 115
CHAPTER VIII.
A DAY IN A FAMINE-STEICKEN VILLAGE. ,
(Specially contributed hy P. von Biruhoff.)
Early Dawn — Starved Horses — Applicants for Eelief — A Terrible Story —
In the Eating Eoom — Simplicity of Human Wants — A Hidden Izba —
A Scorbutic Family — More Applicants — Weariness and its Effects —
A Tangle of Thoughts 127
CHAPTER IX.
ON THE VOLGA.
The Steamer Pwsc/ifcm— Soldiers' Songs —Peasants "Hunting" — A Col-
porteur — British and Foreign Bible Society — Influence of the Bible —
A Peasant's Story of his Conversion — A " Cross Procession " — The
Water Eoad to Exile — The City of Kasan — Tatars — Nishni Novgorod
— A Sapient Governor — A Liberal Professor of Theology — The Advan-
tages of OrlJiodoxy —Feast Days in Eussia— An Intelligent Official ... 140
Contents. xi
CHAPTER X.
AMONG GERMAN COLONISTS. page
Skilful Boatmen — Adventures in a Eow-^oat — The German Colonies —
Their Prospering? — and Decay — Mennonite Colonies — Their Principles
— A Visit — An Oasis in th«» Desert — Peace and Plenty — A Miracle of
Co-operation — Land fur All — Snccffsful Prohibition — A Wonderful
Record of "Crime" — "No Priests, Policemen, Publicans, or Paupers"
— Co-operation and Competition ... ... ... ... ... ... 151
CHAPTER XI.
IN THE CITY OP SARATOV.
The City — General TJstimovitch — A Stundist Meeting — A Prison-Evan-
gelist — Detectives — A Notable Picnic — Consecration of the Volga —
Calumny against Stundists — An Orthodox Missiouary — Holy Water ... 159
CHAPTER XII.
PRINCE DMITRI KHILKOV.
His Questionings — Abandonment of Property — Lif e as a ilfus^n/.-— Influence
on the Peasants — Conflict with Landowners — with the Church — ^" The
Damned Stundist "—Banishment by "Administrative Process" —
Journey into Exile— A Well-meant Offer — Settlement of Baschkitchet
— Activity during a Cholera Epidemic — An Official Medical Commis-
sion — Imperial Persecution — His Confe-sion ... ... ... ... 161)
CHAPTER XIII.
~ A RUINED FAMILY.
Wealth and Rank — A Good Landowner and his Clever Son — Schooldays —
Liberal Opinions and their Dangers — Disorder in the Schools — Acces-
sion to the Estate — Scientific Research and Police Suspicion — At
'Moscow— A Cruel Plot — Solitary Confinement Uncondemned — The
Sentence — Exile to Sib< ria — Destitution — Better Things — " No
Rights" — Pplj^® ^J^f^ Love Affairs— Fate of a Refugee — Waste of
Human Life — Loss of the Estate — A Young Girl's Religious Experi-
ences — Education— Good Prospects — Struggle after Truth — Reading
the New Testament — Persecution Vy Priests and Police — Exile — A
Generous Revenge — Another Sister's Fate — And a Brother's —
Mammon and Priestcraft ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 183
CHAPTER XIV.
OLDER RUSSIAN SECTS.
Tsardom and Orthodoxy — Reforms of Nikon— The Stanoven—Popovtsi and
Bespopovtsi — The "Antichrist-Tsar" — Specimens of Hymns — Contempt
of Suffering — Stranniki (Wanderers) and Beguni (Fugitives) — How
xii Contents.
PAGE
They are Made — A Sectarian's Story — MoUchalniki (Dumb) — An
Advocate's Experience — Prugoni (Dancers) and Chlisti (Flagellators) —
Origin and Tenets — Initiation Ceremonies— Orgies— Sfcopfsi (Mutila-
tors) — Mutilation — Samoistrebitjeli (Suicides)— JVje Nashi (Agnostics)
— Their Behaviour towards Authorities 199
CHAPTER XV.
LATER SECTS.
Close Connection between Social Conditions and Religious Development —
The Upper Classes and the People— The Schalapiiti — Religious Tenets
— Communism — Conscience the Sole Lawgiver — Molokhani and
Dukhohortsi — The Stundists; their Origin — Letter from a Persecuted
Adherent — Testimonies to the Moral Life of Stundists — The Missionary
Gathering in St, Petersburg — Bishop Nikanor — Outrages in Kiev —
Prince Khilkov's Letters — General Usumovitch's Protest — Character
Sketches- Ivan Tchaika — Ustim Dolgolenko— Panass Pactilimono-
vitchTolupa 227
CHAPTER XVI.
THE TWO WORLDS, PEASANT AND OFFICIAL.
Two Nations in One — Study of "the People" — The "Mir" — Peasants'
Views on Land Tenure — On Jurisdiction Generally — Later Corruption
by Officialism — Tchinovniks and the " Mir " — Examples of Official
Oppression — " Uriadniks " or Rural Police — Their Misdeeds — Wicked-
ness in High Places — The Logoschino Affair — Experiences of a Russian
Friend — Tolstoi's Description of Russian " Justice " 257
CHAPTER XVII.
IS THEBE A REMEDY?
A Conversation— A Russian's Views — The Fatal Breach — True Division of
Labour — Healthful Development— Paramount Claims of Life — A
Revolution Inevitable— " Go to the People " 277
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Count Tolstoi Frontispieck
Tolstoi's Headquarters at Rjasan ... page 1
A MusHiK Family ... ... 17
A MusHiK on the Tramp 21
The Widow's Last Cow ... 25
Tolstoi Taking Notes 41
Consulting the Starosts 45
Waiting for Help 48
Countess Maria Tolstoi 49
An Eating-room 53
Frost AND Famine 56
Miss Kuzminskt and the Peasants 57
Before a Dismantled Izba ... 60
A Group of Tatars 76
The Younger Tolstoi's Headquarters at Patrovka 77
Tolstoi's Chief Helper 81
Applicants for Aid 84
Village Street in Patrovka 85
Starving Orphans 89
Government Buildings in Patrovka 92
Church in Patrovka 93
A Mushik's Funeral 96
Delivered by Death 97
Snowdrift at the End of April 101
Peasants Cutting Through the Snow 101
The Kumiss Farm 104
Herr Faltvabel ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 104
Jashka 105
MusHiKS Waiting for the Distribution of Sekd Corn 105
"The Graves of My Friends" ... 109
Count Lteff Tolstoi, Junior li:j
XIV
List of Illustrations.
School, Children at Plat
An Improvised Ttphus Hospital
Cattle Grazing on the Steppe
Inside an Izba
General TJstimovitch and His Paper
A Picnic Party
Consecrating the Volga
Title-page of "The Damned Stundist" ...
A Street in Samara
An " Oboz/' or Train of Sledges, Bearing Food
Nonconformist Exiles in Transcal'casia ...
A Transcaucasian Town
Brotherly Help'
PAGE
117
121
128
137
161
164
165
172
197
225
2a7
2 a
FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH COUNT TOLSTOI.
Arrival at Ejasan — Tolstoi's Early Life — Education — His Opinion of the Uni-
versities — Unsuccessful Efforts to Help the Peasants in Years of
Dissipation — Establishes Schools on his Estate — Tolstoi as " Peace-
maker " — Educational Work and Opinions — Influence in Russia, &c. —
Tolstoi and his Critics,
It was on a cold, stormy morning in March, 1892, the year
of the great famine, that I arrived at the railway-station
of Klekotki, in the province of Rjasan. In company with
Madame B., who was also bound for the same place, I at once
set out to drive to the headquarters of Count Tolstoi, distant
some twenty-six miles across the plains, where he was hard at
work relieving the needs of the starving peasants. The grey,
woolly clouds were chasing each other at great speed ; snow-
wreaths whirled about us, and a heavy fall had hidden the
road completely. At c>ne or two points in the landscape we
1
.84738
2 First Acquaintance with Count Tolstoi.
could see a few trees that marked a landowner's dwelling, or a
village witli its churcli cupola and row of small, grey huts. At
one part our journey took us for two miles along a road built
by the Empress Catherine II., lined on either side with stately
trees. It was heavy driving through the deep snow, so that
we did not reach the Eiver Don, on the further shore of
which lay the village of Begichevka, our destination, until the
afternoon.
The moment was now drawing near when I was, for the first
time, to meet Count Tolstoi — a moment to which I had been look-
ing forward throughout my long journey as to one of the most
interesting occasions of my life. I was about to come into
personal contact with a man whose greatness not even his
bitterest enemies can dispute, in whom many an earnest
seeker after truth discerns a seer and prophet, marking the
dawn of a new era in the history of man.
Soon our driver drew up before a plain, one-storied wooden
house, and called out, "Vot dom Tolstova ! " ("This is Tolstoi's
house.") About the premises were a number of peasants, cart-
ing loads of flour and grain. As we entered, we passed first
through a kind of ante-chamber, densely crowded with
tnushiks, waiting to see the Count, then into a larger apart-
ment that served as a dining-room. Tolstoi himself was not
in, but I was shown into his private room behind the hall — a
small apartment simply furnished with a sofa, a cot-bed, a few
plain wooden chairs, and a large table covered with account
books and papers. I found myself occupying the waiting time
in speculations as to the impression Count Tolstoi would make
on me. I could not succeed in divesting myself of the " great
man " idea of the Count, the aristocrat, the famous author, the
yreat genius. All these hid from me the image of him as a
man, the brother of men.
After a few minutes, a young lady came in, and gave me a
cordial greeting. I asked if she were the Count's daughter,
but she replied, " No ; I am his niece. My name is Kuzmin-
sky." While I was speaking with her another young lady
entered, with an energetic expression and lively eyes ; she, too,
greeted me in good English.
First Acquaintance with Count Tolstoi. '4
'' Countess Tolstoi '? " I asked.
"Tliey call me so," she said.
At the same moment a deep voice was heard in the hall, and
the Count himself stood before me, dressed in a large sheep-
skin coat of the kind worn by the mashiks. With a hearty
grip of his strong hand he bade me welcome, asked about my
journe}', admired my Lapp dress, and showed me into a small
room that I was to occupy. Then he told me to hold out my
feet, and pulled ofiP my Lapp boots. This was done so simply
that they were off before I thought of protesting. Yet
the spectacle of Count Tolstoi, whose greatness had been filling
my mind a moment or two before, pulling off my boots like a
common servant left me breathless with surprise. Then things
took their j^roper perspective, and I saw the naturalness of it,
and learnt more from this little unaffected deed of helpfulness
than from all the learned lectures I had heard or all the
volumes of theology I had read. I was in the presence of a
man who had devoted a whole life to passionate search
after truth and reality, and had found '^the meaning of life "
in following Him " who came not to be served, but to serve " ;
a man who not only talks about " eg edit e et fraternite, but
whose life is egalite et fraternite .''
I had come to do what I could to help in his work among the
starving musliihs, but before giving an account of what I
myself saw and heard while with this notable family in that
sadly memorable famine year of 1892, it will be worth while to
give a rapid sketch of the Count's life and character, as a man
and the friend of men.
Count Tolstoi, the author, is well known, and has received
his place among the foremost geniuses of the day. Leo Tolstoi,
the philosopher and social reformer, has been amply discussed
both by those who regard him as a new prophet, and those
who look on him as a fanatic and a crank. The man Lyeff
Nikolaievitch is comparativeh' little known. He has, it is
true, told us somewhat of himself and his struggles after truth
in his Confession, and throughout his other writings are
scattered incidents taken from his own experiences. But he
lias said little or nothing of his work for his fellows, and what
4 First Acquaintance with Count Tolstoi.
lie has told us has been liable to the failings of all auto-
biography. He has spoken of his life as it looks to himself.
But Oliver Wendell Holmes says somewhere that when we say
there are two people conversing there are really six. There is
A. as he appears to self^, A. as he appears to B^ A. as he
appears to God, and the same with B. Tolstoi has given the
first aspect ; the second is the one we must take. With our
many burning social questions to-day, it is of more importance
to us to know what such a man as Tolstoi has done and is
doing to bring about their solution, than to be familiar with
the characters in "Anna Karenina,'" and others of his novels.
Moreover, I heard from some personal friends of the Count,
that his descriptions of his " wild oats " are very highly
coloured. To those who knew him, he belonged certainly to a
fast set, but on his personal character there was no stain. As
for the third aspect mentioned by Holmes, we must wait awhile
for that, if we are ever able to grasp it.
Tolstoi grew up without the knowledge of a mother's love ;
she died when he was eighteen months old (he was born in
1828, August 28, old style) ; and his father left his family,
which was a large one, when the little Lyeff Nikolaievitch was
nine years old. So it happened that much of his early educa-
tion was in the hands of relatives, of whom one, at least, is
described as hardly fitted to guide a youth's first steps in the
paths of manly virtue. In his home on his ancestral estate of
Jasnaja Pol j ana, in the province of Tula, he was under the
care of both a French and a German tutor, the former of
whom remained in the family until, at the age of fifteen, the
young Count entered the University of Kasan. For three years
he studied philology, history, and Russian literature. But he
soon lost faith in that " temple of wisdom," to which
Puschkin's words were thoroughly applicable : ^^As everything-
in Russia is purchasable, so examinations and degrees of
learning also are a merchandise with the professors." Charac-
teristic both of the state of things at the university and the
views and tendencies of the young Count, is his description of
the teaching given there. "Histoiy," he said, *' is nothing
but a collection of fables and details often meaningless or
First Acquaintance with Count Tolstoi.
absurd. The positive in it is a mass of dates and names of no
value. The death of Prince Igor, the snakes that bit the hero
Clef, &c., — what are those thinofs but nursery tales, and who
needs to know if Ivan the Terrible married the daughter of
Tomruck exactl}^ on the 21st August, 1562, or if his fourth
mamage, with Anna Alexijevna, took place in 1572? And
yet they require of me that I shall know all this by heart ; if
not, I get a shameful "one" on my certificate. And how they
Avrite history ! All is arranged after a given pattern. . . .
Ivan the Terrible, e.g., of whom Professor Ivan has had so
much to tell us, was suddenlj^ changed in 1560 — something
that has no interest whatever either for joix or me — from a
noble, virtuous, and wise ruler, into a mad, licentious, and
terrible tyrant. Why '? Hoav ? About this you may not even
ask a question."
Small wonder that the young student, athirst for truth,
S3'mpathising warmly, though as yet half-con sciously, with
the downtrodden and oppressed, regarded this "temple of
learning " as a useless institution. No doubt his lack of
interest in man}^ of the subjects had something to do with his
being '"plucked" at an examination, but it is also certain that
this was largely brought about by one of those intrigues so
common in a corrupt society. A hostile professor — hostile
because of family reasons — refused to give him his due where
he was incontestably efficient. This incident strengthened his
determination to leave the university and give himself up to
the work of elevating the peasants on his paternal estate,
which had, by a combination of causes, not necessary to detail,
passed into his hands.
He returned to Jasnaja Poljana in 1846, and Hung all his
energy into the task of raising both the economical and moral
standard of peasant life. He failed, in spite of his ample
means, warm heart, and indomitable pluck. The peasants
would not let him pull down their rotten, old tumble-down
lints, even to put up new and convenient ones at his own
cost ; they also refused to send their children to school.
He found, as so many others have done, that good in-
tentions alone are not sufficient to cope with ingrained evil.
C First Acquaintance with Count Tolstoi.
nor can the results of centuries of slavery be undone even in a
lifetime.
The disappointed youth resolved to go to Petersburg in
the autumn of 1847, to continue his studies, intending this
time to take a degree in law. But the juridical hair-splitting
of Petersburg satisfied him no more than the fables of Kasan.
He returned to his estate in 1848.
It was at this period that the yearS of dissipation occurred
that have been referred to above ; then followed his experience
as a soldier in Caucasia, and his successful career as a novelist.
Still, through all these varied years he retained his love of the
people unchanged ; unlike some who have feebly tried to help
the poor, and have drawn back into their selfish ease like a
snail into its shell, at the first touch of what the}'' loudly
proclaim as "ingratitude." In Caucasia, as well as in
European Prussia, he was careful to keep himself in living
touch with the people, not simply to study their life, but ta
give them real aid and sj^mpathy. This love of men is reflected
in his writings. He cared nothing for outward events nor-
outward greatness, but for everything that influences the moral
development of the individual, though so slight as to escape
superficial observation altogether. In a word, this young
author cared for »naji, and made living men and women the
object of his genius. His first book, "Utro Pomestchika"
(The Landlord's Morning), and those that followed are full of
that deep sympathy with the oppressed and the poor, that love
of the people, that Tourgenieff sneeringh' stigmatises as
" hysterical."
Shortly after the Crimean War (Tolstoi bore his part in the
siege of Sebastopol), he visited Western Europe, in order tO'
study the school systems in use there, with a view to his work
of raising the life of the Pussian peasantry. On his return he
began to establish schools on his own estate of Yasuaj^a
Pol j ana.
The same j^ear, 1861, saw the abolition of serfdom — in uame^
at least. Tolstoi probably saw more clearly than the rest of
his countrymen the enormous difficult}' of making this paper-
emancipatioji an actual fact, and thus realising the ideal of
First Acquaintance with Count Tolstoi.
the Reform Part}-. The first great difficulty was the
settlement of the disputes that immediately arose between
the landowners and the former serfs. The majority of the
nobles were opposed to emancipation, and only a few had
voluntarily liberated their bondsmen. To meet these diffi-
culties the office of miravoj posrednik, or " peacemakers," was
established, and the Count occuj)ied this office in his own
district, which he filled with untiring zeal. This was the only
civil post ever held b}-^ him, so far as we know. His unswerving
sense of justice often brought him into conflict with the
landlords, but he cared about opinions as little then as now.
On the other hand, he often had to refuse the demands of
the peasants, but their faith in him had become so strong that
they always acquiesced in his decision.
Besides this work, he threw himself heart and soul into
his plans of education for the niushiks. As early as 1849 he
had established a school for peasant children on his estate.
Another succeeded in 1857, and the third in 1861. In this he
himself conducted the instruction, with the help of four
students from Moscow, and a German named Keller. From
early morning till late at night he was engaged in active
teaching, devising and trying new methods. The principal
school was in his own house. All instruction was, of
course, gratuitous, and the children were also frequently
fed. In one form or another these schools have continued
ever since. If closed as schools by the interference of
police or jjriests, the children have been invited by the
Tolstoi family "to tea," which feast included food for the
mind also.
In connection with this work of teaching, Count Tolstoi
edited for many years a monthly magazine called " Tlie
School," the contents of which were entirely devoted to
education, and were of great interest. The fundamental idea
of his " free schools " is the gradual realisation of the moral
ideal, taken in its widest sense. Not so much development
simpl}', as the harmony of development, should be the aim of
all education. " Therein lies the eternal error of all pedagogic
theories,'' says Tolstoi, *^that they make development
8 First Acquaintance with Count Tolstoi.
per se, the development of some special side of the child's
being, their object and aim."
It is in the child itself, according to him, that the primary
conditions for realising the ideal are to be found. *' We must
listen to the voice of the people," he says. The more he
learned to know the young minds unfolding under his care,
*'^ listened " to their emotions, and watched the expression of
them in their lives, the warmer grew his love for them, and his
admiration for that simple poetry that surrounds childhood
as an atmosphere. At the same time his faith in the
so-called education of the upper classes, that carries them
farther and farther from the true and natural, waxed weaker
and weaker.
" Are the peasant children to learn from us how to write, or
we from them? " he asks in his paper. He had set a number
of boys of eleven or twelve to write down their thoughts and
observations on different matters, or describe their experiences,
and had made the astonishing discovery that they exhibited,
as he expresses it, " an artistic power to which not even a
Goethe could attain." This discovery made an overwhelming
impression on Tolstoi. " I was frightened, and at the same
time happy as a treasm-e-seeker, who on Midsummer Night
has found the St. John's wort — happy, because I suddenly saAv
before me the philosopher's stone which I had been seeking
for two toilsome years — the art of learning how to express
one's thoughts ; frightened, because this art evokes new wants,
and a whole new world of wishes, which, as I saw at once, did
not correspond to the surroundings in which these children
live." It was not only a solution of the educational, but also
of the religious question, that Tolstoi believed he had found
in the life of these peasants, from whom in this also we have
more to learn than they from us.
His paradoxes on the uselessness of what is commonly-
understood as education, art and science, are not to be taken
as a condemnation of education, art and science in themselves.
In one of his later works he says, " Art is not to disappear, but
to become something else, better and higher." It is only in
the service of selfishness that they are bad. The best proof
First Acquaintanck with Count Tolstoi.
of this is in his own untiring work in his schools, in his
distribution of books and tracts among the peasants, and his
gigantic scheme of a popuhir library, which is to contain a
digest of the best that has been written by the best men in all
ages, to be published in a popular form at one penny a volume.
After the radical change in his ideas and life, or rather the
ripening of those ideas that had been germinating and
growing within him all his lifetime, he devoted himself
entirely to help and raise the downtrodden people by sharing
their life. His attempt in Moscow, after his removal there in
1881, to aid the teeming masses of the miserabl}"^ poor and
degraded in that city have been most graphically described by
himself in his book " What to do? " Here he says : —
" Through much painful struggle I came to see that I had a
share in the cause of all this miseiy. I stood up to my ears
in the mud, and wanted to pull others out of it ! I, the
parasite, I, the louse, which eats into the leaves of the tree,
want to promote the health and growth of that tree ! I now
come to the following simple conclusion, that it is mj duty to
reap and use the fruits of the labours of others !
'•By a long and roundabout way I reached the unavoidable
result that was expressed a thousand years ago among the
Chinese : ' If one man is idle, some one else dies of hunger.' "
Tolstoi despaired of being able to help the poverty and vice
that prevailed in the city, and seemed inseparable from populous
towns. He therefore left Moscow, to lead the life and share
the toil of the peasants.
It is quite natural that such a man as this should have
attracted many admirers and followers — many more of the
former than the latter ! — and that he should also have drawn
upon himself many vehement criticisms and bitter calumnies.
It is difficult to over-estimate his great influence both in his
own and in foreign countries, although this has been greatly
<lisparaged by some; over the youth of Russia it has been
especially great. Banned by the censor, his later writings are
being copied, distributed clandestinely, and read by millions.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of young men have through his
influence left the terroristic party and donned the armour of
10 First Acquaintance with Count Tolstoi.
Christ, by which, to fight the powers of darkness and oppression >
Several " Christian commanities " have been established in
different parts of Russia in order to put his principles into
practice, and have thriven until they have been broken up by
the police, or through the intrigues of enemies. A large
number of his peaceful followers are now in exile either in
Trans-Caucasia or Siberia, while others have ''^gone to the
people," to share their life and toil in order to serve them and
make their life richer and nobler.
In England itself there is a powerful testimony to his influ-
ence in the large sale of his books, and the eagerness with
which the articles fiom his pen that have recently appeared
in the newspapers have been read ; at the universities his book&
are well known, and thoughtful working men are familiar with
his ideas. Much of his philosophy may be rejected, many of
his results may be held to have come to him solely through the
abnormal conditions of the Russian society in which he has had
his origin and passed the greater part of his life. The present
writers, in admiring the man, by no means accept all his ideas^
vBut as a living force, as a man who thinks for himself and sets
other people thinking too, it is difficult to compare him with
any other figure of modern times. 1
Tolstoi's critics are many and of va,ried hue ; from the priests
who frighten the peasants with stories of his branding all the
TnushiJis who come to him for counsel and aid with the seal of
the devil on their hands and foreheads, and the bishops who
preach against him as Antichrist personified ; to the officials
and politicians who represent him as a dangerous revolutionary,
seeking to rouse the people to armed revolt ; and the gossips
who circulate stories about his professing to be a vegetarian,
while rising in the night to eat his beefsteak. A certain
Russian professor, for example, has written a long series of
articles in a Russian review, called the "Ruskaja Mysl,""
trying to explain Tolstoi's " peculiarities " from " his in-
herited desire to live in the open air " ; hence, all his work
among the people, his relief work, e.(/., among the starving^
millions during the great famine, is only " a kind of sport."
We do not speak of thoughtful men who conscientiously
First Acquaixtanck uitk Couxt Tolstoi. 11
dissent from his opinions. But when you have known this
greatest son of Russia personally, and seen this nobly-born
magnate and great genius daily devoting all the powers of his
mind, all the strength of his indomitable will, all the Avarmth
of his large and generous heart, to help and uplift the doAvn-
trodden, oppressed, and degraded peasants, and have seen, on
the other hand, the motley crowd of his critics and calum-
niators, fops, mammon-worshippers, courtiers, and priests, Avith
borrowed wisdom, drawing-room philosophy, fossil dogmas,
cut and polished, and a Pharisaism that will almost put to the
blush that of Judaic origin, it is as if a swarm of noxious
insects were buzzing round a giant ditcher, toiling in the
sweat of his brow to drain a stinking and poisonous marsh,
and were raging over his attempt to destroy their para-
dise in which they have grown fat, attacking his perspiring
body, and seeking some open Avound received during his noble
toil, in Avhich to instil their corrosive poison, and fatten
themselves on his substance.
CHAPTER II.
CAUSES OF THE FAMINE.
Contrast of Famines in Russia and Western Europe — Condition at the Eman-
cipation — Broken Promises — Insufficiency of Allotments — Action of
Landlords — Prince Vasiltchikoff's Opinion — Proijortion of Agricul-
turists in Russia and other Countries — Nomadism — Capitalism and
the Peasants — Kulacks and their Usury — Kulaclcs and Officials —
Oppressive Taxation.
Thirty-five millious of people starving, at the close of the nine-
teenth century, with its marvellous network of railroads and
other means of communication, its wonderful development in
all the means of production, and its loudly boasted organisation
of labour, in times of peace, and in a country endowed with
unlimited natural resources ! This is so remarkable a
i^henomenon, that it can only be explained by a concurrence of
abnormal causes.
It is well known that years of dearth and famine decrease
both in intensity and frequency as civilisation and means of
communication develop. In England, for example, during the
fifteenth century, when in normal years food was cheap, labour
well paid, and wealth, as it was known at that time, more
generally diffused than in any century since, there were times
when the crops failed through bad seasons, and the, population,
limited hy its crude husbandry and without foreign or colonial
cornfields to draw upon, suffered severely by disease and death.
Under the cruel Corn Laws of later times, which shut out the
people's bread to fill the pockets of one class, the same
phenomenon was seen. In Western Europe, generallj^ during
the middle ages, famines occurred on the average every eighth
or tenth year, and were accompanied by great mortality among
the poor. But in the present day, by the remarkable develop-
ment of international trade and the opening up of gigantic
Causes of thk Famink. 1;
corn areas in different parts of the world, these 3'ears of dearth
have become a thing" of the past, in such countries as have
adopted the enlightened policy of interdependence, with some
measure of domestic freedom.
Kussia, however, is a remarkable exception to this rule. Of
course, famines occurred in the olden time. In the Nikonian
Chronicle, which covers the period between 1127 — 1^03, there
are eleven years of famine recorded. In 1128 the population
of Novgorod lived on the bark and birch of lime trees, and in
1229-80 a large part of Middle and Northern Russia was
devastated by famine. But during the last two and a-half
decades the years of dearth have increased to such an extent
that in many parts the peasants may be said to be in a chronic
state of famine. The semi-official journal, Novoje Vremja,
for October 7, 1891, says that scarcely a year passes without a
visitation of some part of the Empire. This is borne out b}'
the terribly increasing mortality among the peasants. The
average rate of mortality in the whole of Russia is about 84
per 1,000, and, contrary to the experience of Western Europe,
where the death-rate is higher in the towns, in Russia it is
the rural population that yields the higher figures. Among
the peasants of Central Russia, for example, the frightful rate
of 04 per 1,000 has been reached. In 1885 a Medical Congress
was convened at Moscow for the purpose, among others, of
investigating the causes of the growing mortality among
the peasants. The Congress decided that it was due to the
insufficent quantity and bad quality of the food. I.e., to chronic
famine.
The explanation of this extraordinary state of things can
only be made by reference to the course of events since the
emancipation of the serfs. During the period of serfdom,
which is usually understood to date from the decrees of
Boris Godunoff, tying the serfs to the soil on which they
worked, to the abolition under Alexander II. in 1801, the
peasants were certainly often subjected to great cruelty, but
their masters had a direct pecuniary interest in keeping them
from starvation.
In the introduction to the Act of Emancipation, the Govern-
14 Causes op the Famine.
meiit made tlie following well-sounding promise : — " To provide
the peasants with the means of satisfjdng their wants and
■enable them to fulfil their duties toward the State " (i.e., to
pay taxes) ; '^^ for this purpose they shall receive in inalienable
possession allotments of cultivable land and other belongings,
■which in this Act are to be specified."
How has this promise been kept ?
The so-called *• clvorovije," or serfs attached personally to
their lords, and not occupying any land, became proletarians
in the cities. The serfs proper did receive allotments, which
were handed over to the " mir," or village community, which
was to be responsible for the payment of the "' redemption
money " for the land as well as the taxes. The Government
paid out the landlords in a lump sum, so that the peasants
were henceforth responsible directly to the Government for
•everything. The j)rice paid to the landlords was supposed to
represent the capitalised " obrok " or rent (about 9-12 roubles
per allotment). But the valuation was actually made, not on
the market value of the land, hut on the supposed loss to the
landlord caused hy the emancipation, which in most cases
reached a much higher figure. To illustrate by a parallel,
it would have been the same in the United States if, on the
emancipation of the slaves, the liberated negroes had received
allotments and been made to pay the cotton planters the
purchase-money for their freedom, instead of simply a fair
Tent for their land.
This was the first hardship imposed on the unfortunate
mushils. In the second place, the allotments were ridiculously
insufficient to supply even their limited needs. To maintain a
peasant family at least ten to fourteen hectares are required.
(A hectare is about two and a-half acres.) To understand
this apparently high estimate, as it would be considered in
England, it must be remembered that out of the produce the
peasant had to pay the extraordinary high rent referred .to
above, and the Government taxes, which in Russia are, of
course, far heavier than in England, and also that the survival
of the " three field " system and other drawbacks of Russian
.agriculture made the produce of far less value per acre
Causes of thk Famine.
than with us. But, as a matter of fact, one-fourth of the
peasants received only 0-8 hectares to " each male soul " (i.e.,
adult able-bodied man), and about one-half received from two
to three hectares. Even if free from debt and taxation, the
peasants could not live on these plots more than 150-180 days
in the year. Either then they must rent land, which is only
accessible to them at unreasonably high prices, or leave their
homes and become proletarians or slaves. But, of course, they
were started with, a heavy debt, and the taxes are ruinously
•oppressive. The annual "redemption money " has amounted
to 185-275 per cent, of the real rentable value, and the taxation
for the Army, the Church, and other Imperial purposes
increases yearly. Moreover, the increase of population has
led to a still further decrease in the size of the allotments,
making- the position of the unhappy mushiks still Avorse.
For it must be noticed, pace Malthus, that miserable
<jonditions of life, so far from being a " check " to population,
are direct stimuli, except in the case of sudden and over-
whelming disaster. According to official statistics, collected
by the Government in 1878, the allotments in fifteen govern-
ments averaged only 1-2 hectares per " male soul " ; in some
parts it did not even reach one hectare.
In the third place, the landlords have taken advantage of
the ignorance and misery of the peasantry and their own
■authoritative positions to cosen, cajole, or terrify them out of
their most valuable pasture and forest land, and have after-
wards rented it out to them again at prices they could fix at
will.
Prince Vasiltchikolf, Chairman of the Agricultural Congress
at Petersburg in 1886, speaking of the position of the
peasants, said: "Since that time (1871) the agricultural
proletariat has increased with alarming rapidity. Through
statistical researches, made by the State authorities in
Moscow, it has been proved that the agricultural proletariat
has increased by 25 per cent. This shows that one-fifth of
the entire population of the Empire, and one-third of the
rural population in Russia proper, or about twenty millions
•of souls are agricultural pridetarians, i.e., as many as the
10 Causes of th^; Fa bunk.
entire number of serfs at the emancipation.* And I do not
dare to affirm that the life of our agricultural proletarians is
more tolerable than that of the former serfs."
It must be remembered that in Russia the agriculturists
form the great bulk of the industrial population. In France
the non-agricultural labourers form 23 per cent., in Italy 25
per cent., in Austria 27 per cent., in Germany 32 per cent.,
and in England 53 per cent, of the whole population ; in
Russia they only form 11 per cent. These figures, moreover,
show no signs of increase, but rather of diminution. From 186G
to 1885 the non-agricultural industrial classes have decreased
by 0-08 per cent. Of the 110,000,000 of inhabitants only 1}
millions are non-agricultural labourers. In fact, the agricul-
tural labourers of Russia are almost equal in number to the
entire (non-agricultural) industrial population of the rest of
Europe.
Owing to the impossibility of earning a living at home,
explained above, the Russian peasantry is increasingly " on the
move." In some governments, e.g., Nishni Novgorod, entire
villages thus migrate with the women and children. Cattle
Hiey usually have none. A few years before the late famine
of 1891-2, more than 60 per cent, of the Russian peasants
did not possess either horse or cow. No wonder that in many
places the women drag the plough !
The peasants are, as a rule, clever at handicrafts, which
they practise on the large estates as they wander through
the country, but the blessings of increasing '' free " compe-
tition cut down their pay to a minimum, so that they often
have to beg their way. Meantime their home goes to ruin,
family ties are loosened, their plots of land are left unfilled,
their houses and implements are either seized for taxes or fall
into the hands of the Imlacks (usurers). Numbers emigrate
to Siberia, but this is hamj)ered by unreasonable regulations,
and many are sent back. Meanwhile the mortality continues
increasing, being now generally 40-60 per 1,000.
To describe in detail the whole system which has reduced
* In 1858 the serfs of the landlords numbered \0,^VJ ,\'\,\) "' male souls " ;
tlie "serfs of the State," it,14:9,8itl ; and the "serfs of the domains/' 842,740
Causes of the Famine.
17
the Russian mushiks to hopeless misery would be to write
the internal history of Russia for the last half-centurj, but
some of the principal points may be mentioned. Since tlie
emancipation a new element has entered the life of the
peasants — capitalism, with its invariable result of prole-
tarianism. Before this the miishik was a chattel, a part of
his master's capital, to be maintained in as an efficient
-condition as the rest of his goods. Afterwards he was forced
A MUSllIK FAMILY.
'into the arena as a nominally "free" competitor with his
former masters in the struggle for existence. It did not
need the inspired insight of a prophet to foresee on which
side victor}^ would lie — on that of the capitalists on the one
hand, armed with all the formidable weapons of modern
finance, with absolute autocracy for their ally, or of the
mushiks on the other, mtli their ignorance, servility, and
fatalism bred of centuries of serfdom, in which they were
18 Causes op the Famine.
treated and driven as cattle. We have mentioned that the
lands allotted to them were insufficient for the maintenance
of life ; they lacked also the means and knowledge of the
best modes of cultivating what they had.
More must also be said of the systematic exploitation and
oppression on the part of the estate owners and the authorities.
The landlords, who had in former j^ears been accustomed to
live upon the industry of their slaves, had neither energy nor
skill to cultivate their lands in a proper manner. Many of
them rapidly ran through the '' emancipation money " without
applying it to the improvement of their estates. Swiftl}^ on
the abolition of serfdom followed the development of the rail-
road and steamboat traffic, which raised the value of the forests
and the produce of the land enormously. Immediately a
devastation of forest land and impoverishment of the soil
began. Immense tracts of timber were ruthlessl}^ felled, to
the great injury of the climate and soil, and crop after crop of
wheat was raised on the same fields without replacing b_y
manure what was taken away, until the land was completely
exhausted. At the same time that the conditions of the
peasantry made them unable to participate in the increased
value of agricultural produce, seeing that they were unable on
their small plots to produce for the open market, rents were
raised against them to a terrible extent.
In fact, the entire system of finance and steam communica-
tion Avas used as a gigantic apparatus for sucking the life-blood
of the people. In the first place, the cost of construction was
enormous. The difficulties presented by the physical features
of the country were much more favourable in Russia than in
Finland, for example. Yet the cost in Russia was three times
as much as in Finland (sixty to one hundred thousand roubles-
par kilom. as against twenty thousand roubles per kilom).
This difference went in no measure to the worJang man, for labour
was cheaper in Russia than in Finland. Again, though private
railways have paid very well in Russia, the companies have
succeeded through bribery in obtaining State subsidies, Avhich
in 1883 amounted to 781,888,800 roubles (a rouble is about
2s. 3d.). The smallest amount of common-sense is sufficient
Causes of the Famine. 11)
to see that all this is in the last result squeezed out of the
workers. Besides this, railroad statistics show that the chief
travellers are the peasants, who are forced to use the cars, not
in profitable enterprise, but in their wanderings in search of
the means of subsistence, out of which a heavy payment has
to be made for railway tickets. About three-fourths of the
peasants lead this nomadic kind of life.
In the most intimate connection with the railroads are the
banks, as is natural in a pre-eminently agricultural country.
The money market and the railway traffic correspond in their
rise and fall. It is from the great banking institutions that
have risen in the last few decades that the money flood is
periodically sent out to all the villages in the country, and
returns thither, after having finished its work of nominally
providing capital for agricultural operations, but really of
fleecing the peasants. This is partly through a shameless
system of usury by which the mnshiks have to pay 200-800 per
cent, interest, and partly by custom, somewhat akin to what
used to be forbidden in England as " forestalling " and
*^regrating." Immediately after harvest agents appear on the
scene, and take advantage of the peasant's need of ready cash
wherewith to pay their taxes to buy up their produce at a
shamefully low rate ; they must have money to pay their taxes
or they will be flogged nearly to death by the police. Before
the new year provisions run out, and the vinshiks are face to
face with the alternatives of buying back their produce at
exorbitant prices, leaving their homes to look for work else-
where, or begging.
The moneylenders who thrive so well by draining the life-
blood of the peasants are usually known as kulackn, literally
Jists. Some interesting figures have been collected by several
Russian authorities as to the extent of these gentlemen's
operations. It seems that the peasant, in his distress, applies
to anyone who has money to help him, and among his creditors
are found merchants, priests, deacons, nuns, village scribes,
surgeons, noblemen, military men, teachers, and such peasants
as have managed to get a footing above their fellows. But the
professional money-lenders, or Jiuhtck:<, are his great resource.
20 Causes of the Famine.
We will give some examples of tlie m.etliods by wliicli the
peasants are fleeced. It is very usual when, e.g., a loan of
twenty-five roubles is made, for one month, to require a repay-
ment of fifty roubles ; should these not be paid on the exact
day, a fine of five roubles a week is exacted. Among the cases
investigated by our author, the annual rate of interest ran up
to 120-140 per cent, in eighteen instances; 88-90 per cent, in
four others ; and to 60 per cent, in twenty-eight more.
Frequently the lending is done on a kind of pawnbroking
system ; clothes, household goods, agricultural implements,
stock, and land being pledged as securities. In other cases,
the borrowers pledge their labour, which is exacted at the
busiest season of the year and valued often at half the market
rate of wages. If, for example, a borrower has engaged to be
responsible for the complete working of a piece of his creditor's
land — that is, to plough, sow, and reap it, he gets no more
than two or three roubles per hectare, while the customary
price is seven or eight roubles.
In the village of Tcherdakli, government Stavropol, the
peasants borrowed 100 roubles from the diatchoJc or sacristan, for
six months. As a " mark of gratitude," i.e., interest, he got from
them the use of one and a-half hectares of good land for
sixteen years.
In the viUage district of Starososnimskaja, in the spring of
1886, ninety peasants borrowed from a JculacJc the sum of 1832*70
roubles, and pledged themselves to repay it on August 1
following, in 6,109 puds of rye, which the kulack valued at
28-30 copecks a pud. In addition to this, they had also to
pay 2,125 puds of hay, of which 1,000 puds were estimated
at four copecks each, and the rest at five copecks. At the same
time that these peasants were compelled to sell their grain at
thirty copecks per pud, their creditors were selling to other hard-
pressed peasants at seventy-five copecks to one rouble per pud.
In 1885, the peasants in Malouza, district Novo Usensk,
borrowed 300 roubles from a merchant for half a-year, and
gave him in payment seven yoke of the best draught oxen, two
large ploughs, two waggons, and two water casks ; these last
are especially well made, and of considerable cost.
Causes of thk Famine.
A MCSirili ON THK TKAJIl'.
In ten villages of the district Nikolajevsk, the annual rate
of interest was found to be 250 per cent. ; in fifty-three others it
was 90-8 per cent.
During the bad seasons of 1888-9, most of the peasants in
22 Causes op the Famine.
the two districts just mentioned were compelled to sell all their
cattle and sheep. There was nothing left to pawn, so the
community began to borrow, on security of the communal land ;
according to figiu^es given in that year, 56 communer had
already so pledged their land, and 107 were in debt to hulacks
and merchants.
In the district of Bugulminsk, the population is largely
composed of Tatars, Mordvins, and other non-Russian peoples.
The kiilacks have taken advantage of the greater ignorance of
business matters to exact many times the amount ideally
due. For example, a man borrowed 155 roubles for a year.
He could not pay up promptly, so his creditor seized his barn,
all his straw-thatched outhouses, one hectare of his crops, his
gate, and a quantity of his fencing.
Another, a Tatar, had borrowed 291*50 roubles, and when
he could not pay, lost liis dwelling-house, all his outhouses, his
horse, his cupboard, his samovar, and his clock.
Two peasants borrowed twenty-eight roubles, and had
in return to reap rye for two days with two men, to plough
the land with their own horses for fifteen days in the sjDring-
sowing, and to plough the fallow land also for fifteen days.
In another case three peasants borrowed twenty-seven
roubles from a nun, from March 2 to October 11, ou condition
that failure to pay, should forfeit all their property,
beasts, implements, bees, and all their clothes, and that no
question was to be raised before the authorities about it.
These are simply a few instances taken here and there as
examples of a general practice. I. M. Krasnopjorov gives
the following figures as the result of his investigations. These
are the latest we have been able to get, but by no means
represent the state of things in quite recent years, when
matters have become, necessarily, much worse. It is under-
stood that these figures are in connection with this forced
borrowing.
The peasants lose by forced sale of grain ... ... 21 per cent.
„ ,, ,, purchase ,, ... ... 97 „
„ ., jjiecewoik on the land ... 60 „
,, ,, harvest work ... ... ... 50 „
,j „ dailj labour ... ... ... 3}* „
Causes op thk Famine. 2-3
The economic position in the government of Samara in 1889
was as follows :
Peasant holdings under cultivation ... ... 48,468
Conniuinal land in pledge or leased out . . 453,917 beetaves
Arrears of taxes to Government . . . 5,808,459 roubles
Debts to usurers ... ... ... ... ... 1,170,932 ,,
These facts and figures relate to times before the famine.
During my visit I made the acquaintance of a liberal man of
great practical knowledge and high position, who described the
■condition of things as follows :
''At present the peasants are slaves in the power of the
hulacJcs, who have a kind of agreement or monopoly with the
authorities for stripping the people to the bones. 'No one can
have any transactions whatever with the peasants without the
permission of the officials, and these take care that those so
privileged shall be men of their own kidney. It is only in
name that the peasants are free; virtuall}' they are in Avorse
slavery than before the abolition, for it was to the interest of
their owners to see that they did not starve to death. If the
JculacTis do " good business," the officials get their share. If the
peasants should steal a bundle of hay from the rich kulacks,
the}' get three years' imprisonment, with flogging besides. If
these gentlemen or any of the officials rob a peasant of all he
has no notice is taken of it."
" But do not the Itulaclcs and other capitalists show some
sympathy Avitli the people in such fearful distress as the
present ? "
"You can see yourself what kind of sympathy it is," he
said ; " that meal that you bought in Zemljanki, consisting of
chaff, sawdust, and dirt, is a very good example of it ; this is
what they sell or lend to the mushlks. I do not know of one
solitary instance where a kulack has opened a soup-kitchen, let
us sa}', for the starving. I know of man}' where they have lent
one rouble for the purchase of a coffin for a peasant's near
relative, and demanded three in return ; or where they have
provided the starving with a little food, on condition that they
pledge themselves to give their work in the busiest times for
several years !
24 Causes of the Famine.
" It is very common for a 'kulach to lend five roubles, and
receive back fifteen, and if it is not punctually repaid, to take all
the debtor's property. If at any time a peasant should dare
to bring him to account, the hulach, who is hand and glove
with the magistrate, is acquitted, and the peasant in his turn is
hauled before the natchehiik, who is a little Csar in his volost,
and convicted of some offence or other. And it is forbidden to-
say a word about the doings of these gentlemen in the papers.
^'Both hulachs and officials are using the opportunity
presented by the famine to complete the slavery of the
mushiks. When the peasant cannot pay the Government taxes ^
which is an utter impossibility just now, they are sold up
entirely, to their last cow, their sheep, their household stuffy
and clothes. "When there is nothing more to take, they are
flogged and driven to borrow money from the hilacks to pay
the taxes, pledging their labour for longer advance. The
taxes frequently amount to more than 260 per cent, of the
entire produce of their holdings, and form a powerful link in
the chain that binds them to the triumphant car of capitalism
and tyranny."
I expressed my astonishment that the Government should
attempt to collect the taxes when they must know that the
people were dying of starvation.
" It is not only so," he said, " but six per cent, is added to-
arrears, which are often, by the way, the invention of the
collectors. If threats are of no avail, birch rods are used to-
squeeze the last copeck out of them, though their wives and
children are dying of hunger. In a village in Vistka, where
people were famishing, the ' fatherly Government ' seized the
last provisions of the destitute peasants, in the shape of 300-
hens, and sold them to a rich kulack at about a penny apiece
to pay off arrears of taxes.
"In another district, which had suffered not only from famine
but also from one of the fires that are so frequent in Eussia,.
the inhabitants turned in their distress to their ' little father '
in St. Petersburg, praying, not for assistance, but simply that
the taxes might not be exacted. In reply there came a collec-
tor, who used the direst threats to them that he would exact
•>??i't4i|fik
A-
ji^,i7^?r5»'y^S.
THE WIDOW S LAST COW.
Causes of the Famine. 27
the taxes and the last copeck. The poor men sold all they had,
in their fright, till everything was paid, except two villages,
where there was nothing left to sell. But it was of no avail.
More than fifty peasants were first flogged and then thrown
into prison. This happened on June 1, 1891, and is reported
in the Petersburg paper Nedjela for June 21. In the same
number you will find that the district officials, when they heard
of the deficit, imprisoned the village staroda also, because, in
official language, ' he had been guilty of negligence.' "
" How can the peasants put up with all this ? " I asked.
" They are far from satisfied with it," he said. *' They make
war in their fashion against the landowners and capitalists,
steal from them all they can, and take every opportunity of de-
frauding them. They are in a great majority, but have no
combination. On the other hand, the landlords and capitalists
are allied Avith the soldiery, police, and authorities in general.
It is already a war between two hostile forces, whose interests
are opposed to each other, and it is only a question of time
for this conflict to assume a fierce aspect. Tolstoi and his
friends, and the different sections of the Liberals throughout
the countr}', are working for peaceful reform ; the revolution-
ary part}', on the contrary, desire an upheaval by any means
whatsoever."
I myself saw something of this j)itiless exaction of taxes
during my stay among the famine-stricken districts, notably
in the case of a poor widow. One of my mushik acquaintances
informed me that the ispraviiil: (chief of police) was coming to
the village to collect arrears of taxes, and would seize the last
cow of this poor woman. I put my Kodak under my cloak, and
hurried to the place. The ispnivnik had not yet come, but was
expected every moment. The poor woman was standing with
her arm thrown over the neck of the cow, which she had man-
aged by great struggles to keep through the famine, and now it
was to be taken from her " to support the State." I took a Kodak-
picture of her as she stood, but when the ispravnik approached
I judged it prudent to take myself and photographic apparatus
off, much as I should have liked a portrait of tiie official him-
self. Afterwards I saw his man leading the cow away, and
28 Causes of the Famine.
had at least the satisfaction of assisting to console the widow
for her loss.
It must be clear to all, from these facts, that the bad crops
were not the real cause of the great famine, but simply the
incident that made ihe chronic need apparent ; the destitution
itself is due to the causes indicated.
*' Unless we are willing to let dust be thro^vn in our eyes,"
says the prominent Russian Professor Issajev, '^'^we must admit
that under other conditions of civilisation and development, with
a wiser use of our natural resources, we should not have
left so wide a breach for the devastating forces of nature, such
as the direction of the winds, the scanty rainfall, and the
consequent drought."
CHAPTER III.
TOLSTOI ON THE FAMINE.
Tolstoi's Warnings to the Goverument — Their Reception — Government
Mf-asures and Tolstoi's Criticisms — The True Cause of the Distress —
Russian Society —The True Remedy.
Count Tolstoi liad for some time foreseen that such a famine
must inevitably come, and had warned the authorities of it.
He had also, long before thej had any correct ideas of the
extent and nature of the distress, or had taken any measures to
obviate it, laid before them such proj)Osals as would, if adopted,
have lessened its terrible ravages to a considerable extent at
least. Such were the establishment of public works on a large
scale to give remunerative employment to the people ; the
regulation of the prices of provisions by a fixed standard, and
forbidding the hoarding of flour, &c., while the people were
starving ; the opening of free eating-houses in adequate num-
bers and capacity in the famine-stricken villages ; the organisa-
tion of all available voluntary forces in rational relief work,
&c. But the *^ powers that be" in St. Petersburg not only
refused to listen to his warnings or to take his advice, but
devised a fiendish policy of persecution against the noblest
man their land contained. His warnings were treated as
revolutionary threats, and made the basis of a report of a
"widespread Nihilistic conspiracy." He had offered the
Russian papers an article suggesting the best modes of meeting
the distress ; they refused it. According to his usual custom,
he allowed it to be published by the press of other countries.
In England The Daily Chronicle gave an English translation, in
which the meaning of one sentence was not made clear.
Tolstoi had said that the peasants must not only be fed, but
roused from their hopeless apathy and lifted up from their
30 Tolstoi on thb Famine.
deep debasement. On this sentence The Moscow Gazette, the
principal organ of fanatical and autocratic "^ obscuration,"
fastened, making the meaning to appear as 'Mhe peasants
must be roused against the authorities.'' Prince Stcherbatoff,
father-in-law of a former editor of The Moscow Gazette, wrote
a bitter article, which that paper published, the purport of
which was that "this evil " {i.e., Tolstoi and his work) " must
be exterminated." This led to other attacks in the press, and
if Countess Tolstoi had not journeyed to St. Petersburg and
obtained a private audience with the Tsar, matters would pro-
bably have been pushed to extremities. To one holding
Tolstoi's faith, and it is faith, not mere opinion or sentiment,
there could hardly be a more cruel mode of attack. Many
letters came to him from all quarters after the article appeared
in The Moscow Gazette, from university men down to simple
peasants who could scarcely frame a legible letter, asking '^ Is
it possible that our dear Count, who has taught us by word and
deed to follow the teaching and example of Christ in not
resisting evil, but blessing those that curse us, and doing good
unto those that hate us, has fallen so far, as The 3Ioscow
Gazette says, as to proclaim the doctrines of hate and bloody
revolt, instead of the Gospel of love, self-sacrifice, and patient
endurance ? " But the Count paid no attention to these attacks,
and during my stay with the family I never heard from him or
any of its members a word about the matter, or even the
names of his persecutors.
For some time the local authorities and the Government
disputed as to the very existence of the famine, the former
asserting and the latter denying it, until the matter was placed
beyond denial by authentic accounts of numerous deaths from
starvation in different provinces. In England, however, we
can hardly throw stones at the Russian Government, since we
have had our own authorities gravely asking whether there
were actually men who had real difficulty in finding work, and
regarding the negative " information " of their own red-tape
bound bureaus as more reliable than the statements of those
who passed their lives among the workers and knew their cir-
cumstances intimately.
Tolstoi on the Famikk. HI
When the terrible character of the evil could no longer be
disputed, the Government began to take steps for its relief.
Tliej issued circulars to all the village authorities, who were to
fill in the required details and return them to headquarters.
From this information they expected to know who needed help,
and to distribute the relief accordingly.
Count Tolstoi, in criticism of these measures, pointed out
that the failure on the part of the Government to understand the
true causes of the distress made them unable to devise effective
means of relieving it. Bad crops were not the cause, which
lay deeper than the palliatives proposed by the Government
could reach.
"The activity of the Government, having for its outward
object the feeding and preservation of the Avell-being of forty
millions of men, is met (as we have seen) by insurmountable
obstacles.
"First. It is impossible to determine the degree of the
people's need, since they may, in order to support themselves,
show either a maximum of energy or complete apathy.
" Second. Even were this determination possible, the amount
of bread and money required for this purpose (at least one
thousand millions of roubles) is so great that there is no hope
of acquiring it.
"Third. Granting the possession of this money, the gratuitous
distribution of bread and money among the people would only
weaken its energy and activity, which, more than anything
else, is at this difficult time necessary, to maintain its well-
being.
" Fourth. Allowing the distribution to be so made as not to
weaken the actiyity of the people, there is no possibility of
distributing the relief justly, and in consequence those who
are not needy will get the share of the really poor, the
majority of whom will remain all the while without help, and
perish."
In another of his articles on the famine, which were not
allowed to be published in Russia, he says : " It is in this vicious
circle that the Government is moving, and there is no getting
out of this circuhis vitiosus. For the task that the Adminis-
32 Tolstoi on the Famine.
ti-ation and the municipalities have set themselves is nothing less
than to feed the people. To feed the people ! Who is it, then, that
has undertaken to feed the people ? It is we, the officials, who
have taken upon ourselves to feed those who are always
feeding and always have fed us, A suckling babe wants to
feed its nurse, a parasite proposes to feed the plant that
nourishes it ! We, the governing classes, who do not work
and live upon what other people produce ; we, who cannot take
one step without them, tve are now going to feed them ! The
very idea has something grotesque in it. Not to speak of all
other wealth, we may say that the bread is directly produced
by the people themselves. All the bread existing is sown,
raised, havested, threshed, and distributed by the people. How
is it, then, that this bread is not now in the hands of the
people, but in ours, and that we are obliged, by a peculiar and
artificial process, to return it to them, calculating so and so
much for each individual ? It is evident that we have taken it
without paying for it, and have taken too much, so that we
must now return it; but this restitution presents many
difficulties. What then must we do ? I believe we must begin
by not taking what does not belong to us.
'' Some children had a horse given them, a real live horse, and
they went out for a drive. They went on driving, driving,
always driving, up hill and down dale. The horse was all in a
perspiration ; it lost its breath, but always went on obediently .
All the while the children shouted and cheered, boasted to
each other as to who best knew how to drive, and always
urged the horse to gallop. It seemed to them, as it always
does, that when the horse galloped, they galloped, and they
were proud of this gallop. So they amused themselves without
thinking of the horse, forgetting that it lived and suffered.
When they saw that it slackened its speed, they raised the
whip, struck it, and shouted still more. But all things have
an end, and the good horse's strength was exhausted. In spite
of the whip, it slackened its speed. Only then did the children
recollect that the horse was a living creature ; that it is usual
to give horses food and drink. But they would not stop, and
tried to find a way of feeding the horse while running. One of
Tolstoi on the Famine. 33
them took a handful of hay from under the seat of the
carriage, jumped down, and ran alongside of the horse, holding
out the hay to it. But this was uncomfortable. He jumped
back into the cai-riage, and the children devised other means.
They took a long stick, fastened the hay to one end, and,
sitting in the carriage, offered the hay to the horse. They
thought of numberless ways, except what ought, above all, to
have entered their minds : step out of the carriage, wait, and,
if they really pitied the horse, unharness it.
^^Do not the well-to-do classes, in their relation to the
labourers, in all times and in all countries, act just as those
children in urging on the horse which carried them ? Are not
the governing classes doing the very thing that these children
did, in trying to feed the horse without stepping out of the
carriage, when they are trying, now that it has spent its
strength and must refuse to carry them further, to find means
of saving the people, of feeding it without changing their
relation to the people? They devise all kinds of means
except the one that appeals to the mind and heart : cease to
gallop, and step down from the horse, which they pity.
" The people are suffering from hunger, and we, the governing
classes, are very anxious, and desire to help them. For this
purpose we form committees, hold meetings, collect money,
buy floui* and bread, and distribute it among the people. But
why do the people hunger? Is it possible that this should
be so hard to understand? Is it absolutely necessary to
calumniate them, as some arrogantly do, saj-ing that the
people are poor because they are lazy and drunk? Or must
we deceive ourselves by saying that the people are poor only
because they have not assimilated our civilisation, but that
from to-morrow we will set ourselves to the task of initiating
them into all our science, hiding nothing from them, so that
then they will doubtless cease to be poor ? Therefore we do
not need to be ashamed of living at their expense, because it
is simply for their own good !
" Must we hunt for the sun by candle-light, when everything-
is so clear and simple, especially clear and simple to the people
at whose expense we live and eat ? It may be allowable for
3
Tolstoi on the Famine.
children to imagine that it is not the horse that carries them, but
that it is they themselves who are going along ; but we grown-
up folk can very well understand how the famine has come
upon the people. The people hunger because we consume too
much. To us Russians this fact ought to be all the clearer.
Industrial and commercial nations, like the English, who live
upon their Colonies, may yet be unable to see this clearly. . . .
But as regards ourselves, our connection with the people is so
immediate, so evident, it is so clear that our wealth is produced
by their misery, or their misery by our wealth, that it is impos-
sible for us not to see why the people are suffering from
hunger. Is it possible that the people, in such circumstances,
in which they are born, i.e., with these taxes, this insuJ0B.ciency
of land, this neglected condition and this savagery, having to
perform this immense amount of labour, the fruits of which
we enjoy in the shape of comforts and amusements — is it pos-
sible, I say, that these people can escape hunger ?
"All these palaces, these theatres, these museums in the
capitals, the cities, and small centres of population are produced
by the people, who suffer and continue to produce all these
things that are useless to themselves simply because they get
their food thereby. That is, through this forced labour, they
save themselves from the famine that is always hanging over
their heads. Such is their constant position. We continually
keep the people in a situation in which they never can keep
themselves from hunger. This is our method of forcing them
to work for us. This year the strain has beeii too great ; the
bad harvest has shown us that the string has been pulled too
tightly. But what has happened is nothing extraordinary or
unexpected, and we ought to understand why the people are
starving. Knowing the cause, it is very easy to find the cure.
The principal means of cure is not eating up their portion.
" This concern of society for the relief of the distressed people
is like that of the founders of the Red Cross during war.
Then the energy of some is devoted to massacre ; this massacre
is considered as the normal condition. On the other hand, a
new activity is brought into being, of a contrary tendency,
having for its aim the healing of those who suffer from the
Tolstoi on the Famine. 35
massacre. All this is excellent, so long as the "vvar, the ex-
haustion and oppression of the people are considered as
normal ; but when we pretend to pity the men killed in the
war and the sufferers from the famine, would it not be simpler
not to kill, and, consequently, not to invent the means of heal-
ing? not to rob the people of their substance, and all the
time we are so doing pretend to be concerned about their wel-
fare? For the last thirty years it has become almost fashionable
to profess a love for the people — for *our younger brother,' as
they say. Our society persuades itself and others that they are
greatly concerned about the people's condition, and express their
■concern in mutual reproaches for the lack of sympathy with
' the younger brother.' ' For thirteen years I have reproached
others for their lack of love for the people; what further proof
is needed of m}^ own love for them ? ' All this is a lie. Love
of the people does not and cannot exist in our society.
" Between a member of our leisured classes — a gentleman
dressed in a starched shirt, an official, a landlord, a merchant, an
oflB.cer, a scientist, an artist, on the one hand, and a peasant on
the other, there is only one link; the one that makes all peasants
— working-men in general, 'hands,' as the English call them —
necessary to work for us. We cannot hide what we all know.
"All the interests of each one of us — of science, of our
occupation, of our artistic interests, of our family life — are
such that we have nothing in common with the life of the
people. The people do not understand the 'gentlemen,' and
the latter, in spite of their belief to the contrary, neither know
nor understand the life of the people.
"Voltaire said that if people in Paris could kill a mandarin in
China by simply pressing a button, very few Parisians would
deprive themselves of this amusement.
" Not to speak of the generations of workers who perish in the
idiotic, painful, and demoralising work of the factories for the
pleasure of the rich, the entire agricultural population, or at
least an enormous proportion of it, is forced through insuffi-
ciency of land for their maintenance to such a fearfully intense
work that it destroys their physical and moral powers, simply for
the purpose of giving to their masters the possibility of increas-
36 Tolstoi on the Famine.
ing their luxury. It is with the same object that merchants
compel the whole population to drink, and thus exploit it^
The people degenerate, the children die prematurely, and all
in order that the rich, the " gentlemen," the merchants, may
be able to live to themselves with their palaces, their dinners,,
their concerts, their horses, their carriages, their flirtations, c^e.
'* Why deceive ourselves ? "We have no need of the people
except as an instrument, and our interests (by whatever argu-
ment to the contrary we comfort ourselves) are always
diametrically opposed to the interests of the people. ^ The
more they give me as salary or as pension, i.e., the more they
take from the people, the better for me,' says the officiah
^The more the people have to pay for bread and other
necessary products, i.e., the worse off the people are, the better
for me,' says the landlord. ' The longer the war lasts the
more I shall make,' says the manufacturer. ^The less paid
for wages, i.e., the poorer the people are, the better it will be
for us,' say all the upper classes. What sj^mpathy can we
have, then, for the people ? Between us and them there is no
link but animosity — the link between the master and the slave.
The better off I am, the worse for the people, and vice versa.
" All life in Russia, all that is past, and is passing at present,
confirms what I say. At this moment, when, as they say,
people are dying of hunger, have the landlords, have the
merchants, or the rich folk in general, modified their lives ?
Have they ceased to exact from the people, to satisfy their own
caprices, a work that is frequently false ? Have the rich given
up ornamenting their palaces, eating luxurious dinners, riding
their thoroughbreds, following the hounds, dressing themselves
in the height of fashion 9 Do not the rich at this very time
hold stores of seed and flour, expecting a still greater rise in
the price? Are not manufacturers depressing the wages of
their workers ? Are not officials receiving higher salaries ? Do
not all the educated classes continue to live in the cities — for
some purpose they consider very elevated — and to eat in them
the means of living which are imported there, for lack of which
people are dying?
- "It is under these circumstances that we all at once begin to-
Tolstoi on the Famine. 87
assure ourselves and others that we pity the people very greatly,
and that we want to help them out of their misery, which we
■ourselves have brought upon them, a misery which is necessary
to us.
" This is why those people's efforts are in vain, who with
■unchanged lives desire to come to the people's aid by distri-
buting the wealth they have first taken from them.
* '.r V •'■■^ *
"If a man of the leisured classes really wants, not to help,
but to serve his people, the first thing he ought to do is to
understand clearly his relations to them. When nothing is
undertaken the lies, though they remain lies, are not very
hurtful. But when, as now, one wants to serve the people, the
first thing to be done is to reject the lies and get to under-
stand our relations to them. And when these are clearly
seen, i.e., the fact that the people give us the means of life,
that their poverty is caused by our riches, that their hunger
comes from the satisfaction of our appetites, we can begin to
serve in no other way than by ceasing to do what ruins them.
" My thought is this : it is love only that can save men from
all miseries and calamities, including famine. But this love
must not be limited to words, it must be expressed in actions.
And these deeds of love consist in giving one's morsel to those
.that hunger, as not only Christ but also John the Baptist has
said, i.e., to make a sacrifice. Therefore, I think that the very
best thing to be done by those who understand the need of
• changing their mode of life, is to go this veiy year and live
among the starving peasants and spend a certain time with
them.
" I do not say that all who wish to help the mushiJcs ought
absolutely to take up their abode in a cold hut, dwell among
vermin, live on ' lebeda ' (a kind of weed) , and die in two
months or a fortnight ; I do not say that whoever does not do
this, does nothing useful. But I say that to act exactly' thus,
to live among them and die in two months or two weeks,
would be very good, very beautiful, just as beautiful as to carry
pardon and die among tlie lepers, as Father Damien did. But
I do not say that every one can or ought to do this, and that
38 Tolstoi on the Famine.
all else is nothing. I say that the more a man's actions
approach this, the more profitable will thej be to himself and
others, and that whoever approaches the ideal, however little,
will do good. There are two extremes ; on the one hand to
give one's life for our fellows ; on the other, to live an entirely
unchanged life. Between these two extremes all men are to be
found ; some who act as Christ's disciples have left all to follow
Him; others are like the rich young ruler, who turned and
went away when he heard the Master speak of a chant^ed life.
Between this we find the different Zaccheuses, who change, but
only partially. But to become like these last we must always
aim at approaching the first.
'^ All who understand that the way to aid the starving peasants
is by breaking down the barriers that separate us from them,
and on this account change their mode of life, necessarily rank
themselves somewhere between these limits according to their
physical and moral powers. Some, as soon as they come into
the country, will eat and sleep with the sufferers ; others will
live apart, but establish eating rooms and work there ; a third
set will help distribute the provisions and flour ; a fourth will
give money ; a fifth — I can imagine such persons — will live in a
famine-stricken village and do nothing but spend their income
and help the casual starvelings that come in their way.
" I do not know, and I do not wish to say, if the people, the
e ntire people, shall have enough to feed upon. I cannot know
this, for independently of the famine, an epidemic may break out
to-morrow, or an invasion cause the death of the people ; or to-
morrow a nutritious substance may be invented capable of
feeding the whole world ; or, simplest of all, I may die myself
to-morrow, without having found out if the people have had
enough food or not. The important thing is that I have not
been charged with the task of feeding forty millions of people-
in a certain territory, and that I cannot attain this outward
object, viz., to feed and save from calamity a fixed number of
men, but that I ought to think of saving my soul, and bring my
life as near my conscience as possible. I cannot do more than
one thing : to use my powers as long as I live for the service
of my brothers, regarding all without exception as my brothers..
Tolstoi on the Famine. 39
" Strange to say, as soon as we turn from the task of solving"
questions of the outward life, as soon as we forget the forty
millions, the price of bread in America, &c., in order to consider
the problem that is true and proper to man, the question of the
inner life, all the preceding matters are solved in the best
manner. All the starving millions would thus be fed in a satis-
factory way. On the other hand, the activity of the Govern-
ment, having onl}' an external object, the feeding of forty
millions, is met, as we have seen, by insurmountable obstacles.
" No other activity can avoid these impediments in the way of
Government action . . . and attain to great results that
are inaccessible to Government action, than that which has an
inward object — the salvation of the soul — and which always
consists of sacrifice. It is this that, in the face of
starvation, impels a peasant woman in a famine-stricken
village, when she hears beneath her window the words " For
Christ's sake" (commonly used by beggars), to hesitate before
causing discontent, to take her single loaf of bread, as I have
seen more than once, put it on the board, cut off a piece a3 large
as the palm of her hand, and give it, making the sign of the
cross at the time.
" For this inward activity, the first obstacle — the impossibility
of determining' the desr^ee of the need — does not exist. The
orphans of heaven ask for alms; the woman knows they have
no resources and gives. What is impossible to an official, who
is concerned with lists and documents, is easy to those who live
among the needy and have in view only a small number whom
they can help.
" The second obstacle — the enormous number of the poor —
exists as little as the first. There are always poor people, and
the whole question is, what portion of my powers can I
devote to them ? The woman who gives alms does not need to
calculate how many millions of poor there are in Eussia, what
is the price of American flour, &c. There is a single question
for her : how to use her knife on the loaf so as to cut off a
smaller or larger slice. Small or big, she gives it, knowing that
if all helped according to their ability every one would have a
piece of bread, no matter how great the number of the poor.
40 Tolstoi on the Famine.
" The third obstacle exists still less for the peasant woman.
She does not fear that the slice of bread given to the orphans of
heaven may weaken their energy and make them used to
begging, for she knows that these children understand very well
what that slice of bread that she cuts for them costs her — they
see that she gives her last, or almost her last bread.
" Neither does the fourth obstacle exist. The peasant woman
is not concerned as to whether she really must give to those
that now stand at her window, or if there are others in still
greater need, to whom she should give this slice. She pities
the children of heaven, and gives to them, knowing that if all did
the same there would be none dying of hunger, either now in
Russia, or anywhere at any time.
*^It is this kind of activity, having a moral object, that has
always saved, and always will save, men. And it is this that
ought to be adopted by those who want at this painful time to
serve others.
'' It saves people, because it is that smallest of seeds that pro-
duces the largest tree. One, two, or a dozen men living in the
country, and helping according to their power, can do very little.
But this activit}^ is contagious ; it is because of this power of
communicating itself to others that an activity inspired by love
is so important. An outward activity, expressing itself in
gratuitous distribution of bread and money, according to
official lists, only engenders bad feeling, greed, jealousy, hypo-
crisy, untruthfulness ; whereas a personal activity of love
evokes, on the contrary, the noblest sentiments — love and will-
ingness to make sacrifices. . . . Herein lies the force of the
activity inspired by love, tbat it is contagious, and therefore
its influence is limitless. As one candle lights another and
thousands of candles are thus set burning, so one heart kindles
another, and a thousand hearts are set burning. Millions of
roubles of the wealthy will achieve less than will a small
abatement of greed and a little increase of love in the great
mass of men. Love has only to increase, and the same miracle
will take place that was accomplished in the distribution of the
five loaves ; all will be able to satisfy their hunger, and there
will still be food to spare."
TOLSTOI TAKING NOTES.
CHAPTER lY.
EELIEF WOEK IN EJASAN.
Countess Tolstoi's Letter — General Organisation — An Illustration of the
Position — Defects of Government Reli^^f— 'I'olstoi's Methods — Visit to a
Faniine-Strickea Village — Countess Maria Tolstoi and Her Father's
Work — "Traits of Civilisation " — Destitution, Disease, and Death — Miss
Kuzininsky and the mir — More Starving Villnges — Tolstoi's Difficulties —
Some of His Helpers.
'•' Dear Sir, — It is so difficult to give advice iu such a matter as
beneficence. Any help in such a distress is welcome, and an
organisation of relief for the f amine-stric ken in Eussia could
42 Belief Work in Rjasan.
do very mucla good. But organisations (private) are not per-
mitted in Russia ; every one does for the help of the people
what he can.
*'If any one w^ould like to send considerable sums of money,
it could be sent either to the committee of the Grand Duke
Tsarevitch in St. Petersburg, or to the committee of the Grand
Duchess Elizabeth in Moscow ; or if you prefer to direct money
in private disposition, my husband and all my family would do
our best to spend it as usefully to the profit of the national
distress as possible.
" I think that if you would come to Russia yourself, you
could help very much, as personal help is wanted nearly as
much as money help. Bat the life in those famine-stricken
villages is very hard ; one must bear very much inconvenience ;
and if you have never been in Russia and have no idea what a
Russian village is, you will not endure life in it.
'^ The famine is dreadful ! Though the Government is trying
to do as much as possible, private help is very important. The
horses are dying for want of food, the cows and all the cattle
are either killed b}^ the peasants, or are falling dead from
starvation. A very small part of them will be left.
"We were thinking, if we were to receive considerable sums
of money, of buying horses when spring comes in the South of
Russia, so as to give our peasants the possibility of working.
Our peasants can do nothing without cattle. But those are
only plans. At present we have so much to do to keep the
people alive. How dreadfully sad it is to see our poor suffering
peasants so helpless and looking for help, so full of hope when
they meet any one who shows them pity and interest ! If you
try. Sir, to do anything God will bless you.- — Yours very truly,,
" Countess S. Tolstoi.
"January 20th (Old Style), 1892."
It was this letter, in answer to one of mine, that had brought
me over to Russia, with contributions from English and
American friends, to help in what small way was possible the
Tolstoi family in their energetic and self-denying efforts among
the starving mushiks. In the following pages I give some
Relief Work in Rjasan. 43
account of what I saw, from notes jotted down at the time in
my diary. But a few words of introduction are needful to
explain something of the system on which the Count and his
helpers proceeded.
I met the Countess Tolstoi at their house in Moscow on my
journey through. Here she carried on the correspondence
concerning the relief work, while her husband held his head-
quarters at E-jasan, and the young Count Lyeff Lvovitch made
Samara his centre of active operations. Countess Sophia
Andreevna Tolstoi is tall and stately-looking, and retains the
freshness and elasticity of her j-outh to a remarkable degree.
Her power of work is simply wonderful. I saw a great pile of
letters and telegrams she had received that day from all parts
of the world. Some related to the department of relief work
under her own care, which may be called the wholesale
department ; she was responsible for buying the immense
quantities of different food-stuffs required, and despatching
them to Ejasan and Samara. Others consisted of appeals for
help from starving districts, but most were concerned with the
financial part of the work, contributions from friends in
different countries, inquiries, &c. In all this she was without
the help of any secretary. " It has grown to be a habit with
me," she said, "to answer all letters myself. Otherwise I
cannot feel perfectly satisfied."
As regards the relief work proper, carried on by the Count
and his son, it must not be imagined from what has previously
been quoted from his criticisms of official methods, that
Tolstoi himself neglected organisation or method, depending
entirely on individual impulse. He recognised the futility of
it all as a cure, but for the present purpose of helping the
starving peasants in their terrible emergency he was quite
alive to the importance of so ordering the work as to be most
efficient. His view of ihe case was well put in the conversa-
tion I had with him on the matter. He said : "I will use an
illustration to give you an idea of the state of things.
Suppose this little round table placed in a distiller}' and
covered with bottles of different sizes, all of which are filled
with spirits. Beneath the table is a fierce heat that causes
44 Relief Woek in Rjasan.
the contents of the bottles to evaporate, after which, in the
cold air above, it is condensed and discharged in two streams,
one going into the great reservoir of the capitalists, the other
into that of the Government. Now, since all these bottles
have been emptied, and are, therefore, unable to produce any-
more, thej must, of course, be filled again to some extent in
one way or another. A large pail is therefore taken, dipped
into the great reservoir, and its contents poured over the
bottles on the table, but the greater part falls outside the
bottles. We are novr trying to put funnels into the bottles to
avoid this running outside."
A more intimate acquaintance w^ith Government methods
helped me to understand the significance of this figure. Flour
was distributed monthly, according to prescribed rules. In
many cases the drinking habits of the miserable mushiks led
them to sell it at once for vodka, and in some it was at once
seized by pitiless creditors. Supposing that neither of these
calamities occurred, it lasted only for fifteen or twenty days,
leaving the poor family to starve until the next distribution.
Hence the sickness and death-rate went up with a bound in
the latter part of each month. Much sickness was also caused
by the lack of fuel among the mushiks, who were thus forced
to eat the food raw, having no means of cooking it. There is
no wood in this part, and straw is the fuel used, which of
course had suffered the fate of the crops generally.
Still worse was the system of selection employed by the
Government. No help was given to "labourers"; i.e.,
those able to work, or to those possessing horses and
-cattle. It was entirely left out of consideration that there
was no work for these unfortunate people to do, and no food
for their cattle. Again, there was little hope for the " black
sheep," that is, the sectarians, the Stundists, persons of non-
Russian extraction, and all who were not jjersonce gratce to the
^' powers that be " or their representatives. Further, exj)enses
were shamefully heavy, and large quantities of flour were
stolen, adulterated with sand, chaff, &c., or allowed to spoil.
I noted more than one case of this kind that came under my
own observation.
Relief Work in Ejasan.
45
Tolstoi's " putting in funnels " meant, then, the relief of
those overlooked by the officials, and whatever might be done
to remedy these defects. It was not easy. Even the discovery
of the most needy was far from being as simple as it looked.
To our notions, all the musJdhs would have qualified en masse
under that heading, but to the Russian workers there were
grades, " and in the lowest depths a lower deep " ! Another
obvious idea was to apply to the starosta (head man of the
STAROSTS.
MABIA TOLSTOI. MISS KUZMINSKY.
CONSULTING THE STAROSTS.
village), or to the pope, but alas! the starosta is not always
one in whom there is no guile, nor is the pope always a
saint. The only reliable method was for the Count and
his assistants to go into the villages themselves, and compile
from individual inquiries the lists of names and details
needed for wise and efficient aid. Then these were verified
by the calling together of the entire village community, or
mir, when the lists were gone through and discussion held
46 Relief Wokk in Rjasan.
as to the best means of relieving the most distressed. It is pro-
bable that these tables were the most exact statistics in Russia.
The principal means of relief was by eating-rooms, where
two meals a-day were served free to the most needy. Where
the villagers had a supply of flour, warm food only was
served ; in other places warm food and bread. Special rooms
were opened later for the children.
Another branch was the supply of fuel ; about four hundred
cords of wood were distributed during the winter, either free
or in return for work done. Then the horses were cared for as
much as possible ; large numbers were sent to other parts
where fodder could be got, and three hundred were placed in a
large stable built for the purpose.
Work materials in the shape of flax and bast were supplied to
the niushiks, that they might both work at their own clothing
and make shoes, which the Count bought at full price, for
distribution among the poorest.
Then there was the provision of seed and replacement of
stock, with a view to prevent, as far as possible, a repetition of
the famine. This was usually done on condition of a moderate
return being made after the following harvest, and the income
from this source was destined towards establishing homes for
destitute children.
The work in Samara was on the same model. I can now
proceed to give incidents taken from the notes in mj" diary.
Before 6 a.m. the starving mushiJcs began to gather at the
headquarters. Half-an-hour later they filled both the yard
and the ante-room, where they stood with heads uncovered,
silently waiting their turn to see the Count. Tolstoi himself,
his daughter Maria, her cousin Miss Kuzminsky, and two others
were busy writing down the names of the applicants or distri-
buting relief. The ravages of the famine among the members
of the evil-smelling, motley crowd were evident in the haggard
looks of some and the swollen faces of others.
The young Countess had been up very early in the morning
to attend to household matters before joining in the relief work,
which lasted until the time came for breakfast, and after that
for visiting the villages. Breakfast (at 9 o'clock) consisted of
Relief Work in Rjasan. 47
lasha (a kind of porridge), bread-and-butter, potatoes and
other vegetables, tea and coffee, the young Countess Maria
acting as hostess. Her elder sister, Tatiana, had also been at
headquarters, but had had to return home on account of failing
health. Maria Lvovna or " Masha," as the Count calls her, is
a devoted follower of her father.
It had been arranged that I should accouipanj^ the Countess
Maria on her round through the villages. Dressed in a
polashubok (see illustration), felt boots, and a cap of Siberian
lambskin, she opened the door of my room and called out
" Ready." In my Lapponian dress I came out and took my
place at her side in a saiii, a primitive and unpainted sleigh,
drawn by a well-fed, little black horse. Just as we were starting,
I found that I had forgotten my gloves. '^ Here, take mine,"
said the Count, who stood by the side of the sleigh. Off we
went at whirling speed, the Countess holding the reins herself.
I believe that Russian ladies beat those of all other countries,
even in America, in horsemanship. I have often seen them
driving a troika, or sleigh, with three horses abreast. Certainly
the Countess knew how to drive. In a few minutes we had
passed the Don and were out on the desolate plains. The air
was keen and biting, and a blinding snowstorm swept over the
steppes ; the road was destitute of the customar}- marks, and
we soon lost our way. After driving for some time with the
snow whirling about us so that we could not see the length of
the horse, she drew rein and said, '' I think we must turn back
home. Soon we shall see nothing." ^' Do you know the direc-
tion of the village to which we are going? " I asked. " Yes."
*'Then let us try to get there." "All right. Get up, Malchik! "
(Little Boy). Off we sped westward along an ice-covered ridge,
and after a time found the road again.
The Countess told me that she had worked for a number of
years among the peasants trying to help them. She had had
a school for peasant childx'en on their estate, but as she did
not teach them to cross themselves nor to worship tlie
pictures of the saints, the priests had her school closed. Then
she invited the children to her house to tea, and continued to
teach them over the tea-table.
48
Relief Wokk in Rjasan.
Talking about their home and the large number of strangers
coming to see her celebrated father — often, no doubt, out of
mere curiosity — I remarked that he was said to deny the
immortality of man. " This," I said, " I have never been able
to understand, as being incompatible with his view of life and
way of living."
WAITING FOR HELP.
"My father deny the immortality of man ! " she exclaimed.
" You should have heard him recently in a circle of friends.
As our shadowy dreams, he said, are to our present life, so
this shadowy life is to our future existence." Speaking of
God she said, " They try to define what God is and what He
is not, bub whatever beautiful and grand words they use, I say
Relief Work in Rjasan.
49
that He is infinitely more than that. I like best of all to call Him
Father. Is it not beautiful to think that the highest good is
our Father ? "
Our conversation turned to the literaiy works of the Count,
COUNTESS MARIA TOLSTOI.
^nd she told me how he came to write his satirical play, " The
Fruits of Civilisation."
" It was one winter night, and we had just finished our work
for the day. * Let us have some fun/ said my sister Tanja.
* Yes, let us improvise a spiritualistic seance' Father joined
ill, and wrote down a sketch of the play to be improvised ;
4
50 Relief Work in Rjasan.
this be afterwards finished, and it was published under the
title of ' The Fruits of Civilisation.' "
The play was performed three times ; once was in Yasnaja
Poljana, and a second time in the town of Tula, the Count's
eldest daughter, Tatiana, playing the part of Tanja (the
heroine being named after her). The third time it was played
by a company of aristocratic amateurs at Tarskoje Selo, the
summer residence of the Tsar, in the presence of sixteen
grand dukes and duchesses, and other high dignitaries,
numbering about 250 persons — of course, "for a benevolent
purpose." It was a great success. The high-born audience-
laughed, and applauded the biting satire, the point of which
was directed against their own society ! What a grotesque
scene ! On the Emperor's private stage, the victory of the
people is represented by members of the highest aristocracy T
But who in these circles thinks of this bitter self-mockery '?
Pungent means are required to amuse persons enei'vated by
idleness, epicurism, and licentiousness — so they laugh at the
amusing surface, without being touched b}' the author's dee])'
pain and sympathy with the oppressed, that throbs through the
whole piece.
By this time we saw through the storm a long row of what
looked like snow-covered mounds. It was the village of Pinki.
Approaching nearer, we found that the mounds were peasants'
huts, half buried in the deep snow-drifts. The village looked
poor and desolate in the extreme. No smoke was rising from
any of the huts, every other one of which was roofless. No
living body was seen about; all appeared to be ruin and death.
We stopped at one of the izhas, in which the Count had
opened a school and eating-room. For some time after our
entrance we could see nothing distinctly, but our feet told us
that the naked soil served as floor. When our eyes grew
accustomed to the gloom we saw a number of benches, and
standing between them aboutthirty children, silently looking at
us. The teacher, an intelligent young man, approached and
saluted us. In one corner were a couple of elderly people.
From the neighbourhood of the oven came heavy breathing and
coughing, and, lying on top of it, we saw three children^
Relief Work is E.jasan. 51
covered with bhick small-pox. I sugo-ested that these ought to
be removed at once, and the Countess replied that it would be
done as soon as possible, but as there were no hospitals, and
almost everj house was infected, it was not easy to isolate the
sick. These poor children had been brought to the school,
"because it was warm there."
Leaving the Countess to attend to the school and eatinj^-
room, I went through part of the village from house to house.
In izba No. 1 I found one cow, three elderly people, one of
whom was lying on top of the oven, sick with typhus, by the
side of two children in the last stages of black small-pox.
In No. 2 was a child Avith black small-pox, an old man with
typhus, and two women whose bodies were all swollen. No
cattle — all starved ; no fuel, no food.
In No. o a curious sight met my eyes. When I entered
the small hut, the earthen floor of which was frozen hard, I
saluted, but got no reply, nor could I see anyone. I was about
to go, but heard heavy breathing, and a sound like sweeping
proceeding out of the oven. All at once a pair of feet
wrapped with rags protruded, and in a moment a big mushik
crept out of the opening, followed by a sickly-looking woman,
shivering and pressing her right hand on her brow. I asked
what was the matter. " Golova holit " (my head aches), she
answered. " Have you no children ? " " Yes : look here ! " she
said, bursting into tears and pointing to what looked like a
bundle of rags on top of the oven. It proved to be two
children, one on the point of death from hunger or consump-
tion, and the other in the extremes of black small-pox. The man,
tall and strongly built, stood with drawn stony face and hollow
eyes, his tangled hair sticking out in all directions, motionless
on the frozen floor, a picture of hopeless apathy. No cattle,
no food, but what was given from outside.
No. 4. Two grown people and two children, both ill. As
she moved the rags that covered one of the children the
mother burst into tears, and I saw great drops rolling doAvn the
cheeks of the poor disfigured girl herself. Something stuck
in my own throat as, unable to utter a word, I gave the poor
woman a silver coin and passed out.
52 Relief Work in Ejasan.
No. 5 contained a woman, disfigured by a disease shockingly
common among the peasants, and two sickly and forlorn-
looking children.
No. 6 sheltered three families, one cow, one horse, and two
sheep, all huddled together to protect themselves from the
intense cold. It was a strange sight to see the fine-looking
dyadushJca, or grandfather, with snow-white hair and beard,
climb out of the crib to which the horse was tied, come
tottering up to me on his aged limbs, and salute with a deep
bow. I told him that friends of the musldhs, in foreign lands,
had sent me with help to their suffering brothers in Russia.
In a feeble and trembling voice he said, "^ What good people !
May God bless you ! "
On my return to the school I found it changed into an
eating-room, filled with about forty person s, ,young and old,
who sat down to eat, after crossing themselves and saying
their prayers. The dinner, consisting of black rye bread and
pea soup, tasted very good. When the Countess had arranged
for the opening of an eating-room for little children we
started to return home.
''What is your impression from your first village visit ? "
asked the Countess.
"Terrible," was all I could say. "Are you not afraid of
catching small-pox and typhus ? "
"Afraid ! It is immoral to be afraid. Are you afraid? " she
replied.
" No, I have never been afraid of infection while visiting
the poor," I said. " It is terrible to see such hopeless misery.
It makes me sick only to think of it."
" And is it not shameful for us to allow ourselves so much
luxury while our brothers and sisters are perishing from want
and nameless misery ? " she added.
" But you have sacrificed all the comforts and luxuries of
your rank and position, and stepped down to the poor to help
them," I rejoined.
" Yes," she said, " but look at our warm clothes and all
other comforts, which are unknown to our suffering brothers
and sisters."
Helief Work in Rjasan. 55
" But what good would it do to them if we should dress in
rags and live on the edge of starvation "? "
"What right have we," she retorted, "to Jive better than
they ? "
I made no reply, but glanced wonderingly into the eyes of
this remarkable girl, and saw there a large tear trembling ;
something seemed to press on my heart and threaten to choke
me. '^ But how is it possible that the authorities permit such
a terrible state of things ? "
"1 don't know," was the short and significant answer.
In the evening the Count seemed quite downcast. "I feel
really ashamed of this work," he said. "We don't know
Avhat real help there is in it. We ai'e prolonging the
existence of a number of the starving peasants for some time,
but their misery will go on all the same ! "
"You also help them spiritually," I said. "You are doing
a good work."
"I don't preach," he said. "I am so bad myself that I
-cannot preach to others. And we do not know what is good
and what is not; when we think we do something very good,
it may be quite the reverse. The real good is in the will and
the motives of our deeds."
Next morning I started out with Miss Kuzminskj' on a visit
to two villages to arrange for the distribution of wood. The
plan adopted was as follows: It was left free at the homes of
the most destitute. Those not so badly off had to fetch it
from the railway station, and from the least needy some return
in work was expected.
We reached the first village after a rapid drive of two hours
over the snow-covered plain in a bitter cold, and stopped at the
house of the starosta. Inside we found him, his wife, four
•children, the grandfather, one cow, one foal, and three sheep,
gathered in one room, lighted dimly by an opening of about
eighteen inches in diameter. A large table stood on the soft
earthen floor, and a bench ran along one side of the room; there
were no chairs. We paid some visits at individual izhas, and then
the mir was summoned to the starosta' s house. This was a work
of no great difficulty, as almost the entire population of the
56
Eelief Work in Ejasan.
village was following us as we went. Soon the izba was
crammed with musliiks. Miss Kuzminskj took her place behind
the table, and bj request I sat beside her. Then the proceed-
ings began. Miss Kuzminsky had a list of the most need3% To-
the first, a poor widow with four children, all nodded assent,
crossing themselves. Then came Alexis B . There was a
low murmur through the room, and a miisliik said, " Certainly
FROST AND FAMINE.
he has no fuel, but neither have any of us, and he has a horse."
Ivan K was mentioned. " Otchen hedni! " (Very poor).
So the entire list was run through, opinions being freely given
on each case, while the sheep and the cow ever}' now and then ex-
pressed their opinion in their own language. Miss Kuzminsky
made an excellent president, calling the speakers to order
when they spoke too many at a time, or wandered from the
subject. The mushiks themselves behaved in a gentlemanly
Relief Wokk in* Rjasax.
57
manner, and when they grew a little warm, there was nothing
of the disorder that would ensue in European gatherings, if
each one's character was canvassed as openly as at these
meetings of the mir.
The atmosphere was simply stifling, parti 3^ owing to the
vermin and the cattle, and I was astonished that Miss
Kuzminsky could stand it for over an hour without the least
MISS KUZMINSKY AND THE PEASANTS.
complaint. In this village also we found many sick folk,
mostly suffering from black small-pox or typhus.
On another occasion I went out with another guide, a young
nobleman who had joined Tolstoi's band of workers. It was
an intensely cold Saturday morning, and a greenish-yellow
band along the eastern horizon threw a dim light over the
snow-covered plain. We were bound for a distant village that
had appealed for helj). Soon our shaggy little horse was white
with frost. The sun rose and gilded everything with his
58 Eeliep Work in Rjasan.
light, but a sense of desolation oppressed us as we drew near
the village. No smoke was rising anywhere. Most of the
izhas were roofless, having been stripped for fuel. No living
creature was to be seen, except two or three skin-covered
skeletons of horses, picking a blade or two of old and rotten
grass in front of a recently-dismantled izha, and a few forlorn-
looking dogs, almost too starved to move from their places on
the dirt-heaps in front of the huts. Death or desertion had
emptied many of these, and in almost every house we entered
there were persons sick of typhus, small-pox, &c. All the
help received from the authorities was consumed, most of the
cattle had died, and for food they used a kind of bread made
of dried and powdered grass, chaff, straw, and leaves from
trees. Those who were not ill with fever, &c., were almost too
weak to move or speak.
We reached home just before Count Tolstoi, whose good
spirits were in great contrast to our weariness. He talked and
laughed merrily, and his eyes fairly beamed with joy. The
cause of his delight was soon told. He had finally overcome
all obstacles and established his children's eating-room. A
simple matter this, to our ideas, but it had cost him many a
weary day of struggle against difficulties. The mere procuring
of suitable food was hard enough, but there was also the
ignorance, superstition, and folly of the mushiks, and the bitter
opposition of the clergy to overcome. The mushiks wanted the
children's food brought to their homes, but Tolstoi kaew well
that in that case the children would get but little of it . Then
the priests frightened them with tales of learned theologians
having conclusively proved out of the Book of Eevelation that
Tolstoi was veritably. Antichrist. The story of his branding
the mushiks on the forehead to seal them to the power of the
devil has already been alluded to ; in this foolish and wicked
story which was preached from the pulpit, it was said that the
Count paid the peasants eight roubles apiece as purchase-
money. Only the Sunday before a Bishop had delivered a
special sermon in the second-class waiting-room at the railway
station at Klekotki, before a crowded audience, dishing up all
these fables and denouncing the Count in the strongest terms
Relief Work in Rjasan. -59
as Antichrist, who was seducing them with food, fuel, and
other worldly goods. The Orthodox Church, he said, was
strong enouofh to "exterminate Antichrist and his work."
No wonder that many were frightened. But one of the
mushiks in m}' hearing, settled the matter to his own satis-
faction in a very logical way. " If the Lord," he said, " is like
his servants, the popes and officials who oppress and rack us,
and Antichrist is such a person as Tolstoi, who freely feeds
us and our children, I had rather belong to Anti-Christ, and I
shall send my starving children to his eating-room." Later
on, the peasants sent their children by thousands.
After our late dinner, while the Count was busy and the
mushil-s, crowding as usual to his headquarters, I took a walk,
and noticed a gendarme, probably stationed there to keep a
watch on what was going on. Besides this open representative
of the Government of Petersburg, there was a crowd of
detectives, swarming in or about Byegitchevka. Sometimes
they would come disguised as applicants, asking for help and
denouncing the authorities ; sometimes as friends, volunteering
their services. The Count's experienced eye, however, soon
detected these, and he politely told them that they were not
w^anted.
The evening of the same memorable Saturday saw a gather-
ing of helpers and friends from different quarters, who had
come to spend that night and part of the following Sunday in
consultation and friendly intercourse Avith their master. Of
this highly interesting group, of whom two were women, none
were above middle age, and all were educated, some possessing
a high degree of learning, and all from prominent families.
One had been a Fellow of Moscow University and was about
to be nominated to a professorship, when he suddenly quitted
the University and " went to the people." In mmhik dress he
shares the peasant's life and toil, helping them iu every
possible way, believing this to be a better object of life than
the attempt to beat Greek and Latin into the heads of the
Russian upper class youth. Yet he was no dreamer, but a
man of imperturbable calmness of mind, acute understanding,
and deep knowledge of human nature. Two years ago, he
60
Relief Work in Rjasan.
travelled, mostly on foot, through all the provinces of this vast
empire, visiting and studying all kinds of sectarians, working-
his way as a day-labourer, and securing in return only food and
lodging.
BEFORE A DISMANTLED IZB.l.
CHAPTER \\
TOLSTOI'S TABLE TALK.
War — An Expensive Consciencer-Modern Religious Sects — Eeligion and
Invention— The Russian Sectarians— " The Cafi' of Surat" — Attitude to
Political Governments — Western Literature and Mammon — Forthcoming;
Books— Is Tolstoi a Christian ? — The Nature of His Christianity.
At evening, sitting round the boiling samovar or the tea-table,
Count Tolstoi would converse with his friends on different sub-
jects. Out of kindness to me, the conversation was often carried
on in any of the Western languages, but when it grew ani-
mated it insensibly glided into Russian, which I bat imper-
fectly understood. What I did not understand, however, was
for the most part kindly translated by one of the company.
Naturally, the terrible distress and the incidents of relief
work formed the staple matter of conversation, but at times
other topics were introduced. Here I give a merely f ragmentar3'
account of some talks on more important subjects. Speaking
of modern militarism. Count Tolstoi asked me once about the
feeling of the people in my country towards the Russians.
I told him that the pagan idea that certain nations were our
natural enemies, and the abominable system of educating chil-
dren in that unchristian belief, was gradually giving way to
sounder and more Christian views, and added that our people
certainly had no enmity towards the Russian people, and that
many of our most thoughtful men were looking to Russia
when in these days they wanted to find those who could afford
to keep a conscience and follow its behests.
After a moment's silence, the Count said, *' I like that expres-
sion — to afford to keep a conscience. But I tell you, it is very
expensive ! " Then he spoke of his great hopes for the future,
from the gradual change in popular opinion in favour of Chris-
62 Tolstoi's Table Talk.
tian relations between the nations, i.e., that they are awaken-
ing to the fact that we are all brothers, and cutting themselves
loose from the pagan official tradition, inculcated and supported
by the established churches, that we are enemies.
Speaking of the religious question, he referred to the fact that
Protestant churches have been and often are quite as intolerant
as the Roman and Greek churches, and that Nonconformist
denominations have the same tendency. He showed thorough
acquaintance with the Nonconfoi^mist and Pietistic movement
in Western countries. In his view, this movement in its first
beginnings fulfilled an important mission in rousing the people
from their spiritual stupor, and breaking the fetters of eccle-
siastical tyranny and formalism. But already it has largel}^
lost its power for good by failing to follow the teaching and
example of Christ ; it has followed the example of the State
churches in allowing organisation and mone}^ to play a more
prominent part than practical Christianity.
It is this stepping aside from Christ's Christianity which has
at all times led to the decline of religious denominations.
Modern ecclesiastical and denominational Christianity, with its
politics, its religious business-system, its dogmas, its formal-
ism, its intolerance, is altogether artificial and opposed to the
true interests of man. Christ's Christianit)', on the other
hand, satisfies his deepest needs, both in his private and social
relations.
Tolstoi had received books and papers descriptive of them-
selves, both from the Salvation Army and the Mormons. Of
the latter he said : " I have read their books with much inte-
rest. It is remarkable what a prominent part invention plays
in the different religious systems. It differs largely, however,
in degree. With Joseph Smith we might sa}^ that it con-
stitutes 90 per cent., whereas with Moses it amounts to 10
per cent."
Concerning the modern Christian sects in general, he said:
" Above all things Christians ought to put themselves into a
natural relation to one another and the world at large, i.e., to
follow Christ and realise His teaching in daily life, instead
of wasting their time and energy in organising sects, build-
Tolstoi's Tahlk Talk. G;i
ing churches, supporting clergy, and fighting each other's
dogmas."
Of the present religious movement in Russia, which has cer-
tainly raised the Sectarians to a much higher level than the
Orthodox pfasantry, Tolstoi has a high opinion. He gave
interesting accounts of peasants who have both grasped and
retained a firmer hold upon j)i'actical and central Christian
ideas than man}' learned theologians. One night he read a
deeply interesting letter from an old Stundist peasant, who had
taught himself to read and write at the advanced age of sixty.
in order to be able to read the Bible for himself. This letter
is translated and given in the account of the Stundist move-
ment later on in this book. When he had finished reading it,
he said, " I tell you, these men are real heroes ! "
Russian peasants very frequently consult the Count, either
personally or in writing, about their perplexities on religious or
moral questions, or come to him as a friend to confide their
opinions to him, and discuss the matters in poini.
His sympathies, like his views, are broad enough to compre-
hend wliat is good and true in all men and creeds. This is
shown both in his writings and his conversation. True, he
criticises narrowness and combats error, and that not infre-
quently in vigorous terms, but this is not for the mere pleasure
of o Imposing others. His desire is to prepare the wa}' for truth
and make openings for the light. To come into personal con-
tact w^ith this man, and listen to his words, is to feel at once
that 3'ou are under the spell of a passionate lover of truth and
righteousness.
There is a fable written by the Count, and published in the
Vestnik Eurojn, called " The Cafe of Surat," which will be
of interest, as it contains the ideas he frequentl}' expresses in
different forms in his conversation, and may fitl}- find a place
in his " table talk."
The Cafe of Surat.
In the Indian town of Surat was a cafe, where travellers and
strangers from all parts used to resort, and many folk were
gathered together.
4J4 Tolstoi's Table Talk.
One day there entered a learned Persian theolog'ian. He
had spent his whole life in studying the being of God, and had
both read and written many books on the subject. He had
thought, read and written so much about God that he had lost
all power of right thinking, and became muddled in his head
to such a degree that he had lost faith in God altogether.
When the Persian King heard of this he banished him from his
kingdom.
After having belaboured his brains all his life concerning the
First Cause, this unhappy theologian had bgcome so confused
that instead of perceiving that he had himself lost his mind, he
began to think that no greater mind ruled the world than his
own.
This theologian had a slave, an African, who accompanied
him everywhere. When the theologian went into a cafe, the
African remained outside in the court, and sat on a stone in
the sun ; so he sat at this time driving away the flies. The
theologian threw himself on a divan, and ordered a small cup
of opium, which was brought to him. When he had fi nished
the whole cup, and the poison began to work in his brain, he
turned to his slave and said,
^' Now, wi-etched slave, tell me, is there a God or not ? "
" Of course there is," said the slave, and pulled out a little
wooden idol from his girdle. ^' Here is the God that has pro-
tected me all my life in this world. It is made of a bough of
that holy tree that is worshipped everywhere in our land."
The other customers in the cafe heard the conversation
between the theologian and his slave, and were astonished.
The question seemed to them odd enough, but the slave's
answer more so.
A Brahmin, who heard what the slave said, turned to him,
and exclaimed, '^Miserable fool! how is it possible to believe
that God can be hidden in a man's girdle ? There is only one
God — Brahma. That God is greater than the whole world,
for he created the whole world. Brahma is the one great God,
the God to whom temples have been raised on Ganges' sh ores ;
the God who is served only by his priests, the Brahmins.
These priests alone have knowledge of the true God. Twenty
Tolstoi's Table Talk. C5
thousand years have already passed, and how many revolutions
have taken place in the world, yet these priests have remained
what they always were, because God, the one true God, protects
them/'
So spoke the Brahmin, believing that he had convinced them
all. But a Jewish money-lender, who was present, answered
him.
*'Nay," said he, "the temple of the true God is not in
India. And God does not protect the Brahmin caste. The
true God is not the God of the Brahmins, bat of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob ; and the true God only protects His own
people, Israel. From the beginning of the world God has
continually loved and does love our people only. And though
our people are now scattered throughout the whole world,
that is merely to try them, and God will, because He
loves us, gather His people again in Jerusalem, and once
more rebuild that wonder of the ancient world, the temple
at Jerusalem, and raise Israel to the lordship over all other
nations."
Thus said the Jew, and burst into tears. He would have
gone on with his speech, but an Italian who was there broke
in on him.
*' You do not speak the truth,"' he said to the Jew, "you do
not describe God rightly. God cannot love one nation more
than another ; on the contrary, if He did in former 3'-ears
protect Israel, eighteen hundred years have now passed by
since God's wrath was kindled against His people, and as proof
of this wrath of His, He cut off their existence and scattered
them over the whole world, so that their faith is not only no
longer spreading, but only exists in a few places. God shows
favour to no nation, but He calls all who wish to be saved into
the bosom of the Roman Catholic Church, outside which there
is no salvation."
So spoke the Italian ; but a Protestant clergyman, who was
among the company, changed colour and answered the Catholic
missionary.
" How can you say that salvation is only to be found in 3'our
religion ? Learn to know that they only can be saved who
5
<>6 Tolstoi's Table Talk,
serve God in spirit and in truth after the law of Jesus,
according to the Gosj)el."
A Turk, a customs officer in Surat, who was sitting smoking'
his pipe, turned at this to the two Cliristians with an earnest
look.
" It is useless for you to be so certtiin of the truth of your
Romish religion," said he. " Your faith has already been
superseded by Mohammed's teaching for six hundred years
l^ast. Moreover, as you can see yourself, Mohammed's correct
doctrine is spreading more and more both in Europe and Asia,
•even in enlightened China. You yourself recognise that the
Jews are rejected of God, and that the proof of it is that they
are abased, and their faith is no more on the increase. Only
those who believe on God's last prophet shall be saved — and of
these Omar's followers alone, and not those of Ali, for these
are unbelievers."
At this remark the Persian theologian, who belonged to All's
sect, wished to reply. But at that moment a general dispute
arose between all the strangers of different religions and
creeds. There were Abyssinian Christians, Indian Lamas,
Ishmaelites, and fire-worshippers. They all disputed about the
essence of God, and how He ought to be worshipped. Every-
one maintained that only in his land was the true God known
and worshipped as He should be. All quarrelled and shouted
at one another. A certain Chinese alone, who was there, a
disciple of Confucius, sat quietly in a corner and took no part
in the hubbub. He drank his tea, and listened to what the
others were saying, but himself kept silence. The Turk, who
caught sight of him during the dispute, turned to him and
said : " Help me, dear Chinese. You are silent, but you
can very well say something to support my contention. I know
that just now different religions are being introduced into
China. Your merchants have more than once told me that
you Chinese look upon the Mohammedan religion as the best of
all, and willingly embrace it. Come to my assistance, and say
what you think of the true God and His prophet."
" Yes, yes ! " chimed in the others, as they turned to him.
The Chinese Confucian shut his eyes, thought awhile, and
Tolstoi's Table Talk. 67
then opened them, while he drew out his hands from the wide
sleeves of his dress, folded them on his breast, and began to
speak in a quiet, mild voice.
"Gentlemen,-' lie said, '* it seems to me that it is just their
own pride that more than anything else prevents men from
agreeing in religious matters. If it will not weaiy you, I will
make this clear by a parable. I journeyed from China to
Surat by an English steamer, which was on a voyage round
the world. On the wa}*- we stopped at the east coast of
Sumatra to take in water. At noon we went ashore and sat b}'
the seaside under the shade of some cocoa palms, not far from
some native villages. There were representatives of several
different nationalities in the company. While we were sitting
there a blind man came to us. He had become blind, as we
learnt later, from looking too long and keenl}^ at the sun. In
consequence of his continual gazing at and thinking about the
sun he had at the same time lost both his sight and his reason.
Since he was perfectly blind he had become fully convinced
that there was no sun at all. He was accompanied by his slave,
who settled his master in the shade of a cocoa palm, picked up
a cocoanut, and began to make a night-light from it. He
made a wick out of the fibre, pressed oil from the nut, and
dipped the wick in it. While he was occupied with this the
blind man sighed and said, ' Well, slave, what do you think
now? Did I not tell you that there is truly no sun at all?
See how dark it is, yet men say that there is a sun. But if
so, what is the sun ? '"
" '1 don't know what the sun is,' said the slave ; ' it doesn't
matter to me ; but there is a light, I know that. Here is
a night-light that I have made, that gives light enough
for me to serve you with, and get things ready about the
cottage,' and he held up his cocoanut shell, '^Here,' he said,
'^is my sun.'
"A lame man was sitting there with his crutches. He listened,
and began to laugh. * You have surely been born blind,' snid
he to the sightless man, ' if you don't know what the sun is.
I will tell you what it is. The sun is a fireball, and this fire-
ball rises every day out of the sea, and goes down every even-
68 Tolstoi's Table Tai,k.
ing among the mountains of our island. We all see it, and you
would too^ if vou had your sight.'
'^ A fisherman, who also sat there, said to the lame man, 'It
is very evident that you have never been outside your island.
If you weren't a cripple, you would have been to sea, and known
that the sun does not go down among the mountains on our
island, but just as it rises out of the sea in the morning, so it
goes down into the sea every night. I am felling the truth, for
I see it with my own eyes every day.'
*' An Indian heard him. 'It amazes me,' he said, 'how a
sensible man can talk such rubbish. How can a fireball pos-
sibly sink into the sea and not be quenched ? The sun is truly
no fireball — the sun is a god, and that god is called Diva. The
god drives in a chariot round the golden mountain Speruvia.
Sometimes it happens that the fierce serpents Ragn and Keta
attack Diva and swallow him, and then it gets dark. But our
priests pray that the god ma}^ be delivered, and then he is set
free. Only ignorant men like you, who have never been out of
it, could imagine that the sun shines only on your island.'
" A captain of an Egyptian vessel, who chanced to be there,,
struck in. ' Nay,' he said, 'that, too, is folly. The sun is
no god, and he does not only go round India and that golden
mountain of j^ours. I have sailed far and wide, both in the
Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf ; I have also been to Madagascar
and the Phillipine Islands, and the sun shines on all lands, and
not India only. He does not go round any particular mountain,,
but rises by the Japan Isles — that is just the reason they
are called Japan, because in their language it means "The
Sun's Birth " — and sets far away in the West, beyond the
British Isles. I know this, because I have seen it myself, and
have heard a great deal about it from my grandfather, and my
grandfather sailed to the world's end.'
" He would have gone on talking, but an English sailor from
our ship interrupted him.
" ' There is no country where they know so much about the
sun's course as in England. The sun, as we all know quite
well in England, doesn't stop anywhere, but keeps on going
round the world.' But not knowing how to explain it quite
Tolstoi's Table Talk. t>9
clearly, he pointed to the pilot, and said, 'He's a much
cleverer chap than I, and can explain the way of it more
•clearly.'
" The pilot was an intellig-ent man, and had listened in silence
to the conversation till he was appealed to. But now, as they all
turned to him, he began to speak, and said : * You are all mis-
taken, both you and the rest. The sun does not go round the
•earth, but the earth round the sun ; besides this, the earth
turns round its own axis, so that in the course of twenty-four
hours Japan, the Phillipine Islands, and Sumatra, where we now
are, also Africa, Europe, Asia, and many other countries beside,
turn towards the sun. The sun shines not only on the earth,
but on many other planets which are like the earth. Those of you
who are willing to be convinced of this have only to look up into
the sky and then on yourselves here ; you will no longer believe
that the sun shines only for you or your own land.' So
spoke the wise pilot, who had travelled Avidely round the world,
and gazed much into the heavens.
''Yes, the mistakes, divisions, and strife of men concerning
religious questions come from pride," went on the Confucian.
*' As it is with the sun, so also about God. Everyman will have
his special god, or, at least, one for his native land. Every
nation desires to shut up in its own temple what the Avhole
world cannot contain. And can any temple compare with that
Avhich God Himself has built to unite in it all people in one
religion and one faith? All human temples are built after
the pattern of that temple — God's world. In all temples there
are founts, arched vaults, lamps, pictures, inscriptions, law-
books, offerings, altars, and priests. In what temple is there
such a baptistery as the ocean, such a vault as the sky, such
lamps or candles as the sun, moon, and stars, such pictui*es as
living men who love and help each other ? What inscriptions
concerning God's goodness are so easy to understand as the
blessings that God has everywhere lavished on us for our hap-
piness ? What law-book is so plain and clear as that writte n
in man's own heart ? Where are offerings of such worth as
those offerings of self-sacrifice, that loving human beings make
for their neighbour's sake ? And where is the altar that can
70 Tolstoi's Table Talk.
compare with a good man's heart, on which God Himself receives
the offering.? The loftier man's thought of God, the better
his knowledge of Him, And the better he knows God, the
more nearly will he approach Him, and resemble Him in His
goodness, merc}^, and love to the human race. But let not him
who sees God's full light, that fills the whole world, condemn
or despise the suj)erstitious man, who in his little idol sees only
a ray of the same light ; neither let him despise the unbeliever
who is blind and sees no light at all."
So spake the Chinese, the disciple of Confucius, and all in
the cafe were silent, and no longer disputed as to which religion
was best. So ends the parable.
The position of Tolstoi and those who think with him with
regard to the political government of the world has been
greatly misrepresented in many quarters. It is true that they
repudiate all worldly authority in general, because they are
convinced of the equality of all men, and regard the unnatural
relations that now prevail between the masters and the
bemastered as a consequence of evolution on wrong lines. But
a violent revolution against the present powers would be equall}^
contrary to their principles, because they believe the command
*^ Resist not evil" to be fundamental in morals. On these
grounds thej^ disapprove utterl}^ of the '"j^hysical force " policy
of the terrorist party.
Tolstoi and his friends do not think much of Western litera-
ture. They say that like everything else in the present sj'stem
of society it is dominated by money-power, and consequently
betrays great laxity of morals. According to them, money
plays the most powerful part in the production of books. The
object of their making is money, and because they are made to
sell, their contents are such as to be pleasing instead of true»
The judgment of the critics is biassed, and these influence the
choice and sale of books. Moreover, the publishers, who are
powerful and wealthy themselves, exercise great pressure on the
j)ress and critics generally ; and the retail booksellers are also
under the same pressure of pecuniary motives. Hence it
follows that the vast flood of Western literature that issues.
Tolstoi's Table Talk. 71
from the press is tainted in its source, and poisoned throughout
by the deadly influence of Mammon. The most revolting-
example of this they consider to be the composition and sale of
hymns to the love of God and books concerning Jesus, all with
a view to amassing money ; a proceeding that is in most violent
contrast to the whole life and teaching of the Master. Everj'^-
one knows that Tolstoi himself is consistent in this ; that he
retains no copyright in his works. It may not be so generally
known that in Russia his books, forbidden by the censor to be
l)rinted, are written out by hand at immense cost, and distri-
buted at a price much below the value of the labour of coj^ying-
them. It seems scarcely credible that this laborious process
should be necessary in these days of automatic compositors and
rapid presses, yet who knows whether the influence of the works
so copied and circulated in manuscript is really less than that
of the enormous mass of jjrinted literature that issues from the
2)ress of Western Europe ?
Tolstoi told me once that he desired to write two books
before his death. One was to be a kind of counterblast to the
increasingly martial spirit of the time, that seemed almost
j)ersonified in the young German Emperor. This has since
been published under the title of " The Kingdom of Heaven
is Within You." It is, as the Count meant it to be, a
kind of summing up of the case against all use of physical
force.
The other, that has not yet appeared, was to be the history
of some Russian colonists, who had unknowingly settled out-
side the frontier of Eastern Siberia. There, away from all
interference from Government officials, they had built up a little
commonwealth of their own by the simple development that
sprang from the natural satisfaction of their common needs,
and passed several y*»ars in peace and quiet happiness. But
one fine day the authorities discovered them. It was true they
were beyond the frontier and outside the Russian jurisdiction,
but that was a small difficulty in the eyes of the paternally
benevolent Government. They simply shifted the frontier so
as to include the colony, and thus conferred on the unwilling
people the inestimable blessings of life under an autocratic
72 Tolstoi's Table Talk.
despotism, with its accompanying delights of excessive taxa-
tion, police supervision, forced military service, landlordism,
established ecclesiasticism, &c. Yet some jDeople do not know
when they are well off. From that day the happiness and
prosperity of the colonists has become a thing of the past.
The question has often been put by prominent religious people
in England, " But is Tolstoi a Christian ? " Well, that depends
entirely on your conception of what a Christian is. If it is a
matter of creed or ritual, no doubt Tolstoi would have to be
rejected by most of the divisions into which nominal Christians
have fallen. Tested by the standard of the Greek Church, he
is not, for he has no belief in the validity of their ecclesiastical
traditions, the powers of the priests, the efficacy of their
pardons, the utility of saint worship, &c. Or by the Romish
test, he thinks nothing of the infallibility of the Pope, the
Immaculate Conception, the power of priestly absolution, of
ecclesiastical bannings or blessings. He is outside the Anglican
fold, for he has no faith in "orders," or in the apostolical
succession. " Evangelicals," so called, cannot claim him as
one of them, for he does not accept their theories about
the insj)iration of the Bible or the exact relations of the
Persons of the Trinity, or their favourite explanation of
Christ's work of salvation. What is left of the Christian
faith, you ask ?
Tolstoi is not so much concerned with beliefs about, as faith
in, God and Jesus Christ. He believes in God as a child
believes in his father. That is, he trusts His wisdom and His
love, although he feels unable to give metaph3"sical definitions
of these attributes, and precise explanations of the manner in
which they work. To him God expresses all that is good,
noble, true, pure, and beautiful. He believes in Jesus Christ
as the Leader of men through the difficulties and perplexities
of this world, as the Deliverer from what is really evil, as the
Way of Life. He tries to follow Him, to obey His commands,
that his own life may grow, and his faculties be developed to a
fuller understanding of the truth.
This may be wofully insufficient, according to the views of
those who themselves think they possess clear and true
Tolstoi's Table Talk. 78
doctrines, and that "except a man so believe he cannot be
saved/' but it is remarkably like what Christ required of men
Himself. And of the two, this simple faith, this earnest
endeavour to he and to do right, costs a man far more than the
effort merely to fhinii right.
Moreover, judged by the standard of dogma, Tolstoi could
not be a Christian, according to one division of Christians,
Avithout being a heretic according to the others, but in sight of
this attempt to live his life in harmony with the teaching of
Christ, he is at one with all earnest and sincere men of every
denomination whatever.
It is true that Tolstoi can no more avoid dipping into
doctrine occasionally than the rest of us, and his recently
published book on " The Four Gospels " shows that he, too,
can be led by the use of subjective methods to critical results
that can hardly stand the test of objective facts. It is true
that in his "Kingdom of Heaven is Within You" he uses
arguments that seem to many of us to be invalid, and draws
inferences from Christ's words that strike us as unwarranted,
and that in his books generally he expresses opinions that are
no more certainl}- true than other men's opinions; and, of
course, he believes in them, as we all believe in our own, and
very rightly, so long as we really think them, and do not merely
reflect the opinions of those about us.
This is no more than to say that Tolstoi is human ; that he
is not himself the Truth, but only a disciple seeking to find and
obey the Truth ; that he is not the Light himself, but one who
is earnestly trying to open out his whole life to the Light, that
under its vivifying rays he may grow as God meant him to
grow, that the dark places of wrong within him may be
purified by the Light, and all that is good bear much fruit.
Only a disciple, yet, with all his faults and errors, of which
probably no one is more conscious than himself, nearer the
Master by far than many of us who wisely sit in judgment
on them ; a disciple who, by his renunciation of the riches,
jDower, and dominion of the world that came to him by birth,
by his sturdy and uncompromising struggle against what he
honestly believes to be evil, by his self-sacrificing deeds
74 Tolstoi's Table Talk.
of mercy and love among- " these least," has honourabh^
earned the right to the name of ^^ Christian," which, with
multitudes of "professors" more orthodox than he, is
merely a conventional label of respectability, a badge
assumed light-heart edl}^, a wearing of the Master's colours
that is belied by a carelessness about the faithful execution
of His orders.
CHAPTER VI.
SPRING SCENES IN SAMARA.
On the Oars — Conditions oF Russian Travel — A Prison Car — Relief Work ir>
the City of Samara — Railroad Punctuality — Mushik Hospitality — A
Molokban Meeting — My Lodgings with Count Lyeff Tolstoi — Famine
Scenes — A Wakeful Night — " Vot Klop I " — Visit to Petrovka — In a
Snowdrift — Yon Biriikoff — -Feeding on Clay — " He must be the Devil ! "
— Orphaned Children — Upper-class Opinion and Governinent Opposition —
An Address of Thanks — Birukoff and the Priest — A Lenten Service —
The Popes and the Villagers — A. Cheap Marriage — The Pope and th*'
Bell — A Peasant's Burial — The Burnt Sheepskin — Fine Feathers — The
Rouble Note — Eastertide — Visit to a Horse-Farm — A Stormy Night —
Black Thoughts — A Peasant Superstition — "Christos Vo^kresje I "—
Lack of Seed — A Farewell Visit— Count LyetY Tolstoi — The Honest
Physician !
Early in March, 1892, on a bitterly cold morning, I left
Count Tolstoi's headquarters in the Government ot Rjasan,
to accompanj his son Lyeff Lvovitch and another young-
nobleman, Paul von Birukoff, to the young Count's centre of
operations in the government of Samara. "Where shall we
meet next? "said Tolstoi to me as we parted; "perhaps in
Sweden, or beyond the Mississippi ! "
As we went towards the rail way station of Klekotki in our
sleighs, we met a lon^ ohoz, or baggage-train, of more than a
hundred horses, bringing fuel and food for the relief work.
Our own train, according to the habit of Russian railwaj'S,
was several hours late. We travelled third-class, following
the Tolstois' usual custom, taking our baggage into the car
with us. Long distances prevail in this country, so a
traveller's equipment usually consists of portable bedding, food,
and a tea-set : you can get hot water on the cars. Every nook
and corner of the train was crowded with luggage and
packages of different kinds. The passengers, also, were of
assorted varieties — Russians proper, Mordvinians, Tcheremiss,
Tatars, and Bashkirs. Of these, the Tatars held a dis-
1&
Spring Scenes in Samaka.
tinguished pre-eminence in mv eyes, bj reason of their
cleanliness and politeness. The young Count called them
"real gentlemen," and told me that they were the most
honest and sober people in all Eussia, and consequently filled
positions of trust as a rule. He gave a good character also to
the Bashkirs, but in my own experience I found them of a
slyer and more cunning disposition than the Tatars. The
A GEOUP OF TATARS.
Mordvinians and Tcheremiss are of Finnish race, inhabiting
the forest regions of Kasan and its neighbouring districts,
which have been their home as far back as history reaches.
Nominally orthodox, they are at heart pagan, and in secret still
offer sacrifices to the spirits of the forest. They were very
picturesque in appearance, with their olive faces, black
moustaches, dark Mongolian eyes, and white caftans of coarse
woollen homespun. The Tatars and Bashkirs are Moham-
Spring Scenes in Samaea.
medans ; they and these semi-pagan tribes, inchiding also the
Votyaks and Tchuvashi, thoir neighbours, are on a very high
moral level, being industrious, sober, and honest.
I could not sleep at all the first night. The smell, the
vermin, and the presence of diseased rmishiks were too much
for me ; I had frequently to go out on to the platform — the
cars are of the American pattern — on account of nausea.
But th(^ famine had one incidentally good result : there was
THE YOUNGER TOLSIOI S HEADQUARTERS AT PATROVKA.
a general absence of drunken people ; the first I noticed was a
priest.
During the night a prison car, whose small windows were
protected by iron bars, and on each of whose platforms stood
two (jendarmes in grey, armed with rifle, revolver, and sword,
was attached to our train. It was filled with convicts bound
for Siberia, including both genuine criminals and those whost^
political or religious opinions made them obnoxious in the eyes
of a suspicious Government. I noticed, when I got a glimpse
through the double doors, some comely girl faces among the
crowd of rough and shaggy mushik heads. Even children are
78 Spring Scenes in Samara.
not infrequently sent to Siberia for political or ecclesiastical
reasons.
Birukoff had broug-lit bandages and antiseptics, and
•occupied himself each day with washing and dressing the sores
of the mushiJcs, and speaking words of cheer to them.
The second night, also, I could not sleep a wink ; it was not
merely the heat and the stifling, poisonous air, but there were
a number of suspicious individuals about, and thieving is
of very common occurrence on the cars. The third night
tired nature would be denied no longer, and I slept soundl3%
At five a.m. the Count woke me to see the Volga bridge, and an
hour later we were in the city of Samara, whose elevated
position on the east bank of the Volga, and public buildings
and churches, give it a striking appearance.
We stox3ped here a day to transact some business. The place
was crowded with starving mushiks, suffering from spotted
typhus, black small-pox, and scurvy, begging for bread by day
and sleeping in hovels and cellars at night. Very many of the
rich had fled to Paris or Nice. Private relief- work was chiefly
carried on by foreigners. Two Germans, Herr Koenitser
•and Herr Wakano, fed respectively fifty and a hundred people
daily. An Englishman, Mr. Besant, with means brought from
Great Britain, gave each day two meals to four hundred of the
sufferers. The Russian helx^ers were mainly sectarians ; a
Molokhan lady, a widow, worked assiduously and quietly,
according to her means, among the poor. It was the same in
the province. The English Friends, supported Prince Dolgoru-
koff's medical expedition to Eastern Samara, and dispensed
much help through their agents. The young Count Tolstoi's
funds, by which he carried on his extensive work, came mostly
from foreign countries, chiefly England and America.
At one a.m. we were at the railway station, but the train was
(not. All was quiet as death. In the second-class waiting-room
we found a number of men, women, and children, covering about
a quarter of an acre of flooring, making night musical by
snores in various keys, surrounded by immense piles of luggage.
Lyeff Tolstoi came in with the tickets, after sending an express
telegram to the place to order horses, and told us the train was
Si'KiNG Scenes in Samara. 79
belated seven hours ! In stoic calm he spread his cloak on the
floor and joined the company of sleepers, and after a cup of tea
we did the same. At nine the coming of the train was
announced for mid-day ; it ^jrovedto be two p.m. Tlie cold was
30*^ Reaumur (about ^S-aO*^ Fahr.). On the Avay a priest told
us that in his villag-e, which contained 1,(500 people, there was
only one horse left ; all r,he rest were starved or killed.
At Bagatoye we left the train, it being then dusk. We
found that one of our cases of canned goods had been stolen,
and that the exjjress telegram, despatched from Samara twenty
hours before, had not yet been forwarded. We had, in conse-
quence, to send for conve3^auces to the nearest village, Saniy each
drawn by two small shaggy horses, tamdem fashion. On the
way the Count beguiled the time by telling me stories of the
nomadic races who had lived on these steppes, and fought
heroically for their freedom.
We lodged that night with a musliih acquaintance of the
Count's, who seemed to be considerably above the usual run.
Not only was his place much cleaner than was common, but it
had a plank flooring. We slept on the tioor in thick blankets,
the lamp overhead burning all night. In the morning our
hostess poured water over our hands as we washed, a Russian
custom of hospitality. After a breakfast of tea and bread we
pushed on, and soon arrived at Pakovka, the village which
Count L3'eff used as his centre. His headquarters consisted of
a one -storied izba, divided by partitions into three small
rooms ; one for sleeping, one for entry, reception-room, and
kitchen, and one for dining-room, parlour, and office. The
second was constantly crowded with mushiks. No sooner had
we arrivad than we were besieged. The Count went to work
at once, and all the time I was with him he took but few hours
of rest by night or day.
That was Saturday. One of our drivers had been a fine,
neatly-dressed youth, who had told me of his connection with
the Molokhan sect, and on my expressing a wish to be present at
one of their meetings had offered me a hearty welcome. Birukoff
and I went next day, at 9 a.m., and found in a large izha about two
hundred people collected ; the women and children were toge-
80
Spring Scenks ix Sajiara.
ther nearest the doors, and the men inside. They had been
told of our coming-, and on our entrance rose together in greet-
ing ; our coats were taken, and we ourselves led right through
and given seats at the table. Like most of the sectaries, the ap-
pearance and demeanour of these powerfully-built, though now
emaciated folk, indicated a higher degree of intelligence and
culture than that of the Orthodox peasants generally.
As soon as we were settled, the congregation rose again, and
struck up a very strange kind of chant. The words were from
a chapter of the New Testament, read out verse by verse by one
of the leaders. The music was a kind of canon or round, of
which the motive remained the same, but which was subject to
variations to suit the different words of the text. Like all
Eussian songs, it was in a minor strain, and made a deep im-
pression on me, despite its j)rimitive, almost wild character.
These simple, wailing tunes have been shaped during centuries
of remorseless persecution, and express the striving after light
and freedom of many thousands of souls. They were now sung
with great feeling and life by the whole assembly. I give an
attempt at reproduction of the motive of the chant : —
i
:P^
S
^H>!W^
:f^
-**^#
-^-it_
^-
i
^
w
T=?~
^2*
-*-*■
After the singing, one of the leaders read Matt, xxv., con-
taining the parables of Jesus concerning the Virgins and the
Talents, making short and practical comments as he read. Then
the meeting was open to all, and several of the older members ex-
pressed their views tersely and to the point. I must say I found
this mode of proceeding more instructive and helpful than many
of the set theological sermons I have listened to, although these
mushiks, who had frequently taught themselves to read in
advanced years and under extreme difficulties, had no other
source of instruction than the Bible and their observation of
Spring Scenes in Sasiara.
81
life. I translate some of my notes, in which I jotted down a
few of their comments : —
" The fire in the virgins' lamps is insight into truth. But it
is not enough to have Jire j one must use, and, above all
things, have oil. What is this oil ? It is the ivill to do good
expressing itself in action, i.e., good deeds. We can have light
and great insight, and not live up to it, like those spoken of in
STAKOST.
TOLSTOI'S CHIEF UELPEK.
P. VON BIUUKOFF.
CODNT L. TOLSTOI.
another parable, who build their house on sand, that is, hear
the word without doing it afterwards. This is the most impor-
tant matter in the whole of Christianity, yet is most often
neglected by those who profess to be Christians, who occupy
themselves with a lot of doctrines and ceremonies rather than
doing the will of God. The kernel and centre of good works is
love to God and man, love showing itself in self-sacrifice for
6
82 Spkixg Scenes in Samara.
the suffering brother, as is proved by Christ's words concerning
the last judgment — only those who have fed the hungry,
clothed the naked, visited the sick, &c., will enter into His
glory."
Birukoff also, at request, not only commented on the passage,
but gave an address on the words, " The Law and the Prophets
were until John ; from that time the Gospel of the Kingdom of
God is jDi'cached, and every man entereth violently into it."
There was not room in Tolstoi's izha for more than himself
and chief helper, Ivan Alexandrovitch Berger, so I had to get
quarters elsewhere. I found these in the afternoon, in the izha
of the village " Pisar," or scribe, a young unmarried man and
his widowed mother. I had breakfast with these good people,
but dinner and supper with the Count. Another member of
this household I shall always remember with affection. He was
from our first acquaintance one of my most intimate friends,
shared my bed frequently, took tea and milk out of my saucer,
and was always brisk and cheerful, however gloomy our sur-
roundings. True, Vaska was " only a cat," but he has many a
time brought me no little comfort when returning from scenes
of hunger, disease, and death.
The free kitchens in Samara district were on the same plan
as those of Rjasan, except in minor points where local circum-
stances led to alteration. Here, too, deputations from distant
villages came with appeals for help, and when the workers
returned from their rounds they brought the same tales of
typhus, scurvy, black small-pox, &c., caused by the famine. Here
is a sample of a day's work, extracted from my diarj^, Wednes-
day, March 24.
6 a.m. The bells call the Orthodox to early mass. It is
Lent, and this early Mass is celebrated every day. The head-
quarters are already besieged by a crowd of applicants. Not
professional beggars, with well-worn, stereotyped petitions and
blessings, but a timid manner of making their wants known,
" Our food is all gone long ago ; we are starving. Help us."^
'' My wife and children are sick, and I have nothing for them ;
help us with a little tea and sugar, and something for hisha
and soup ! " " "We have a horse and cow, which are starving.
Sl'RIN<i SOENKS IN SaMARA. 8B
We are so frrieved to lose tlieni now that sprint^ is so near.
Help us with a little fodder."
A little girl is led up to the Count, and in a voice hardly
audible for suppressed tears, whispers " My mother died last
night, and I have nothing for my little brothers and sisters."
While at breakfast fresh batches of petitioners arrive, among
them some Bashkirs and Tatars from great distances, with
terrible tales of misery and pestilence, " Our own provisions
gave out long ago. The Government help is not enough to keep
us alive. Nearly all our cattle have perished. Our sick ones
and our children are slowly dying of starvation."
One of the helpers and myself drove to a neighbouring
village to look into the sanitarj^ conditions. First we came to
a row of clay huts, something like the adobe huts in New
Mexico, but much poorer. The snow had drifted above many
of their flat roofs, the location of which could be found by
the smoke from A-isjal' (fuel of dried manure and straw) that
rose here and there. An opening in the drift let us inside,
and we found that a small window had also been kept clear.
Before our eyes were of use, our ears caught the sound of
heavy breathing and moaning. Then we saw on the oven a
woman of middle age suffering from spotted typlius. To our
questions she gave only incoherent replies. A man of about
the same age, dressed in a shirt of dirty sackcloth, girt round
the waist with a rope, his uncombed hair on his forehead, and
his glassy, sunken eyes fixed in an expression of despair, sat by
the side of the oven, and on a bench lay a little five-year-old
boy in rags, and suffering from hunger and scurvy. Two
wooden benches and a small rough table on the earth floor
were all the furniture they had.
" Have you any cattle? " " No, we had two cows, but had
to kill them." "Any fuel?" "Only what our neighbours
give us." " Any food ? " The man produced a hard piece of
black rye bread, all that was left of the Government supply.
A second hut contained an old man of seventy, a woman of
forty, dreadfull}^ scored about the face with disease, and two
eiliaciated children, sick, on top of the oven, slowly perishing of
starvation. The father had been carried off by spotted typhus.
84
Spring Scenes in Samaka.
and the grandfather had come to look after the family. The
same story — no cattle, no fuel, two loaves of broad, a few peas.
In a third hut, larger than the foregoing, we found five
persons, a calf, and two sheep. Two of the live persons were
down with typhus, the rest were suffering from scurvy. The
other huts we visited simply repeated the story with variations.
I visited one of the free kitchens the Count had opened.
APPLICANTS FOR AID.
About fifty guests came, each with his wooden bowl and spoon.
Most 01 them crossed themselves as they entered — there were
not so many of the " unorthodox " here — and when all were
assembled they sang the " table prayer "in chorus. The first
part is to Bogo matjer, God's mother, the second consists of
extracts from the Lord's Prayer, the third is a prayer for the
Tsar. The food consisted of bread, pea soup, and hasha.
In addition to the clay huts of the village, there were sheds
that had been thatched wdth straw. But they had been dis-
Spring Scenes in Samaka.
mantled for fuel, and now presented a bizarre appearance, as
the bare wooden framework, with branches of willow wattled
in, »ave something of the appearance of a deserted rookery.
Miserable skeletons of horses were here and there plucking the
remains of some of the thatch that had been pulled off.
While we were away Prince Dolgorukoff had arrived, and I
was introduced to him on our return. This Prince, as was
said above, was conducting a medical expedition in Eastern
Samara, the expenses of which were partly borne by Friends in
England. This was a very timely aid, as there were no hos-
pitals, and, in fact, no sanitary arrangements whatever. On
paper, there was to be a store of medicine for every volosf, or
i,>.., '-^Hj.i.
VILLAGE STREET IN PATROVKA.
district of villages, but when we made inquiries the whole
*' store " consisted of " only three bottles containing some
unknown liquid " ! Two physicians, two surgeons, and six
volunteer nurses constituted this expedition. They took dinner
and supper with the Count, and though the accommodation
was cramped the company' was good, and all went well.
It was late that night when I reached my "room." This
was a small corner behind the oven, on the top of which my
host and hostess slept. But I found sleep hopeless. The
pictures of the saints I had seen in the daytime seemed to
move about in lifelike fashion. I shut my eyes many times in
hopes of dropping off, but they opened of their own accord
86 Spring Scenes in Samara.
just as often. The church bell tolled " One.'* The lampadka,
burning before the saint in " the holy corner " of the outer
room, spread a dim light, and through a crack in the wooden
partition I could see an ugly old saint staring at me, while on
the oven's top my hosts snored lustily. I tried to sleep again,
but it was no use. I lit my lamp, looked at my watch — it was
2 a.m. — and tried to read, but my thoughts wandered. I
glanced at the wall, and there was life and motion ! I had
already tired myself out in warring with the vermin, which
taught me to suffer in silence. Therefore, I left these travellers
in peace. I thought of the morning, when at last I could get
out of this dark and stifling prison into the fresh air and
light of the sun. I peeped into the other room, and was
surprised to see that the lampadha of the holy Nicholas was
going out, so I decided to let my little lamp, which illumined
no saint with shining halo, but a swarming multitude of ,
burn on till the sun should supersede both lamp and lampadka.
With longing after the sun and the fresh air I at last fell
asleep. f.
After spending the night once in another peasant's house,
my good host asked me in the morning if I had slej)t well.
When I said "No," he inquired if I had been visited by ''Mop."
Not having heard the word before, I asked what it was. Rising
quickly and running to the wall, he picked off a bug and
brought it to me in his hand. " Vol Mop " (this is Mop), he said.
He looked astonished when I expressed my strong aversion to
*^B flats," declaring "they are good for cleansnig the blood."
Saturday, March 27. — As I sat at breakfast, the door opened,
and a small, piping voice was heard on the other side of the
partition : " Barin gatav ? " (Is the gentleman ready ?) " Sei
tschess" (Immediately). The voice belonged to a little,
lively and agreeable little mushik, who was to drive us over to
Birukoff's headquarters at Petrovka, some twenty miles away
over the steppes. We found a strong headwind blowing, and
out on the steppes the storm was very bad, so that it was with
the utmost difficulty that I could see the horse in front of us.
It was a wonder to me how Vasutka, m}-- driver, who looked
like a little snow goblin on the sledge, could find the way. In
Spuing Scenes in Samara. 87
one valley we did lose it, and the poor horse struggled helplessly
in the soft snow. Vasutka began to beat the poor animal, who
struggled hard, shivered, and looked piteously round at us.
" Stop that," I cried to him, and jumped out to unharness the
horse. The cold seemed to me much harder to bear out on
these steppes than the same degree of frost on ouv own northern
fells ; my hands began to freeze as I outspanned the horse, and
it was with the greatest difficulty that I kej^t my face from
becoming frost-bitten.
We managed Avith ropes to haul the horse out of the drift on
to some harder tracks, but had to rej)eat the process several
times. The horse was getting exhausted, and it seemed
probable that we should have to spend a day and night in
a snowstorm out on the steppes. "Vasutka, do you think we
shall get out of this ? " " GosjJod znajer " (God knows) . ^^ Are
you afraid?" " JSfitchevo ! " This last word is hardly trans-
latable ; it is a kind of vocal shrugging of the shoulders.
However, at last we hit the road again, and by good hap
kept it until we reached our journey's end." ^
Birukoff was out, but the peasants, after gaping and whis-
pering about my outlandish dress and broken Russian, showed
nie to his room. It was about 10ft. by 6ft. His box-bedstead
was made of roughly-nailed boards ; there were two wooden
.stools and a table, on which lay a Russian New Testament, a
French philosophical treatise on Pythagoras, and some lists and
account books belonging to the relief work. In about half-an-
hour he came home, tired and hungry, but cheerful as usual,
and we had a late dinner. Like his master Tolstoi, BirukofP is
a vegetarian, and lived on the same food that he served to the
peasants.
The usual crowding in of applicants took place during the
meal, and after attending to them we wi'ut off to a committee
meeting cimcerning some new eating- rooms. The members of
this committee impressed me very favourably by their bearing
and speech. They clearly felt tliat they were not in the pres-
ence of officials, Avhom they hated and feared, but turned to
Birukoff as a friend; he, on his part, met them with unfeigned
cordiality and respect. I was introduced, and the object of my
88 Spring Scenes in Samara.
journey explained, after the business was finished. One and
all rose up, and in cliorus thanked me, and asked me to convey
tlieir thanks to all the friends abroad who had contributed
through me.
It was evident from what was brought forward at this meet-
ing, that in spite of all denials from certain quarters, numbers
were dying directly of starvation, and not simply from diseases
occasioned by the famine. It also appeared that many families
had mixed clay with the bread. I keep a sample of this as a
grim memorial.
When we came out there was a considerable crowd assembled
to see *^ the first foreigners who had visited their village." I
was by this time so used to the curiosity of the peasants that it
roused my wonder when I was not followed by a crowd. This
happened to me once, where I saw women and children peeping
round corners or out of windows, and then hastily drawing
back. The riddle was solved when I reached my lodging.
My companion, with whom I had been speaking in German,
told me that the women in the village had said, " He doesn't
use Christian speech, and he is not dressed like a Christian.
He must be the tjort (devil) himself."
Von Birukoff had had to overcome endless opposition from
the different authorities before he could succeed in his work ;
yet he had ti^iumphed to an extraordinary degree, and astonished
me with his indomitable doggedness and pluck. He had charge
of the north-eastern wing of the Count's army of warriors
against pestilence and famine. Already he had established
forty eating-rooms, and hoped to double that number.
One of the most heartrending features of the famine was the
multitude of orj)haned children, whose parents had fallen
victims to starvation or typhus. In Samara alone they num-
bered many thousands, and, without friends or relatives,
wandered from village to village seeking help for themselves
and little brothers or sisters. Many were fed in the Count's
eating-rooms, but it was impossible to help more than a small
number of the great multitude.
Here is an entry from my diary: April 14th. Got no rest
during the night. About midnight a number of starving people,.
^fi'
mmBi^- '
ir*:P^
"^ohcin'&i^^'k
STARVING OhPHANS.
i
i
Si'KiNG Scenes in Samara. 91
wandering from village to village in search of bread, came and
asked for food. The pitiable folk seemed in hopeless despair.
In the outer room thej kept talking and whispering, now
and again breaking out into sobs and crying. The number of
starving beggars roving about is increasing alarmingly. One
crowd after another has passed through the village during the
day, very inany of whom have been children. As I was eating
my breakfast this morning I saw a large number of child-
beggars approaching my lodging-place across the plain. It
was no new sight, but very painful on that sunny April morning
to see these 2)iuclied and starving little ones. One girl of about
nine, carrying a little child, looked as if she might have been
thirty or more. A little way off stood a boy, looking on the
ground Avith a sorrowful expression.
"Where do you come from, little children? " I asked.
" From the village of G " (in the neighbourhood).
" Who is the little one in your arms ? " I asked the girl.
" My little brother."
'^ Where are your parents ? "
"They have died in the 'disease ' " (spotted typhus).
" Have you no relatives ? "
*' Many have died in the disease, and others have gone away."
" What is your name? " I asked the boy just mentioned.
"Ivan Petrovitch A."
" Where are your parents ? "
" I have no parents ! " And the poor little fellow burst int o
tears. The other children told me that his father died a
month ago, and that his mother was buried yesterday. All of
them, I discovered, were orphans.
Yet it was one of the things that astonished me most in
Russia, to hud that so many of the upper-class people in the y
cities tried to deny the existence of any extraordinary famine,
and that while the cities themselves were swarming with the
starving peasants. Once a well-fed and warmly-clad " gentle-
man " on the cars said to me, in an authoritative tone, " The
distress of the mushiks is not so great as people make out.
They are accustomed to no other condition, and are contente d
and happy. The mushiks are cattle.^'
92
Spring Scenes in Samara.
Not only so, but at first the authorities prohibited the
giving of relief by private persons, and when that was no
longer possible invariably gave them the cold shoulder, and
even set detectives in large numbers to spy on their
proceedings.
In Moscow, for example, a certain Madame Marosova, who
offered to support 10,000 famine-stricken people at her own
cost, u-as forbidden to do it, and one of Colonel Paschkoff's
large establishments, in which 500 people were fed daily,
was closed by the police in the famine year 1892, in
Petersburg, under the eyes of the Procureur of the Most Holy
<|p^
■*^,
GOVEK^ME]ST LUlLLilKGS ]N PA'IIiOVKA.
Synod and of ihe " Little Father " of the Eussian people.
Even in the destitute villages out on the steppes of Samara
detectives were watching those who were devoting all their
powers to feeding the hungry, while official representatives of
these *' powers (of darkness?) that be," who were doling out
a horrible mixture of chaff, sand, and dirt, instead of the flour
provided by Government, were left unmolested. Of course, I
do not know what these "ministering spirits " reported about
our work, but 1 am sure that if they told the truth they could
in no way describe the methods of relief as " dangerous." The
Royalty of the addresses of thanks from the peasants ought to
1
Spring Scenes in Samara.
93
have satisfied the very Pobiedanostseff himself. Here is a
specimen.
ADDRESS OF THANKS.
On behalf of the meeting in the village of Samovolovka in
the district of Patrovka, and in the name of jjersons belonging
to the eating-room, who number fortj, no more and no less.
CHURCH IN PATROVKA.
and who, from their whole sincere heart, and with the
unanimous consent of the entire meeting, have the honour of
thanking
First, and above all, the Heavenly Tsar, and
Next to Him the Earthly Tsar, Alexander Alexandrovitch,
■with his whole family, and the Most Holy Synod, with all its
nearest councillors, and finally
We have the honour of thanking Your Highness Count
94 Spring Scenes in Sa3iaka.
Tolstoi, and you, Mr. Merchant, Paul Ivanovitch, for all your
benefactions to us, for your food ; and if we liad not received
alms from both, quarters, from His Imperial Majesty the
Emperor, and from Your Highness Count Tolstoi, we would
have been in a terrible state, we would hardly have been alive.
From our whole, sincere, and grateful heart we again thank
you, and we remain very satisfied with your arrangements, and
we will thank you many times for many years. We shall be
very, very content.
Some weeks after my visit to Petrovka, the following incident
happened there. I had it, not from Birukoff himself, who,
like Tolstoi and his helpers generallj^, makes it a rule never to
tell about how they are treated by priests and officials, but
from another, a thoroughly reliable person.
Herr von Birukoff went one day on certain business to the house
of a Kulach in the village, where he met the priest of the place.
The host set tea, and wine and vodJca before them. The priest
took both tea and vodhi, but Birukoff, being an abstainer, took
tea only. The former soon got "si little fresh," and began
throwing out innuendoes against Birukoff and his helpers.
" People come now from all parts," he said, " and give so much
food to the mushihs that they completely spoil them, but they
never go to church, but set the peasants a bad example, and do
not live according to the Bible." " What do you mean ? " said
Birukoff ; " speak plainly, and don't insinuate."
" Well, I mean that you care nothing for church or Bible,
and live like heathens."
'^ 1 love and revere the New Testament," said Birukoff, "and
earnestly try to carry out its contents in my life. I always
carry a New Testament with me and read it eveiy day. Have
you a Bible ? " And he took out his Testament and put it on
the table before the priest.
" I have my Bible on the desk in church."
" Yes, and there it may lie. You don't read it yourself, nor
teach the people from it, nor try to fulfil its contents in your
life. What fruit does your Bible bear if it lies in the church ?
Neither your own nor your people's life shows any fruit of the
Gospel." Then Birukoff read some portions of the Sermon on
Spring Scenes in Sajiara. 95
the Mount and other parts of the New Testament which teach
how a Christian should live.
Then tlie priest got into a rage, snatched the Testament iind
flung it out of doors, exclaiming " Does the Gospel bear such
fruit then 9 " and flung himself out by the same way.
* -jf ^ ^ *
It is " the great Lent," with its nuiltitude of services. Earl}'
and late the Pope, dressed in his "rjassa," a long gown with
wide arms, a long staff in his hand, and accompanied at a
distance by the " psalm-singer," walks slowly and majestically
to the church, where the bells are rung in rapid time. Behind the
priest and his pomoststchik come troops of people of all ages
in single file, bowing and crossing themselves as they enter the
chui'ch. It is " Blagovestshjenije," Annunciation Day. An icy
cold wind drives the newly-fallen snow over the plains as I go
with the crowd to church, which is filled to its utmost capacity.
The barbaric Eastern splendour of the interior, the number of
saints in their silver frames, the gaudy decorations, the costly
robes of the priest, and the elaborate ritual contrast painfully
with the malodorous motley crowd of ragged, emaciated, and
dirty men, women, and children. These incessantly bow and
cross themselves, and kneel before the pictures, while the priest
walks round those of the Virgin and the Christ, swinging " the
holy Kad jilnitza " or censer, and the "psalm-singer" sings
the Mass with a strong " giii-bass " (produced through drinking
much gin). Powerful as his voice is, it is drowned b}^ the
coughing and the screams of the babies.
On either side of the " iJconastasis," a large screen before the
altar, stands a small desk within a rough wooden enclosure,
where a man is busy all the time selling " holy " wax candles.
The poor usually buy the cheapest kind, at about five copecks,
and light them before their favourite saints. A brisk business
is carried on in this kind of merchandise, the value of Avhich is
greatly enhanced by the priest's " consecration." The net
proceeds are divided betwen the clergy and the church.
There is a strong draught through the church, yet the air
is unspeakably foul. The whole service, with its mechanical
ceremonies, its prayers, and chanting in a language imintelligible
96
Spring Scenes in Samara.
to the people, the emaciated and haggard appearance of the
congregation, many of whom were disfigured by syphilis and
small-pox, and all of whom bore the unmistakable impress of
degradation and slavery, make the most painful impression
on me.
During the famine the people attend church more assiduously
than usual, hoping by this to conciliate the Deity. For the priests
they have neither love nor respect ; it is merely ignorance and
A MUSIIIK'S FUNERAL.
superstition that hold them under their sway. The popes, as the
village priests are called, belong to the " white priesthood," and
are compelled to marry; the members of the "black priesthood"
live in enforced celibacy. The popes have no salary, but have
ample power of deriving a good income from the comj)ulsory
fees for the numerous religious ceremonies. The nice parsonage
in our village testified to better times in the past, and the well-
fed appearance of the priest showed that, although his income
had been badly reduced, he had not been inconvenienced by
starvation. Ceremonial fees vary according to circumstances ;
Spring Scenes in Samara.
97
baptism of an infant costs from fifty coj)ecks to several roubles ;
a wedding five to twenty roubles, a funeral one to ten roubles.
The rich pay much, larger sums. Then the priests receive a
great deal in kind. Ten times a year they make their rounds
through the villages, when each family must contribute some-
thing. At the great festivals he comes to hold "moleben " or
DELIVERED BY DEATH.
prayers in their homes, when they must give him at least
twenty-five copecks, some pastry, ten eggs, &c. In this village
there are four hundred homes, so he does not do so badly.
It must not be supposed that these offerings are all given
willingly ; on the contrary, the priest has often to threaten and
quarrel with the peasants before he can collect them. Some-
7
98 Sprinu Scenes in Samara.
times the dead lie unburied for days, because their friends
cannot pay what he asks. A baptism or wedding may be more
easily postponed, but in the end the peasants have to give in.
Where sectarians are numerous it is most difficult for the-
priest to get so much, but the police are on his side, and he
can get them harassed, imprisoned, or even banished.
Take as an illustration the following conversation between
peasants, telling of their different priests. One narrates how,
in the village of F , a peasant went to the priest to arrange
for his wedding. " Ten roubles," demands the priest. The
peasant haggles about it. " Well, you shall have it for five
then, not a copeck less." Three roubles are offered, on the-
plea of poverty, but the ]30pe will not give way for a long time ;
at last, however, he agrees, and on the appointed day they meet
for the ceremony.
The priest begins. According to Eussian custom the couple
should be conducted round the analoj or reading-desk three
times, but the priest stops after the first round. ^^Little^
father," says the bridegroom, *' according to law thou shouldst
take us three times round the desk." " Three times for three-
roubles ! " exclaims the priest. " One is enough for thee."
Then the bridegroom notices that the priest does not hold
the crown over their heads, according to custom, and says,
" Little Father, why dost thou marry us without a crown ? "
" Wilt thou, then, have a crown also for three roubles ? Thou
are jesting, little brother. This will do." At the end the
priest should give the couple a little wine, but none is forth-
coming. The peasant stretches out his hand for some, saying,.
" A little wine, little father ! " " So," shrieks the priest " thou
wouldst have wine, too, for three roubles, thou little rascal ! "
Nor is any given. So the edifying ceremony ends.
The other peasants shook their heads, saying, " Voj, voj,'''
such a " 'oatuscliTta " (little father).
" With us," begins another, " the priest is better in that
respect ; he does not gnaw the flesh from our bones, but '"
"What then?"
The peasant shuts his eyes and shakes his head.
" Does he drink ? "
Spring Scenes in Samara. 99
'' Drink ! Drink ! And when he gets his spells, oh ! And
he is fearful when he gets drunk. Then he fights and
carries on like a mad dog. One night, not long ago, when the
village had barely gone to rest, the large church bell began to
ring. The whole v illage ' rolled out ' to see where the fire
had broken out. "VVe all looked round, and could see nothing.
We ran to the church steeple, and there we saw the hatuschl-<i
standing, with only his shirt on, banging away Avith the clapper
of the large bell. ' Little father, what is the matter ? ' we
cried. ' I — hie — have — hie — been fighting — hie — with the
old woman — hie — and — hie — I want you — hie — to help me
lick her.'"
General laughter among the peasants.
Sometimes the priests take revenge on peasants for low pay-
ment or any other cause, by refusing to give children the names
selected, and substituting others frequently of an insulting
kind.
Coming out of the church I wander off to the steppe to get
a little fresh air. On my return I see at a distance a group of
people slowly coming up the village street, and recognise a
scene enacted every day. It is a funeral procession — not of
Dives, with silver-covered coffin, heaped with flowers and
carried on a catafalque by eight or ten bearers, preceded b}^
priests in flowing, ornate vestments, singers and picture-
bearers ; no, it consists only of four men bearing on their
shoulders a coffin of rough, unpainted boards. As it
approaches I recognise in one of the bearers a strongly-built
miishik with regular and beautiful though now emaciated
features, Avho called on the Count last night and got two
roubles to buy a coffin. Often these poor people had no means
even to procure a coffin for a dead relative.
It is not merely the custom of the country that makes me
uncover my head as these men, bowed by want and soitow,
slowly pass on their way to the dismal cemetery on the steppe
outside the village with the remains of their brother whom
death has delivered from nameless misery.
Even in the midst of starvation and disease there occur
100 Spring Scenes in Samara.
scenes tliat move to laughter. One day I came to Count
Tolstoi's dwelling, and found one of the young musliih women
employed about the place almost crazy with despair ; loudly she
wailed and bemoaned her evil lot. I thought that sui-ely her
husband or some one dear to her had died, but when I asked
what was the matter, the young Count rephed :
" Her husband got horribly lousy. She wanted to clean him
up a little, so put his sheepskin in the oven, but the heat was
too fierce, and the coat and all its population was burnt up !
When her husband discovered it he stormed, scolded, and beat
her, so that now she is afraid to go home."
Hinc illae lacrywue ! I had the satisfaction later of presenting
them with a new sheepskin, on condition that he should not
beat his wife, and she should try to keep it free from vermin.
Another curious scene was witnessed when some good-souled
ladies of Warsaw sent two large bales of clothes to be distri-
buted among the needy. There were all kinds of fine raiment
— mantles, vests, stockings, and costumes of various descriptions.
I waited to see if there were any corsets in the lot, but evidently
the Polish ladies thought their far-away sisters in Samara were
not sufiiciently cultured for this article of dress ! It was great
fun to see how eagerly the peasant women and girls came
running up with hands outstretched to get some of the finery,
threw the silken wraps over their old sheepskins with delight,
and in high glee bore off their treasures to their home.
On another day there came a poor old woman in sad trouble
to the Count. With tears running down her wrinkled cheeks
she threw herself on her knees before him. When he had got
her up again and encouraged her a bit, she drew out of her
sheepskin cloak a ragged bundle, which she undid and took out
another rag tied up in a knot ; this also she untied, and pro-
duced a something tattered and torn almost beyond recognition,
but which turned out to be a rouble-note. Then she told her
story.
" 1 am a widow from the village of X." (here she produced a
document from the village scribe attesting the truth of her
story), " and have a small plot of land. After my cow died of
starvation, and we ourselves were threatened with the same
SNOWDRIFT AT THE END OF APRIL.
PEASANTS CUTTING THROIUH THE SNOW.
Spring Scenes in Samara. 10;}
fate, my son went to Uralsk to look for work. After some
weeks lie sent me a rouble to buy some seed. With the note
tied up in a bit of rag I set out, but lost it on the way, and
only found it again after a lot of trouble and searching. A
<3alf had got hold of the rag and chewed it, so that my rouble
was all bitten to pieces. Then I went to the village authorities,
iind they told me to come to your worship. Lord Count."
Tolstoi changed her damaged note for one for five roubles, and
gave her besides help in other ways.
The week before Easter we received an invitation from a
gentleman to spend the holidays at his residence. The snow
was still lying deep on the ground when the young Count, one
of his helpers, and myself set out. Here and there on the hill-
tops or on the sunny slopes it had melted in spots, and on these
some miserable-looking cattle, amid the carcases of others of
their kind that had succumbed, were feeding on the sparse, old
grass. The eye rested with pleasure on these bare patches,
looking like islands dotted in a sea of ice, formed by the
endless stretches of white snow, that reflected with almost
unbearable brilliancy the intense sunlight. Overhead the lark
was singing his beautiful song, while beneath tlie snow is heard
the purling of many streams as the water rejoices in its first
freedom from the fetters of winter. Looking westward from
an elevation on which we stopped to enjoy the scenery, we saw
the golden cupola of the church with the village clustering
round — the scene of our toils during the last month. The
thought of the contrast between this bright and lovely spring
morning and the unspeakable human misery that has engulfed
us all this time, made the fonner seem one of Nature's most
bitter ironies.
Our host gave us a cordial welcome, and did all in his
power to make our stay pleasant, giving us with open-hearted
hospitality the best the house afforded. On the farm was a
large number of horses, kept for the celebrated " kumiss
treatment." Kumiss is a special preparation of mare's
milk, considered good for certain classes of invalids ; often
in summer-time there would be fifty patients utlder treatment
iit the farm. Only Bashkirs and some other Asiatic herdsmen
104
Spring Scenes in Samara.
THE KUMISS FARM.
HEUR I'ALTVABliL.
have the skill required to prepare this drink properly ; the
Bashkirs and Tatar element was considerable in the neigh-
bourhood. Besides these there were two other Asiatics who
Spring Scenes in Samara.
105
MLSJUKS WAITING FOK THE DISTRIBUTION OF SKED-COKN.
contributed very largely to our jjleasure. One was called
*' Herr Fiiltviibel, a camel of considerable intelligence, who
became a universal favourite. On liis broad back we enjoyed
short trips in the neighbourhood of the farm. He arranged
a special entertainment for us on his own account, when, with
106 Spring Scenes in Samara.
Dr. B. on his back, he lay down on a clear space out on the
steppe, to which he had waded through deep snow, and
absolutely refused to stir. At last a Tatar floundered with
much difficulty through the drifts to the spot, and persuaded
him to get up and return home. " Jashka," the other Asian,
was a little white ass, who speedily rivalled " Herr Faltvabel "
in the popular esteem. I give portraits of both, taken with
my Kodak.
The evening of our arrival black clouds began to gather,
and when we retired about midnight a heavy storm was raging;
fierce gusts of wind threatened to tear the roof off the
house, while the hail beat furiously against the windows.
Not only was the storm without, but, in my case at least,
within also. I had received that day a letter from Southern
Hussia, and now ojjened it and read, among other things,
'' The father of the family is banished " for being a
sectarian. " His wife, who has been forbidden to accompany
him, is hopelessly ill from sorrow and suffering, and her six
children, who surround her, are starving. . . . She
receives no relief from the Government, because she is —
a sectarian. . . . Several families are in the same
predicament."
All sleep is banished. My thoughts roam everywhere.
Back to the childhood when all was bright and joyous ; in the
heart love, hope, and faith ; in the world order, justice, and
truth. Forward to the rude awakening, to the grim realities
of life, especially the horrors I had witnessed of late, in the
midst of which I now was ; to the holocausts of human
lives, the rivers of blood and tears, shed to gratify the lust
and caprice of tyrants ; rivers that have not watered and
fertilised the lands, but in their fierce torrent have washed
away the fruitful soil, leaving whole regions desolate and
bare, both in the past and to-day. Where is that law of progress
of which we boast ? Civilisation after civilisation in the past,
rotten with its own corruption, has been swept away by
barbaric hordes, in their turn to rear anew the fabric of fresh
civilisation, and in their turn also to fall before the aveng er.
f Here, to-day in Eussia, are thirty-five millions of hard-working
SpRiNa Scenes in Sajiara. 107
peasantry struggling against starvation and pestilence ; the
rich continue in luxury and idleness, the Government is
exacting the last mite from the oppressed people for
the instruments of international murder ; the preachers
of religion proclaim submission and self-denial, with
reward in the next world, while they themselves live in
affluence and grab all of this world's wealth they can, and
while preaching the Gospel of the Cross hunt down the
" heretics " as wild beasts. The miserable peasants have
cried to heaven that their children may be delivered from
starvation, but the brazen gates have remained closed. They
Avrite letters, piteous in their very illegibility, to authorities
asking for justice, and receive no rejjly, or are punished for
their audacity in complaining ; they knock at doors that will
not ojien to them, they speak to persons who will not listen.
They understand nothing of the system of official society,
with its forms, its laws, its etiquette.
On my table is a pamphlet containing two sermons by a
German pastor on " The Famine and Our Sins." Whose sins?
Why does the punishment fall on the innocent ? Ave these
peasants' sinners above all others tliat they should suffer and
the oppressors go free? What have those poor orphan children
done that they should wander by thousands over the st;.^pp3s,
starving and freezing to death, or surviving only to lead a
life of misery and degradation ? What is their sin to merit
so great a '^punishment" ^
" Faithless pessimism," you exclaim, in your comfortable
homes. Maybe so, but these were my thoughts at the time,
however I ma}' look at things when the deep stirrings of
emotion have passed by. But would it not be well to consider,
not so much the frame of mind into which these sufferings and
cruelties t lire Av me, but the ^/'c/c/fe- themselves? Optimism is a
grand thing, if you have first faced the teri-ible suffering
and evil in the world ; faith is magnificent if, while com-
prehending the depths of woe and sin, you yet can put un-
wavering trust in God. But the optimism that is based on
wilful ignoring of ugly facts is either callousness or
cowardice, and the " faith " that is exerted for other people
108 Spring Scenes in Samara.
in their distress without doing all in our power to help is a
ghastly impertinence.
At Easter time the orthodox go to church on the evening
before "Long Friday," and the service continues until
after midnight on Easter Eve. That night the mushilxs
believe that the dead stir, that they can even hear them
moving about and talking in their graves, if they lie with
ears pressed to the ground. So they take food and vodka
into the graveyards for the use of their buried relatives, and
even in the terrible need of the famine this rite was not
altogether neglected.
Easter morn rose fine and clear ; all about us was heard the
customary greeting, *' Christos voskresje," with its reply and a
kiss. For forty days this formula is used, not only when
friends meet, but at the head of letters of all kinds, in business
and on all occasions of importance, even in the collection of
debts ! Among the educated, this and other church ceremonies
are so neglected that the mushiks regard them as having a
peculiar religion of their own.
At evening the company separated ; some returned to their
posts, others remained a fe^v days longer at the farm.
With the break-up of the winter, all communication on the
steppes is interrupted, because of the swollen streams, fed by
the melting snow. We had, in consequence, to wait a fortnight
for our letters.
It was time to begin the year's agriculture, but no mushiks
were seen in the fields, except one or two who were working for
a kulack. The others had neither seed for sowing nor horses
for ploughing. There was seed in the public storehouses of
the Government, about one-third of what was needed, but when
the peasants sent to inquire of the authorities, they received no
reply. Despairing, they appealed to the Count for aid. But
he could at first do nothing, having no means ; fortunately,
liowever, he received considerable remittances from Countess
Tolstoi in Moscow, who sent on money collected in America
and other places. At once he got horses and seed, and by
working night and day, two hundred of the most needy were
helped to sow their holdings. Large numbers left their homes
Spring Scenes in Samara. Ill
to look for work, but there were not many who could afford to
hire labour. .
My stay with Count Lyeff drew to a close. It had been
decided that when the Volga traffic Avas open, I should go to
Southern Samara and Saratoff to arrange for the opening of
free eating-rooms for the sick and convalescent.
The evening before ni}^ departui'e I paid a number of farewell
visits to friends in Patrovka. As I returned, I saw a curious
piece of evidence of the straits to which the peasants were
reduced. A poor vmshik, with a shaggy little horse, was
driving a plough over the land made altogether of ivood. I
found that many peasants had pawned all their implements to
get money to pay their taxes, or to buy food.
There was still one visit to pay. I was up at sunrise next
morning, and went to the cemetery to have a last look at the
graves of those who had died in the famine. All was quiet in
the village, except for several cocks that were scratching on a
dunghill before an izba, and crowing their welcome to the day.
It seemed as if I should be able to make my little pilgrimage
to the graves of my friends unobserved, ''nit on reaching the
burial-ground I saw a number of peasants digging graves for
their dead at that early hour. I took a photograph of them,
and of the fresh graves that told of Death's winter-harvest in
the famine-stricken village.
It was May when I left, yet the young Count was still
feeding twenty thousand people a day, and helping the needy
in countless other ways beside. Almost all that summer he
worked on, distributing the food that came through friends
outside. Later on, twelve additional car-loads of American
flour were sent him by the Anglo-American Committee in St.
Petersburg. The terrible strain of the hard work and the care
involved in directing this vast and difficult relief in Samara
entirely broke down his health, which, I am sorry to have to
state, has not as yet been restored in this summer of 1895.
Truly he is one of those who have been willing, like their
Master, to lay down his life in self-denying toil and sacrifice
for the sake of others who can never repay him.
I got permission to accompany a physician, sent out by the
112 Spking Scenes in Samara.
Governor of Samara to inquire into the sanitary condition of
the district, on his return journey. We met at a village seven
miles off, where I found him engaged in a four hours' dinner
with a Government official. In high spirits they drove off in
the latter's carriage, I following in our tarantan. Eight miles
of fast driving brought us to a priest's house, where we were
invited to tea and wine. The doctor and the official took leave
in Russian fashion, kissing each other three times, and we set
out on our thirty miles to the railway station, the doctor
ensuring our punctual arrival by plying the driver with vodka.
I was tired, and asked the doctor to get my ticket, giving him
a ten-rouble note — the fare was six or seven roubles. As we
got into the train he said my ticket was all right, but in one of
the intervals of my dozing on the train, I overheard him say to
the conductor, " This gentleman is sent from America with
bread for the starving; he ought to have a free passage."
The conductor agreed, but at Samara the doctor returned me
— not the ten-rouble note, but my change. I had been inclined
to agree to his request that I should get some of the American
gifts sent to him for his relief work, but this little incident
changed my mind.
COUNT LYEFF TOLSTOI, JUNIOR.
CHAPTER VII.
A POLICY OF DEATH.
•Ignorance and Superstition Due to the Government — Repression of Schools —
Schools Under the Priests — An Extensive Curriculum — Attitude to
Private Schools — An Educated Mushik — The Story of Smnjanoff —
Educational Statisti'^s — A Battle of Circulars — Ig^norance and Disease —
Superstition — Officinl Folly — Practical Consequences — A Sister of the
People — The Hospital — Ravages of Disease — Responsibilities of the
Church and Government
The ignorance and superstition of the Russian peasants,
•which strikes a visitor so forcibly, may be unhesitatingly
attributed to the deliberate policy of the Government, and not,
to the character of tlie peasants themselves. It is true that
during the short reform period under Alexander II., in the
early sixties, a considerable number of well-equipped schools
were established in connection with the zemstvos, or district
governments. When, however, the wave of Liberal policy was
followed by the backwash of reaction, these schools were
gradually crippled, and under Alexander III. the nadir of
education was reached. His attitude may be accurately
gauged from his speech to the people on the occasion of his
coronation — " Peasants you have been, and peasants you will
remain ! " This sentiment was embodied soon after in a
uTcase, according to which only a small section of the people
were to share in educational advantages, and even for these
favoured few **the measure of instruction shall be in
proportion to the status of the person having children to be
educated." In pursuit of this policy the boards of education
in Saratov and other places have resolved that " the instruction
in schools shall be so limited as to protect the children of
the upper classes from the intrusion of those of the poor
and middle class."
A further uhase of May 15, 1S91, dealt the finishing blow
X
116 A Policy op Death.
to the better kind of schools connected with the zemstvos, which
had already been gradually starved out of all practical
efficiency. By this decree they were handed over to the -popeSy
a set of ignorant and frequently drunken men who, according
to the repeated testimony of their own bishops, have neither
the necessary time nor ability to look after the schools. The
consequence has been a complete transformation of popular
education into a soul-destroying, ecclesiastical discipline, by
which the rising generation is taught to make the sign of the
Cross, to bow before the eikons of saints, to learn by heart
portions of the Russian liturgy, and above all " for his earthly
welfare and eternal salvation, to regard, honour, and obey the
Tsar and the Government as a divine and holy authority."
I visited some of these priests' schools, so startling in their
contrast to the district schools established under Alexander II.
In these latter the classes were under the supervision of trained
teachers, the walls were hung with maps, diagrams, &c., and
there were materials for object-lessons for the younger classes.
The school-houses I saw were ordinary peasants' cottages, and
on the walls were merely saints' j)ictures, with a large portrait-
group of the Imperial Family occupying the place of honour.
At the age of seven or eight the children go to school to the
jyomostchnil', a kind of curate to the priest, who is, as a rule,
seldom sober. The lessons consist of psalms and liturgies m
the old Slavonic, and are taught by the priest reading the por-
tion word by word, while the child learns it parrot fashion,
without understanding a syllable. This kind of training is not
compulsory by law, but it is by practice. It is only " private '*
in the sense that the child's parents or guardians are permitted
to pay for it.
The curriculum of the district schools themselves, arranged
by the Holy Synod, and under the immediate supervision of the
priest, is as follows : —
First Year. — Twelve prayers in Old Sla.vonic learnt by rote.
Second Year. — The Russian version of these prayers, also by
rote.
Third Year. — Same as second year, with a little mental
arithmetic on the four rules.
A Policy of Death.
117
To teach the children to read forms no necessary part of the
syllabus, and, as a matter of fact, the majority of children pass
through these three years and are thoroughly illiterate at the
end. It is only those children who push themselves forward, as it
were, who get a knowledge of reading outside the regular course.
The former schools used also to have libraries of serviceable
books, which the children were allowed to take home with
them, but now the only books allowed are such as belong to the
Orthodox training, liturgies, legends of saints, &c. When
SCHOOL CHILDREN AT PLAY.
the schools are closed, the children soon forget the little know-
ledge they have acquired. They take their share of the hard
work in the fields, <kc., and have no books at home by which
to keep up their scholarship (?).
Nor are private schools allowed to supply the deficiencies of
the national system. A number of these had been established
by private beneficence in Siberia — in Tomsk, Omsk, Krasnoj-
arsk, Irkutsk, and Jenesseisk — and were making good progress.
They were delared by a prominent Government newspaper
{Graschdaninj Oct. 9, 1880) to be of revolutionary tendencies ;
118 A Policy of Death.
the local authorities received the hint to hamper them as much a&
possible, with the result that they have novr come under the con-
trol of the purest obscurantism. This device is a favourite one
vv^ith the Government, and most effectual. A decree forbiddini^
the establishment of any private school without special consent
of the priests, and a hint to these gentlemen not to give it when
asked, has proved the most easy and thorough method of pre-
venting the peasants from getting education that could be
invented.
I did, however, meet a joungmnshil- of really good education »
Not only could he read and write, but he had read to some
purpose, and had acquired considerable information concerning
other lands. When I spoke of America and the help sent from
there to the starving peasants, he said, with tears in his eyes,.
" I love the rei)ublic." He had also taught himself arithmetic,,
and was now practising drawing, using the pictures in a book
he had as copies. I found out the reason of his unusual
acquirements : he had been brought up in Siberia, and had
learnt from the educated political exiles. Other ardent spirits,,
thirsting for the light of truth, receive help from the sectaries,
who include in their number almost all who have any education
at all among the peasants. This young man had got his
knowledge in Siberia, and it was pretty certain to be the means
of sending him back there.
To say that it was a crime in the eyes of Government to ac-
quire a better education than is common in one's own class might
seem an exaggeration if it were not amply proved by many
instances. Here is one. In the government of Ufa, a man
named Semjanoff held a position in the mines. He was the
son of a poor miner, but by his exceptional industry and self-
devotion had passed through all seven classes at the gymnasium,,
and, consequently, obtained a fairly good post in the direction,
of the mines. His superior never had any fault to find with
him in any way, and all was going well, when there was a change
of governors in the province. The new governor, a man after
Pobiedanostseff's own heart, at once sent for Semjanoff.
" Now, you rascal, what are you doing here? " he roared, as-
soon as Semjanoff entered the room.
A Policy op Death. 119
" I beg your pardon, I " began the startled man.
" What have i/ou to do with ' beg your pardon,' you scum ? "
cried the governor, without allowing him to speak.
" Why do you insult me like this ? " exclaimed Semjanoff.
'*0n my word, just listen to him," fumed the governor. " To
the guard with him, put him in fetters ! I'll teach you ! Three
days of gaol for the fellow ! "
** But he is a man of education," whispered the former
governor, who was present.
" So he has had an education, has he ? Then he shall have
three tveeJcs ! I always give double or treble to educated
folks ! I'll soon show you rascals how I'll deal with you ! "
Semjanoff lost his position, and was degraded to the i-ank of
simple clerk. Soon after he was sent Avith a sealed order to
the chief of the police. The order ran " Give the bearer fifty
lashes." It was performed with punctuality and despatch.
Two days later he was sent with the same order, with the same
result. It then became the established rule for this unfortu-
nate man to take an order to the police and be flogged three
times a-week.
Brought at length to the verge of insanit}', so that he was
hardly responsible for his actions, he tried once to escape, but
was soon brought back, and received more of the same treat-
ment. A second attempt was attended by like results, and at
last nature took her revenge, and he became completely insane.
Even then his persecutors were not satisfied. "They lashed
the poor lunatic with the knout, just as they had flogged the
sane man," says our authority, and adds ''there are legions
of Semjanoffs here."^ What was the cause of all this ghastly
brutality ? There was not the slightest fault to be found with
him, as commonly understood. But he had committed an
unpardonable offence : he had set the bad example of getting \
an education superior to that of the class from which he
sprang.
A few figures, taken from ofiicial sources, and referring to
the first years of the present decade, will throw considerable
light on this matter of popular education in Russia. About
* " Kama und Ural " by Nemirovitch-Wantscheuko (1890).
120 A Policy of Death.
200,000 recruits are yearly enlisted in the army, and of these
only about 50,000 can read." Among the peasants proper the
percentage of illiterates rises to 95 per cent. ! In some parts,
e.g., the district of Novorzhevsk, Kholm, and Tovopetz, in the
neighbourhood of St. Petersburg, there is only one school to
each 200 villages. In these places one finds only from 5 down
to 1 per cent, of children of school age in the schools in con-
sequence of deficient school space. If Pussia had the same
proportion as her neighbour Sweden, for example, she would
have about 250,000 schools, while she actually has only 18,000.
Again, take Russia's enormous budget of 1,000,000,000
roubles ; of this only 500,000 are devoted to popular educa-
tion. That is one-eleventh part of what is devoted to the
maintenance of the Imperial Court ; one six-hundredth part
of the cost of the army, and one two-thousandth part of the
whole. At about the same time Great Britain was spending
about £9,000,000 for elementary educati6n, &c., with a
population little more than a third that of Russia. Moreover,
about two-thirds of this paltry sum of 500,000 roubles .goes in
salaries of inspectors.
In fact, Russia stands behind China in point of popular
education, for in the latter country 2*6 per cent, of the popula-
tion goes to school, in the former only 2-3 per cent.
In the government of Cherson, by a recent ukase of the
Holy Synod, Stundist peasants are ' plainly forbidden to allow
their children to be taught to read, and other districts are said
to be threatened with the same treatment because of the
spread of heresy within their borders. Truly the present Russian
Government may fairly be classed among the powers of
darkness.
Not long ago the leaders of the Liberal party sent out
circulars to the local authorities in order to ascertain the exact
facts about education in Russia, or as nearly exact as the
character of the said local authorities would allow. This
would have given too intense a light for the bat-like vision of
the Holy Synod. Pobiedanostseff at once sent his circular, too,
to the same authorities, reminding them that they were under
no obligation to reply to these questions, and this was followed
A Policy of Death. 123
up by a third from the Minister of the Interior absolutely
forbidding any answer being- sent. At the same time
Pobiedanostseff appropriated a sum of money devoted to
popular education and placed it in the hands of a^^committee"
with purely arbitrarij powers.
A sharp struggle is going on at the present time in Siberia,
where the Liberal party is somewhat stronger, between the
friends of education and the priests, but, of course, the Govern-
ment is siding with the latter.
One great and wide-reaching consequence of this priest-
ridden " education " is the ignorance and superstition in all
sanitary matters. Talk to a peasant about the connection
between dirt and disease, the destruction of forests and bad
seasons, and he will not understand what you are driving at.
For instance, I once told some peasants who were using dirty
water for drinking purposes, that they were drinking disease
and perhaps death. They simply gaped at me. Then I tried
them on another tack and said, *' No doubt the famine and
the plague have fallen on you because you have neglected to
pray to God and the saints." " Yes, Lord have mercy upon
us," they cried in chorus, crossing themselves, "we have not
worshipped God and the saints devoutly enough ; that is the
cause of all our troubles ! "
To the Orthodox famine and pestilence are not effects of
causes, but are sent by God or the devil either to punish or
torment them. To get rid of them one must first try redoubled
piet}', prayers, cross processions in the field, pilgrimages, &c.
If that is no good they try the other shop, and consult their
sorcerers about means to pacify or outwit the powers of evil.
Many of these sorcerers are maintained by communities, and are
far more powerful than the priests. If neither piety nor black
magic is of use, there is nothing farther to be done. Any pre-
cautions of man's own devising are not only useless but
positively dangerous, since they may irritate still further God
or the devil who sent the plague upon the land.
Whether the authorities themselves really believe the same
things, or simply use the superstition as a means of holding
the peasants in deeper subjection, it is difficult to say. At an}'
124 A Policy of Death.
rate, they play their part exceedingly well, and give no sign
that they have any faith in pure water and cleanliness. While
the people were dying by the tens of thousands, the officials,
who were careful not to set their sacred feet within the pre-
cincts of a plague-stricken village, busied themselves with
devising and issuing most sapient orders by which to counter-
act the ravages of hunger and disease. While I was in
Samara the children were forbidden to play in the streets or
fields so as not to offend the Great Powers. The poor little
starving mites were truly in no mood for play. Probably it
was for the same cause that parents of the Orthodox faith
were forbidden to give their children Jewish names, and vice
versa, and all peasants were commanded to uncover their heads
before every one of higher rank, on pain of flogging and
imprisonment.
As a consequence there is absolutely no sanitation in most
Tillages, and when the thaw came after the terrible winter our
worst fears were realised. The village streets were turned into
canals, along which flowed streams of dirty, yellowish-green
water, setting the heaps of excrement, from men and beasts,
that had accumulated through the winter, in a ferment. From
these streams the women got their water for drinking, cooking,
&c., and from the heaps of refuse themselves there (rose con-
tinual vapours, spreading in the atmosphere ; an incense that
might fitly rise in worship of the great powers enthroned at
Petersburg.
Look at this village street awhile. Here comes one of the
•doctors belonging to the expedition I have mentioned — not sent
out by the Government. He is riding on a horse whose legs
sink deep into the muck and filth. Soon after comes one of the
" sisters," shod with high boots, one hand engaged in holding
up her skirts, the other carrying medicine and food for the
patients ; from izha to izha she goes on her errand of mercy,
wading through the liquid mud.
We will go with her awhile on her rounds, approaching her
with deepest respect. She belongs to no religious order ; there
is nothing of the nun or "saint" about her. She is of high
rank, and has received a superior education. It is the inward
A Policy of Death. 125"
prompting of her own nature that has impelled her, like so
many other young ladies of gentle nurture, to " go to the
people," and risk her health and life in tending her suffering
fellows. There is nothing theatrical, no touch of the stage
heroine about her. Like her other sisters, she seems perfectly
unconscious both of the dangers to which she is exposed, and
of anything heroic in her occupation. It is the most natural
thing in the world to help her needy neighbours.
We go first to the temporary typhus hospital — a peasant's
cottage fitted up for the purpose. Above the door is the grim
inscription : " No admittance ! Infectious diseases ! " Outside
is a group of men and women waiting for news of their
relatives, stricken by " the sickness," as the peasants call all
kinds of disease. Two rows of beds are ranged along the
length and breadth of the cottage, filled with patients of both
sexes, about thirty in number. Sighs, groans, rapid breathings
prayers, delirious ravings fill the air, and though everything is
scrupuk)usly clean, it is impossible to keep the air pure in an
unventilated izha full of typhus patients.
After this we visit some of the houses where patients are
lying ill — and it is a difiicult matter to find a place where they
are not. Some of these cottages have great pools of water on
the earthen floor, making it simply a mudflat, but here, too,
are fever- stricken patients. In one cottage we visit one of the
doctors, Avho has himself fallen a victim to the spotted typhus.
The members of the expedition told me that the state
of things throughout the villages was frightful. Prince
Dolgorukov himself came across a family of nine members,
all doivu with disease, mostly spotted typhus. It was simply
impossible to carry out any method of isolation. One doctor
reported 351 cases, of which 155 were typhus, in a few days.
In the vilhige of Gavriulki half the population was down, and
with the inset of the thaw matters were growing rapidly
worse.
All this was simply the result of the Government's policy of \
keeping the peasants in ignorance and superstition. The '
pestilence was the result of the famine and the insanitary
conditions of the villages. Of these the last is directly trace-
126 A Policy of Death.
able to the miscliievous teaching of the priests, made clear
pbove, that ecclesiastical jugglery, and not common sense, is
the remedy for disease. As for the former, the example of the
Mennonites, who, in the severest times of famine, not only
escaped suffering themselves but were able to give large help
to others, clearly proves that the famine was not the effect of
bad seasons, but of the wicked exploitation of the mass of the
people by the officials and ^^ upper classes." For all these evils
the Court of Petersburg and the Holy Synod are directly
responsible ; they stand guilty of the murder of the bodies and
souls of millions of their fellow men.
CHAPTER yill.
A DAY IN A FAMmE-STRICKEN VILLAGE.
(Specially contributed by P. von Birukoff.)
Early Dawn — Starved Horses— Applicants for Relief— A Terrible Story —
In the Eatinjjj Room — Simplicity of JTuiuau Want^ — A. Hidden Izha—K
Scorbuiine Farming — More Applicants — Weariness and Its Effects — A
Tangle of Thoughts.
It is a fresh spring morning. The sun is not yet risen, but
the '* monjenroth " stretches over half the sky. I go out into
the streets to breathe the pure morning air. There is a breeze
springing up from the east, and the village folk are
beginning to stir. As the peasant women light the fires in
their ovens slender columns of smoke ascend. The church
bells are ringing for matins, and a number of old men and
women are going, single file, into the church. Half-wakened,
uncombed 7nushik-j outlis crawl slowly from the low izhds to
harness the horses and fetch water. From other huts come
peasant men and women with yokes on their shoulders.
The earth is hard in the morning frost. From a distance
comes the ring of a horse's hoofs striking the frozen ground.
It is most likely someone riding out on the steppes to relieve
the horsekeeper, who has been tending the village horses on
the hills where the snow has melted, and the poor beasts
munch the sparse and short stubble left from last year's
harvest, or the dried old grassroots. " They may find some-
thing," think the mushiks ; so they keep one horse at home,
to fetch water and for other household purposes, while they
take it in turns to watch the others out on the steppes. How-
ever poor the feeding is out there it is better than at home,
where everything is devoured, even to the rotten straw on the
roofs of the outhouses, and in many places of the Izbas also.
128
A Day in a Famine-Stricken Village.
The sun's rays now break forth from behind a distant hill,
illuming with its golden touch first the wreaths of smoke,
then the housetops, and gradually spreading over all the
village, throwing long blue shadows behind the buildings,
while the snowfields, blinding in their intense whiteness,
glitter as with diamonds. Now the smell of burning *' kisjacJc "
(fuel made from manure and straw) from the ovens is borne
upon the breeze. Day has come.
CATTLE GRAZING ON THE STEPPE.
I return home, and sit down to the perusal of lists and
accounts in connection with the different branches of our relief
work among the starving folk. The most pressing need of the
day is for seedcorn. The people begin to bring their different
wants. A peasant enters, makes the usual sign of the cross
and bows as he turns to the " holy corner."
"What do you want?"
*' To see your grace."
" What is your need ? "
" riease put down my name for sowing-corn."
A Day in a Famine-Stricken Village. 129
" But will you not get it from the official committee ? "
*'I have no horse, little father. They gave me no rye in the
autumn, and I could not sow. They frighten me by saying I
shall get nothing. What shall I do — perish ? We are eight
in family. Don't forsake me, little Jcormiletz " (one who gives
food), adds the peasant, with quivering voice. I see him sink
upon his knees. I get him up with difficult}'', inquire into his
case, write down his need, and send him away.
The same moment comes another peasant with rolling gait,
clumsy, rough, pale, and exhausted.
*' I come to your worthiness — I beg your pardon ; I don't
know by what title to address you — to ask your grace for
seedcorn."
" Do you get anything from the committee ? "
"Your worship, what can I get from that quarter? We
are seven in family ; my wife, four girls, and the boy one year
old, who is not yet registered on the committee's books, and I
hear they are to give two pud (80 pounds) for each * male soul.'
So I shall only get two pud. How can I keep my family on
that? Everything is sold and eaten up. I have no horse nor
cow. I have hired myself out to a rich peasant to plough his
field, and for this I shall plough my own little plot with his
oxen, but I have no seed to sow with." I write his name on
the list for further consideration.
A fresh applicant enters. He holds himself upright like a
soldier, looks with a frightened and vacant stare before him,
with one hand at his side in military fashion, while the other
holds his cap.
*' What have you to say ? "
" I come to your high nobility to ask for "
"Seed-corn?"
** Just so, your high nobility, because our family is — so to
speak — large ; and because I served as a soldier after — so to
speak — we had been on the other side of the Danube."
*' How much do you get from the Zemstvo ? " I interrupt him.
" I am not aware, your high nobility, because when they
sent me on military service my wife did not understand how to
obtain help from the Government for her sustenance " — and for
130 A Day in a Famine-Stricken Village.
a long- time lie tries to use the most difficult words iu the hope
of winning my favour. I write down his name and dismiss
him.
A woman comes in sobbing. " Mj little father — I come to
you "
" What do you want ? "
" My husband is very ill — his body is beginning to swell — he
cannot climb down from the oven. Yesterday I heard that
your grace gives medicine. Help us, little father, for Christ's
sake ! I have tried everything already ; I have covered him
with cow-dung, given him cherry-balsam, sprinkled him with
holy water. Some time ago, little father, I had a visit
from the monks of Athon monastery, who went through the
villages with holy pictures, and I begged a small bottle of holy
water from them. I got half a mera of rye from them, hardly
worth a thank-you, but nothing is any good."
" Where do you live ? "
" Little father, I live near the small stream, in the narrow
lane, the third hut. First, there is an izba, with a board roof,
then a wattled fence, and our little zemliatika (earthen hut),
with a small window towards the yard, very poor. Come, little
good-giver."
I promise I will, and enter her name.
Then come several others, each with a special request.
I go for a while to get tea with my landlady, and then go out.
The sun is already high, and it is nearly noon. The frozen
earth has thawed, small brooklets are purling along, beginning
their day's work, carrying the dirty, melted snow to larger
streams, which here and there are making their way beneath
the snow. The pools in the village streets are still sheeted
vdth thin layers of ice, with small openings here and there from
which cracks radiate in all directions. I walk by the side of a wide
brook that rushes down a hill until it loses itself in a pool; this
has already overflowed its banks, over which it foams along in
a small cataract. Across it are seen two small huts, and beyond
the boundless steppe, rising with gentle slope until in the far
distance it meets the infinite heavens. As I gaze over the plains
I discover some black spots moving. Looking more closely I see
A Day in a Famine-Stricken Village. 131
that they are people, but what they are doing out there in the
deep snow I cannot understand. I approach an isba, where two
peasant women have stopped on their way to fetch water.
The}' seem to have forgotten their errand, and have put their
yokes and buckets on the ground, while Avith expressive
gestures, pointing out on the steppes, they are telling each
other some story. I draw near and ask what is going on out on
the steppe.
" They are looking for him."
" Which him ? "
" Jegor Michaelovitch, of course."
" What Jegor Michaelovitch ? "
"Why, Jegor Michaelovitch Schupikoff who lives in the
roofless cottage at the end of the street. Do you know
Lukeria Ivanovua ? Well, his brother is her godfather — they
have been sponsors together at the psalm-singer's, and it is that
child that is dead ; it would have been of the same age as my
Vasjutka, only it was dark-haired and mine is fair."
" Well, what has happened to Jegor Michaelovitch ? "
Then the woman tells of a terrible accident. Jegor
Schupikoff, a peasant with a family, who had been reduced to
the greatest misery, and had sold and eaten up his horse, and
fed his last cow with everything that the not-too-particular
stomach of a Russian cow can digest down to the rotten straw
of his cottage roof, had gone to his prosperous brother to
borrow a load of straw. The brother had refused. The
peasant came home crying, sat down to think awhile, talked it
over with his wife, and as a last resort decided to go out on
the steppe and try to dig out of the snow some remains of
haystacks.
There were still three hours before sunset. " I shall go and
try," he said. *' Perhaps I may scrape together a small armful.
It will last a couple of days, and then I will trust for what God
gives."
Taking a rope and spade lie set out. Towards evening a
storm came on and it grew dark. His wife got a light and put
a little food on the table for supper, expecting every moment
that her husband would return with fodder for the cow. She
132 A Day in a Famine-Stricken Village.
waited on ; the children ate their thin water-soup and bread.
All night she sat up until the morning broke. Her heai-t began
to ache^ but still she thought, *' Perhaps he will come."
In the morning her neighbours came with wailing and
lamentation to console her, but made her only more sorrowful.
Yet she still thought, " Perhaps he has wandered too far, gone
to another village, and was afraid to return home at night.
Maybe he will return about noon, or he will come with some of
the peasants to the village— it is market day to-day."
Peoj)le came from all neighbouring villages, but he was not
among them, nor had any one heard of him. She had at last
to acknowledge the terrible fact that Jegor was lost.
So another day passed ; a snowstorm raged through the
night. Towards morning the storm ceased, the sky cleared,
and the starosta sent a number of peasants out on the steppe to
search for the lost man.
Full of sad thoughts aroused by this story I go on my way.
The noon bell is ringing. I turn my steps to the izha in which
one of the five free eating-rooms is established. As I enter I
hear the molitva (grace) being sung, and as the door opens,
I catch the words, " Thou precious treasure and giver of life,
come and dwell within us." The last word is slowly sung as
I come in, and I feel somewhat soothed.
The guests salute each other, take their spoons, and sit down
at three tables, set along the walls of the izha at right angles
to each other. There are only forty persons present. The
servers pour the soup into the large wooden bowls, and distri-
bute equal-sized pieces of bread to each guest. As I look at
them a strange feeling comes over me. On the faces of most
I see satisfaction ; in one corner is heard subdued laughing
and jesting. All sit down in quiet orderliness and begin to eat.
Within the izha was a spirit of content ; no heartrending wail-
ing that betrayed hopeless want.
" Here is no famine," I said to myself. " Is it such a simple
thing to satisfy the wants of men, to give them a piece of bread
and a bowl of warm soup — is this all ? Can it possibly be so
simple ? A horse needs 301b., and a man 21b. of bread and
warm soup, and all are happy ! Then why do we not make
A Day in a Famine-Stricken Village. 133
every one happy ? Why is there so much suffering ? " And
thoughts crowd one upon another, like links of a chain, through
my brain, carrying me far away.
I say " simple " ; is it really so simple ? I rememoer a
story, read long ago when a boy, of a teacher asking if any
one knew where salt was obtained. All were silent, till a little
girl stood up and said, " I know." " Where, then ? " asked
the teacher, not expecting, though he had asked the question,
that any child could answer it correctly. " They buy it at the
shop," said the girl, perfectly convinced that nothing could be
more simple. " What can be simpler ? " she thought ; " to get
salt, when the jar is empty, one has only to throw a handker-
chief over the head, get a penny from mother, run to the shop,
and one has salt again." She does not think of the intricate
process of procuring the salt; or the still more intricate process
of transporting it to the shop, and, most intricate of all,
getting the penny with which to buy it.
All this I remember, and begin to understand how intricate
also is the process by which 21b. of bread and warm soup come
to the mouth of a starving man. Long rows of carts, freight
trains, Vendrich*, flour merchants, tS:c., rush through my
imagination.
But what seemed to me a moment has evidently been
minutes to others, and when my attention is recalled to present
facts, I notice an expression of curiosity on the faces of all
present, as if expecting me to speak, and wondering why I
was silent. The manager of the kitchen has been holding out
a spoon for a good while, for me to taste the soup. I make
haste to do so, say something meaningless, and, spite of my
strange behaviour, go out of the izba with a vague feeling of
satisfaction and consciousness of an effort that has been
crowned with some success.
I return home to dinner. Several peasants are already
gathered there. I inquire into their needs, write down their
names, and dismiss them. In the afternoon I go out once more,
and recollect the woman with the sick husband. I make for
her home, and, with great difficulty, try to find her earth-hut
* The railroad inspector, since diemissed.
134 A Day in a Famine-Stricken Village.
from her somewhat mixed description. At last I am clearly at
the lane spoken of. The hut must be there, as I think, but
beyond the fence I see only a snowdrift, darkened a little under
the warmth of the spring sun ; further out on the steppe are
some outhouses and heaps of " Jcisjack " ; it is evidently not
here. '' I must have taken the wrong lane," I say to myself,
and go back to the main street to get information. At the
corner a mushih is sitting at his door, and I apply to him.
" Where do the Koroljoffs live ? " '' Koroljoffs ? " " Yes."
*^ Aah,'" he drawls out, and points down the lane from which
I had just come. Without hope of further information from
that quarter I turn back down the lane.
Out of the gate of the first izba a little girl is running, but,
seeing me, she hides behind it. I go into the yard after her ;
she looks at me with a shy glance, but does not hide again. I
see that timidity has changed to curiosity.
"Do you know where the Koroljoffs live? " I ask.
The little girl looks at me attentively for a moment, and
then says "Come," beckoning and running down the street in.
the direction of the snowdrift, where I had been already. I
follow her. She turns round the drift and disappears, as if
swallowed up by the earth. I also turn, and to my great
surprise find an opening in the drifts at the end of which is the
door.
Down the opening I go, and find that the drift is really the
clay' hut buried in snow; in this the family Koroljoff lives,
eight persons. Stooping down, I creep through the low door,
and enter the hut. A damp and suffocating air, polluted with
the stench from the excreta of a sick person, not yet removed,
meet me, so that I am near fainting. A few rays of light
struggle with difficulty through a small window, for which an
opening has been dug in the snow. The dim light prevents my
seeing things inside the hut, but by an effort I get gradually
used to the darkness.
The woman who had come to me is at the oven, busy with a
stone jar in her hand. Behind her two little children, covered
with rags, pale and dirty, are sitting on a bench, sucking a
hard crust. In another corner something is lying on a bench.
A Day in a Famine-Stricken Village. 135
covered with a battered sheepskin cloak. A little girl, about
ten years old, sits at the side, nursing a small child.
'* Where is your husband? " I ask, after greeting.
" On the oven, little father. He will come down by-and-
by."
" And who is that lying sick on the bench over there."
*' It is a young girl. She has been ill a long time — it does
not matter ; perhaps God will take her away. We dare not'
trouble you with her. But that my husband is lying sick —
what shall we do without him ? " The woman burst into sobs,
wiping her eyes with her apron.
At the same time the sick man comes scrambling down from
the oven, moaning as he totters with great difficulty to the
bench, and by the aid of his wife sits down by the table, resting
his head on both his hands so that he almost lies across it. His
swollen and pallid face shows extreme weakness. I ask about his
illness. "Sick — all — through," he says, pausing between each
word. " First my limbs ached — my gums pained me — my
■whole body began to swell."
Here is a bad case of scorbutus. I approach the sick girl on
the bench to look at her legs. Blue spots on the calves, under
the knees, and on the soles of the feet — here, too, scorbutus.
" How about the little ones, are they well ? "
" Yes, pretty well ; they only complain of pain in the gums,
which bleed. I have a bigger boy, who is out begging ; he is
weU."
" How have you got into such a bad plight ? What do you
eat ? Do you get anything from the committee ? "
(( "VVe get something, little father, but it is not enough. It
was too little from the first. Then we borrowed. When we
got more from the committee we had first to pay back what we
had borrowed, so that there remained still less than before.
The first week of the month we have enough to still our hunger,
but the other weeks we have to starve. My husband is counted
among the " rabotniki,"* and for the little ones they give
nothing. Wliat have we not eaten ! We dug clay, which we
* " Labourers " — i.e., such as were considered able to work, and did not got
help from the Government.
ly
136 A Day in a Famine-Stricken Village.
mixed with a little flour, but all kinds of clay are not suitable.
I One kind stops hunger a little, but once when we tried another
sort our stomachs swelled, and we recovered with much
difficulty."
I listen to this story in silence. What can I say ? I, who
am satisfied with nourishing food, what can I say to these
people, who have been reduced to such a condition that they
discriminate between two kinds of clay — eatable and non-
eatable ?
_\. I go out into the fresh air, which I inhale in deep draughts.
I feel as if my body, unaccustomed to this polluted, suffocating
atmosphere, was poisoned ; yet in this air a whole family is
living and growing up ! I know, too, that there are many such
families ; I have seen numbers of them myself. I recognise a
fresh need, developing a new branch of relief work necessary —
to fight tKe scorbutus. In my mind rise combinations of more
eating rooms and nourishing food. So pondering I make my
way home.
It is growing late. The impressions of the day are surging
up in my brain. With a certain feeling of satisfaction I begin
to think of rest. But the time for that is not yet come.
Approaching the house I see at the door of my room a group of
peasant men and women who have clearly been waiting some
time, as some of them have sat down on stones outside. With
humiliation I detect in myself a feeling of antipathy to these
people who come and spoil my plans of rest. I have no
courage to turn them away, aiid begin mechanically to inquire
into their needs. I do not succeed, and begin to get impatient.
Ten or fifteen peasants stand before me, each with one or
more requests. Either because there are too many of them,
or because I am tired out, I am no longer able to recognise in
each a human being with his or her own personal dignity ; I
see only numbers ot men who are expecting something from
me that is either difficult or unpleasant.
According to my habit of trying to meet the requests of my
fellows, I will not at once send them away, but choose a middle
course — something absurd, in the usefulness of which I do not
myself believe. I begin to make out a list, write down their
A Day in a Famine-Stricken Village. 139
names and those of their families, jot down some remarks and
dismiss them, dissatisfied, of course. Yet they bow, thank me
for my sympathy, make some further requests and finally go.
I breathe more freely. But suddenly a woman leaves the
retreating group, comes back to me, bows low, and with sobs
and cries begins a long story about the misfortune that has
overtaken them. I try to listen, but soon lose my patience,
and ask, in a stern tone, " What do you want ? " She tells me.
I then find that it is already written down. With a sharp
answer I show my displeasure, turn from her impatiently, go
out and slam the door behind me. I am ashamed of myself.
I walk to and fro, sit down and get up and sit down again ;
look vaguely at the papers on the table, and with much trouble
compose my excited nerves.
I go to my landlady ; she has the boiling samovar all ready,
and the sight of it soothes my disturbed mind, but the same
thoughts haunt me all through the meal, and afterwards, when,
alone in my room, I put my papers in order and prepare for
rest. The same thoughts, sometimes bright, sometimes
gloomy, but always the same subject. What must be done ?
How help, and what will be the result ? Will there be another
year like this ? Sometimes, as if in the magic- lantern, the
pictures change; my thoughts wander off to my faraway home,
and I begin to converse with my dear ones ; these images vanish,
and again my brain is busy with the questions of the day.
Before retii'ing to rest I again go out. It is dark and
bitingly cold. The village is asleep, and overhead the dark
blue heavens sparkle with myriads of stars ; all is quiet,
harmonious, majestic, beautiful. Where are all the sufferings?
Why is it not on earth as it is up yonder ? We are only an
insignificant part of this beautiful, harmonious nature. Can
all the parts be of one nature ? How can such a crowd of
sufferings come from out a beautiful whole? Or are there,
perhaps, no sufferings ? Do they exist only in our conscious-
ness ?
I return to my room, throw myself on my bed, and deep and
heavy sleep breaks off the current of my thoughts.
CHAPTER IX.
ON THE VOLGA.
The Steamer Puschkin — Soldiers' Songs— Peasants "Hunting" — AOolportear
— British and Foreign Bible Society — Influence of the Bible — A Peasant's
Story of His CoQversion — A " Cross Procession '" — The Water Road to
Exile — The City of Kasan — Tartars — Nishui Novgforod — A Sapient
Governor — A Liberal Professor of Theology — The Advantages of Ortho-
doxy — Feast Days in Russia — An Intelligent Official.
When I stepped on board tlie magnificent steamer Puschhin,
that was to take me a five days' journey up the Volga from
Saratov to Mshni Novgorod, I could easily have imagined
myself on board an American steamer on the Hudson or the
Mississippi. But this first impression was soon dispelled ; the
ugly saints' pictures hanging in the saloon, and the ragged,
miserable-looking beings in the steerage reminded me forcibly
that I was not in America.
A large number of soldiers were on board, and on the first
two days they enlivened our passage with singing, lasting late
into the night. Their strikingly original folk-songs, or rounds,
were deeply impressive. Their weird strains, passing from
tender melancholy into outbursts of almost wild savagery,
seemed the musical expression both of the national character
and the Nature-spirit of the country. In the transition from
the soitest pianissimo through ci'escendo to the wildest /or^issimo,
mingled with sharp whistling and shouting, and again through
diminuendo until they died away in almost inaudible tones, one
could hear the winds of the steppes rising from gentlest
breezes to raging storms, or the soft rustle of the wind in the
deep and sombre forests growing into the fierce gale that
sways the tall crowns of the strongest pines, whistles through
the branches of the birch trees, and again subsides in softest
murmurs.
For the first part of the journey the weather is warm, ami
On thk Volga. 141
all the passengers are out in the open, forming many a pic-
turesque group. Let us walk round the lower deck, among
the steerage passengers. The wind has free play, but the
smell is very " thick." We are at once surrounded by a crowd
of peasants, clamouring in chorus for bread. We buy some
for them, and proceed on our tour. Behind a barrel, one of
the ship's crew is sitting, singing a jovial song, with a fat and
buxom lass in his lap. Further on, two small groups are on
their knees, round some object spread on the deck. What are
they doing? Praying? No. A nearer aj)proach shows that
they are peasants — hunting. They have laid out their sheep-
skin coats with the wool towards the sun, to entice the
numerous inhabitants out of their remoter haunts into the
light and warmth ; when the unwarj^ population, not suspecting
any evil, migrate to the outer regions merciless hands pounce
down and hurl the victims into Volga's depths. So intent on
their hunting are the peasants that they do not utter a sound,
or pay the slightest attention to the ring of spectators around
them. When will all the Russian peasants take to this
excellent hunting business, and clear out all the vermin that
are eating into their very bones ?
Leaving them to their engrossing business and going
forward, we see a decently clad 3'oung man, of sympathetic
appearance, distributing New Testaments among the peasants,
who receive them with bowed heads, making the while the sign
of the cross. He is a colporteur in the service of the British
and Foreign Bible Society, which has been and still is doing a
grand work in Russia. It reflects some credit on the Russian
Church that the circulation of the Bible has been allowed in
the Orthodox empire, however limited. The clergy have often
been antagonistic to Bible distribution, and several depots
have been closed, but still the work goes on. It was in 1812
that the Russian branch of the British and Foreign Bible
Society was established, through the untiring exertions of the
English clergymen Paterson, Pinkerton, and Henderson. At
first a parallel edition of the New Testament in Russian and
Slavonic was distributed, then from 1818 an entirely Russian
translation, while in 1824 the New Testament was issued in
142 On the Volga.
no less than forty-one different languages, to meet the needs
of the many half -wild races in the distant parts of this vast
empire. Two years later, the Russian branch was suppressed
by Nicholas I., on the ground that it was " a revolutionary
society, which aimed at subverting thrones, churches, law,
order, and religion, throughout the whole world, with the
object of establishing a universal republic." All its property
was confiscated and the new translations put under lock and
key. The distribution of the New Testament was allowed only
under most hampering regulations. The Society sprang up
again under Alexander II. under the modest title, '' Society for
the Promotion of Moral and Eeligious Reading," which, in its
turn, was suppressed in 1884 by Alexander III, The British
and Foreign Bible Society has, however, received permission to
distribute the New Testament, under the control of the Holy
Synod, but not the Old, unless bound up with the Apocryphal
Books.
It is scarcely possible to exaggerate the influence exerted on
the Russian peasants by the Bible. The widespread and
i]icreasing religious movement of to-day undoubtedly owes its
origin and spread very largely to it. It is for the most part the
only book to be found in a Russian mushik^s home, where, with the
exception, perhaps, of a collection of silly legends, is no litera-
ture nor any newspaper. The testimonies, whether written or
oral, given by the peasants as to their conversion to evangelical
religion almost always go back to Bible-reading as the means.
Among the steerage passengers on our journey was a peasant
in poor but tidy dress, with a pensive and intelligent look.
Getting into conversation with him we found him to be an
earnest, evangelical Christian ; at our request he gave us a
sketch of his life, which I put here into connected form.
" I am, as you see, a simple peasant. My parents were very
poor, owning but three hectares of land. A large family and
crushing taxes reduced my father to destitution, so that he had
to work for a kulach in our village as a hatrak {i.e., as a slave,
for debts incurred). Every day my mother was working away
from home to keep us from starving, until she also became a
hatrak to one of our creditors. We children were seven in
On the Volga. 143
number, my eldest sister, who had charge of us, being only-
nine years old. Of course, as happened with other children,
too, we lived like cattle and pigs. I Avas the youngest, and
went with my mother where she was working, generally lying
on rags or the bare earth, exposed to mosquitoes and frequently
an object of curiosity to a dog or a calf.
" My entrance into this world took place in an open field
during hay harvest, a«id almost the entire summer I was hung
in a Ijulka (a kind of suspended cradle) in the heat of the sun
or exposed to the rain, out in the fields where my mother was
working.
'* I was not baptized on the eighth day after my birth,
according to Orthodox custom, but nearly six months after-
wards. This was partly because I was born in the busiest
season of the year, when my parents had to work every day
for the kulachs, and partly because they were so poor that they
had nothing to pay for the ceremony, though the priest cut
down the price to forty copecks. At last the police compelled
him to do it, but this made him so angry that he dipped me
three times in icy cold water; I fell very ill and was near death,
but at last recovered.
" When I was six years old the most severe calamit}^ befell
us. My father in despair took to drink, leaving the entire
care of the large family to my mother. Soon the last traces
of our belongings disappeared ; my mother had to go out
begging to keep us from starvation, and often we got no food
before noon, when she returned with a morsel or two.
" After a few years I was sent to my sister, who had been
married into a very Orthodox family. There I was taught to
repeat prayers and sing psalms, but of a living faith I heard
nothing. I learnt to stand before the picture of a saint
and repeat prayers which I did not understand. When I was
ten I had an irresistible desire to learn to read, but there was
no school in our village, and had there been one I was too poor
to have attended it.
" A soldier in our village, however, who could read, had some
liking for me, and undertook to teach me. He used the old
method, giving the letters the old Slavonic names, which made
144 On the Volga.
it very hard for me, but thanks to my strong desire to read, 1
got over that difficulty. In summer, when I had to take my
share of field work, I forgot almost all I had learnt, but in
autumn I began to teach myself again, and by spring could
read moderately well. No more could be expected of me, as
my opportunities were so limited. My education remained at
that point till I was sixteen. Then I had a great desire to read
better, and with much trouble got a church calendar and a
psalm-book, in which I read with diligence. My efforts were
rewarded with progress, and I could at last read so well that I
was often asked by the people to read the prayers over the dead.
(In Russia it is usual to read prayers over the dead for the
first three days after death.)
'' Soon I had a great wish to learn to write, but was met with
the difficulty that I had no ink. I made some by boiling elder-
tree bark in water. Then I bought two goose quills at the
market for three copecks. I found in my father's chest a
small piece of paper, on which something was written, and
copied this out, though scarcely understanding a single letter.
When my father noticed my industry he asked the village
scribe to write out a copy and show me how to write. So I
learnt, but I cannot say that my style was beautiful.
^' Then I began to take special pleasure in the church music,
and in service went into the choir. I was not driven away, so
began to join in the singing. Then I was asked to read psalms
before the service began (a Russian custom ; it may be done by
a layman). The villagers began to think much of me, and
the psalmsinger, after I had helped him gratis, would give me
money from the bowl on the altar that is used in the service.
"The priest, too, began to notice me, and at weddings,
funerals, and Eastertide processions I went next to him,
holding the sacred pictures. Soon I became intimate with
the priest. I had thought before that the clergy were more
moral than laymen, but I soon changed my mind as I saw that
they allowed themselves every gratification and indulged in
spirit-drinking outside mealtimes. I, too, got into the same
habit, but my conscience began to reproach me, and I saw
that my spiritual pastor, instead of guiding me in the right
On the Volga. 145
way, was leading me to eternal perdition. Such was the way
in which the Lord called me to Himself."
After describinn^ his acrony of mind, and the effect produced
upon him by a picture of the Last Judgment, he went on to
tell of his coming into the possession of a New Testament,
through a man who had been working in the city and had
associated with the Stundists. By reading this he found rest
and satisfaction in the truth.
" From that moment all was new for me ; I knew that I was
beginning to live. My past life seemed like a black dream.
All things round me, heaven and earth alike, were transformed.
It was with me as with the blind man, I received my spiritual
sight."
Of course his relatives and friends, the priest at their head,
began to persecute him, and he came at one time very near
banishment to Siberia. But he escaped the danger, and became
the means of converting many others.
At one station where we stopped we saw one of those
^' Cross-processions " out on the fields that are so common,
their object being to implore the Deity to send rain and
avert hunger.
The scenery on the Volga becomes more and more pic-
turesque the farther we push up its stream. North of the city
of Samara it flows through the beautiful Shibulovski Moun-
tains, and the treeless steppes are replaced by forest-clad
heights. Here and there, surrounded by the dark pine woods,
is seen a white monastery, nestling amid rocks, or standing
on some hillside slope, while little villages of grey and red
houses slumber in the valleys.
On the fourth day of our journey up the Volga we passed
one of its tributaries, the Kama, which rises in the Ural
Mountains, on the Siberian frontier, and joins the main
stream sixty miles below Kasan. It is the great waterway to
Siberia, along which prisoners are conveyed in floating
prisons ; we saw one of these as we steamed by.
Kasan itself lies hidden from view, with the exception of
its many gilded church towers and minarets. At this place a
score of Mohammedan priests, called mooli, of the Tatar tribe,
10
146 On the Volga.
came on board, proceeding as far as Nislini Novgorod. They
all sat round a table, conversing in tbeir strangely soft
language; suddenly they would put their thumbs to their
ears to shut out the world while praying.
These Tatars are, as a rule, excellent people. They call the
orthodox " idolaters," because they worship the pictures of the
saints ; the orthodox retort the term on the Tatars because
they do not worship Christ. In Kasan the Tatars have much
the best hotels, which are clean and orderly. In the orthodox
hotels, on the other hand, are women of bad character, drunk-
enness, dirt, and dishonesty.
Early on the fifth day we arrived at the picturesquely-
situated and interesting city of Nishni Novgorod, the end of
the steamboat journey. We stayed for a few hours only,
walking through the streets, as it was the dull season ; it is
during the great fair that the city wakes up to full activity and
life. Here and there we found traces of the frequent fires
that occur in the wood-built houses in spite of the ingenious
and far-sighted command said to be issued by the governor of
the place, that the inhabitants must always report to the police
at least two hours before the outbreak of fire !
On our way by train from Nishni Novgorod to Moscow we
fell in with a liberal professor of theology in one of the
southern universities, with whom we had a most interesting
conversation.
Speaking of the terrible famine and its causes, the Professor
remarked: " The priests, also, are a very heavy burden on the
people's shoulders, keeping them down by ignorance and
poverty. If I had the power, I would exterminate all this
miserable missionary work among the masses, which is only
intended to hinder the spread of light among our people. I
believe firmly in the principles of religious liberty, and no pro-
gress can be made in our country before we have it."
My companion, an earnest evangelical Christian, remarked
that there was an essential difference between the Orthodox and
evangelical missions, to which he replied :
"May be, but so far I have not found, either in the Greek,
Eoman, or Protestant Churches, any mission which has not more
On thk Volga. 147
or less been intolerant, and attempted compulsion of conscience
in the name of Christ. In His name even war is carried on, and
God's blessing is invoked on wholesale murder. Not only during
war, but at all times they pray that God will give us victory over
our enemies and trample them under our feet, as it stands in
our Russian church prayers. There is much besides from which
I have to dissent, and therefore I have of late come to the
conclusion that it is best to leave the people without forcing
upon them anything that contradicts their beliefs, and allow
them to develop naturally."
To my question how, with such views, he could retain his
position as Professor in an Orthodox University, he replied :
" It is quite natural. I teach religion as I would any other
subject. I find it very interesting to study the different
religions and compare them, and it is just through these
researches that I have arrived at my present views."
" What ! do you say we do not need our Orthodox faith ? "
here struck in, in half-astonished, half-insulted tone, a fat and
ruddy youth who was sitting opposite my companion, and had
lister.ed to the conversation, evidently understanding no more
than that the Professor had spoken against the Orthodox
religion.
" What fault do you find with our Oi-thodox faith V Is it so
difficult for you to make the sign of the Cross before a picture ?
Nothing else is required." And he broke out into a self-satisfied
chuckle as he threw himself back in his seat and closed his
little eyes, almost buried in fat, while his whole jovial and well-
fed figure shook with laughter.
" And when the Great Lent comes on we eat in the last week
cabbage and onions, and di'ink kvass as much as the soul
requires ; then go to the pope and leave oiu' sins with him for
twenty copecks, take the Holy Sacrament " (here he made a
pious grimace), " and after the midnight service on Easter Eve
we make up for the fasting by eating eggs, lamb, pork, butter,
and cheese, and on Easter morning go a-feasting and have a
jolly time till next Lent. No ! there is no better religion
in the world than our Orthodox faith ! Is ib not so, grand-
father '? " he said, turning to an aged citizen, one of the " old
148 On the Volga.
believers," who was sitting opposite him, and who, with a
paternal smile, looked at the self-satisfied youth, saying half
to himself,
^' Youth, youth ! If youth only had understanding, and age
strength," quoting a Russian proverb.
"Do you know, grandfather," the young fellow chattered on,
^' my mother has a little shop of her own, but I have charge of
the business, you know. My father died when I was just a
little brat; it is only three years since I became master of the
house, as it were. Heigho ! how this business life bores me,
grandfather ! But then I sleep like a dead man when I come
home at night at nine o'clock. Then I eat my fill of sweet
cakes and pastry, which mother bakes for me, wash it down
with a little tea, and so throw myself into bed and sleep until
eleven or twelve o'clock next morning. It's no use trying to
wake me before then. Is it a sin to sleep so much, grand-
father ? I can't help it ! it's no use trying. I don't like it
myself, but I can't help it."
"Sleep, sleep, my child," replied the old man. "When age
comes on and conscience begins to accuse us of the faults and
thoughtlessness of youth, sleep will flee."
" Well, grandfather, is it a sin to make the sign of the Cross
with three fingers?" he asked, with a roguish smile, jesting with
the old believer, who makes the sign with only two fingers.
"It is not ours to decide upon that matter, my child," said
the old gentleman. " We have to love Jesus Christ our God,
and believe His Word, and leave the rest with God. ' In every
nation he that feareth Him and doeth righteousness is accept-
able to Him.' "
" You are right," chimed in a middle-aged Tatar, in a mild
voice, who had been sitting on a bench behind us, and now came
forward. " I also believe that. But allow me to ask where it
is written that Christ is God 9 In our Koran it stands that He
was only a prophet, and that God is only One."
" I don't care about your Koran," cried the young man,
flushed with rage. "That is no law to me ; our Orthodox faith
is better than yours ! "
Now my companion interposed, and directed the conversation
On the Volga. 14J>
into other channels ; otherwise ignorance and fanaticism might
have made the dispute too hot.
On our ari'ival in Moscow the following morning we found all
the shops closed, and the whole city decorated to celebrate the
birthday of the Crown Prince. I have said elsewhere that there
are seven of these festival days, which by Imperial decree must
be celebrated by the suspension of all useful work and business.
Suppose that only one-half of the Russian people are engaged in
any kind of useful work, these Imperial festivals mean the loss of
over a million years of one person's labour, and if we take all
the 133 festival days in the year (including Sundays) they
represent about twenty millions of years of one labourer's time,
not to speak of the moral loss to the people b}^ enforced
systematic idleness.
Between Moscow and St. Petersburg I met a highly-placed
Russian official from the government of Kursk, who was an
unusually sympathetic and liberal-minded man for his caste.
He told me about the terrible distress of the peasants in his
province, and was deeply interested in my account of the relief
work of the Tolstoi family.
'*The state of things is desperate," he remarked. "The
peasants are not only unable to pay the taxes and the redemp-
tion money for the land, but the State must now support them,
and there are about 35 millions of these destitute and helpless
people. . . . Even in the most favourable circumstances it
must be many years before there can be any change for the
better.
When I asked him what he considered the best means of
bettering the conditions of the people, he said that practical
schools were indispensable, and spoke of a rational system of
migration.
" But," he added, " there is no possibility under present
circumstances of carrying either of these into effect." Then he
reminded me of what I knew before, that several public-spirited
and wealthy gentlemen had offered to establish practical schools
of different kinds at their own cost, but had not been permitted
to do it. A conspicuous case in point was the offer of one
Sibiriakoff to build an agricultural academy in Samara, and
i50 Ox THE VoLaA.
endow it with one million of roubles. For a whole year his
application lay unanswered at St. Petersburg, and was at last
met with a point-blank refusal. The Governor of Samara had
explained to the authorities that such an institution was not
needed in his province, and besides, would probably only become
a centre of political propaganda.
CHAPTER X.
AMONG GERMAN COLONISTS.
Skilful Boatmen — Adventures in a Eow-boat — The German Colonies — Their
Prospering — and Decay — Mennonite Colonies — Their Principles — A Visit
— An Oasis in the Desert — Peace and Plenty — A Miracle of Co-operation-
Land for All — Successful Prohibition — A Wonderful Record of "Crime"
— "No Prief?ts, Policemen, Publicans, or Paupers" — Co-operation and
Competition.
To get to some of the so-called German ColonieSj where my
business led me^ I took one of the great Volga steamers from
Samara to Volsk, having to complete the journey, some twenty-
four miles, in a row-boat. I first took note of the great relief-
work organised by Countess Schouvaloff on her large estate close
by, and then Avent to a " contractor " to order a boat and two
oarsmen to take me to the village of Basel, in the German
Colonies. I had often heard of the skill of these Volga boat-
men, and was looking forward with considerable anticipatio n
to seeing it for myself during a pleasant ride on the bosom of
"Mother Volga." When I came to the river I was unpleas-
antly surprised by finding a wretched-looking, half-rotten,
wooden box of a boat, manned by two rowers whose looks
inspired me with anything but confidence. I returned to the
'' contractor" and remonstrated, but was met with the eternal,
ambiguous Russian expression " Nitchevo^' ! I had no time
to try elsewhere, so decided to run the risk and trust to my
swimming abilities if any calamity should occur.
On leaving the shore one of the rowers at once gave evidence
of his incapacity ; probably he had never touched an oar before.
At every stroke he plunged his oars perpendicularly into the
deep, at the same time half rising from his seat. The other,
who plainly considered himself the " captain," gave up rowing
altogether, took his seat opposite his *' crew," and issued
152 Among German Colonists.
orders in terms more forcible than polite, smoking tlie while
one cigarette after another. I should have lost all patience,
had not the unusually strong current carried us of itself out
into the open river, where it became almost imperceptible.
Here a small breeze sprang up, and the captain dived under a
seat and produced a bundle of rags. I asked what he was
going to do, and he replied " Sail ! "
An old oar was put up as a mast, with the boathook as sprit-
sail yard. Amid much fuss and shouting the sail was hoisted,
and, with another old oar the " captain " sat down aft to steer
his craft. It was the most picturesque sail I have ever seen.
Part of it reminded me strongly of the maps sometimes
exhibited at missionary meetings, with *^ Darkest Africa " and
other heathen lands coloured black in irregular patches ; for
the rest, it resembled the loud " checks " favoured by a certain
class of tourists more than anything else.
But my observations and comparisons were suddenly cut
short, as an infant cyclone swept sail, mast, and all into the
water. The " captain " now took the oars, and we managed to
get to the other side of the stream, where the strong current
had eaten away the sand bank ; the miserable rowers not being
able to keep the boat from the shore, we had a narrow escape
of being sent to '^ Davy Jones's locker " by a landslip. I took
the oars myself and pulled to our destination. Here the
rowers wanted an extra rouble for their "hard work." I
discovered that the " contractor " had given these poor men
only a few copecks apiece, keeping the larger part of what I
had paid him for his own share.
I visited almost every village in the German Colonies on the
Volga. These have had a very interesting history. They
date from the time of the Empress Catherine II., who invited
German immigrants to make settlements, and endowed them
with considerable privileges, her object being to erect a
strong barrier of defence against the half-savage hordes then
roaming over the steppes beyond the Volga. The colonists
built their villages near one another on the fertile shores of
the river, and soon entered upon a period of prosperity.
Before the great famine they numbered about 350,000. Their
Among German Colonists. 15tf
large schoolhousea and churches, their well-built dwelling-
liouses, surrounded by trim gardens, all spoke of a considerable
degree of thriving civilisation.
Unhappil}', however, this prosperity' must already be spoken
of in the past tense. For one thing, their well-being had, as
usual, attracted the hostile attention of a suspicious Govern-
ment, and of late years every expedient has been employed to
hamper their development. At one time tobacco-growing was
a ilourishing industry in these colonies ; the authorities made
the sale of this commodity a monopoly, with the result that
their market was practically destroyed, and the industry
killed. Nor have they been proof against the wiles of
capitalism, both from without and Avithin,
The consequence of this was that they were unable to stand
against a succession of bad years, and famine broke out in
their midst, I found, during my investigations, that these
colonists of German extraction, being accustomed to a high<ir
standard of living than the 7}iushiJcf<, fell much easier victims
to starvation than the latter. Typhus, also, had made terrible
havoc among them; the death-rate had in some villages gone
up as high as 180-200 per 1,000. From these causes, and
especially on account of the hostile attitude of the Government,
emigration to America has set in on a large scale.
The Mennonite Colonies, usually included b}^ name among
the "German" colonies, but really of Dutch origin, form a
very pleasing and instructive exception to the general misery
and starvation. During the famine, not only have they not
sulfered themselves, but they have been both able and_ willing-
to give much aid to the needy round about their borders.
The ancestors of the present colonists shared in the invitation
of the Emjjress Catherine II. mentioned above, and received
from her the privilege of maintaining both their religious faith
and practice, and their communal ownership of land. They
were also exempted from military service, as contrary to their
religious belief, and received instead the obligation to plant
trees; a most excellent substitution. After overcoming the
natural difficulties, which occupied them some years, they
flourished greatly, and have continued to do so ever since. At
154 Among German Colonists.
one time the sapient authorities attempted to curtail their
privileges, and large numbers emigrated to America, both to
the United States and the Southern Continent, but of late the}'
have been comparatively free from molestation.
The cause of the wonderful success of these colonists in
the face of considerable disadvantages is undoubtedly their
practical Christianity, i.e., the steadily applied principles of
brotherly love in their communal life.
To give the reader a clear idea of these colonies we invite
him to share our visit to one of them.
It is a very hot summer day, and we have a covered carriage
to protect us against the scorching rays of the sun. A few
hours' ride over the treeless, waterless steppe brings us within
view of an oasis in the desert, conspicuously green. It is the
Mennonite Colony of Halfstaal, in Southern Russia, which we
are about to visit. The nearer we approach the more vivid is
the contrast between it and the surrounding country. All
round is the dreary, flat, and sun-scorched steppe, unrelieved by
a single tree. Here, in the midst, is a tract of charming
verdure, grassy meadows, and luxuriant foliage. At one of the
outskirts rises a three-storied building of handsome dimen-
sions ; it is the school for deaf and dumb, supported hy all the
Mennonite Colonies in common, and used for the instruction of
their deaf-mutes of both sexes. The methods of teaching and
all the arrangements are in accordance with the latest improve-
ments in Europe. There is perfect order in the school, as in
the colony generall}^, testifying to the high moral and intel-
lectual development of the inhabitants. Snug and roomy
houses on both sides the broad street peep cosily out from the
green gardens, which always form an essential part of a
Mennonite home. Here are no abominations of terraced
houses, in which, as Maarten Maartens somewhere observes,
the central inhabitant has only to read the newspaper aloud,
and all the others in the street may save their pennies ; each
home is surrounded by a spacious plot of land of its own, with
separate well for both drinking and irrigating purposes.
Behind the house is always a kitchen-garden, beyond a well-
built cowshed and storehouse. Scrupulous cleanliness and
Among German Colonists. 155
order is a conspicuous feature of all within the borders of
these demesnes. The large common well is in an open spot
on one of the outskirts of the village, supplied with a sj)acious
cattle-trougli.
The Mennonite colonies are, as a rule, of moderate size only,
mostly consisting of from fifteen to fifty farms. The land is
owned by the community, and each member has a right to
cultivate 65 hectares (about 160 acres) of this communal land*
He may, of course, if he please, purchase more land outside
the bounds, but this happens very seldom. On marriage, a
young couple is provided, if they desire, with these sixty-five
hectares, a house, implements, and stock from the communal
fund ; in return, they must cultivate the land properly, keep it
in good condition, and pay their yearly quota to the communal
fund. Every farm is a small agricultural centre, perfectly in-
dependent as regards the use made of it, just as an owner of
the soil would be, except that it is not permissible to let it run
to waste or in other ways become impoverished.
The Mennonite Colonies of Russia are standing miracles of
the triumph of human co-operation. Out of the dry, treeless
steppes there have arisen, as if by occult forces, flourishing
groups of homesteads, with fresh spring water in abundance ;
large plantations of fruit and the common forest trees ; fields
made fruitful by laborious culture ; numerous herds of splendid
cattle and horses. In this village district alone the number of
trees amounts to about twelve millions. Each colony has its
own school and a large storehouse for cereals, kept filled in
ease of failure of crops. Besides these, the Mennonite de-
nomination as a whole has several high-schools. Oat of the
common fund they also support physicians, midwives, and
hospitals. They also form their own fire insurance company,
independent of all Government control. No premium besides
the ordinary contribution is paid, but in each case the loss is
borne by the entire community, and payment made from the
common fund without delay.
The quota paid by each colonist to this communal excliequer
is proportional to his income, and the burdens of taxation (to the
Government) are divided among all able-bodied persons of both
156 Among German Colonists.
sexes between the ages of fourteen and sixty. Their own com-
mon fund is administered by responsible trustees, who receive
no pay for their services, but regard it as a position of honour
and trust. No defalcations have been known among them.
It very rarely happens that anyone neglects his duty of
contributing his annual share to the common fund, or of cul-
tivating the land he occupies. If such a case should 0( cur,
the delinquent is put under discipline, mostly of a moral
kind ; thej have the power of expulsion, in the worst cases.
Each colonist has his land adjoining his house, and not in
different parts of the settlement, as frequently happens under
the bad system of the Russian Government. It is not com-
pulsory to take up this portion of land. Some prefer to work
for others, or engage in some industrial occupation. They
have a few manufactures, but obtain most ai-ticles of this
description in exchange for their farm jDrocluce. They practise
co-operation very largely in the disposition of such goods as
are destined for the market, and not for home consumption.
It is obvious that the right to become farm-holders on their
own account entirely prevents that mischievous, unequal
pressure, resulting in the forced sale of one's labour for a
miserably inadequate return, that is lauded among Western
nations as a " beneficent freedom of competition." The
members of the community who live outside the colonies,
e.g., teachers, many of whom find positions in large cities,
retain their rights of membership by the annual payment of
their due quota, reckoned on their income. These duly quali-
fied persons can always take refuge from the competitive
storm of the capitalistic world, should they find its buffetings
too severe, in these havens of co-operative helpfulness, and
either take up their portion of land or fill any other position
for which they are qualified, at their option.
When the Government grants of land were found insufficient,
the community bought other tracts, so as to provide the mini-
mum holdings guaranteed to each member.
The Mennonites are not communists in the complete sense
of the word, but recognise private property in all but the land,
and even there only that is communal that belongs to the
Amoxg Germ.vn Colonists. 157
community and is used for the guarantee described above.
All buildings, trees planted, and improvements generally made
on a farm by the occupier rank as private property, which is
inherited by his heirs, who must be paid a just value by the
new occupant of the farm. In this inheritance women share
equally with men, as they have an equal responsibility for the
Government taxes.
It was one of the privileges granted to the Mennonites, when
they first arrived in 1789, that no one should be allowed to open
liquor shops within their borders. This practice is maintained,
and here at least the advocates of Prohibition may find an
instance of its success. The police authorities have light work
so far as the Mennonites are concerned, even with the manu-
factured crimes so dear to the hearts of Russian officials.
Here are some figures giving the complete list of misdemeanours
and crimes as recorded in police archives, in one case for a
population of 12,121 during thirty-seven 3'ears, in the other
in a population of 6,000 during ten years : —
Disobedience and impertinence
Abetting escape of prisoners
Disobedience to parents
Calumny, slander, and untrue reports
Adultery
Neglect in quencbing fires ...
Tbeft and rogueiy ...
Neglect of agriculture
Quarrelling and strife
Drunkenness ...
Offences against the faith ...
Keeping a tavern
Non-fultilment of official orders ...
Non-fulfilment of agreements
Non-payment of bills and loans . . .
It will be seen that many of these would disappear altogether
from English police-lists, and others would be transferred to
the civil branch of the law. Bat did all these figures represent
real crimes it would be a wonderful record, considering the
number of years and the population. It is a testimony as to the
efficacy of good economic conditions in the reduction of crime
•that cannot be gainsaid, for other communities have had as much
religious faith as the Mennonites, but cannot show so clear a
YEARS.
(»
10 YEARS.
2
—
11
■ — .
10
1
41
24
1
—
!»
•5
k;
4
4
1
1
7
—
2
17
1
1
1
1
158 Among German Colonists.
record from roguery and theft. Moreover tlie children born to
religious parents are not necessarily religious ; at least, it is
not generally found so in other lands. But all born into these
communities are allowed to remain, if they think fit, with
privileges independent of religious confession. It is surely
because the religion of these people is logically applied to
their economic and social arrangements that we find this most
extraordinary freedom from crime.
We therefore sum up this brief sketch of the Mennonite
Colonies by repeating that, on the testimony of every impartial
observer, they practise the gospel of brotherly love in truth
and reality, not simply in word and doctrine. They do not
seek to eat up, but to help each other and the neighbouring
people. Usury is unknown. Their religious concerns are
under the care of unpaid elders ; the only clergy they support
being of the missionary order. In a word, co-operation is the
keynote of their life, not competition, and it is allowed to govern
their economic and social as well as their religious relations.
As a result they have no need of priests, prisons, policemen,
publicans, or paupers.
The contrast between these communities and the Orthodox
Russian villages in their neighbourhood, on the steppes, is the
sharpest imaginable. In the latter are no trees — ("they don't
grow,'' say the mushiks. "Because you do not plant them," I
used to add) — no schoolhouses, no hospitals, no decent dwell-
ings, but plenty of ignorance, drunkenness, dirt, poverty,
disease, and misery of every kind. The fundamental cause
is the absence of true, practical Christianity in the relations
between man and man.
The same contrast is also to be found, although not so
glaring, between the Mennonite Colonies of other lands and
their neighbours, e.g., in the United States and South America.
In the last-named, for instance, the Mennonites are on one side
of the River La Plaia, and the Swiss, with a large sprinkling-
of Italian, on the other. Prosperity and happiness are to hv.
found among the former ; with the latter, who practise compe-
tition and its resnlting forms of cheating and jugglery, there
is poverty and misery.
CHAPTER XI. ^
IN THE CITY OF SARATOV.
The City — Gtiieriil Ustimovitch— A Stuiidist Meetin<?— A Prisun-Evangeli»t
— Detectives — A Not.able Picnic — Consecration of the Vol^a— Calumny
against Stundists — An Orthodox Missionary — Holy Water.
From the German Colonies I Avent to the city of Saratov,
beautifully situated on the Volga, with a population of about
125,000. Looked at from the river it would easily be taken for
a modern "Western town, were it not for the large number of
churches, whose Byzantine cupolas, so different from our
Gothic spires, gave their unmistakably Eastern aspect to the
place.
In the government of Saratov the famine had not reached
such a fearful intensity as in Samara, yet the suffering had
been very great, and the city itself was swarming with the
starving peasants. Among those who devoted themselves to
relieviug the destitute General Ustimovitch held a prominent
place. This noble man also gave mach time and labour to
editing a monthly periodical, called Tirotlierhj Help, devoted
exclusively to philanthropic topics.
I give the f olloAving entry from m}' diarj^, as illustrating my
experiences and observations in Saratov.
On Sunday I was asked to address a meeting of Stundists, and
accepted the invitation. The morning meeting was held in a pri-
vate house consisting of three rooms and a kitchen. After singing
and pra^'er by several of the brothers and sisters, a tall, fine-look-
ing man stood up and read Hebrews xi., adding some practical
and sensible comments. He spoke with deep feeling and
conviction, which both attested his own earnestness and enlisted
the sympathetic attention of his hearers. His dialect and dress
told me that he was a simple peasant. While he was speaking
160 In the City op Saratov.
a friend whispered to me, *' The speaker is a prisoner. He has
been sentenced to one year's imprisonment, but the governor
of the prison, having great confidence in this man, has allowed
him one month's liberty in which to visit his friends and do as
he pleases. The reason for the governor's action was an out-
break of typhus in the overcrowded prison."
I asked what crime he had committed, and was told, " He has
been preaching the Gospel in the villages, and hundreds of
orthodox peasants have been converted, become sober, and left
the worship of saints' pictures. For this he has been sentenced
to imprisonment."
At the request of my friends I addressed a few words to the
meeting, telling them of the sympathy felt by Christians in all
lands with the persecuted Christians in Russia.
The evening meeting, at which I had promised to give a
longer address, was held in the same room, and was much more
largely attended. Before I rose to speak a slip of paper was
put into my hand, on which was written in pencil, "^ Detectives
<ire present. Be careful ! "
With this unexpected stimulus I rose and told the audience
that I was not going to preach, but simply to tell them some-
thing of my experience in the famine-stricken provinces of
Russia. I thought this would be suitable matter for the
detectives to rej)ort to their chiefs.
Starting with the magnificent gifts from America for the
relief of the starving Russians, I told them how these contribu-
tions had come from all classes of the people, and took
advantage of the opportunity to describe, in passing, the homes
and lives of American "mMs7iiA:s." Then I described the relief
work organised and carried out by Count Tolstoi's family, and
the sufferings I had witnessed among the peasants of Samara.
I added some remarks on the duty of brotherly kindness towards
each other, and the prospect of better times when men shall watch
for opportunities of mutual service instead of accusing and
exploiting one another, and closed with the humble request that
all present should take this friendly exhortation to their families
■and friends, and try themselves to put it into practice ."
After having supped with a friend, I returned to my
GENERAL USTIMOVITCU AND HIS PAPER, "BROTHERLY HELP.
11
In the City of Saratov. 163
lodgings, where I was told that a gentleman had been
inquiring for me. From the description and other attendant
circumstances it was more than probable that this " gentle-
man " belonged to the police. I at once concealed some
important documents and photographs, taken in the famine
districts, and went to bed, sleeping soundly.
Among other visits next day I called on General Ustimovitch,
who received me very kindly and invited me to a drive through
the city. Sitting at his side in his elegant equipage, respect-
fully saluted by the soldiers and police and gazed at admiringly
by the great multitude, I could not help contrasting the
experience with that of the previous night, when I was hiding
my papers. Sec, from too great a curiosity on the part of the
police. I endeavoured to adopt a mien worthy of the occasion,
such as might have distinguished a Prince of the Blood or the
Procureur-General himself !
At the General's proposal we made a picnic next morning
at 6 a.m. to a height on the shores of the Volga. It was a
curiously mixed party, including a peasant, a Tatar, and two
Bible colporteurs. I took a Kodak picture of this interesting
group, making a kind of silhouette against the sky. The
General is in the middle with a Russian lady who has done and
suffered much for her people ; to the right and left a Bible
colporteur is handing the New Testament, the one to a mushik,
the other to a Tatar. When we had had some tea, &c., a
small choir went to the top of the hill and sang some songs in
Russian, among them a translation of the beautiful hymn,
*^ The Morning Light is Breaking, and Darkness Disappears."
The General and myself stood at a distance listening. There
was moisture in the General's eyes as he turned to me saying,
as he pointed to the choir, " And such people are persecuted in
Russia!" *' That is sad," I said. "Yes," he replied, '^ but
the morning light is breaking."
When we returned to the town a number of small processions
were going through the streets, and the church bells were
pealing. I inquired the reason of this, and was told that it
was a prominent saint's day, and that at noon there was to be
a solemn " vodoosvjaststchenje," or " consecration of the water '*
164
In the City of Saratov.
of the Volga ; the Governor of the city and all the prominent
inhabitants were to be present at the ceremony. I have before
mentioned the great number of days on which all work must
be suspended. There are 111 saints' days in the calendar ta
be celebrated, of which 76 are compulsory everywhere, and
some of the remainder in different parts. Then there are-
the seven Imperial festivals, besides Sundays.
It was now, or should have been, the busiest time of the
whole year. In the country there was the year's sowing to-
be done, and the Volga was but newly opened for traffic. Yet
A PICNIC PARTY.
the shops in the city were closed, and large numbers of people
from the country had come up to take part in the festivities.
I started out myself to swell the crowd of idle onlookers.
As I walked through the streets some peculiar-looking placards
on the wall of a square attracted my attention. On closer
acquaintance they proved to be compilations of the coarsest
lies and slanders against the Stundists ; some of them made
up of extracts from the Russian newspapers. They were, of
course, placed thus conspicuously to excite the fanaticism of
the Orthodox mob. The Stundists themselves have no possi-
bility of redress or defence allowed them, and interference
CONSECRATINa THE VOLGA.
In the City op Saratov. 167
with these placards in any way would bring on the offender the
direst penalties.
Long before noon the streets through which the procession
was to pass were closed to the public by gendarmes. With
my Kodak under my cloak I managed to elbow my way down
to the magnificent river, whose waters, discoloured and swollen
by the melting of the winter snows, were to be consecrated,
and secured a place on a large steamer, from which I had a
good view of the **holy " pavilion, where the ceremony was to
be enacted. In the middle of the pavilion floor was an opening
to the water, draped round with a white cloth, on which '*holy "
vessels were placed. The bridges, the steamers, the banks of
the stream, and the roofs of the houses were all covered with
onlookers.
Nearly an hour passed before the procession appeared, but
as harbinger there came to the pavilion an important
personage in the shape of an " Orthodox missionary." This
is a new order of the Church, created to help the police ex-
terminate the sectarians under pretence of " converting "^
tbem. There was a sanctimonious effulgence about his face
that accorded well with his sleek appearance. I had seen this
holy man before, and knew that he was a shining light within
the fold of the Orthodox Church ; I knew with what unctuous
eloquence he could address the orthodox masses, and kindle
their orthodox passions to such a degree that they would
assault and rob the heretics, both in the streets and in their
own homes. I knew how, through his holy zeal, many a
sectarian had been thrown into prison, or exiled to Siberia
or Trans-Caucasia, leaving their destitute families in misery
and despair. I knew, too, how that holy man would be
humility itself, could even go so far in his condescension as to
hold intimate intercourse with the lowliest — of the fairer sex.
I therefore watched him with the greater interest and
attention.
With grave and solemn step he passed to the bridge leading
to the holy pavilion, which none of the common or vulgar
dared to tread. Here he stopped, and gazed on the masses
with superior mien. He passed in review the quays and the
If 8 In the City of Saratov.
shore, half turned, threw his head back, and regarded the
people in the windows and on the housetops. Solemnly he
turned again towards the river, and, lowering his eyes,
surveyed the rowing-boats round the pavilion. His face
darkened as among these he discovered a boat-load of
irreverent youths, whose ribald grimaces and gestures were
not calculated to deepen the solemnity of the scene.
" Here they come ! " A forest of standards and crosses is
seen above the crowd, slowly moving down the street, while the
bells are ringing in rapid time. Now the procession is fairly
within sight. In front is the Archbishop of Saratov, a saint
of ample dimensions, with golden mitre, glittering with its pre-
cious stones in the sun, upon his head, Sb felonj of ^^partscha"
(or long robe of white silk, shot with gold and silver) hanging
from his broad shoulders, and a staff in his hand. After him
follow monks, priests, nuns, deacons, and singers galore, carry-
ing pictures of the saints, and behind them the notable civilians.
Suddenly the procession stops ; the archdeacon begins to sing
in a tremendous bass voice, the other singers soon joining in.
The Orthodox multitudes cross themselves again and again,
bowing deeply each time. Then the procession proceeds. Bow-
ing and crossing himself, the Archbishop enters the "hol}^
pavilion," followed by the chief members of the procession.
First Si^malehen (prayer) is sung, followed by mass. After this
the climax is reached. The Archbishop steps to the opening in
the floor of the pavilion referred to before, and makes the sign
of the Cross above the water, the singers meanwhile singing a
hymn.
After the water has thus been consecrated, and obtained the
necessary miraculous power, the Archbishop approaches the
fence round the holy place, and with a kind of broom sprinkles
holy water on the masses of the people, some of the pea-
sants having waded knee-deep into the stream in pious hope of
receiving a few of the sacred drops.
At this point I bring out my unholy Kodak, and manage to
get three snap-shots. One of these has been reproduced by the
artist, showing the " holy pavilion " and other details of the
Orthodox tomfoolery.
CHAPTER XII.
PEINCE DMITRI KHILKOV.
His Questionings — Abandonment of Property— Life as a Mushik — Influence on
the Peasants — Conflict with Landowners — with the Church — " The Damned
Stundist " — Banishment by " Administrative Process " — Journey into
Exile — A Well-meant Offer — Settlement at BaschkitcheC — Activity during
a Cholera Epidemic — An Official Medical Commission — Imperial Persecu-
tion — His Confession.
We shall give in this chapter an account in detail of the
life of one of Tolstoi's followers, which will serve as an
example of the difficulties under which he and his disciples
live, and the manner in which they put in practice what they
believe.
It is now some years since Prince Dmitri Khilkov, who is
still in the prime of manhood, gave his earnest attention to the
deep realities of life. He had inherited large estates in the
province of Kharkov, and enjoyed all the advantages, usually
so considered, that such a position entails. But when he came
to examine the grounds on which that position rested, and put
questions to himself with the intention of getting a satisfactory
answer, he came to the conclusion, as Tolstoi had done, that
the life of a privileged and wealthy person, surrounded
by a peasant population plunged in degradation and misery,
was opposed to reason, conscience, and the teaching of
Christ.
Once arrived at this conclusion, he proceeded to carry out
its logical results. He was not one to rest content with
holding a high ideal, while making *' the prevailing system "
the excuse for a lower standard of actual life. The word
" doctrinaire " was not in his vocabulary. He at once dis-
tributed his estate among the peasants, with the exception of
even hectares (about seventee n or eighteen acres), which he
170 Prince Dmitri Khilkov.
kept to cultivate himself. On this he worked, paid taxes, and
lived with his wife' and children. "I kept bees," he says, in a
letter to a friend, " and. a piece of land, and my seven hectares
supplied my needs for the support of my family. I ploughed
the fields, cultivated grass and root crops, and generally got a
good harvest. I had one horse and two cows." In dress and
everything but personal character he shared the mushiFs life
completely. One who knew the Prince intimately, and on whose
veracity I can implicitly rely, gave me in St. Petersburg the
following account of his influence on them.
"Such a degree of savagery prevailed among the peasants in
that district of South Eussia where Prince Khilkov lived that
it was even dangerous for a stranger to pass through it. After
the great change in the Prince's life, he began to go among
them, New Testament in hand, talking with them in brotherly
fashion, showing them a better way, a happier mode of life, ready
with advice and help on all occasions, just as he had already
given up all his property for their sake. And what was the
consequence ? The whole region is transformed, drunkenness
and crime rarely occur, and the people live in mutual peace
and goodwill."
Of course, in the eyes of official wisdom all this was
" dangerous," and could only escape interference for a few
years. It was, besides, impossible for one of Khilkov's
character and conviction to avoid collision with the authorities
of such a Church and State. The landowners and ecclesiastics
were foremost in transgressing the nominal laws, and oppressed
the peasants in every way. These looked for help to the
Prince, who never refused his aid, either of word or deed, to
those who asked him. The story of his first collision with
these gentry will illustrate the impossibility of peaceful
relations between them.
It is a favourite device to obtain the lands of the peasants
by goading them to revolt by some unusually flagrant injustice,
and then confiscating their holdings. It happened that a
certain Count desired to enlarge his estates in this way, and
he received the aid of his fellows. But Prince Khilkov
explained the plot to the peasants, and when they were
Prince Dmitri Khilkov. 171
summoned by the authorities, with the purpose of bringing-
about the outbreak, they resolutely refrained from furnishing
any pretext whatever.
His rupture with the ecclesiastics, also, could not long be
delayed, and occurred in this way. The Archbishop of
Kharhov was greatly troubled about the spread of the
Stundists, and devised various means for combating this
heresy. He adopted the practice, increasingly common of
late, of arranging public meetings for discussion of religious
questions. An order of "Orthodox missionaries" has been
created whose business it is to conduct these discussions on
the side of the Church. But instead of giving opportunity
for free discussion, they are simply traps for unwary
Stundists. The " missionaries " have free licence to heap
all manner of lying calumnies on the heretics, but if the
latter dare to attempt any refutation, they are silenced, and
are marked by the police, with banishment to Siberia as a
result.
In Prince Khilkov's district, when these meetings were
held in the villages, large numbers of the peasants would attend,
and, before the discussion began, would hand to the priests
the pictures of saints from their homes, declaring that they
had no further need of them. Sometimes they would ask
him to read to the people such passages as Matthew xxiii.,
xxiv., Isaiah xliv., &c. The Orthodox who came and heard
these things out of the Bible were astonished, and many
joined the Stundists.
Another j)lan of the Archbishop was the distribution of a
shameful pamphlet he had edited, written in verse, and called
" The Damned Stundist." Prince Khilkov bought up several
hundred copies, and provided each verse with a Biblical com-
mentary, and a selection of Scripture passages on the back
page of the pamphlet. All these he wrote with his own liand,
distributed them among the peasants, and sent a copy to the
Archbishop himself.
We give a facsimile of the title-page of this remarkable
hrochure, with the Prince's comments in his own handwriting,
and a translation of the text and annotations.
Remember the word that I said unto you, A servant is not greater than his
lord. (John xv. 20.) And these things will they do, because they have not known the
Father, nor me. (John xvi. 3.) Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you,
and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my
sake. (Matt. v. 11.)
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THE DAMNED STUNDIST.
If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. (John xv.'lS.)
Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you irom
their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of
man. (Luke vi. 22.)
Printed at the Imperial Printing Office, Kharkov.
Bless them that curse you. (Matt. v. 44.) Not that which entereth into the mouth
defileth the man : but tliat which proceedeth out of the mouth, this defileth the
man. (Matt. xv. 11 ; Mark vii. 15, 18-23.)
Prince Dmitki Khilkov. 173
THE DAMNED STUNDIST.
Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing (James iii. 10).
Roar, ye ihvndevs of the church!
Arise, ye fulminations of the councils 1
Crush with eternal anathemas
The acctirsed set of Stundists !
But I say unto you, that every one who is angry with his brother
without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment (Matt. v. 22).
II.
The Stundist demolishes our dogmas ;
The Stundist rejects our traditions ;
The Stundist scoffs at our ceremonies ;
The heretic, the accursed Stundist !
And He said tmto them, full well do ye reject the commandment
of God, that ye may keep your traditions (Mark vii. 9).
III.
God hath honoured our Russian church
With great renown and glory : —
Her, our mother dear.
Slanders the accursed Stundist.
For where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am
I in the midst of them.
IV.
Like stars in the firmament
The holy temples
Shine throughout our native land :
Shunned are they by the accursed St^indist.
The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are (1 Cor. 3-17). Know
ye not that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth
in you ? (1 Cor. iii. 16).
174 Prince Dmitri Khilkov.
• We offer prayer in the temples,
We sing the hymns of our church.
Or we perform the holy sacraments :
All is blasphemed by the accursed Stundist.
And wliv call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things wliicli I
say? (Luke vi. 46). But go ye and learn wliat this meaneth, I desire
mercy, and not sacrifice (Mat. ix. 13).
VI.
Our great and holy thaumaturgi,
Defenders of the Russian land,
And our spiritual shepherds :
Defamed are all by the accursed Stundist.
For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men,
himself man, Christ Jesus (1 Tim. ii. 5).
VII.
The relics of the men of God,
Our holy images of saints
And our processions of the Cross
Are loathed by the accursed Stundist.
Are ye so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected
in the flesh? (Gal. iii. 3).
It is the Spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing : the
words that I have spoken \mto you are spirit, and are life (John
vi. 63).
Vlll.
When ive sing Te Deums in the fields,
Or consecrate our brooks and springs.
Yea, when we kiss God's holy Cross,
Then gibes the accursed Stundist.
Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying. This people
honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in
vain do they worship me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of
men (Matt. xv. 7, 8, 9).
Prince Dmitri Khilkov, 175
IX.
Harsh anl gloomy like a demon.
Shunning people Orthodox,
In obscure dens he skulks,
God's foe, the accursed Stundist.
How can ye, being evil, speak good things ? for out of the abund-
ance of the lieart the mouth speaketh (Matt. xii. 34).
But if a simple sheep but casts an eye
Into the den of this wild beast.
By mockery, slander, and flattery,
Entraps him the accursed Stundist.
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged (Matt. vii. 2).
As the sparrow in her wandering, as the swallow in her flying, so
the curse that is causeless lighteth not (Prov. xxvi. 2).
To tlie above commentaries Prince Khilkov has added the
following Bible quotations, written on the back leaf of the
above pamphlet under the heading : —
LIFE'S POWER AND MEANING.
Fear not little flock (Luke xii. 32). Ye are my friends, if ye do
whatsoever I command you (John xv. 14). A new commandment I
give imto you, that ye love one another. By this shall all men know
that ye are my disciples (John xiii. 34, 35). I say unto you, my
friends. Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have
no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom you shall fear.
Fear Him which after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell ; yea,
I say unto you. Fear Him (Luke xii. 4, 5) . Beware of false prophets,
which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening
wolves (Matt. vii. 15). Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in
long robes (Luke xx. 46). I am the Good Shepherd (John x. 11).
But he that is a hireling is not a shepherd (John x. 12) , because he is
a hirehng (John x. 13). But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, because ye shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men ! For
ye enter not in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering in to
176 Prince Dmitri Khilkov.
enter (Matt, xxiii. 13). Woe unto you, lawyers ! for ye took away the
tey of knowledge. Ye entered not in yourselves, and tliem that were
entering in, ye hindered. (Luke xi. 52). The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me, because He anointed, me to preach good tidings to the poor ;
He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of
sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. (Luke iv. 18) .
Come unto me, all ye that labour and. are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am
meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls, for
my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matt. xi. 28-30). For I come
not to judge the world, but to save the world (John xii. 47) . The
Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and
to give his life a ransom for many (Matt. xx. 28). The Son of Man
is come to save that which was lost (Matt, xviii. 11). I come to
cast fire (of the truth) upon the earth, and what will I if it is already
kindled? (Luke xii. 49). If ye abide in my word, then are ye truly my
disciples. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free (John viii. 31, 32). This is my commandment, that ye love one
another (John xv. 12). Greater love hath no man than this, that a.
man lay down his life for his friends (John xv. 13). And as ye
would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise (Luke
vi. 31). (And therefore, love not only those that love you) but love
your enemies (Matt. v. 44). Be not angry (Matt. v. 22). Judge
not (Matt. vii. 1). Resist not evil (Matt. v. 39). In your
patience ye shall win your souls (Luke xxi. 19). And if any man
wiU go to law with thee and take away thy coat, let him take thy
cloak also (Matt. v. 40). Then render unto Caesar the things that are
Caesar's, and imto God the things that are God's. (Therefore, if they
that rule and have the power demand your property, or even your life,
let them take it without resistance. But give to no one your will,
which is to be guided only by the will of your Heavenly Father, who
has given it unto you. That which is not God's, give to the Caesar,
and to every one that demands it ; but that which is the Lord's — the
keeping of truth in your lives, according to His command — you must
never render to any one, whosoever may demand it) (Luke xx. 25).
For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world,
and forfeit his life? (Matt. xvi. 26). Be not therefore anxious for
the morrow (Matt. vi. 34), saying. What shall we eat or what shall
we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? (Matt. vi. 31). But
seek ye first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things
shall be added unto you (Matt. vi. 33). (If ye seek the Kingdom of
Prince Dmitri Khilkov. 177
God, then observe) Neither shall they say, Lo, there ! Or then !
For lo! the Kinj]^dom of God is within you (Luke xvii. 21). (The
Kingdom of God is the perfecting of your spirit, the conformity of
your life with His will, for the Lord is perfect and good.) First of
all, beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy (Luke
xii. 1). For I say imto you, that except your righteousness shall
exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no
wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt. v. 20). And when ye
pray, ye shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and
pray in the synagogues ; but thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine
inner chamber, and having shut the door, pray to the Father, which
is in secret (thy inmost heai't) (Matt. vi. 5, 6). Worship God in spirit
and truth (John iv. 24) (but serve Him not in temples, not with such
spiritual songs, which have pleased yourselves, or by not keeping
God's commandments, and by vain sacrifices). But when thou doest
alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth (Matt,
vi. 3). Swear not at all (Matt. v. 34). Look not after a woman to
lust after her (not even in your heart) (Matt. v. 28). Do not exalt
yourself (Matt, xxiii. 12). Do not lord it over each other (Luke xxii.
24). For that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the
sight of God (Luke xvi. 15). Not so shall it be among you, but
whosoever would become great among you, shall be your minister
(servant) (Matt. xx. 26). My peace I give unto you; not as the world
giveth give I unto you (not by compulsion, but voluntarily) ; let not
your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful (John xiv. 27). Verily,
verily, I say unto you, if any man keep my word, he shall never see
death (John viii. 51). The words I liave spoken unto you are spirit
and are life (John vi. 63).
These things could be allowed no longer by the authorities.
The Procureur-General of the Holy Synod, Pobiedanostseff, and
his party concocted a scheme of getting Prince Khilkov out of
the way by giving him living burial in the monastery of Sola-
vetsky, which is on the White Sea, in the government of
Archangel. But by the intervention of prominent friends this
was altered to banisishment to Trans-Caucasia.
It is easy to make a legal pretext in Eussia. In 1800 the
Governor of Kharkov ordered the Prince to move to that city.
He refused. In 1892 the ispravnik (chief of police) in the city
of Sovini summoned him to receive an order from the Minister
12
178 Prince Djiitri Khtlkov.
of the Interior concerning his person. The Prince did not obey,
but gathered the peasants of his village together, explained
matters to them, and bade them farewell. Soon the ispravnik,
with ten armed policemen and an officer, came with a minis-
terial order of banishment to Trans-Caucasia for five years
" by administrative process," i.e., without trial or oppor-
tunity of defence. The Prince refused the privilege that
members of the nobility have of travelling in comfort at
their own expense, though accompanied by gendarmes. On
the one hand, he refused to contribute in any way to the
expenses of his deportation, and on the other he claimed no
rank above that of a mushil; and desired to be treated as
such.
On February 13, 1892 (O.S.), two officers, with fifteen armed
soldiers, escorted the Prince from his village, who was then sent
by common Haiye to Trans-Caucasia.
At Tiflis he was allowed to lodge among his friends, under
strict police surveillance. This city is the first stopping-place
of all exiled sectarians, who have reason to remember well the
dark, damp, and overcrowded prison. Castle Metjesch, which
few escape. The Prince was detained a good while before being
forwarded to his final destination, and during that time an offi-
cial of high standing attempted to save him from exile by pro-
curing him a situation in Caucasia. When Khilkov called by
request at his house, the valet, taking him for an ordinary
mushik, rated him for coming to see his Excellency in so poor a
dress, and would not let him in for a time. The Prince replied,
*' I am accustomed to go to my Heavenly Father in this dress, and
his Excellency can hardly be of loftier rank than God."
He refused the well-meant offer, declaring that he would abide
by the " administrative order."
Finally, he was sent to the village of Baschkitchet, district
Bortochali, in the government of Tiflis, inhabited by Moham-
medans and banished sectarians, such as Dukhobortsi,
Chalaputi, Stundists, &c. I saw an extract from one of his
letters to a friend in St. Petersburg : —
" I am fairly well, although suffering just now from a severe
cold. It has been very cold here this winter. I have a place
Prince Dmitri Khilkov. 179
as servant to one of the banished sectaries, and my sleeping-
place is near the door, so I have been exposed to draught
and got a severe chill."
In the following spring the Dukhobortsi gave him a small
holding, which he cultivated as a kitchen-garden. His wife
and children joined him in July, 1892, in voluntary partici-
pation of his exile.
Cholera broke out in the late summer. Khilkov had a little
store of medicine, and the Dukhobortsi collected forty roubles,
with which they asked him to purchase the most necessary
drugs. Both Prince and Princess Khilkov threw themselves
into the work of tending the cholera patients with untiring
assiduity, and had the satisfaction of keeping down the deaths
to a comparatively small number. Besides this small stock of
medicines, procured by the exiles themselves, there was no
other in the district, nor any physicians. It is true a " medical
commission " did come from official quarters, hut they Jiad no
remedies with them, and even wanted to take what they found in
Baschkitchet. This was, however, refused them. My trust-
worthy informant told me that " these gentlemen do not visit
the patients, but hunt the cholera, which they wish to frighten
away, carefully a.voiding all cholera-stricken people who could
infect them."
Prince Khilkov and his wife were not married according to
the rites of the Orthodox Church. Hence, as another blow at
the heretic, the authorities have declared their children illecriti-
mate. By the Eussian Imv, they should be therefore under
the care of the Princess, who belongs to the Lutheran Church ;
but by order of the late Tsar, Alexander III., they were taken
from their parents altogether and placed under guardians in St.
Petersburg, to be brought up in the " Orthodox " faith. To an
appeal made to him by the Princess the Tsar vouchsafed no
reply. Letters from Russia received at the moment of writing
bring the information that the present Tsar has treated
another appeal sent to him personally in the like courteous
fashion. Their infant girl, not yet one year old, they have,
however, so far been permitted to keep.
By request Khilkov wrote out for circulation among his
180 Pkince Dmitri Khilkov.
friends the main points of his faith. We can hardly do better
than end the account with an extract.
MY CONFESSION.
The principles of our faith are common to all men, since, as
Tertullian said of old, '"The soul of man is by nature
Christian." In its broad aspect, stated for a circle of
intimate friends, my confession is as follows : —
We look upon it as our duty to sow around us in our daily
life the good seed, and to do loving deeds, even though that
should necessitate the giving of oui- lives for our neighbours,
our brothers.
We reckon as our brothers all who have anything in common
with us, without regard to creed, sex, or age, and without
recognising any privilege whatever which power, custom, or
culture may have conferred on us in the eyes of the world.
By good works we understand every kind of helpfulness that
we can show our fellows, by setting them free from spiritual
or bodily sufferings, lightening their severe toil, and spreading
among them the light of reason that illumines the path of our
life.
We observe no ceremonial rites, introduced and established
by Church, State, or ancient usage, since all these customs,
which are either outworn or have lost all significance, bedim
the light of life to reason. They often aid in quieting the
restless conscience by affording it a satisfaction in the per-
formance of certain outward deeds, intended to appease the
gods for past sins. Instead, we leave our conscience to be
plagued, without seeking to satisfy it with outer ceremonies,
until it becomes purged by repentance and renewed to
goodness.
We pass no judgments, have no law-suits, because the New
Testament enjoins that " if anyone smite thee on one cheek,
turn to him the other," and that we return good for evil. If
any of our number sin, his conscience should punish him more
severely and justly than the courts and hangmen of this world.
We recognise no obligation to human Governments, because
Prince Dmitri Khilkov. 181
we have no king besides God, who dwells in us and guides our
life, if we love Him and keep His commands.
Since we acknowledge no responsibility whatever to earthly
Governments, so we do not ask from them any rights and gladly
renounce all kinds of honour, all riches and so-called privileges.
While, however, we reject Governments, we have no ill will
towards state officials, but love them as brothers, and are
always ready to serve them by word or deed provided that
they ask nothing of us that is contrary to God's will.
Our renunciation of the so-called privileges necessarily
places us in the same position as the labourer, the mechanic,
and the tiller of the soil. We do not own the land we till, for
private property was established by violence, which is a
conflict with the law of love, the command of our God, who
dwells in us. We work where we are allowed, and use the
implements of industry so long as they are not taken from us.
If they hunt us away from one place, we flee to another.
Having for our life's aim the service of God and our fellow
men, we know that, as poisoned water flows from a polluted
source, so no good work can come from man so long as he is
full of vices. Therefore our endeavours are specially
directed to making ourselves perfect.
We are thoroughly convinced that if we ourselves grow
better, in however small a degree, the good we can thereby do
to our fellows becomes of correspondingly greater worth.
This perfection of self involves striving after purity of body
and spirit. While we follow after this purity we fear the
temptations of pride, and seek lowliness. Only as we fulfil
these conditions can we do the work of love. Purity, lowliness,
and love — there you have the three ground principles of our
life.
We allow perfect liberty to others, and set no bounds to the
search after truth. So our profession may be to-day very
ditferent from what it was yesterday and may be to-morrow,
but we have all one and the same wa}', the unchangeable and
eternal way, that Christ has shown us. To maintain the
spirit's freedom we give no pledges, take no oaths, institute or
acknowledge no creeds, and introduce no outward ecclesiastical
182 Prince Dmitri Khilkov.
ceremonies. The doctrine about the Church or the gathering
of believers is included in Christ's saying, "Where two or
three are gathered in My Name, there am I in the midst of
them." Such is our faith, such our hope.
Our kingdom is not of this world ; that is, although we are
in the world, we serve not the world, but the God of Truth.
Serving this one and only King, Lawgiver, and Judge, we know
that He only can save or destroy us.
CHAPTER XIII.
A EUINED FAMILY.
"Wealth and Rank — A Good Landowner and His Clever Son— Schooldays —
Liberal Opinions and Their Dausierti — -Disorder in the Schools — Accession
to the Estate — Scientific Research and Police Suspicion — At Moscow— A
Cruel Plot — Solitary Confinenient Uncondemned — The Sentence — Exile to
Siberia — Destitution — Better Thinj^s — 'No Rights "- Police and Love
Affairs — Fate of a Refugee — Waste of Human Life — Loss of the Estate
— A Young Girl's Religious Experiences — Education — Good Prospects —
Struggle after Truth — Reading the New Testament — Persecution by
Priests and Police — Exile — A Generous Revenge— Another Sister's
Fate — And a Brother's — Mammon and Priestcraft.
There is no lack of ruined families in Russia. Not merely
those who bj reckless and vicious living have worked their
own destruction, but families of the highest repute and blame-
less life, who owe their misfortunes entirely to the machinations
of a " paternal " Government. They could be counted by the
thousand, these householders whose happiness has been crushed
by the Juggernaut of a cruel desj)otism, but we will here
content ourselves with one specimen. Ex uno disce omnes.
I met in different parts of Eussia the dfbris, as one may say,
of this scattered family, whose reputation stood very high in
the eyes of wide and influential circles. One of the daughters,
who is well known to the authors, has supplied the following
facts concerning the origin and growth of their misfortunes,
chiefly centring round the history of her brother, whom we
will call Alexander.
This young man is the son of a rich estate owner, who
possessed 1,400 hectares (about 2h acres each) of land in two
provinces, with large herds of cattle and very many serfs, and
surrounded himself and family with all the comforts of life
usually enjoyed by the wealthy members of the nobility. He
was not, however, one of the many who spent all their means
184 A EuiNED Family.
and time in luxurious dissipation, such, as costly wines,
gambling, hunting, and epicurean feasts ; he rather held aloof
from all society of that description. Possessing considerable
skill as an engineer, he spent large sums in procuring different
kinds of agricultural machinery, and attempted to introduce
more rational methods of cultivating the land.
Alexander was born in 1860. Even in his earliest years he
gave signs of mechanical and mathematical ability, and was
never so happy as when engaged with machines. Whenever
his father was occupied on work of this description, either on
the repair of old or the construction of new machinery, Alex-
ander would be at his side. At twelve years of age he could
himself turn out excellent locksmith's work, which he ])ractised
with great assiduity in the few spare hours left to him from
liis other school studies, and so developed his mechanical
talents very remarkably.
His father was at this time occupied with improvements in
railroad construction, when a great misfortune befell him ; he
lost the use of his right arm by a paralytic stroke. This
threw all the responsibility for the finer mechanical work on
his young sou. A model of a locomotive and a railroad, made
by Alexander, exhibited such skill and finish that even
specialists were astonished at his workmanship, and predicted
for him a brilliant career. It was not only in mechanics that
he shone. Teachers and schoolmasters joined in awarding
him the palm of distinction above all his comrades in his
school studies.
But this keenness of intellect led him into dangerous paths.
As early as Jiis fifteenth year he began to look at things
with a critical eye ; fond of learning and devouring all the
information within his reach, he naturally began to make
comparisons, and analyse the conditions of life he found around
him. He became the centre of a large circle of youths of his
own age, some of them thoughtful and earnest in their own
characters, others attracted simply by the example of their
fellows, and swayed by more powerful natures than theirs.
While under the magnetic influence of their nobler comrades,,
these seemed to themselves and others to burn with unselfish
A Ruined Family. 185
love for mankind and an earnest, desire for its improved
welfare, but as soon as the charm was broken by their removal
to another sphere, they lost their ardour and pursued their
own career, straining after their personal interests in care-
lessness of the sufferings of others.
This group used to meet at leisure hours for the reading and
discussion of such works as would throw light on the problems
that perplexed them, above all, the social questions that forced
themselves upon their attention ; for example, the " Political
Economy of John Stuart Mill." They also had a paper for
private circulation, in which they expressed their own ideas
upon the burning topics of the day.
All this, of course, was done in secret, without the know-
ledge of the school and other authorities, who might report
them to the police. For the Government of the Tsar does not
love brilliant geniuses. Instead of using them for the good
of the nation, for conquering the obstacles that Nature puts
in the way of human welfare, that when overcome they may
confer a richer blessing on mankind, the Great Autocrat and
his satellites pounce upon them in their early years, and
condemn them to prison and to exile. Many die a prettiature
death, others lose their r(?ason in the terrible torture of prison
life ; those that endure to the end come out of their fiery
trial as strong eagles whose eyes have been dimtned and their
pinions singed, so that for them soaring flight has become
for ever impossible. In this way Russia is deprived of her
greatest wealth, the talent and genius of the flower of her
youth. Happily, fresh young lives take up the tasks from which
their predecessors have been violently removed, and with in-
domitable energy and courage push on their work for freedom of
life and thought, until death or Siberia cuts them off. The
cause for which they perish is undying, and in time it will
overthrow all obstacles ; tyranny and ofiicial despotism shall
give way to liberty and brotherhood, both here and in the other
countries of the world.
In these studies Alexander and his companions passed three
years of their school life, but they were not left in peace. The
authorities had learned by experience that the fermentation of
186 A EuiNED Family.
liberal ideas among students usually begins in the upper classes
of the schools. Fearing the outbreak of disorder, the Minister of
Instruction ordered all teachers to keep strict watch over their
senior pupils. The result was what might have been foreseen ;
these stringent measures only provoked the outbreak they were
designed to prevent. The students, losing all patience under
the continual harassment of petty interference on the part of the
authorities, and supported as a rule in their liberal views by
their relations and acquaintances, broke out in many schools into
serious disturbances, in some instances proceeding even to
violence. Many were expelled as incorrigible, and others were
severely punished and threatened with the same fate if they
did not mend their ways.
Owing to Alexander's prominent position in his school he
escaped expulsion, but the watch upon all his movements was
redoubled in stringency. His praepositor and others of his
fellow-pupils were engaged as spies upon his private life. These
had orders to report all visits paid or received by him, with the
hours of departure, &c., duly noted.
Under this constant interference of strangers with his
personal life his nervous system and health generally suffered
such a strain that he decided to leave the school and return
home for a rest. Just at this time, too, his father died, leaving a
large family behind, and on him, as eldest son, the management
of the estate and family affairs devolved.
While in the country he made an attempt at putting his
liberal ideas into practice. Laying aside all prejudices of rank,
he dressed in a simple national costume, worked with the
peasants at all kinds of agricultural labour, and altogether
eschewed those habits of the upper classes that are both exceed-
ingly costly and serve merely to erect a kind of moral Chinese
Wall between the privileged and the oppressed. His one aim
was to uplift the standard of the peasant's life, both in material
and moral respects, and he knew with how much suspicion they
regarded all meddling with their personal affairs on the part of
members of the nobility. It was for this cause that he removed
all possible differences between them, and sought by unaffected
friendliness and goodwill to gain their confidence. It was not
A EuiNED Family. 187
difficult for him. He had been a child among them, and they
considered him as one of their own. They gratefully received
his counsels and tried to profit by them.
But not even on his ancestral estate could he be left in peace.
The local police became inquisitive and put all manner of
questions to his mother. Why did he dress so plainly? Why
did he work as a common labourer in the fields ? Why did he
talk so much and so intimately with the peasants ?
One thing especially aroused their liveliest suspicions. He
had built a little house for himself at some distance from the
family residence. Certainly this could have no other object
than to serve as a centre for revolutionar}' meetings. Here
they visited him at all hours of the night and day, searching
for something compromising. They could, however, find
nothing illegal, for the simple reason that he had built the
-place solely for the purpose of pursuing his mechanical
studies and experiments without interruption or disturbance
— a purpose they succeeded in effectually frustrating. Even
this entire absence of anything on w^hich to rest suspicion did
not satisfy them, for they were, as a matter of fact, instigated
by the hulacks or financial harpies of the district, who wanted
to remove him so that they might have a hand in the admin-
istration of the estate — from purely benevolent motives, of
com*se.
Life under these conditions of eternal police interference
became unbearable ; he resolved to leave the estate for a time,
and entered the Technical Institute at Moscow. Here he won
golden opinions from all : his teachers were proud of his
splendid abilities and earnest application to his studies ; his
fellow- students loved him for his gentleness, and respected his
stable character and firm convictions. Soon there gathered
round him another circle of liberal-minded young men, as in
his former schooldays, with the same results.
The authorities keep an especially strict watch over the
students in large cities, and Alexander and his room-mate
speedily became suspected persons. Private enmity supplied
what was lacking in Government suspicion, and a diabolical
plot was hatched against him.
188 A EuiNED Family.
^ One day, as he was leaving the Institute to return to his
rooms, a fellow-student handed him a small packet and asked
him to take it home. This student was the son of a priest
who had been a bitter enemy of his father, but Alexander
suspected no evil, and put the packet in his pocket. When he
entered his lodgings he saw, to his consternation, that the
police were in possession of the place, and had already
arrested his room-mate. Thunderstruck, he stood still for a
while, and was immediately seized. Conscious of his inno-
cence, he attempted no escape, and the gendarmes continued to
ransack the rooms for incriminating documents, &c. They
found some verses containing liberal views, written by his
comrade, and then proceeded to search Alexander person-
ally. The traitorous packet was discovered, and proved to
contain Nihilistic literature. " In the name of His August
Imperial Majesty and because of criminal papers " found on
him, they now made his formal arrest, and without an}^ oppor-
tunity of explanation the two 3'oung men were hurried off to
gaol and placed in separate cells.
The consternation of his mother, when she heard of her
son's sudden imprisonment, may be more easily imagined than
depicted in words. At once she hastened to Moscow to learn
with what crime he was charged, and to try to procure his
release. It was in vain. She could discover nothing but that
the highest authorities had ordered that all suspected persons
should be put in prison and detained there, until their case
could be legally tried and sentence pronounced. All she could
do was to strengthen herself and endure the inevitable. With
much difficulty she did obtain permission to visit her son.
When she entered his cell his appearance frightened her, so
changed had he become in a short time. A settled melancholy
was on his countenance, now pale and emaciated, and in his
eyes she read despair.
More than a year passed before he was brought to trial, and
all that time he suffered the tortures of solitary confinement.
The agony of mind this means to a young man full of life and
energy, deprived of all opportunity of exchanging the
simplest thoughts with his fellows, forbidden also either to
A Ruined Family. 189
read books or touch pen and paper, can be only faintly
imagined by those who have had no similar experience. In
that year he suffered more than in all the previous trials of his
life together, though even in these the worry and harassment
of police stupidity and suspicion had not been inconsiderable.
One thing only preserved his mind from becoming unhinged.
He was allowed to learn shoemaking.
At last the day came on which his fate was to be decided.!
None but his mother and sisters were allowed to be present at
the trial. The sentence pronounced on himself and his room-
mate was fifteen years' penal servitude in the mines of Siberia,
with loss of all civil rights. It was the refusal to betray the
names of those students who belonged to their circle that
induced the court to inflict this savage and barbarous
sentence.
His mother and his two eldest sisters went to the Governor
to intercede for some mitigation of this severity. After
looking into the case, and finding that Alexander was not yet
of age, he commuted the sentence to eight years in Siberia as
a compulsory colonist. This was no doubt much milder than
the penal servitude in the mines, which meant simply capital
punishment by long-drawn-out and fiendish methods, but to a
young man of his abilities, just on the threshold of life, and
with great hopes for the future, the difference did not seem
great. He must leave everything, his home, his relations and
friends, his plans of self-devotion for the good of his fellows,
the application of his genius to the welfare of mankind. All
that opened in prospect before him was the cheerless life of an
exile in a far-off desolate region, under the constant sur-
veillance of the police, without whose permission he could not
take a step beyond the bounds of a prescribed circle, nor even
send a letter to his home.
One other privilege was won by the untiring efforts of his
mother and sisters : he was allowed to travel at his own
expense to his place of exile instead of going by the common
{■tape. It was nothing much to look forward to, this tedious
journey in a clumsy and open cart in the company of (jen-
darmesj yet he was glad when the day of departure arrived.
190 A Ruined Family.
He was to bid farewell to all that was dear to his heart,
but he was also to escape from the unendurable horrors
of his solitary cell. He longed to see people, to hear
the sound of their voices, to watch their daily occupation,
and divert his painful thoughts by the study of Nature,
which in its cruellest moods is kinder than the savagery of
men.
It took him four months to reach his destination, a wretched
little village in the province of Irkutsk, about 200 kilometres
from the capital. Here he must spend eight years without
going out of bounds. By a great stroke of fortune his
former room-mate was sent to the same place, and they could
at least converse on matters of common interest to both, and
keep up each other's courage by the exchange of their most
iiitimate thoughts. Otherwise their seclusion without books
or papers would have been but few removes from that of their
solitary cells.
A small portion of land was given them, which they
cultivated, and they began to make shoes, in order to earn
their living. There were, however, two obstacles that proved
fatal to this occupation : they could neither procure the
needful material nor sell their finished products. One thing
after another they tried, but they were so fettered by restriction
that want and despair frequently stared them in the face.
Only twice a year or so could they receive news from home ;
the mail took three months in winter-time, when the roads
were good, and in spring and autumn six months. Not only
so, but all missives and packages addressed to prisoners had
to pass through the hands of the police. So it happened that
things for winter use, despatched in time, would reach them
the following summer, when they were of no use. Through
this delay and irregularity Alexander and his comrade
frequently suffered hunger and cold, for want of the money
and goods detained on the way.
They petitioned the authorities for permission to settle in
some place nearer a town, where they could, at least, earn
something for their suj^port. This was finally allowed them,
with increased stringency of police supervision. Still they
A Ruined Family. 191
were happier, in being able to procure by their labour the
necessaries of life.
After a time, Alexander managed to save sufficient to buy a
locksmitli's shop and tools. His fame as a skilled workman
spread, and orders came in not only from his neighbours, but also
from people at a distance of 200 kilometres. The police,
however, would not allow him to go far from his house,
fearing that he would spread his liberal views among his
neighbours. He received a commission to build a church,
throuorh his engrineerino: abilities, but the authorities vetoed it.
They went so far that they would not allow him to marry,
because his fiancee^ being also a political exile, was deprived of
her civil rights.
Alexander sent in an application to be registered as a
common peasant, that he might have, at least, some elementary
rights of livingr, but for a long: time received no answer.
Growing wearied at the delay, he committed the enormous
crime of visiting his betrothed without the permission of the
police. They soon discovered his absence, raised a hue and
cry, and despatched messages in all directions about his
"escape." He was speedily captured by gendarmes and sent
to his former place of exile.
He Avould probably have had to drag on this weary existence
for many years, had not the Governor-General of Eastern
Siberia, a kind-hearted man, come to Irkutsk and visited all the
exiles. When he found that Alexander was of no common stamp,
and possessed such great skill in engineering and architecture,
and was besides of a quiet and gentle disposition, he ordered
him to be given a position in the workshop of one of the gold-
mines of Nerchinsk. Soon, too, he recovered his civil rights,
and his eight years of martyrdom closed. But it must not be
imagined that his position Avas restored to him. He will never
be free from the constant surveillance of the police, for all
Russian exiles have to endure this, even after their sentence is
worked out, if not of the regular i)olice, of the secret spies,
which is still worse. But his life became comparatively bear-
able ; he is married, and allowed to support his family by his
labour and skill.
192 A EuiNED Tamily.
As for his comrade in exile, he made several attempts at
escape, but was recaptured and cruelly punished. Finally he
disappeared, leaving no trace. None of his relatives and
friends know of his whereabouts ; his mother died several
years back from grief at the unhappy lot of her son. It may
be he succeeded at last in escaping from his tormentors, and
found refuge in a more hospitable land, but it is equally
probable that he is no longer to be numbered among the living.
Whatever his fate, this much is certain, that both these
gifted young men are lost to the cause of human progress and
liberty, through the brutal folly of a savage despotism, that is
yet allowed the alliance and friendship of nations — or at least,
their Governments and royal houses — that boast their own
freedom of thought and action. It is not merely the material
wealth of the empire that is criminally wasted by the stupidity
and greed of the Russian Government and its horde of officials
and secret police. The moral and spiritual resources that
might uplift the nation in true well-being and prosperity are
ruthlessly destroyed, and the most sacred things of human life
trampled down in cynical savagery. Thousands of homes are
desolated by the destruction of their most loved and gifted
members ; tens of thousands of lives are blasted in their
dearest hopes. The Russian Government, that plants its steel-
shod feet on human hearts, must answer to the damning
indictment —
Have ye founded your thrones and altars, then,
On the bodies and souls of living men ?
So far, we have given the facts concerning Alexander as
supplied by the sister referred to above. We now turn to the
other members of the family. When the eldest son had thus
been successfully removed, the JculacJcs, with their allies the
tchinovniks (officials), could proceed to their congenial task of
getting the estate into their own clutches, under pretence
of administering it as trustees, &c., and plunder to their hearts'
content. This they did so effectuall}^, that the helpless widow
soon had to leave her home, with all its sacred associations with
the lives of those who had been taken from her.
A Ruined Family. 193
But this was but " the beginning of the sorrows." One of
the daughters, because she was true to the dictates of her
<3onscience, also fell under the ban of this enlightened Govern-
ment, and has had to undergo a series of trials of great
severity. We cannot do better than give her own account, as
written in a letter, of her experiences.
" Like mj brothers and sisters, I was brought up in the
Orthodox faith, and was accustomed from my childhood to
■regard the Orthodox Church as the only true one. But all the
prayers that my teachers taught me, which I repeated every
morning before the eikon of a saint, could not satisfy my
soul, although I was but a child. When I had ended these
prayers, I would lay my wants before God in ray own words,
though I never heard any one else do so.
*^In 1871, I was placed in a school for girls of noble families
in the city of X., where I was instructed in languages, art, and
the other subjects that form the curriculum of such institu-
tions. Eeligion, of course, was treated merely as a matter of
form. Yet in my inmost heart was an earnest and deep piet}-.
Soon, however, the temptations of the world became too strong
for me, who was so feeble, and my childish confidence in God
began to disappear.
" In 1877, I was removed to the Grand Duke of Oldenburg's
Seminary for young ladies of the nobility, in St. Petersburg.
At that time I was sixteen years old. In this great city, with
all its temptations, among worldly relatives and friends, I was
completely conquered by the world. Still I continued to
observe, in mechanical fashion, the ceremonies of the Church.
During this period I was often invited to Court, but its
splendour and magnificence never impressed me much.
'^'In the winter of '79 my father died and bitter trials befell
our family; in the spring of the same year I finished my
course at the seminary, and obtained a lucrative position as
teacher in an Imperial school in the South of Eussia. My
salary was 1,500 roubles, with free rooms and attendance. I
now tried to satisfy myself with worldly pleasures, but soon
grew tired. Then I began to read philosophical works with
great eagerness, hoping, in this way, to still my soul's hunger
13
194 A Ruined Family.
for truth and happiness, but in vain. 1 was troubled with
doubts concerning all the questions of life both here and here-
after. To my hunger for truth was added an intense fear of
death. These inward struggles I carefully concealed from my
friends and associates.
^'^In 1881, my eldest brother was exiled to Siberia, and
shortly after we lost our estate. At the same time, one of
my sisters was taken seriously ill. These and other trials
induced me to begin to study the New Testament — a book I
had for many years despised. In the summer I met my invalid
sister at a health resort. She grew worse and worse every day,
and I could clearly see that her end was near. From this time
I began to think seriously of my own death.
*' I had to accompany my sister to her home. She was
thoroughly weak, and we resolved to stop a few days with our
mother at X. The Yolga steamer, on which we were travelling,
arrived at midnight, so to avoid disturbing our mother, we
stayed on board until morning. The night was still and beau-
tiful. I went up on deck to watch the dawn. It was a
morning never to be forgotten. For the first time I got a
glimpse of the beautiful morning star. In m}^ heart I resolved
it should be my guiding star for life.
" Soon I had to leave my mother and sister, of whose recovery
there was no longer any hope. When I bade her farewell I was
almost disconsolate.
*' I now studied the New Testament with great ardour, and soon
found that I could no longer attend the Orthodox Church, kiss
the eikons of the saints, &c. I then told the directress of the
school that I must give up my post, and gave her my reasons
for such a course. Both she and my fellow-teachers looked on
it as folly, and asked me to stay on.
'' It was late in the night, and they tried to persuade me at
least to stay until next morning, but I felt an inward prompting,
as if some one were saying, " Do not wait ; to-morrow it may
be too late." It was more than fortunate for me that I did not
stay. It was immediately telegraphed to my relatives that I
had become insane, and they wished to put me into an asylum.
Others regarded me as a dangerous agitator against the Tsar
A Ruined Family. 10-
and State, and at onco reported me to the police. The whole
city was stirred. I had to escape secretly from the place by
night, and fled to another town. There, too, the priests soon
found me out, and wrote to the governor, persuading him to
set the police on my track ; besides this they bribed a doctor to
give a false certificate against me, and in other ways tried to
get me exiled to Siberia.
" These plans were, however, frustrated. . . . Just as I
was leaving the city to escape from my persecutors another
misfortune befell me : all my money was stolon from me, so
that I was altogether destitute of means. But by a remarkable
providence I was helped out of this terrible difficulty."
So far her own account. This truly pious and quiet-natured
young lady was hounded from place to place by the police, until
at last she had to escape to a foreign country, and there remain
for some time. But she always yearned to return to her native
land. " However," she says, "I continually longed to come back
to Eussia. The light and liberty that I found in Western coun-
tries, instead of weakening this longing, increased it still more.
My heart was full of deep compassion for my fatherland."
Finally she succeeded in crossing the frontier in a marvellous
way- — she had no passport, but again was hunted about by the
priests and the police. With untiring devotion and courage,
she braved her persecutors, and cheerfully faced cold, hunger,
and pestilence, going from village to village to help and comfort
the poor, downtrodden peasants, both in material and spiritual
things. . During the famine she bore her part in the relief
work among the starving until her health broke down.
The day of my arrival in St. Petersburg, another daughter
of the s ame family set out for Siberia as a volunteer to nurse
the sick in Tinmen, where spotted typhus and other terrible
diseases were making fearful havoc among the prisoners and
others. She had studied medicine in St. Petersburg, until this
was forbidden by the all- wise authorities. Then she applied
herself to the study of natural science, until a wealthy philan-
thropist in St. Petersburg enabled her to go to Siberia, there
to use her medical knowledge as a simple nurse.
After a few weeks of zealous work among the patients she
196 A Ruined Family.
Jierself caught the spotted typhus ; for some time all hope of
her recovery was abandoned. The fever at last, however,
abated, only to leave her a physical and nervous wreck ; she
had become insane.
In this condition she was sent home to her poor mother,
whose bitter cup of sorrow was now surely full. But, no ;
her second son, who was at home, whose nervous system had
already been strained almost to the breaking point, could not
stand the shock of seeing his loved sister insane. His own
mind was unhinged, and he, too, had to be removed to an
asylum.
Such is the work of Mammon and priestcraft, but for which
these innocent and truly patriotic men and women had been
not merely happy in their own lives, but a means of inspiration
and uplifting to the wretched peasants on their estate, who so
sorely needed their help and teaching.
CHAPTER XIV.
OLDER RUSSIAN SECTS.
Tsardom and Orthodoxy — Reforms of Nikon — The Stanoveri—Popovtsi and
Bespopovtsi — The "Antichrist-Tsar" — Specimens of Hymns — Contempt of
HuSevincr—Slranniki (Wanderers) and Berjuni (Fugitives)— How They are
Made — A Sectarian's Story — Moltchalniici (Dumb) — An Advocate's Ex-
perience — Prufjoni (Dancers) and Chlisti (Flagellators) — Origin and
Tenets — Initiation Ceremonies — Orgies — Skoptsi (Mutilators) — Mutilation
— Samonstrchlfjeli (Suicides) — Nje Nashi (Agnostics) — Their Behaviour
towards Authorities.
Though Tsardom and the Orthodox Church in Russia are now
so indissolubly associated, they are not exactly twin powers in
the matter of age. It was in the eighth century that some
Greek missionaries proclaimed Christianity throughout the
land, and introduced, at the same time, a certain degree of
that civilisation which then followed the Greek tongue. The
•Church thus established took firm root in the land, but Tsardom
was of later growth by four or five centuries. Before Russian
unity was won, a terrible scourge of Tartar rule had to be
borne for three hundred years, just those three hundred years
that saw the bowing of the English neck beneath the yoke of
Dane, Norman, and Angevin, and left them at last a united
nation. Under this reign of barbarism nearly all traces of the
older culture were swept away; the Church remained as an
institution, but the spirit was for the most part quenched. As
regards the liturgy, many small departures from the usage of
the Greek Catholic Church crept in, and a number of words
were incorrectly spelled. Small matters these, but such as
fasten with a firm hold upon a peoj^le of strong religious
emotions and slight culture. The Tartars were subdued in the
thirteenth century, and Tsardom triumphed, but the Church
was unreformed until, at the instance of the patriarch Nikon,
a revised liturgy was published in 1659. To us the reforms
200 Older Russian Sects.
seem trifling; for example, making the sign of the cross with
three lingers instead of two ; writing the name of Jesus with
a J instead of an I; the use of the Swiss cross (arms of equal
length) instead of the Eoman (with longer upright) ; turning
'* against the sun," i.e., eastward, instead of "with the sun,"
i.e., westward. But to the parties concerned these small things
were indications of momentous issues. To the authorities they
meant marching in line with the Holy Catholic Church. To-
the malcontents they meant " adulteration of the pure Word
of God." Here^ then, was the beginning of the great separa-
tist movement of the Basl-olniM, which has continued to the
present time, and given rise to countless sects.
Of course, there was persecution ; the seceders were driven
away, carrying with them the old hooks in which they believed
(whence their name : Staroveri:=Old Believers), to the vast
tracts of forest land on the upper courses of the Volga, that
are even now the chief haunts of the sectarians of modern
times. After the secession, there developed two main parties :•
those who retained the priesthood, and those who, when once
they found themselves at loggerheads with the holy officials,
asked what need there was of them at all, and decided the
question in the negative. The former have remained prac-
tically unchanged ; so little do they differ from the Established
Church that they are, for the most part, left in peace. They
are, in fact, something like those good people at home who will
not use the Revised Version of the Bible, and in other matters-
place the customary above the accurate in their esteem. They
are known as Pojpovtsi.
The Bespopovtsi, those who have abolished the Holy Office ^
are naturally more repugnant to the powers that be, and havi^
continually suffered persecution at their hands. This has kej^t
alive the fire of fanaticism; according to the different con-
ditions of time and place, or different impulses from individual
leaders, the energy has taken different forms, and many and
varied sects have, as a result, sprung into being. To dis-
tinguish these from the Nonconformists, who owe their being
to causes of quite modern date, they are usually grouped under
the title of the Old Sects. They are far too numerous tc
Older Russian Sects. 201
describe in detail, but the chief, among which are the Stranniki
(Wanderers), Beguni (Fugitives), Moltchalniki (Dumb) , Prugoni
(Dancers), Ghlisti (F\age]\sitors),Skoptsi (Mutilators), Nje Nashi
(Agnostics), &c., deserve more than a passing notice, both on
account of their own remarkable characteristics^, which throw
vivid light on the Russian character, and also because they
have been, for the most part, entirely misrepresented. This
misrepresentation is not confined to the Russian official press,
which contains, chiefly, gross caricatures of their teaching and
conduct, but extends to those foreign accounts which have
derived their materials from the turbid official sources.
The more these despised and persecuted sects are known, the
more apparent it becomes how greatly they have been
misjudged. The entire course of their behaviour, even in its
most fantastic and fanatical forms, is just a conscious or
unconscious protest against unbearable despotism and the
miserable condition of things resulting therefrom. To avoid
coming under the intolerable yoke of the *' Antichrist-Tsar,"
and infection by the wickedness inherent in the whole system,
the "Wanderers" and "Fugitives" leave their homes and
become nomadic, or bury themselves in the primeval forest, or
flee to the farthest steppes, in the face of the greatest dangers,
in the certainty of severest toil and pain. Similarly, to avoid
bringing more children into the hopelessly evil and corrupt
world they see around them, to mortify their own flesh and
save their own souls from this " City of Destruction," the
*' Mutilators," both men and women, endure the most ghastly
operations on their bodies. Also the " Dumb," in opposition
to what seems to them a cruel and arbitrary Inquisition, rather
than a legitimate examination, shut their mouths and refuse to
hold parley with the servants of the Evil One. Who can wonder
that grotesque fanaticism abounds among these sectarians?
Hunted and persecuted, powerless against the perpetual greed
and oppression of those in authority, without resources against
* The most reliable and copious authority on the subject is Prugavin, a
Russian writer, who devoted immense labour to the work of research. In the
following descriptions, I have lelied chiefly upon him for as much as has not
come under my own observation, or been communicated to me by persons
whom I could trust, though other authors have also been consulted.
202 Older Russian Sects.
hunger, cold, and misery of all kinds, and continually exposed
to new developments of evil fortune, these miserable folk are
subject to an unceasing strain, that naturally causes epidemics
of hysteria, especially in the northern and eastern districts; in
these ecstatic fits they see visions, receive revelations, and leap
and dance under the uncontrollable impulses that agitate them.
Their very songs, as v^ell as their doctrines, are written in
pessimistic strains. Here are two examples : —
Evil years have fallen upon us; bitter times have come;
Perished is the faith that's true ; Christ's faith has disappeai'ed ;
Unjust .iudges rule the land ; the Chui'ch's pastors are
Rough drunkards. Crushed the people lie beneath oppression's yoke.
Again :
I cannot keep myself from tears !
Religion pines away and dies.
Now godlessness blooms over all.
Uprooted is the Spirit's law.
The priestly place is girt with silver chains :
We're ruled by lawless might instead of law.
They who take bribes hold sway in all our towns.
Corrupt officials rage in every place.
The Spirit of Antichrist now lords it over us.
I cannot keep myself from tears.
In their conduct towards each other, and, indeed, towards all
men, these sectaries are gentle and meek, and under the
severest persecution, which frequently overtakes them, they
display a fortitude that is almost superhuman. In fact, one
might almost conclude from their demeanour under the most
terrible punishment, which they endure without a single sound
of complaint, that they find a certain satisfaction in suffering.
Take an instance. Nearly twenty years ago, in the govern-
ment of Yolodga, a serf named Samarin entered a church
during the hour of worship. Holding alighted candle he rushed
up to the priest, snatched the chalice from his hand, emptied
the contents on the floor, and crushed the sacred vessel underfoot,
exclaiming, '' I trample upon Satan's work." Of course he was
instantly seized and brought to trial before the authorities.
Questioned as to his object, he replied with the utmost calmness
Older Russian Sects. 203
that he had done it to awaken the people from their godless
slumber and to protest against the power of Antichrist. Under
the fearful punishment to which he was sentenced he did not
utter a murmur.
Let us see the special characteristics of some of these sects.
First the " Wanderers " and " Fugitives." Their roots lie deep
in Russian liistor3\ Long before the institution of serfdom, in
the twelfth century, the semisavage free men betook themselves
in large numbers to the forest depths and distant steppes to
escape the newlj-established Muscovite despotism. In later
times they fled from slavery under the tyrannous landlords.
At the present day they seek in flight refuge from oppressive
taxation., forced military service, oflicial rigour, police persecu-
tion, and other nameless miseries. Small wonder, then, that
they are the most numerous of all the sects, and enjoy the
reputation among the police of being the " most dangerous."
But it was only a little more than thirty years ago that they
assumed the characteristics of a "sect," properly speaking. A
certain Sovva took refuge from persecution in the village of
Marosova, government Oloujetsk, and for a long time secretly
taught the people that they should flee from the wickedness of
the world and the tyranny of the officials into the forests, and
gained many adherents. The authorities sought to arrest him,
but he received timely warning and escaped to Archangel.
The leader of the sect at the present day is said to be one
Nikanov, who numbers many persons of repute among his
adherents.
There are two divisions of this sect : the skritnlkl, who
carefully conceal both themselves and their tenets, and the
jiristano djershdjeteU, or those posted near the steamboat
stations on the Volga and other rivers, whose houses have
secret doors, subterranean passages, &c. Their business is to
receive and conceal wandering brothers, who mostly make
their appearance by night. All who belong to this sect must
destroy their passports and all documents that could give any
information about any one. Such are held to be Satan's
instruments. A new baptism is also necessary, and is per-
formed as follows : A square enclosure is made by means of
204 Older Eussian Sects.
boards in the river. The candidate stands stark naked between
his two godfathers, their faces turned to the east. The leader
reads prayers, cursing Satan and spiritual and temporal
authorities. The neophyte's passport is rent to pieces as a
symbol that he has for ever broken " with the power of this
world." He is then immersed in the water. After the cere-
mony he is clothed in a white garment that reaches to his feet,
and receives a new name. A lengthy fast is prescribed for
him, and he takes a solemn oath never to submit to spiritual
or w orldly authority, for they are the work of Satan ; to regard
all who live in the present system of society as Satan's servants;
never to take up a passport, pay taxes, or fulfil any kind of
official duty ; to have no fixed home, but to live the life of a
wanderer only.
Every new member must be instructed in the following
tenets : — Antichrist is at the head of the present organisation
of State, Church, and society. Tsar, governors, metropolitans,
and all other officials are Satan's servants. The so-called
Divine service, sacraments, religious ceremonies, &c., simply
repress true and living Christianity. One must pray in secret
without any forms whatever. Women are in every respect free
and equal with men. Marriage is based on the most unrestrained
freedom. Some say, '^It is not a civil or religious ceremony
that makes true marriage,but a mutual sympathy and harmony."
*' Marriage as a sacrament and civil act is out of date. Men
and women must live together as they best please to preserve
the human race," say others.
Among some groups marriage is celebrated in the following
manner: Having received a promise of marriage from a woman
or girl, the man goes to an appointed meeting-place, and there
carries off his bride with some show of force,^ either to his
house, if he be of the pristano djershdjeteli referred to above,
or somewhere in the forest. Then they live a wandering life
from village to village, district to district, staying a longer or
shorter time with their sisters and brothers. This union
* The student of anthropology will, of course, recognise in this a survival
of ancient customs, a relic of the times when marriage by capture was a real
and not merely a symbolical event.
Older Russian Sects. 205
endures so long as the consorts agree. Should strife arise,
thej go their several ways. The same freedom is allowed to
the children, who are brought up to be " Wanderers " too.
In some places the free marriage is celebrated bj the man
and woman walking through a village side by side, each holding
an end of the same handkerchief.
Among these and many other sectaries the Tsar is, for the
most part, regarded as Antichrist personified. It is a common
thing to find among them a curious picture, in which he is
depicted in royal robe and crown, receiving a candle from
Satan, who is saying, "Be thou the worker of my will." At
the side of the Tsar the Orthodox Church is portrayed as a
common strumpet. The sectaries continue to increase in
number, but their mysticism is gradually giving place to
rationalism, and instead of the ideas concerning Antich rist we
find that the Tsar is simply looked upoa as Despotism incar-
nate, beneath whose iron yoke the Russian people are crushed
to the ground, and are in a perpetually perishing condition.
The way in which misery leads to religious fanaticism is
well illustrated by the following evidence, given by a
sectary before the tribunal that heard his case. " I lived in
the government R., and was body-slave to a landlord, but,
thanks to my ability to write and skill in reckoning, I was
promoted to be bookkeeper on Prince B.'s estate. The Prince
was of an altogether evil disposition ; licentious, spendthrift,
and tyrannical, he had ruined the mushiks without mercy. As
bookkeeper I lived a happier life than the rest of the peasants,
and had nothing to complain of, until misfortune suddenly
overtook me. I loved Prasconia, the starost's daughter, and
my love was returned. Om* mutual passion was so strong that
we could not live apart. She was a splendid girl — beautiful,
high-spirited, and steadfast. All the lads contended for her
favour, but she gave to none so much as a glanc e ; to me alone
was she gracious. We were already beginning to speak of the
wedding day, when, to our ruin, the Prince, our master, came
on the scene. The young girl took his fancy immensely ; he
desired to possess her.
" One day two of the Prince's men seized Paracha (her pet
20G Oli»er Russian Skcts.
name) in the street and carried her to him bj force. The
young girl struggled to break loose, entreated, wept, and
shrieked for mercy — there was no help. Paracha was shut up
in the Prince's house, and I do not knoAv what happened to
her there. What I do know is that I could not brook this
injury. I cursed the life of a. serf, and one dark night set fire
to the Prince's house and made off to the forest. From forest to
forest, from government to government I wandered, and knew
no peace by night or day, like Cain who had killed his brother
Abel. At every sound I heard in the forest I started and
trembled like a leaf, fearful lest they should come and seize
me and throw me into prison. Sometimes at evening I would
come to an izha and peep in through the window. The whole
family would be sitting round a lutchina (a lighted pine-splint,
set on a stand, used to avoid the expense of tallow candles), the
father making ?ap/i (a kind of shoes), the mother spinning,
the daughter sewing, the children building houses with bits of
wood. Poverty was there, but they were all warm, they
looked contented, and feared nothing. And I — I was alone,
abandoned, and had not where to lay my head !
'' At last I met an anchorite in the forest. The sun had set
one evening when I saw an old man with snow-white hair
come out of what might have been the cave of a bear, covered
by the brushwood. He dipped himself three times in the
stream, resumed his clothes, bowed to the four points of the
compass, and turned again towards his cave. I sprang towards
him. *Holy man,' I cried, ' do not refuse me a kind word.'
" ' Who are you ? ' asked the old man.
" ' Fear nothing, I am only a peaceful fugitive.'
" ' You are not a robber ? ' — ' No.'
" ' What is your faith ? ' ^ I know nothing about it myself,'
I answered. 'I have not been taught.'
" ^ Will you learn to know the true faith ? ' — ' Yes.'
" ' Well then, follow me ! '
'* We entered an underground cavern. It was somewhat
spacious, but gloomy. The walls were wooden, there was a
stone table, and on the table a book lay open. There was no
bed, but on the stone floor a hide was spread. The old man
Older Russian Sects. 207
bade me sit on a stone, and began asking" me questions. I told
him everything without reserve. *I see,' said the old man,
* that you are unfortunate, that you are in Satan's kingdom,
and that there you are on the road to perdition. Will 3'ou
find peace for your soul and gain the kingdom of heaven ? *
* I will.' ' Well, then, listen to me. I, my son, have long
sought the true faith. I have tried all religicms, and have at last
come to the conclusion that it cannot be found anywhere ; the
whole world is wandering in darkness. The authorities
persecute us, because they are servants of Satan or Antichrist ;
the common people know not what to do. ... I have therefore
determined to win God's grace by prayer and fasting. Let
men retire to the forests and deserts to escape lies, ruin, and
Satan's kingdom ! Do you also fly from the world, fast and
pray. Then shall you understand the true faith, and peace
shall descend upon you.'
*' After the conversation with the old man I passed the whole
night without a wink of sleep. He prayed all the time
kneeling upon sharj) stones and pieces of broken glass. When
morning came he left his cave, dipped three times in the
stream, and bowed to north, south, east, and west.
" The old man's speech, his long, white beard, his emaciated
body, his mild expression, his long, flowing robe, girt
about his waist by a coarse rope, his bleeding feet
and knees, made so deep an impression u]3on me that I
determined to become his disciple. * I will forsake
the Avorld and retire to a desert place,' I exclaimed
to myself. ' I will pray and fast ; I shall at length
find peace, and gain my soul's salvation." I dug out
a cave in the forest, where I settled, and imposed on myself a
strict fast, taking nothing but bread and water. Three years
passed in this manner; my fame spread through the surrounding
country, and many came to consult me concerning their soul's
salvation. All were seeking for truth, for the true faith, for
God. With one accord all declared that Antichrist ruled the
whole world ; that nowhere on earth could truth be found ;
that judges and authorities committed only unrighteousness
and oppression, that they are the devil's servants.
208 Older "Russian Sects.
*^ Yet I knew no more than thej how to counsel them, how to
help them. I could only weep with them, and fast till my
strength gave out."
So runs his testimony before the court of justice. This man
was afterwards led astray by one of those unscrupulous
impostors who find these emotional religionists only too easy a
prey. He was seized by the authorities and cast into prison.
Having made his escape, he wandered from province to
province throughout the land, from the Upper Volga to
Caucasia, from Moscow to Siberia, hiding by day, and at night
pursuing his journey, everywhere warning the people against
the rule of Antichrist, and urging them to flee from the falsity
and corruption of the world. Frequently arrested, he told the
authorities he was God's servant, seeking to save his soul from
the power of Satan, his servants, and sin.
These sectaries are most numerous in the governments of
Petersburg, Vologda, Jaroslavl, Tver, Olonjetsk, Kastroma,
Kasan, and Vjatka.
The Moltchalnihi, or the Dumb, are closely connected with
the Beguni, and share most of their opinions, with the addition
that they persistently refuse to answer any of the official
questions concerning their name, age, rank, &c., and before the
judges at their trials maintain an unbroken silence. The
sentences passed upon them, though for the most part entailing
banishment to Eastern Siberia, they hear with the greatest
unconcern, and leave the court without saying a word. Some
of them not only refuse thus to parley with the ministers of
Antichrist, but even eschew all speech among themselves as
leading to sin.
An advocate, to whom had been allotted the duty of
defending a moltchalniki, describes his experience in the fol-
lowing account.
"I had been entrusted with the defence of one of these
sectaries. I went to the prison where he was confined, and
asked permission to visit him. After a few minutes they
brought me into the presence of a powerfully-built man of
medium height; he wore trousers of ample size, over which
were drawn boots that came up to his knees, and a kaftan,
Older Eussian Sects. 209
such as the Russian serfs are accustomed to use. Long hair
and a long beard encircled his face, which wore a mild and
resigned expression. His age must have been about forty.
Silently he advanced to the table and gave me greeting.
" ' The Court has confided your case to me,' I said, turning
to him. He laid his right hand on his breast and bowed.
* Are you willing that I shall represent you before the Court ? '
He again bowed, shaking his head in dissent. ' Why do you
not wish me to take up your cause ? ' The sectary pointed to
the saint's picture in the corner of the room. ' You entrust
your cause to Providence ? ' I asked. He nodded his head in
affirmation. ' Yes, but you cannot deny that the intervention
of an experienced advocate can present your case in the most
favourable light and do much to bring about your release ? '
He smiled in an unconvinced manner and shruggred his
shoulders. ' Do not forget that by obstinately keeping silence,
and refusing to give your name, you render yourself liable to
be treated as a vagabond, and run a great risk of being
banished to the furthest parts of the empire.' He made a
gesture to show that it was of no concern to him, and remained
mute. ' Will you not speak ? Ah well — perhaps you will
consent to answer my questions in writing ? I am not 3'our
judge, you know, but your advocate whom you can hardly
regard as an enemy.' The sectary continued to gaze at me
with the same look of mildness and resignation without
opening his mouth. I found it useless to try to persuade
him. ' Do as you please,' I said, ' but, believe me, I have no
other interest in meddling with your affairs than my simple
desire to help you.' He crossed his arms over his breast and
bowed low.
" ' Well, what do you think of him ? ' asked the warder, as
he fetched me from the prisoner. ' The man has made a deep
impression on me. He must have lost his senses.' * I beg
your pardon, he is simply a confirmed fanatic. There are
many such in these parts. His behaviour in prison is blame-
less ; he obeys all the rules, works diligently, never refuses to
lend a hand to his comrades. He is thoroughly sober and reli-
gious ; you can't pick a hole in him at all. There is only one
14
210 Older Russian Sects.
thing — he would sooner let himself be killed than speak a
word.'
" Eight days later he was sentenced. To the end nothing of
consequence had been brought against him. The whole trouble
was this : An unknown man was found in the market-place of
a little village by the village constable. Since he could get no
answer to the questions he put to him, he brought him before
the commissary, where he was searched and found to be with-
out a passport. Refusing to give his name and occupation, he
was treated according to Russian law as a vagabond, and handed
over to justice. Despite all admonitions from the President of
the Court he remained dumb, and although nothing else was
brought against him but that he had no passport and would
not speak, the Court was compelled to banish him to Eastern
Siberia. In silence and deep calm he heard his sentence. Not
a muscle moved in his face. ^ Remove the prisoner,' cried the
President. The sectary, maintaining continuously his expres-
sion of tranquillity and indifference, bowed himself to the judge
and followed the warder."
Sometimes these "dumb" are found in large groups, but
they mostly lead an isolated life in the remotest forests or on
the distant steppes.
Still further advanced on the road of fanaticism are the
Prugoni (Dancers) and Chlisti (Flagellators) . The former
believe in the descent of the Holy Spirit upon man, which only
takes place as far as the majority are concerned during their
religious assemblies, when by the exercise of dancing and
prayer a sufficient degree of ecstasy has been induced. Still,
there are two or three persons in each group who are believed
to be continuously inspired. One great point in the doctrine of
the founder of this sect was that the end of the world was at
hand, so that all who would be saved must purify themselves by
repentance, confession, ascetism, and the religious exercises
above mentioned.
But it is among the Chlisti that this kind of fanaticism
attains its most interesting development. A peasant named
Danilo Filipovitch, an unusually j)ious man, of the province of
Kostroma, gave the initial impulse to this sect. For many
Older Russian Sects. 211
years he occupied a cave near the river Volga, and busied him-
self in prayer and reading holy books. But finally he stuffed
all his books into a sack and threw it in the stream, declaring
that " revelations come from the living God alone." This
Danilo Filipovitch is said to have received the *^ indwelling of
the Lord of Hosts " at a public meeting, while surrounded by
his followers. Now his adherents are found in all parts of the
empire, in the larger towns and many of the provinces. They
call themselves " Christi," or Christs, for reasons that will be
seen below, but the Orthodox call them in parody " Chlisti,'^ or
Flagellators, because this forms part of their religious
exercise.
The distinctive doctrine of this sect is that the Godhead
dwells, either latent or active, in every man. In fact, man,
made in the image of God, is the only being we can see or
imagine. This is, of course, closely connected with the Biblical
account of the Divine Incarnation in Jesus Christ. According
to the Chlisti Jesus was just a man like ourselves, but by His
self-sacrifice and holiness He gave scope in His life for the in-
dwelling and actualisation of the innate Deity and became God.
This development is possible for every one. " Every man can
become a Christ, and every woman a Holy Virgin." It simply
depends on the quality and degree of our faith, our self-denial,
and consequent spiritual ecstas}'. When through hysteric
leaping and dancing the ecstasy reaches its height, the Holy
Spirit descends on men and transforms them into God-men.
The practical instructions given by Filipovitch to his disciples
were of the following kind : —
" Young men, drink no intoxicants, neither marry.
Married men, live with your wives as with sisters.
Avoid all unri^jhteousness, live in peace with each other.
Carefully conceal your tenets and do not betray them even under the
knout, fire, or axe."
It is a natural consequence of the doctrine of the indwelling
of God in man that these sectaries highly value the worth of
manhood, elevating the Divine in it to an object of worship.
At their radjenije, or meetings, which are always held at night
so as to escape the notice of the police, their leaders, both men
212 Older Russian Sects.
and women — for the different sexes are on a perfect equality —
sit in the midst. The other sectaries, with a view to Divine
revelations, betake themselves to such bodily and spiritual
exercises, e.g., prayer and dancing, leaping, &c., as will induce
the desired ecstasy.
The close connection between this kind of religious orgy and
the excitation of the sexual instincts has frequently brought
it about that these nocturnal assemblies terminated with a
svalni grech, or unrestrained promiscuous intercourse. Although
one cannot place implicit confidence in official gazettes nor in
the communications of Chlisti reconverted to the Orthodox
Church, there remains little doubt that these excesses have not
only taken place in the past, but also occur at times in the
present day. The seeming contradiction between this and
their tenets as described above is sometimes explained by the
assertion that what takes place under *' inspiration " is quite
different in kind from ordinary marriage. Of course the real
explanation rests upon obvious physiological facts.
A Chlist who reverted to the Orthodox Church has given a
description of his initiation to the authorities. According to
him the Chlisti inculcate a life in accordance with God's law,
plain feeding, avoidance of all marriage or other feasts, total
abstinence, celibacy and prayer, and practical godliness. As
he was a seeker after truth and his soul's salvation, he applied
to be admitted to this sect. The leader explained to him how
he must live, held a long conversation with him, and read
prayers and the Gospel on his behalf. Satisfied with his
sincerity he consented to his admission, and appointed a day
for the ceremony. On the appointed day he was placed under
the care of a young girl, who acted as his godmother. Clad
in white robes, with a burning candle in his hand, he was led
by her into the room where the members were gathered in a
circle, each holding a lighted candle. Following her example
he bowed low before the assembly, whereon all stood up.
Approaching the leader the young girl bowed three times, and
said, pointing to the neophyte, " This slave of God seeks to
save his soul."
The leader thereupon addressed a long discourse to him, and
Older Russian Sects. 213
administered an oath that he would live according to the rules
of the denomination, devote himself body and soul to God and
holy things, and keep as a close secret all that he should see
and hear.
When the oath had been taken, the prayers and ceremonies
began. All commenced to spin round with giddying speed. At
first each one twirled round with increasing rapidity on the
heel of the right foot ; then the company ranged themselves
along the Avails and ran barefoot after each other in a circle,
stopped, danced, flogged each other, and made all kinds of
contortions, uttering an inconceivable outcry.
In the midst of the din could be distinguished these cries
above the rest : " God ! O King ! Saviour ! Spirit ! Spirit !
O " The long white robes of the sectaries over their
otherwise naked bodies, their pale faces, the wild outcry in the
semi-darkness — all made a weird scene that struck the new-
comer with terror.
The dance ended with a perfect orgy ; men and women both
stripped off their garments, threw themselves on the ground,
went on all fours, leaped on one another, and abandoned all
restraint.
These excesses are, as has been said, the exact result one
would expect from the conditions. It is evident, however,
that here, too, as in the case of the simulated marriage by rape
among the Be<juni, we have a survival of ancient customs. As
Dr. Dale once remarked, it is a mistake to speak of the
conversion of Europe to Christianity. Individuals have been
converted, but with the nations it is simply a case of a
Christian veneer being applied by State authority, and genuine
heathenism survives in much of our " Western civilisation."
So among these people, who are not of Indo-European i-ace,
the customs described above are remnants of an older phallic
worship ; there are many proofs of this in other practices of
theirs, which could be adduced if it were our present purpose
to enter at length into this branch of the subject.
The Skoptsi hold the same faith and practise the same
ceremonies as the Chlisti, but are far more thoroughgoing in
their measures to subdue the flesh. Believing that the only
214 Older Russian Sects.
way to give scope to the indwelling- Deity is to thoroughly subdue
the flesh, and that the only way of accomplishing that is by
" cutting it off," they submit themselves to emasculation. The
psychical process which leads them to this is illustrated in the
case of the peasant Brumin, who told his story before the
judges. Asked how he came to undergo the operation, he told
how he begaa with an aversion to flesh meat, and lived solitary
in fasting and prayer. Strange visions troubled him by night
and day, angels and demons fighting for the possession of his
soul. He wanted to enter a monastery, but his parents were
opposed to it. Thoroughly preoccupied with the thought of
saving his soul, he dreamed only of religious sacrifices and pious
works. One day he met in the forest a wandering monk, who
asked him to put him on the highway. As they went Brumin
conversed with the monk about his spiritual needs and visions.
The latter listened attentively and said, " If you will save your
soul, you must kill the flesh." Brumin was quite ready to
make an end of that flesh which stood in the way of his
salvation. The monk then performed the operation on the
spot and disappeared, leaving the peasant senseless, and
bathed in blood. It was close upon morning when Brumin
returned to consciousness, and dragged himself home with
difficulty. It came out afterwards that this monk had
emasculated more than eighteen persons, children among the
number.
To avoid the observation of the police, these operations are
performed in as out-of-the-way places as possible. Men,
women, and children alike submit themselves to it; the
contagious enthusiasm being sufliciently powerful to overcome
the natural terror. The method used formerly to be by burning
with red-hot iron ; cutting instruments are now for the most
part used, and it may be imagined that, with the rough instru-
ments at their command and the not too careful handling, loss
of life is not unknown.
There is among the Skoptsi the same rapid spinning and
dancing as with the Chlisti, and the survival of the worship of
the generative force of Nature personified is even more marked.
The account of some of their ceremonies in connection with
Older Russian Sects. 215
the so-called " Communion " reads more like a description of
Astarte worship than anything Christian.
Yet the members of both these sects whom I have met in
Samara and other parts of Russia were distinguished from the
surrounding Orthodox peasantry simply by their decent and
intelligent appearance, and all with whom I conversed about
them gave unanimous testimony that they were inoffensive,
sober, and altogether exemplary in their behaviour to their
fellow men.
One of my friends told me that he had a discussion with one
of the leading SJioptsij and attempted to refute their doctrine
by referring to the command to "multiply and fill the earth."
He replied, " Do you really believe that it is to fulfil that
command that men and women live together ? Is it, moreover,
your candid conviction that it can be your duty to bring any
more human beings into this world to suffer all this misery we
see about us — to perish both body and soul ? "
In later times, with the growth of the more rational inclina-
tions before referred to, many of these people have abandoned
the doctrine of outward emasculation, and inculcate in its
place the slaying of the flesh by spiritual weapons and complete
abstinence from all sexual intercourse. They are known as
" spiritual Sliojjtsi."
The profound pessimism which characterises all these sects,
and is the natural result of the miserable conditions of life
from which they see no escape, finds its logical outcome in the
extreme teaching of the Samoistrehitjeli, or self -destroyers.
The vast forest tracts of the upper Volga have been the
theatre of the most tragic dramas. Two centuries ago, more
than ten thousand of these raskolnikij hunted and persecuted
like wild beasts, sought to escape the tyranny of the " Anti-
christ Tsar," and enter the glories of the heavenly kingdom by
martyrdom through the "baptism of fire." In many places,
the spots are shown where these holocausts took place, and
are visited in secret by troops of raskohiiki pilgrims. No one who
knows anything at all of what the Russian peasants general!}-,
and the sectaries in particular, have to undergo, can wonder
that self-destruction has become the special tenet of a sect.
216 Older Russian Sects.
whose preachers proclaim tliat the world is hopelessly cor-
rupt and is on the point of perishing- entirely ; one must,
therefore, escape from this life of lies and sin ; one must
die.
Their songs are characterised by a hopeless despair, a
burning hatred of life.
There's no salvation in this world, nay, none at all !
. Here flattery rules, false flattery, o'er all, alone.
Death, and death only, can to us salvation bring :
There is no God in this dai'k world, none can be found;
Folly and lies alone, whose tale no limit hath.
The Russian newspapers have, in late years, contained grim
descriptions of the manner in which the sectaries carry out the
dictates of their faith. Unreliable as these papers are in all
matters concerning these " heretics," we know from other
sources that in this case they base their descriptions ujion
facts. Here is an extract : —
'^ The proselyte signifies his wish to die. He is brought to
an empty izba, into which the leader accompanies him, and
reads prayers. After a time, the door opens, and " Symbol of
Bloody Death " enters ; it is a tall, powerlully-builfc man,
clothed in a red robe. He places a cushion over the head of
the seeker after death, sits on it, and remains there until the
unhappy fanatic is smothered."
The details in this account may not be altogether reliable,
but it is certain that ever since the beginning of this century
the preaching of these singular teachers Las spread through
the region of the Upper Volga, urging the people to escape by
self-destruction the abominable rule of Antichrist. Among
these apostles a certain monk, named Falalei, had a great
reputation. In his forest home he devoted himself to prayer,
reading holy books and discussing religion with his visitors.
It was impossible, he said, to live a true and holy life in this
world of lies and sin ; the only escape was suicide ; one must
die for Christ.
Many followers adopted this teaching. One night eight}'
persons gathered in an underground resort, specially prepared
for this purpose, by the river Perevosinka. Great quantities
Oldeu Russian Sects. 217
of straw and pitch had been stored there, that they might
perish in the flames rather than fall into the hands of the
jjolice, if the alarm were given.
The proceedings began with prayer and fasting. For-
tunately, a woman, who was not altogether sound on this
matter of suicide, took advantage of the darkness to escape,
and told the authorities what was going on. The villagers
made for the place, but the sentinel, posted at the mouth of
the cave, gave the alarm, "Antichrist comes ! Save yourselves."
*^ We will never fall into the enemy's hands alive," shrieked
the fanatics, setting fire to the straw. The peasants and the
police tried to extinguish the flames, and to snatch the brands
from the suicides. They resisted, flung themselves into the
fire, and slaughtered each other with axes, crying, "We die
for Christ ! " Some were saved, and the leaders either im-
prisoned or banished. But this gave no check to the spread
of the doctrine. One of the prisoners, Sukhov, a peasant,
escaped, and continued his preaching with such success, that
in one village thirty-five people slaughtered each other, going
from house to house, until only one was left, who fell by his
own hand. The details were given by a woman who was the
unwilling witness of the massacre, and called the police — but
too late.
Belonging to the same general stock, but with an altogether
rationalistic development, are the Nje Nashi, or Agnostics, a
most interesting sect of more recent origin. They live a
wandering life, and refuse all connection with the authorities
of Church and State, as do the EasJcoIniki generally, but they
go a step farther, and deny all religion as well. Vasili
Shyshkov, of Saratov, now banished to Siberia, is considered
their founder. He belonged to one sect after another, but
found no peace for his spirit. Then he severed his connection
with all communities, and began to study the sacred writings
on his own account, to find the way to God. But, instead, he
discovered all sorts of contradictions in the Bible, and after
much inward struggle rejected everything, Bible, God, religion,
and the life to come. There was no influence of "the exact
sciences" in all this. To the question, "How was the world
218 Older Russian Sects.
created ? " his answer was, " It has not been created ; it has
existed from all eternity."
The examination of one of these Deniers or Agnostics, a
peasant trader, named Chichkin, before a magistrate will give
a good idea of their attitude.
"Who are yon? " asked the judge.
" Don't you see that I am a man ? Are you blind ? "
" What is your religion ? " — " I have none."
" What God do you believe in ? "
" I don't believe in any God at all. God belongs to you.
You discovered Him. I don't want Him."
^' Do you kneel to the devil, then, and pray to him ? " said
the judge, with irritation.
" I kneel neither to God nor devil, because I have no need of
either. The devil is your discovery. God and the devil, with
Tsars, priests, and officials, are your affair. You are all
children of the same father ; I don't belong to you, and I
won't have anything to do with you."
These people naturally reject all ownership as now under-
stood. Their mode of " exchange " is exceedingly simple. "If
you want anything, and I give it you, take it. When I Avant
something from you, you shall give it me in return." Chichkin
would have given meat, clothes, mone}' — anything whatever to
the first comer, to satisfy a real need. But he would not give
a single kopek for tobacco, wine, &c. " I would rather throw
my money into the sea than help you to poison yourself with
tobacco," he would say. If anyone said, " Thank you," to
him, he replied, " Stuff ! you have what you want, you have
eaten ; go away content and happy."
In their efforts to be natural they neither shave nor cut their
hair, and use no spirits or tobacco, so as to preserve bodily
health and the force and beauty of the spirit. They dream of
a life in which every one works for himself, satisfies his needs
out of the earth's produce, makes what goods he wants, and
avoids all superfluity. They are perfectly willing to help their
neighbours, but altogether refuse to be compelled to work.
When Chichkin was in prison he was shaved, and according to
the rules, he should then have begun to work, but he wouldn't.
Older Russian Sects. 219
" You have brought me here by force ; T didn't ask you to put
me in prison," he said. "You must therefore feed me and
work for me. Let me g;o, and I shall work for myself and
never trouble you for aid." Though they beat him unmerci-
fully, fastened him to a wheelbarrow, shut him in a solitary
cell, gave him bread and water only — he was unmoved.
Women have complete equality with men, and their only
union is that of free love. As a protest ai^ainst the present
form of marriage they have given up the terms man and wife,
and say simply " friend." This is illustrated by the extract
from a trial, where a man, a woman, and a little girl were before
the magistrate.
" Is that your wife ? " said the judge. " No ; that is not my
wife."
" But you live with her? " " Yes ; but she is not mitie, she
belongs to herself."
" Is that your husband ? " he asked the woman. " Xo ; that
is not my husband," she said.
" What is he, then '? " asked the astonished judge. " I need
him, and he needs me; that is all. But we belong each to
ourselves."
"What of the girl, does she belong to you ? " " Xo, she is
of our blood, but she is not ours ; she belongs to herself."
'•' What fools you are ! " exclaimed the judge, impatiently.
" Does that coat you are wearing belong to you?" "No; it
does not belong to me."
"What do you wear it for, then ? " "I wear it so long as
you don't take it from me. This skin was once on a sheep's
back, now it is on mine ; to-morrow it may, perhaps, be onj'ours.
Why do you want me to know to whom it belongs? Nothing
belongs to me except my thoughts, my understanding, etc."
Pessimists and agnostics as they are, they yet have an ideal
which they believe will be realised in the distant future. A
last judgment shall come on the earth, a terrible struggle
between the evil and the good, a kind of Battle of Armageddon,
in which the good will triumph, and a kingdom founded on
truth and justice will be established on the earth.
There is verv little connected knowledge of this strange sect.
220 Older Russian Sects.
since they naturally have no definite organisation or creed.
They are found one here and one there, and always refuse to
give any account whatever of themselves or their antecedents.
This is illustrated by the account of an official who visited the
prisons. After describing his experience with one of these folk,
he goes on to say : —
** I came across another original of the same kind and sect, in
prison also. In the prison rolls he had been described as
Tchnochruistov, but no one knew his real name, or where he
came from. I met him in a Siberian prison, where there were
confined more than eight hundred prisoners.
" This man was of a milder and more communicative tempera-
ment than the former, so it was easier to get into conversation
with him. He rejected God and all religion, chiefly because of
the absence of all palpable or visible proof of God's presence or
utility. He pointed out the contradiction between real life and
religious teaching.
*' * The priest tells you that God is good and just, and that not
a hair of a man's head falls without God's will. That sounds
beautiful. In this prison there are eight hundred of us at pre-
sent, and we shall all go to penal servitude. At least fifty of
these are entirely innocent. I know that from reliable sources,
and many are banished just because of their faith in God and
sincere piety. They are therefore unjustly condemned. I say
nothing about myself ; I don't belong to your lot, and your
God has nothing to do with me. But why does He not protect
and defend the innocent ? They trust in Him, you know, and
worship Him. Some of them pray all night and bow their
heads to the ground while they cry to Him from on their
knees ; but all the same they are flogged and sent to the mines.
How do you explain that ? '
" This sectary recognised no authority. ' What do we want
with them P ' he asked. ' What use have the people for
government by all these tchinovniks ? How can one single
person look after the needs of a hundred million men ? No ;
Government is not for the people's benefit, but, as is clear to-
day, the people are for the Government's benefit. But all that
is no affair of mine.'
Older Eussian Sects. 221
" After a few moments he went on, ^ Suppose we take you as
an example. You are not a bad sort of man, so far as I can
see. You are, besides, verj intelligent. Now then ! Can you
conscientiously say, with your hand on your heart, that you
fully discharge your duty to every one "? Can you keep an eye
on everybody ? Yet your duties are not extraordinarily exten-
sive. How, then, can you manage that a Government shall
know everything, control everything, keep watch over every-
thing ? The result is general disorder, general lying ? — what
the devil do you want with a Government then ? '
" ' But one can't get along without authorities. Disorder,
crime, and theft would ensue. The strongest would always get
his way, and lord it over everybody. Suppose that I fancied
your waistcoat. I am stronger than you, and simply take it
from you. What will you do with me 9 "
"What will I do with you? The waistcoat cost three
roubles, and to get it back I spend ten. I ask you if that is
worth while ? Moreover, to protect my waistcoat I have to
pay you, inspector, and maintain police, warders, judges. The
waistcoat is truly not worth all that.'
" " How would you arrange life, then ? '
" * In the first place, I shouldn't arrange life at all. I am by
myself, I need nothing. That is all. As for the rest, if you
are strong and will do me an injury, there are twenty others as
weak as I, and we will handle you in such a fashion that you
won't want to do an injury to any one else.'
" ' There would be endless quarrels.'
" ' Don't you worry ! We shall get on very well without you,'
said the man, positively.
" His ideas on patriotism were cosmopolitan.
" ' For 3'ou,' he said, * there are Russians, Germans, Tartars.
For me there are only men and brothers. The only difference
is that they speak a different language from mine. As for you
others, you quarrel continually, you carry on war, you never
have elbow-room enough. In my way of thinking there is
enough land, water, and air for all. Give men freedom, leave
them in peace, and there will be no more strife.'
"He was a mild and peaceable man, inoffensive in his conduct
222 Older Russian Sects.
to his fellow-men. fte never quarrelled nor did any one a bad
turn; on the contrary, lie came to everyone's assistance if there
were need, and while they regarded him as crazy, every one
loved him.
^' But his dislike to authority changed him into an altogether
different man. He never lost an opportunity of showing them
his contempt and protesting against their power. One day the
governor of the place, a tyrannical kind of man, visited the
prison. He inspected everything, and put the usual questions
to the prisoners about their needs and desires. All stood cap
in hand before him, except the sectary, who looked round him
unconcernedly with his hat on. This conduct attracted the
governor's notice.
" ' Who's that felloAv that doesn't take off his hat ? Take off
your hat,' said he to the prisoner.
" ' The hat's yours, not mine. If you want it, you have only
to take it off me,' said the man, composedly.
" ' How dare you ? ' roared the governor.
" ' Instead of yelling like that you had better inquire into
the cause of the prisoners' wretched lot,' said the sectary,
quietly.
" ' Handcuff him ! Flog him ! ' shrieked the governor, beside
himself with rage.
" They seized the unhappy man and took him away. He was
flogged so severely that the inspector found him the next day in
hospital, unconscious. He was there a long while, but owing
to his powerful constitution he recovered. Asked what made
him behave like that to the governor, he replied, ' I had to.'
" Soon after he was transferred to another prison, and only
vague rumours were heard of him. The whip, instead of
subduing, only hardened and irritated him. He displayed an
unheard-of force of character, and underwent terrible experi-
ences. He was flogged and lashed times without number,
deprived of food, confined for a whole year in a dark and damp
cell. He bore all without giving way or renouncing his
opinions. After a terrible scourging in one of the Siberian
prisons, he was taken by force to the convict mines. All the
time he was driven forward by a cudgel, but when he got to the
Older Russian Sects. 223
place he lay on the ground, and the fiercest blows could not
make him get up. The time came to return to the prison ; the
military guard had to carry him in a wheel-barrow, as if he
were celebrating a triumph, to the huge delight of all the
prisoners. One way or another he always had the best of it."
It should be mentioned that there are some ^7^ Nashi who
do believe in a God, but utterly den}- the Orthodox God. In
this they will probablj^ have the sympathy of many. To reject
the caricature of the All Father that is frequently put forward
by those who arrogate to themselves the name of "Orthodox "
is not to deny God, but the devil. But the care with which these
Nje Nashi conceal their views makes it extremely difficult to
discover what they do believe.
*£lCALlF0^1ii>
CHAPTER Xy.
LATER SECTS.
Close Connection between Social Conditions and Religious Development —
The Upper Classes and the People — The Schalaputi — Religious Tenets
— Comiuunisni — Conscit'nce the Sole Lawgiver — Molohhani and Dit-
kholortsi — The Stundists ; their Origin — Letter from a Persecuted
Adherent — Testimonies to the Moral Life of Stundists— The Missionary
Gatherinor in St. P-itersbur^ — Bishop Nikanor — Outrages in Kiev —
Prince Khilkov's Letters — General Ustimovitch's Protest — Character
Sketches — Ivan Tchaika — Ustim Dolgolenko — Panass Pantilimonovitch
Tolupa.
When writing of the older sects, such as the Nje Nashi,
Skoptsi, and Samoistrehitjeli, we had occasion to remark on
the close connection between the social, economic, and
governmental conditions of Russia, and the rise and develop-
ment of these persecuted religionists. The student of Russian
Nonconformity will find that this inter-relation holds good
with regard to the later sects also ; this is made abundantly
clear by the great authorities such as Prugavin, Alvamov,
Livanov, and others, who have written on the sectarian
movement with painstaking research and great insight, and
whose pages we have largely consulted, both to correct
personal impressions and to study their history. On the one
hand is the emptiness and artificiality of upper-class life, with
all kinds of unnatural stimulants and consequent weariness
and ennui, and on the other, the crying inequality, oppression,
and injustice, with their consequent degradation, endured by
the masses. These are clearly mirrored in the various phases
of Russian sectarianism to-day, each of which is, in its way,
an attempt to remedy the evils of human life.
Among the devotees drawn from the upper classes, whether
belonging to the older and more or less fanatical *' Flagel-
lators" and "Mutilators" (many aristocratic persons are
known to have joined these), or to the modern "Paschko-
228 Later Sects.
vites," there is mostly a strong emotionalism and earnest
endeavour to save the individual soul from the evils of this
world and that to come. The popular sectaries, on the other
hand, while by no means neglecting the purely spiritual
aspirations, are usually 'earnestly trying to remedy the social
evils of this life, ^.e., to inculcate and realise in all present
human relations the fundamental principle of practical
Christianity, brotherly love.
That is, among the upper classes there is weariness and
pes simism with regard to this present life, while among the
popular sectarians, spite of all the oppression and misery that
they suffer, there is undying hope and belief in the final
triumph of righteousness and love here below, and earnest
endeavours to fulfil the daily prayer — Thy kingdom come on
earth as it is in heaven. This is true of both the older and
later sects as regards the endeavours of brotherly love and
helpfulness, as it was of the earliest Christians ; the Old
Believers at one time established prosperous colonies in the
most inhospitable wilds of the North, and others have been
formed in Eastern parts of the Empire by the Molohhans, &c.
It is true that in treating of the more fanatical sects we have
laid stress on a certain pessimistic hopelessness with regard
to this world, but it must be remembered both that many of
the adherents of these extremists were drawn from the
upper classes, and that, in point of numbers, thay do not
compare with the more moderate sectaries. Among many
divisions of Russian Nonconformity of the present day there
is not simply the practical brotherly helpfuhiess shown
to individuals, but also a strong faith in the efl&cacy of
righteous social relations to bring true happiness of life here
on earth.
Perhaps it is among the Schalaputi, or "spiritual Chris-
tians," as they call themselves, that this brotherly love has
found the most thoroughgoing expression in the relations of
everyday life. The origin of the name of this sect, which with
so many others sprang up about half-a-century ago, is not
known. Eaving its birthplace in the province of Tamboff, it
has, under different names and with changing theological
Later Sects. 229
views, developed and spread very rapidly over the middle and
southern provinces, especially in Caucasia, where its adherents
are most numerous.
At first it seems to have resembled in its views the Chlisti
and allied sects, but in later years it has abandoned the more
negative tenets, such as abstinence from sexual intercourse,
&c., for more positive and practical Christianity. A peasant
named Avvakum Ivanovitch Kopylov, of Tamboff, was the
principal representative of the former tendency ; another
peasant, Perfil Petrovitch Katasonov, of the same govern-
ment, was the leader of the latter.
It is impossible to sketch a system of their doctrines,
because they cannot be said to have any, from the nature
of their primary beliefs. Their chief source of religious
•knowledge and teaching is the " inner man," i.e., the mind
and conscience. They attach great value to the books of
the Old and New Testaments, but do not believe in their
literal inspiration. Miracles, the creation of the world, the
Orthodox doctrine of the Trinity, &c., they do not accept
literally, saying, " These are invented by the priests."
"They are for the priests," &c. A logical consequence of
ihese beliefs is unrestrained freedom of interpretation of
the Bible, which naturally leads to great variety of individual
opinion, preventing the adoption as a body of any scheme of
doctrine. They are at one, however, in these fundamental
principles and in the rejection of the Orthodox Church with
its priesthood, etl-on- worship, and ceremonies. Their meetings
are held in private houses, or in secluded spots on the steppes,
or within the forests, and consist of singing, prayer, reading
from the Bible or other sacred book, and "conversation."
There is no clerical caste.
But that which binds them together is not theory but
practice. " All men are brothers," is the central doctrine on
which their outer life is built. It is heard most frequently in
their '^ conversations," and from it the duties of life are
deduced.
The first duty of all is to work. It is immoral and sinful to eat
the fruits of other people's labour, when able to work for oneself.
230 Later Sects.
Hence all other means of getting a living are rejected. To lend
out money on interest, to receive a salary for fulfilling social
duties, or to trade for gain is wrong. None of these occupa-
tions are found among them ; all labour for the most part at
agricultural work. They are very industrious, and set a notable
example to the surrounding Orthodox population in all respects.
In selling their products they never take advantage of com-
petitive conditions to secure the highest possible price, but charge
what, in their opinion, they are really worth.
They both own and cultivate their land in common. Their
houses are also common property, and are mostly built in
groups of five or six, with no fences between. Sometimes-
two or more families form one household, so that they have
associated homes in the fullest sense.
All the produce of the land they divide into four parts : one is
reserved for seed ; a second is stored up to guard against famine ;:
a third is for home consumption ; and the fourth for sale. The
income of the community is distributed accordingto the wants of
each family ; all are expected to work, and all are amply provided
for. Besides looking after those within their community, they
give as much help as possible to those outside — " because all
men are brothers." If they lend out money, they receive no
interest, and they never sue any one for debt nor for wrong-
done. In fact they carry out in practice the motto often heard
upon the lips of would-be socialists in England — "From each
according to ability, to each according to need."
When differences arise between them, they are settled'
by the community in the common meeting. No docu-
ments are kept and no rules followed. " Conscience " is the-
sole arbiter, and so strong is the collective conscience that all
abide by its decision. These meetings, where all matters of
common interest are discussed and decided, have a strong
" family " character, and mostly end with a common social
meal.
There are, besides, "meetings of the fathers"; that is, of
the most prominent members of the different communities,,
which are united in an association. Here are discussed matters-
affecting the entire body, such as the needs of weaker communi-
Later Sects. 231
ties, the aid of persecuted families, establishment of colonies,
and so forth.
The 8chalaputi have the distinguished honour of being
branded by the authorities as " a very dangerous sect," and
have suffered severe persecution. Yet they have many
thriving communities scattered about the empire, and chiefly in
Northern Caucasia, w^hile there are great numbers of adherents
in other places who are prevented from organising themselves
into communities, but practise their principles of "brotherly
love " as individuals.
The follovrers of the celebrated peasant SuttajefB, whose
tenets so much resemble those of Tolstoi, also lead as far as
possible a communistic life, and other sectaries of different
names are Christian Socialists.
We have already described a meeting of the Molohhani (p. 79).
The literal meaning of this term is *' milk eaters," because
they consume milk in Lent. They are, in fact, an evangelical
sect who reject ecclesiastical authority and ceremonials, and
apply their common - sense to religious matters. The
DuJi-hohortsi, or " Spiritual Fighters," are another division of
Evangelicals. Like most others, they are firmly opposed to
all militarism and the use of violence, and are of much higher
character than the Orthodox generally. They are at present
suffering great persecution in some parts.
The Stu7idists, of whom much has been said and written of
late, form one of the most prominent and influential Eussian
sects of the present day. The name of this sect, as is well
known to many, is derived from the German word Stunde, an
hour, because it received its principal impetus from German
pietists who had settled in Southern Eussia, and were in the
habit of meeting for " an hour " of prayer, singing, reading and
meditation on the Gospel.
A Eussian peasant named Eatuschni, who had worked for
these people, became converted at one of their meetings, and
began to preach the " Stunda " among his countrymen, and
quickly gained a large following. This was in 1864. Since
then the denomination has spread very rapidly, especially in
Southern Eussia, so that at the present time its adherents may
232 Later Sects.
be numbered bj bundreds of thousands. As a body the Stun-
dists bave no fixed creed^ but bold wbat are usually known as
tbe evangelical doctrines common to Protestants in Western
Europe.
A large proportion bold Baptist views with regard to tbat
sacrament ; tbe large majority adopt tbe Quaker's attitude to
military service and swearing, and all are mucb less formal-
istic and dogmatic tban most Western Protestants. Tbey lay
tbe greatest empbasis on tbe practical side of Cbristianity.
Tbeir services resemble tbose of tbe early Cbristians, and tbey
maintain no special clergy ; " elders " are appointed instead.
Tbey do, bowever, sometimes support missionaries .
Tbe Stundists also bave in many cases formed tbemselves
into communities for tbe purpose of putting into practice more
tborougbly tbe principle of Christian brotherhood , but tbey
retain the institution of private property.
They bave been and are still persecuted by tbe Kussian
Government in tbe most barbarous manner, on the flimsiest
and most absurd pretexts, such as ^' favouring the German
Emperor," "being Socialists," &.c. They are at present
'^deprived of all rights," and treated accordingly.
To give some idea of tbe way in which these inoffensive
Christians are treated both by the authorities and tbe Orthodox
mob, we give some letters and documents out of a pile in our
possession tbat would in itself make a complete volume.
Mention has already been made of a letter from a Stundist
peasant which Count Tolstoi read to me (p. 63) . Here it is : —
'^ . . . You wish to bear from me, and I will now briefly
tell you some of my last experiences. A few miles from tbe
city of Kursk lives a brother in Christ who owns a small
piece of land. We wished to live together, and I therefore
moved to him, and got part of bis land, about four acres ; on
this I sowed different kinds of corn, which soon began to grow
and ripen. We wished, as I said, to live together, and now
rejoiced over God's blessing on our labour ; but then a storm
broke over our beads.
" On July loth we began very early to cut tbe corn. After
breakfast my brother went to tbe bouse, and I began to sharpen
Later Sects. 233
the scythe. As I was doing this a constable came up to me
and roared out, ^ Stop that ! ' took mj scythe from me, and
brought me to the police-station. Arrived there he called
out, ' Where is the police ? ' After a time the chief of the
police came in.
" * Here is the Apostle Mozdza,' the constable said to him.
" The chief of the police then began to shower on me the
coarsest insults for being barefooted and with nothing on
my head. *' What are you loafing about here for, you damned
lazy loon ? '
"^I am not lazj'-,' I replied. '^ I always work when I am
able.'
" ' You scoundrel, you are without boots and a hat.'
" 'It is hot, and I perspire when I work.'
^'^ An orderly worker dresses orderly.'
'' *I have clothes, but was not allowed to put them on before
I was taken from my home.'
" ' Why do you not go to church ? '
" ' I follow Christ and His Word, and do not consider it
either necessary or edifying to go to church. God bids us love
our neighbour as ourselves, yea, even to love our enemies. Do
you do this, Mr. Chief of the Police ? '
'^ The chief of the police replied by drawing his sword and
raising it over my head, roaring out to the constable, ' Beat him
with the knout ! '
'^ I answered with the words of Jesus, ' Blessed are ye when
men persecute you.'
"The chief of the police then bellowed out, 'Thou
Satan's ! '*
" The conversation continued in the same strain. Afterwards
I was left in charge of the people occupying the house . Later
on the chief of the police came back and ordered the constable
to do things that did not belong to his office, and with which
the chief had no business to meddle.
" I was then sent nine miles further, having to walk bare-
footed and bareheaded in the scorching sun. Thanks to God,
however, it soon began to rain, and my sunburnt head was cooled.
* The word here used is to j coarso and blnsphemous to bo translated.
234 Later Sects.
When we arrived at our destination I was again brought to the
police. Here I was asked,
f< ( Why do you not fulfil your duty as a dizaski ? ' *
" ' My father does it in my place.'
" ^ You must do it yourself. If not, I will teach you how.''
" I replied that I could not do it. I was then shut up in
prison togeiher with murderers and other criminals, who were
awaiting their sentence. Among these I found in the dense
crowd amidst dirt and vermin my dear sister in Christ"
(spoken of before). "On the following day we were sent
together to another place in a cold storm — I having still ta
walk with bare head and feet — marching fifteen miles, escorted
by gendarmes. Here I was again brought before the police,
and they said to me,
'* * You must go and do your duty as a dizasH.^
" * I cannot do it.'
"'Why?'
*' * Because I am a Christian. I cannot serve in a way that
compels me to occupy a position as policeman over my
brothers. Christ was the servant of all, and he that desires ta
be a follower of Christ cannot occupy any other position than
that of a servant and a brother among brothers.'
" ' Why, we are all Christians, as many as have the Orthodox
faith.'
" ' I do not know if, and to what extent, you are a Christian.
For my own part my conscience at least tells me what a Chris-
tian ought to be. We are Christians only so far as we follow
after Christ in our lives.'
" ' Do you make the sign of the cross ? '
"'^Isthata proof of Christianity? Christ says that only
those who do His will and keep His commandments are Hi&
true disciples.'
"The chief of the police again commanded me to perform
this ofiicial service, that they were trying to compel me to
fulfil. I refused. Then I was taken to the prison, and did not
know what was going to become of me.
"Now, judge for yourselves if it can be a Christian act on the
* A kind of police service, filled by the peasants in turn.
Later Sects. 235
part of the authorities to treat in such a manner those who with
all their heart desire to follow Christ, loving their neighbours
as they love themselves, and therefore refusing to occupy a
position that would imply a violation of their obedience to
Christ and their love to their fellow-men.
" While I was in this place the chief of the police again
came and commanded me to perform the above-mentioned
service, saying, ' Go and do your duty.*
" I answered, ' I cannot do a public service in which I shall
have to act as a police over my brothers.'
" Then a priest came in, accompanied by other persons,
among whom were some gentlemen. The priest said, 'E-ender
unto Csesar the things that are Cesar's.'
'^ I answered, * This I do; but the things that are God's I
must not render unto Csesar. The body I render unto Csesar,
but the will unto God.'
"The priest asks, ' Are you Eussian? '^"
*'*Iam the Lord's.'
"The priest : * We all belong to the Lord and are Christians,
if we have the true faith.'
" I answered, ' The true faith is to follow Christ and do His
will, and His will is that we should all and each of us love and
treat each other as brothers ; yea, even love our enemies.'
" The Priest : ' Yes, we love our enemies, and we desire to .
make them better in the prisons."
" ' Yes,' I replied, ' in former days the Church used to burn
people to death in order to save them.'
" The Priest : * But we never do that.'
"I: ^No, in the present time they are slowly tormented to
death in prisons, or left to starve to death.'
" Although they loved me, yet they took my work from me,
and reduced me to misery " (referring to his former sufferings)
" and now, when I had found a refuge and got a small piece of
land of my own, I was torn away by violence from my home,
like a common criminal, although I have done no harm."
I have mentioned the placards that I saw in Saratov, vili-
* Eussian in this sen6e is equivalent to " Orthodox.''
236 Later Sects.
f jing the Stundists. For the better understanding of what
follows, it will be well to give more details of these. One of
them consisted of a newspaper extract, reporting the sermon
of an Archbishop, Ambrosius, in which he said : " The
Paschkovites and Stundists destroy the foundations of the
moral life of our people, because they deny the power of the
holy sacraments, they spoil the true believers' efforts for
righteousness and the experiences of their spiritual life. The
Stundists take everything from the true believer, and give him
nothing in return but denunciation and slander against the
Church ; and Paschkov's teaching altogether denies the efficacy
of good works towards salvation, and, in so doing, opens the
door to every possible crime. That this really is the case is
seen in the life of the young among the people, in the increasing
drunkenness, theft, murder, attempts at railroad robberies,
parricide, child murder, &c., which were formerly unheard of."
How unreasonable is this attempt to brand the evangelical
Christians as the cause of the increase of crime may be seen
from the fact that the Eussian press has for twenty years
criticised the life and teaching of the sectarians, and con-
tinually condemned them for schism and rejection of the
Orthodox Church, but never for offences against morality.
Moreover, from the mouths of the Orthodox leaders them-
selves have come the most weighty testimonies to the strictly
moral life of the Nonconformists. In 1891, for example, the
great Orthodox missionary gathering in Moscow reported the
following : —
" We have examined the Stundists from the moral point of
view. They have no fixed creed, but endeavour to build on a
foundation of practical Christian morality. In their outer life
they try earnestly to fulfil the ethical commands. In contrast
to the surrounding people, the Stundists keep Sunday as holy,
drink no intoxicants, smoke no tobacco, use no foul language,
abuse no one_, &c."
Still stronger is the following, from a sermon by an Orthodox
bishop, Nikanor, in the government of Odessa. Taking for
his text Deut. xxviii. 44, " He (the stranger in the land) shall
lend to thee, but not thou to him ; he shall be the head and
Later Sects. 239
thou the tail," he said : **I once travelled through a village, and
as soon as I entered it, I saw a gin-shop. I went in and asked
the keeper if he were Molokhan, Stundist, or Orthodox, and
got the answer that he was Orthodox. Then I asked him who
were his chief customers, his neighbours, the Mennonites, the
sects just uamed, or the Orthodox. ' Mennonites or sec-
tarians ! ' he exclaimed, * I assure your Excellency, that you
could not get them inside a gin-shop for any money. The best
customers I have, certainly, are the Orthodox.'
" I left the place greatly depressed, and thought within
myself the Bible's saying, ' he shall be the head,' is true of
the sectarians and Mennonites, and * thou shalt be the tail,'
of you, beloved Orthodox Christians. As I passed along the
street, I saw a neat house, and went in. The owner received
me very politely, and brought me into a poor but tidy room.
There was no picture" {of a saint) "in the corner, but, instead, I
saw, on a table that was covered with a white cloth, a Bible
and New Testament. I asked the man what faith he professed,
and learnt that he was a MolokJian.
" I could see from his conversation that he was a sober and
orderly man, and, besides, well grounded in the Holy Scriptures.
As I took leave of him I passed the same reflections as on
coming out of the gin-shop. Not far from this I saw another
neat and pleasing-looking house. I went in there also ; the
man was a Stundist, equally friendly, sober, and orderly as the
Mololilian, and even better acquainted with the Bible.
Besides the Bible I saw on his table ' Spiritual Songs and
Psalms.' I had the same thoughts as when I left the
mololchan. As I went further along the street I met a rabble
of drunken fellows, shouting and singing obscene songs in
harsh voices. I knew them for m}^ own sheep, and was
ready to weep. I thought once more of the Lord's word :
* Thou shalt be the tail.' "
Our readers will now be in a position to appreciate the
following extracts from correspondence furnished by a
Stundist lady well known to us, who is compelled herself by
persecution to live outside Russia. The truth of the narra-
tive given does not depend upon one but five different
240 Later Sects.
correspondents, giving names and details of tlie monstrous
outrages perpetrated upon innocent victims in the name of
Orthodoxy.
"September 8th, 1892., — Permit us hereby to inform you
that in the villages of Kapustintsi and Skibentzi, in the
volost of Babenjetskaja, in the district of Skvirskij and the
province of Kiev, all the male members of evangelical or
Stundist households are taken every day by force, according
to the orders of the isjpravnik " (chief of police) '^ and the,
natcholnik" (official next to the Governor) " of the district, to the
public works of the village communities, where they are
forced to work under the guard of gendarmes until quite late.
Then they are again taken out to serve as night watchers, the
women and children being left at home at night. While the
men are thus kept away from their homes by force, the
starosta and starshina " (heads of the town and village) , '^ in
their official capacity, and wearing the badges of authority
on their breasts, get together a band of drunken villains
and break into the homes of the defenceless women and
children, maltreating the latter, and committing the most
heinous outrages on the former, smashing the windows and
destroying everything they come across. In some izlas they
set fire to refuse and rags, and shut the doors on the poor
inmates, thus tormenting them through the whole night. At
sunrise the men are again sent to work at one place, the
women and children at another.
" If any of these Stundists have horses, even they are taken
to the works of the village communities, where they are kept
working all day, and left without food in the night. As a rule,
it is impossible for these unhappy men and women to buy or
sell, or even to prepare food for themselves. In fact, they are
treated worse than if they were criminals sentenced to penal
servitude, and all this they suffer for the sake of the Gospel.
''^When they work or serve as night-watchmen they are
always guarded by soldiers. 'All these sufferings are greater
than we can hear,'' they write ; ^ even all our booJcs are taken from
us. We are oppressed to such a degree that we cannot even make
our cries of distress heard by any.' "
Later Sects.
241
In another letter, written in pencil on a scrap of paper and
handed furtively to a friend for fear of the police, the perse-
cuted victims say : —
" Dear Brethren, — We beg of you warmly and with tears to
take this paper, either you or someone else who can cry out
loud. Maybe someone may hear this cry of distress in this time
of despair. They grasp us at present by the throat, so that we
A TRANSCAUCASIA TOWX.
cannot even call out so as to be heard. ... A terrible
calamity has befallen us."
The report of these atrocious outrages reached Prince
Khilkov in his exile, and he managed to despatch the following
note both to the Governor of the province of Kiev and to the
Minister of Justice in St. Petersburg : —
**Your Excellency, — I hereby enclose two letters which I
have received from peasants in Kiev, who are persecuted
for the sake of the Gospel. I send these letters to your
16
242 Latee Sects.
Excellency for this reason_, that I find it hard to believe that
all these monstrosities that are being perpetrated in these
villages are done in accordance with your order. I cannot
understand how outrages committed by a band of drunkards
upon defenceless women and children, this kerchief-pulling
from the heads of women " (a great outrage in the eyes of
Russians), "^ this filling of izhas with dirty water, &c., can be
measures ofiicially undertaken to put down Stundism in the
government of Kiev. It is disgraceful that such means of
opposing Stundism and bringing back the apostate to the
bosom of the Orthodox Church should be adopted at night and
in drunkenness by the Church's own children. Your Excellency
will doubtless agree with me that the coarsest nocturnal out-
rages on women are hardly the measures calculated to inspire
much respect for the faith of their perpetrators.
" Finally, I appeal to your Excellency to do your utmost to
mitigate the sufPerings of the persecuted Christians in those
regions."
Kiev was by no means the only theatre of these outrages.
Such pamphlets as " The Damned Stundist," the sermons and
speeches of priests and " Orthodox missionaries," and other
means of incitement still more despicable had their natural
result. Prince Khilkov sent the following letter to the Arch-
bishop of Kharkov, dated February 3rd, 1893 : —
" Your High Holiness, — It is pleasant to every man, engaged
in any kind of work, to see the fruits of his labour. Admire
then, your High Holiness, the fruits of your own. The
repeated appeals made by your Holiness and other like-minded
spiritual shepherds, who are described in John x., have
found a ready response in the hearts of the village police in the
province of Kiev. Now rejoice !
'" The placards which by your orders are being nailed to the
church walls, and in which one part of the population is
incited to hate the other ; the pamphlet ' The Damned
Stundist,' which has been circulated by your High Holiness
with so much zeal ; your own and your helpers' sermons
delivered in the churches, have finally accomplished the aim for
which they were written and pronounced (for should one think
Later Sects. 243
they had any other aim, he would deny to you and your accom-
plices the possession of common-sense) .
*' Houses are demolished, windows smashed, furniture and
tools liac ked to pieces, izbas are filled with smoke and water in
order to still more torment their inmates, new zealots of Hlie
sign of the cross ' invent a new and original means of compel-
ling women to cross themselves . . . !
"At the judicial investigation of the matter, the lowest tools
will, no doubt, alone be found guilty, just as in all railroad
accidents the watchmen always are the guilty parties. But
who are they who incite these blind tools?
"In the village of Pavlovka, in the district of Soomi, a police
officer, accompanied by a dean and two priests, belonging to
those parts, rebuked the peasants at a public meeting for
tolerating Stundists among them. ^ In other places of Russia,*
they said, ' such people are torn in pieces,^ probably alluding to
the government of Kiev, and wishing to evoke the same
disorders in their district as have occurred in the volost of
Babinjetzkaja. Is not this to incite — to speak dihoMi ' tearing
to pieces,' the Stundists in their midst, as is done in other
places ?
"Happily the community of Pavlovka, thanks to the awaken-
ing faith in the teachings of Christ, is no longer a suitable
soil for such seed. Otherwise the Orthodox zealots would here,
too, have been able to act in the same spirit as at Kiev.
"If it be denied that the atrocities on i\\e volost of Babinjetz-
kaja have been committed through incitement, the following
question arises : Where, then, were the spiritual shepherds of
the same volost while these lowest * servants of justice ' com-
mitted their barbarities, which continued, not for one or two
days, hut for several months ? Where, then, were the chiefs of
the police ? — these spiritual shepherds and chiefs of police,
whose Argus eyes never overlook anything, not even the boiled
chickens in the peasant's pot during Lent, and whose talons
remove with striking success * this evil ' {i.e., the chicken) from
the peasants' homes.
"These lowest of the blind tools of the police and priests will,
no doubt, be punished, but the instigators ? The hand of the
244 Later Sects.
Minister of Justice does not reacli them ; but so mucli the
more must their own consciences punish them — if they have
any at all.
^'1 beg your High Holiness most earnestly to cease your
incitements. You must see that no good will come of it, nor
can it. Remember that to propagate one's faith is one thing;
the circulation of a pamphlet like * The Damned Stundist ' is
quite another. May the enormities of Babinjetzkaja be the
last ! At least see to it that none may have cause to reproach
you for having had a share in evoking such wicked deeds. I
think that a man may from such fruits unerringly judge of the
tree that produces them."
We are permitted also to give an English translation of a
protest, sent by General Ustimovitch to one of the highest
officials standing near the late Tsar, enclosing a copy of an
open letter sent to him as to other persons of rank concerning
the persecutions.
" Permit me to call your attention to the enclosed open
letter. It is impossible that your High Excellency should not
have been filled with indignation at the atrocities which, in the
name of Orthodoxy, have been perpetrated against the
Stundists in the province of Kiev. If it really be the Tsar's
wish to oppose the spread of Stundism, the felonious deeds
described in the letter can certainly have nothing to do with
the manner of fulfilling that desire. The heart of every
Christian must be full of deepest indignation at all these
fiendish acts, which have been committed against peaceable
Stundists by barbarians who are counted as belonging to the
Orthodox — and this at a time when so large a proportion of
the children of the Church are almost drowned in drunkenness,
sloth, ignorance, and wickedness. It is certainly gratifying
to see how in the neighbourhood of Moscow — though there
only — processions of the cross, with hundreds of thousands of
followers, take place in honour of the purest and most praise-
worthy Saint in Christ, the most holy Sergius, the wonder-
worker and light-bearer. But it is sad to know that the same
Christ, in whose name all saints are worshipped, is in other
parts of Russia altogether forgotten, and even blasphemed and
Later Sects. 245
wickedly abused. It is sufficient to see that even in the cloisters
there are found the most deplorable cases of treason against
Christ and his Gospel on the part of the monks. It is unne-
cessary to speak of the type of the Russian pope, so repugnant
to every true Russian, and so very far removed from the
example of Jesus Christ's true disciples. Nor need I refer to
the general absence of those good and illustrious examples of
Christian piety and wisdom in high and notable circles, which
ought to mark the true progress of civilisation. All this is
more or less known, and also the fact that our theological
seminaries are far from being nurseries in which to train true
shepherds and servants under the sceptre of the loving Christ.
But why increase the evil, which only encourages the masses
and village authorities to commit such outrageous violence
against the most peaceful part of the population ? Such a
system is hardly j^olitically wise, because the oppressed and
tormented, becoming martyrs in their own esteem and the eyes
of those like-minded with them, gain in strength in their
difficult position, which is more likely to increase than to
diminish.
" There can be no doubt whatever that the Tsar knows
nothing of the atrocities described in the enclosed letter. If
they were known to His Majesty, then the methods of the
opposition to the Stundist propaganda would be conceived in
quite a different manner, at least on the part of the local
authorities in those places where the persecutions are going
on."
The following character sketches, talcen from life, will both
illustrate the Stundist character and throw light on many
traits of Russian life. They were written by an Orthodox
Russian .
IVAN TCHAIKA.
Ivan Tchaika was always a very pious peasant. None of
the villagers said prayers or crossed themselves so zealously as
he did; none bought such expensive pictures of saints; none
made so many pilgrimages to Kiev. In his own words, a
spiritual lire burned within him. But in vain he said his
246 Later Sects.
prayers and listened to the singing in tlie cliurch, in vain lie
knelt for hours, bowing his head repeatedly to the damp earth.
He was dissatisfied with himself, for it seemed as if he could
never fulfil his Christian duties, and he felt that his Heavenly
Father was dissatisfied with him too.
While yet a boy an incident occurred that made a deep and
lasting impression upon him. He was acquainted with a
young girl named Paraska, a poor orphan in the service of
a Jewish saloon-keeper in the village. According to
Tchaika's account, though handsome and clever, she was
yet "a little strange." Her look was always pensive, and
her eyes seemed ever filled with tears. She never laughed
loudly like the other village girls, but mildly, with a peculiar
silvery tone in her voice that at a distance would be taken
for sobbing rather than laughter. Often she would start
without a cause, and was always frightened if accosted from
behind. She disliked hard and coarse work, and in the
village was known as " the noble young girl," a reference
to her mother's intimacy with a nobleman.
Late one evening Ivan came to his Paraska. The moon
was shining, and the stars shed a pale twinkling light over
the calm sky. As Ivan approached the Jew's house he heard
Paraska's voice, as if talking with some one in the saloon.
Silently drawing near, he found Paraska kneeling before the
picture of the Holy Virgin, and her voice had in it the ring
of real conversation rather than of prayer. And how she
spoke ! It seemed at first to Tchaika that every hair was
standing on end and his whole body tingled; but soon his
ejes filled with tears as he listened to her sincere confession,
her earnest prayers, her sad voice, and saw that beautiful
figure bathed in the pale light of the moon. The words he
heard remained engraven indelibly upon his heart : '' thou
most Holy Virgin, Mother of God, have mercy, have mercy
on me, poor orphan girl ! Let me not perish, let me not be
ruined! Lord! how shall I live in this world, without
parents, without relatives, without friends? O Mother of
God, see how weak I am ! " Finally she burst out, " Mother
of God ! I am perishing — perishing ! "
Later Sects. 247
Ivan himself broke into sobbing, and ran forward to
Paraska. . . .
Soon after this Paraska began to lead a bad life, and drink
with drunkards in the saloon. But this moonlight night, this
pure and innocent Paraska, who prayed so intensely to the
Holy Virgin, could not be moved from Ivan's memory. Many
a, time afterwards he tried to pray in the same way, but
however he tormented himself it was all no use. " If I could
only pray as she did, if I could only feel as I did when I
heard her pray ! " But his strongest endeavour was in
vain.
But the time was to come when Ivan would renew the
■experience of that memorable evening, and increase it. A
well was opened to him, whence he could at all times draw the
fervour of prayer.
His sister had married a certain Ustim Dolgolenko, and
soon Ivan heard, to his unspeakable horror, that Ustim
and his wife Alona had burnt their holy pictures, and left off
going to the Orthodox Church. Tchaika, who was a staunch
adherent of this Orthodox Church, burning with deep indig-
nation at the conduct of his relatives, set out to bring them
back to the true fold. Alas ! he himself was led astray and
became a Stundist.
This, however, cost him much inward struggle and pain.
Convinced of the truth of the Gospel, the power of which he
had experienced at a Stundist meeting, he threw away his holy
pictures. But night and day the thought that he had done
something terribly wrong tormented him. Several misfortunes
befell his famil}', which added to his torment. He went again
to Ustim, who read to him from the New Testament, exj^lained
the Gospel to him, and sent him home comforted and victorious
out of his struggle. Ivan has now learnt to read himself, and
knows the New Testament almost by heart.
Once a gentleman who knew of his past trials said in jest to
him, "You were frightened at the first difficulties!" Ivan
replied in solemn tone, " Sir, why do you sneer at us ignorant
peasants ? It was hard at first to leave the Church Avith all
dts ceremonies in which I had sincerely believed — but I have
248 Latek Sects.
left it. You gentlemen, who are better than we, why do not
you openly leave institutions and ceremonies in which you do
not believe ? No, it is easier to keep silent. It is no use for
you to come to us with your learning and wisdom. If you
do not come with a warm faith we will not belie c^e in your
sincerity nor accept you."
U8TIM DOLGOLENEO.
Ustim Dolgolenko is a tall, broad-shouldered peasant, with
expressive brown eyes, thick nose, spotted red, and such long*
moustaches as one hardly meets outside of fairy tales. He
talks slightly through his nose. Ustim is the village poet,
comedian, satirist, and singer. He can sing you verses about
"The Pope and His Wife," "The Archbishop and the Nun,"
&c. He is the boldest and coarsest in the village, a gallant
with women, a drinker, in short, a thorough prodigal — the
most noted and strongest fighter, the most skilful mower, the
best workman. He is of pliable disposition, soft-hearted,
frank and honest, humorous, and razor-tongued. Ustim
needs none to put him up to playing a trick on pope, Jculacl; or
village elder, or to set going an anecdote, jest, or nickname
that shall immortalise them in the village and neighbourhood.
If he has money, he asks everyone to drink ; if he has bread he
gives to every one who is hungry. He will give his last rag
to the first beggar that comes, and never refuses to help any
one. Spite of his sharp tongue all the villagers love him. At
festivals and other gatherings stories are told of his escapades,
his sallies, his jokes, and his ditties are sung. The saloon-
keeper makes money out of him. Ustim has already squan-
dered his cow, his horse, his izha in drink. All he has left is
the crop in his field. The land itself he has rented out for two
years to come, and now must work as day labourer.
Such was Ustim Dolgolenko. His two years of service were
spent with the German Colonists, who found him an excellent
workman, and his wife (whom he often beat) a clever and
industrious woman, and gave them good pay. Ustim worked
hard, was sober and abstemious, and returned with a good sum
Later Sects. 249
of money to the village. There he bought a new izba and
returned to his old work — and his old drinking habits.
Ustim had an '' evangelical " neighbour, on whom he
showered all possible scoffing and mockery. He could swear
that at the religious meetings held in the house of this Stundist
he had seen people with pigs' heads, who, nevertheless, howled
ike dogs ; he had seen it and heard it himself. He had also
seen d evils with curling locks like those of the Jewish saloon-
keeper, coming to these meetings with small bags full of golden
grain. Every time he passed the Stundist's house, returning
from the saloon, he would shout, " Hallo, Stundist ! Hallo, the
devil's godfather ! Give me a couple of your golden
grains
I"
One night very late, as Ustim was on his way home with a
bottle of brandy in his hand and a considerable quantity of
spirits in his head, he saw a light in his neighbour's house.
In a twinkling he broke through the door and entered the
izba, which was full of people. They were in the act of
singing a hymn, but on his unceremonious entrance all became
silent.
" Halt ! Silence ! " shouted Ustim, imitating the tones of
a commanding officer. Then he began to sing one of his vulgar
songs, and to dance.
One of the Stundist's sisters, a young woman with a pale face
and great expressive eyes, gazed steadily at Ustim, and then
glanced round the circle of those present. Her body began to
shake as with an ague, her lips quivered, and the muscles of
her face twitched. Suddenly she fell on her knees, all but
Ustim following her example. " O Thou merciful God,"
cried the young woman, *' O Jesus our Saviour, how long
wilt Thou leave us weak without Thy help ? How long shall
we wander as sheep without a shepherd, as fatherless, motherless
children? See, Lord, how we are scattered over the whole
earth ! See how weak and feeble, sinful and guilty we are
before Thee. Lord, uphold us, give us power, make us able
to fulfil Thy holy bidding ; lead us. Saviour, in the narrow way,
and not the broad ! Oh, open our eyes that we may see in
what darkness we are ! Uplift our hearts that wo may love
250 Later Sects.
our neighbours ! Have mercj. Lord, on all sinners who are
here, for we are weak and feeble." She broke down into
sobs ; many of the women wept aloud. Ustim turned pale
and crouched down, but the whole gathering began to sing
in solemn tones, " Come to Jesus as thou art," &c.
Ustim was sobered at once ; he tingled all over, with a
feeling that was at once painful and pleasurable. An
emotion hitherto unknown awoke within him. His heart beat
violently, love and reverence took possession of his entire being.
At that moment a fresh visitor, one of the Stundists, entered
the room, and having saluted all the brethren, approached Ustim
and said, in heartiest, most cordial tone, " Good evening, brother,
peace be with thee also ! " ^^took him in his arms, and kissed
him affectionately.
Ustim trembled; he felt electrified; tears coursed down his
cheeks, and he fell on his knees, crying, '' Dear brothers, dear
sisters, forgive, forgive me ! I did not know — I thought "
Ustim is now one of the most pious and staunchest Stundists.
He leads a sober and rational life ; he has since taught himself
to read, and is considered one of the most gifted preachers.
He has composed music to several hymns. No one sings at
meeting, so beautifully and expressively, no one prays so often
or so freely as Ustim. His wife has regained her health and
happiness ; they live together now like two doves.
PAN ASS PANTILIMONOVITGH TOLUPA.
Panass Pantilimonovitch is a retired officer of the Black Sea
Fleet. He took part in the Crimean War, and received many
medals. His thin, long face looks stiil longer through his
thin, long, dark brown whiskers, that seem as if they were
glued to his meagre cheeks. His eyes are weak and readily water;
he is unusually tall. Every Sunday P. P. regularly dons his
shabby uniform, with a mass of decorations on his arms and
shoulders, hangs all medals possible on his breast, and, leaning
on his plum-tree staff, with proud and stately steps proceeds to
God's temple.
P. P. cannot stand present-day soldiers; lie has contemp-
Later Sects. 251
tuouslj nicknamed them " marmots." "What sort of soldier
is that?" he will vehemently exclaim. "He has scarcely
learnt to hold a rifle in his hand before tliej let him return to
his old woman ! No ; if he had been drubbed as much as I,
he would have known what military service is. True, it was
very strict in our time, and at first it seemed very hard. I very
nearly hanged myself from the yard-arm, through vexation
and fright, but after they had cut me down, kept me in
hospital, and given me some more of the necessary drubbing, I
lost all my rustic foolishness."
The neighbours, who know P. P. as a hot-headed, ambitious
man, often poke fun at him. He gets particularly angry when
anyone jests at his war-medals and suchlike. Then he raves,
shouts, and sometimes spits iu his antagonist's face. Yet all
this does not prevent them from highly respecting a man who
leads a sober life, never takes anything that is not his, makes
boots all winter and tends his kitchen garden all summer, asks
nothing from anyone, lives happily with his wife, goes regularly
to church on Sundays, and reads " Lives of the Saints " at
home, owns a well-stocked library, consisting mostly of such
works as " The Holy Theodora," " Description of Hell," " The
Thirteen Sufferings after Death," &c. How can they help
revering a man who never tells a lie — his tall stories of his
naval exploits not counting as lies — never cheats, and enjoys
such confidence that on saints' days the saloon-keeper hands
over his entire stock of vodka to him without measuring the
amount or counting the money paid ? How can they do other
than honour a man who, even when sitting in a dirty grogshop,
retains the dignity of an admiral, and if anyone misbehaves
commands "Silence! Out with you ! " and order is restored?
What else can they do but respect a man who alwp-ys holds
himself erect before the stanavoj (village police) ; who once
called the elder of the village district " a venal rascal " ; and,
finally, is an intimate friend of Psalmsinger Agathon ?
No one could help loving P. P. ; he was an upright, benevo-
lent man, who never refused to help the needy. He always
stood up to defend the weak against the strong ; he publicly
withstood the kulack and " mir-eater " when he tried to
N
252 Later Sects.
oppress some poor fellow. No bully dared ill-use his wife,
nor cruel parents to maltreat their children in P. P.'s presence.
He had nothing against a moderate amount of corporal punish-
m ent. " One must punish/' he would saj, " but it should be
done with discretion."
P. P. had no land, and this grieved him deeply. " What ! '*
he used to exclaim, " an ignorant peasant, who has never
fought a Turk, never shed his blood for Tsar and country,
owns land and a house, while I, the officer Tolupa, who am
known by the higher authorities, whom the General Kornilov
himself has clapped on the shoulder more than once, who have
been wounded three times — Tolupa must in his old age suffer
want like a beggar, without land, without a home ! "
At first Tolupa was ready to leave everything and walk on
foot to St. Petersburg to present his hard case in person, but
he thought better of it, and determined to treat the matter in
a more common-sense way. "Here in Eussia we have, of
course, holy laws," he would say ; " I must treat this thing
according to law ; then I shall surely gain my just cause." In
general, he had a very deep reverence for law, and his opinions
in this re spect were marked by the most childlike simplicity.
Tolupa took up the matter with great zeal. He wanted not
only to get something for himself, but to unite all homeless
veterans in common effort for their cause. But to convince
the other soldiers in his own and neighbouring villages, he had
to spend six months, and an immense amount of strength,
activity, and speech. Provided at last with a petition signed
by a hundred men, and attested at the village office, and having
ordered a mass for the success of his enterprise, he set out on
foot for the district town, convinced that his cause must be
crowned with success ; all he had to do was to keep to the law.
In town he fell in with a " gin-lawyer " (one of the lowest
kind), who drew up for ten roubles an application to the
authorities of the district. His application was rejected, in
the first place, because it was so badly drafted that it was
impossible to understand what it was about.
Tolupa took a post as doorkeeper for a month or two, till he
earned sufficient to get a better lawyer, who wrote an intelli-
Later Sects. 253
gible application for him. This time the district authorities
discovered that it would not do, because it was not written
according to legal form. Tolupa returned to the village,
continued his work, called his co-applicants together, and
provided himself with a legal application. One cannot give
all the details ; it is enough to say that after two years Tolupa
foiuid that to gain his cause was not so easy.
When he found that he could get no satisfaction out of the
district authorities, he bade farewell to his wife, and set off for
the chief town of the government. At home he was accus-
tomed to a few comforts, tended by the loving care of his wife,
but on this tedious march he was soaked through and through,
slept in the open air, ate dry bread, <lk,c. His constitution,
formerly as strong as iron, though worn, could not withstand
all these privations. He reached the town with great difficult}^,
and had to spend five weeks in hospital. The Governor received
his application, and returned it to the district authorities for
further investigation. . . .
A year later saw P. P. again marching slowly, with a sack
over his shoulders, to the government's chief town. He was
older and more bowed, always restless and excited, both at
work and at rest ever thinking of this one thing. He had had
during this time to suffer many insults, sorrows, and disappoint-
ments, but these did not grieve him as much as the fact that
those who were, in his opinion, appointed to look after the
observance of the law themselves trampled it underfoot.
" They are not servants of the Tsar," he cried, indignantly,
"they defy his will."
When, at last, his case was forwarded to the authorities in
St. Petersburg, P. P. breathed more freely. " Now our cause
is won. It is no longer insignificant officials, who understand
nothing of laws and statutes, but ministers ! " He would have
preferi'ed these ministers to have been military men. "A
soldier," he said, '' is always just, even if strict, and never
flinches from the law." He particularly liked the military men
of the Emperor Nicholas's time. "How is it to-day? Now
they take all kinds of liberties on themselves ! " referring to
the Stundists. " Look at those ignorant peasants, who abjure
254 Later Sects.
the holy Christian faith, and openly worship idols, and they
are tolerated ! In my days they would have come into the
executioner's hands, and, with nostrils slit, have been marched
off to Siberia. But now ? Now there are no laws — everyone
does as he pleases ! "
It must be acknowledged that as time went on his neighbours
visited P. P. less frequently, and many avoided him altogether;
in fact, they were all tired of him. As soon as anyone came
to him, he began narrating all the details of this lawsuit,
taking from his trunk a great pile of papers — copies, reports,
letters, and different resolutions ; if the visitor could read, he
got him to read all through them ; if not, he would do so
himself, spelling his way very slowly, and sometimes muddling
up the words in a very curious manner.
It was a severe blow to the old man when a document from
St. Peter sburg, having passed through all intermediate stages,
finally reached him. It explained that his case could not be
remitted to the Senate, because some of the documents were on
unstamped paper.
" So the stamp is necessary ! Is that what his wise law
requires ? " he exclaimed, excitedly, struck his breast with his
fist, and coughed. "When his wife begged him, with tears in
her eyes, not to trouble about it, he answered, "Why should I
live in this world? But, do you know, I can no longer walk in
the street. J^ot only the stupid peasants, but even the children
point their fingers at me and cry, * Hullo, Pantilimonovitch !
Have you won your lawsuit ? You know the laws ! ' "
He grew calm_, however, when the matter was finally remitted
to the Senate. *' Now, at last, I need not be anxious. It is
not for nothing that the Senate is called holy," mixing up the
Senate with the Synod.
It could hardly be expected that the old man, on losing his
case in the Senate, could stand such a heavy blow, for his life
was centred entirely in this issue, for which he had sacrificed
so much time, strength, activity, and health. But the reverse
happened. When, after two years' waiting, he received the
final adverse resolution, he only grew a trifle pale, and said
simply, with a half-ironical smile, "May God judge them ! "
Later Secth. 25«
The explanation is simple. P. P. had, during the interval,
become changed from a worldly warrior into a soldier of Christ.
The storj of his conversion is very brief. The principal part
was played by a little book — the New Testament. Up to his
68th year, P. P. had never read this, although he could read
fairly well. Once he travelled a few miles by rail from his
village, and at a certain station had to wait a couple of hours.
On the platform he met a man, who seemed a kind of pedlar,
also waiting for the train. P. P. was a companionable and
talkative old fellow, and went up to the stranger, saluted him,
and sat down to a chat. How long they talked I do not know,
but this much is certain, that the pedlar, who was a Bible
colporteur, opened his satchel, took out a New Testament, and
gave it him as a present, having marked a few passages with
pencil.
P. P. began to read it with all the eagerness of youth.
" How could I think myself a Christian without reading this
book ! " he exclaimed, and set about studying the
Gospel with increasing fervour. All his sufferings from
the lawsuit — insults, reproaches from his companions, and
scoffing from others — drove him to seek solitude, in which he
found in his newly-acquired book a never-failing well of conso-
lation. There were many things he did not understand, but he
read, thought, praj^ed, and compared its different parts, and
without having met any Standists arrived at views much like
theirs. His lawsuit on behalf of destitute soldiers had sup-
plied him with many instructive experiences, and trained him
to look at things with a more critical eye; his childish sim-
plicity had received severe blows. P. P. knew, for instance,
before this that the priest Ivan never sealed a coffin (a Russian
custom) before he had got two roubles. He knew, too, that
*' Father " Ivan compelled the peasants to work for him on
Sundays, got dead drunk, and would abuse Agathon, the
psalm-singer, in the coarsest terms. But he was used to all that,
and gave it no attention ; now it irritated and repelled him ;
our soldier began to analyse things.
Once, on hearing of an outrageous act by Father Ivan, he
put on his uniform and went to him with the sincere purpose of
256 Later Sects.
converting kim^ and leading liim into the way of truth, and
righteousness^ but he was repulsed in a shameful manner. Soon
P. P. stopped going to church, and began openly to preach
a life according to the Gospel, and to criticise the immoral life
of the surrounding people.
The Stundists now only needed to come and take him into
their community. Five years have passed since then. P. P. has
had during this time to sit in prison for his views, and once
more to march into the town, this time as a prisoner, with the
etape transport, to answer charges before the Archbishop. All,
young and old, scoff at him now ; his neighbours regard him as
a peculiar man ; the young fellows play him many disagreeable
tricks, but he bears it all with the stoical calm of a
philosopher. He has grown old and grey, his thin whiskers
still hanging down from his wasted and wrinkled cheeks.
Thouo-h bowed with age somewhat, he still retains his stately
gait and majestic bearing; only the sharp, commanding
tone has disappeared. If you visit him in the morning
you will hear him and his wife sing a morning hymn together,
another before their meal, and at night an evensong. The
military instinct is still strong within him, and he sings with
special enthusiasm such hymns as are couched in martial
strains, such as " Ho my comrades, see the signal, waving from
the sky," &c.
In the Stundist community he is highly respected and even
feared, for no one speaks out the truth in the face of everyone
more boldly and sincerely than does our naval officer, Panars
Pantilimonovitch .
CHAPTER XVI.
THE TWO WOELDS, PEASANT AND OFFICIAL.
Two Nations in One— Study of " the People " — The " Mir " — Peasants' Views
on Land Tenure — On Jurisdiction Generally — Later Corruption by
Officialism — Tchinovniks and the " Mir " — Examples of Official Oppres-
sion — " Uriadniks " or Kural Police — Their Misdeeds — Wickedness in
High Places — The Logoschino Affair — Experiences of a Kussian Friend —
Tolstoi's Description of Kussian "Justice."
The student of Eussian affairs must at the outset grasp tliia
fact very firmly, if he would hope to understand the inner life
■of the nation — that the Eussian people is not one but two.
We are not speakinor of the different races to be found in the
Empire, but of the two worlds, the official and the popular,
that meet each other at many points, yet remain distinct in
kind. It is not simply a lateral division separating the
*' upper classes " from the mass of the people, for the ramifica-
tions of the official system are so wide and deep that there is
not a village omitted from their lists, not an individual whose
life is untouched by the ubiquitous tchinovnik. Yet this
tremendous organisation of bureaus, registers, bye-laws, S:c.,
this intricate and complex network of red tape, this all-pene-
trating and Argus-eyed system of police, remains completely
outside the real life of the peasants, incomprehensible to them,
because in its very nature opposed to their modes of thought
and judgment ; while in its turn the world in which the
peasants live is as unintelligible to the genuine tchinovnik as
the spirit-world is to a confirmed materialist. This will be
illustrated by some account of the manners and customs of
each.
It is now about half-a-century or more since such men as
Dal, Jakushkin, Kirejevski, A:c., began to study the life of the
peasants, before then a terra incognita to the educated world.
258 The Two Worlds, Peasant and Official.
and found there such traits of character and qualities of
sterling worth as awoke their wondering admiration. True,
beneath their nominal Christianity they retained many pagan
ideas and practices, and to the upper classes showed suspicion
and mistrust. But in their life with each other they displayet""
an honesty, reliability, and devotion to the common good that
contrasted sharply with the corruption of the aristocracy.
The rise of the modern democratic movement in Russia dates
from the pioneer work of these explorers in the peasant world ;
since then thousands of men and women belonging to the
upper classes have ''gone to the people," to learn their life
and do their part in bridging the gulf that yawns between,
and many of these have made valuable contributions to our
knowledge of different sides of the mushik's life. It is of deep
significance that Count Tolstoi, with his extensive learning,
penetrating genius, and deep knowledge of men, points his
educated countrymen who are seeking for a religion of the
heart and conscience " to the peasants, '^ whom he has learnt to
know better than any other man.
The centre of the peasant's life is the mir, or village com-
munity. The origin of this institution is obscure ; according
to Tchitcherin and others it is not older than the sixteenth
century, and was instituted by a ukase of Tsar Fedor Ivano-
vitch ; others recognise in it a survival of ancient usage, dating
from a time before the rise of autocracy. However that may
be, whether the mir in title and official connection is or is not
a thing of recent creation, it is certain that in its purest form
it embodies convictions and practices that lie so deep in the
Russian peasant's nature that they can only be explained as
the result of long ages of use.
The mir is the village community itself assembled to decide
all questions that affect the life of the community, where all
are equal and officialism is unknown. It has, indeed, a s^aros/a,
or village'elder, as president and executive agent, but his power
is not over the mir, but from it.
Of all the matters that occupy the mir naturally the land is
the chief, and it is here that its peculiar nature is most revealed.
The Russian peasant has no conception of land as private
TiFE Two Worlds, Peasant and Official. 2.',0
property. The intellectual conception of land to be found arnong^
economists of every school, as the source of all material, without
which no one can produce anything whatever, and which no one
has produced, is with the mushik a deep-rooted moral conviction.
It is not "my land" in his mouth, but "our land," and this
refers not only to his own holdinc^, the communal land, and
what is rented from landlords, but also that on which he
works for a master. Centuries of slavery, during which both
they and the land became the private property of the great
lords, could not beget in them any other idea than that private
ownership of land was a mere accident of unrighteousness,
destined, Avith other unnatural conditions, to pass away when
the true state of things should become known to the " little
father " in St. Petersburg. " We are yours, but the land is
ours " (mi vashi, zemJja nasha), they said to their masters. The
only ownership, in their eyes, is that of the actual cultivator,
and he has no rights in it but that of cultivation.
Under serfdom it was the function of the mir to allot the
lands held for their own Tise under the lords. This, of course,
did not apply to the " harshije,"' or personal slaves, but to
the serfs on the land, who in this respect occupied a position
somewhat analogous to the English villani. After the abolition
the mir became responsible as a whole to the Government for
the regular payment of the redemption money, as explained in
a former chapter. It then became its duty to allot the land to
the several members, who received their share, and with it the
proportional liabilities. The adult working male formed the
unit of calculation, but if in a household the working power
was increased by the presence of a number of women or boys
able to assist, this was taken into account. The division was
revised yearly, and an}' alteration of conditions allowed for.
This is still the practice in connection with the lands thus held
in common.
The jurisdiction of the mir is far-reaching, embracing all
civil and a great many criminal matters. Ten village judges
are elected by the voloat, or group of villages ; these must all be
members of some mir or other in the group, and they decide all
matters by their sense of right, without law-books, rules, or any
280 The Two Worlds, Peasa.nt and Official.
other juridical apparatus, of whicli the peasant has a whole-
some horror. The principles on which they act are the strong
convictions of all ; the application to special cases is made by
their conscience and common-sense.
The principle they follow in relation to the land has been
mentioned. Equally unconventional and practical are those
that relate to inheritance and propert}'- in general. Although
kinship is with them a most sacred tie, it is not of itself a
sufficient claim to inheritance ; work only can assure this. If
an adopted son has taken his share of the family labour for a
sufficiently long time — ten years or so — he enjoys equal rights
with his foster-brothers, while a son by birth loses these if he
separates himself from the family. Neither blood-relationship
nor the "will " of the deceased can be effectually pleaded before
these village judges against the stronger claim of co-labour,
though, of course, all this is in complete contradiction to the law of
the land as understood by the official world. It is interesting to
note that a man only inherits his wife's property after about
ten years of labour-partnership; otherwise it reverts to her
own family. The Russian State law also limits the share of a
woman considerably, but the ?7iir-practice recognises no differ-
ence in this respect.
The same principle is seen in operation in many directions.
If, for example, one man sows a part of another's land, the
matter is not settled hy the whole becoming the property of the
latter, as would happen under State law. If it is a genuine
mistake, the man who has sown the seed reaps the harvest,
paying the other rent for the land and a little more ; if done
intentionally, the owner reaps the harvest, but pays the other
for the seed.
According to peasant conception, the authority of the
mir extends to all matters concerning the life of its
members ; hence it frequently acts in direct contravention of
both State and Church law. It has sometimes happened that
entire communities have decided to adopt a new religion.
At other times they have used their common-sense and
declared a man and wife who are manifestly unfitted for
each other to be no longer man and wife, and treat them
The Two Woklds, Peasant and Ofkicial. 261
accordingly, although divorce is not recognised by the Greek
any more than by the Roman Church. In short, the peasant
abhors documents and law-books, and applies his sense of right
and wrong to every matter, either individually or communally.
Of course, this is not to say that his resulting conduct is
perfect ; one can assert, however, that the consequence has
been a brotherliness and mutual helpfulness that has preserved
a sweet and wholesome spirit among the mushiks, in spite of all
the ignorance, superstition, and degradation due to the miser-
able condition of life to which they have been condemned by
human greed and lust of j)Ower. The mushik counts it aiV
honour to work and suffer "for the viir," that is, for th^
common welfare of those with whom he lives in daily relation.
He has a great pity for the weak, and even the debased, whom
he calls by the all-inclusive term, "unfortunate." Nothing
can be more touching than the practical compassion by which a
peasant places a piece of bread outside his window, that the
fugitives from prison or exile may find it in their need. At the
same time, the mir can itself, on occasion, send one of its members
to Siberia, if it judges him deserving of that punishment.
All this, however, refers more especially to the times before
the misfortunes of later years began to break down the pro-
tection which the mir afforded its members against the official
world. Yet much of it is still true, in spite of the ravages of
Church and State, landlord and kulack, famine and pestilence ;
one would naturally expect these to beget in the harassed and
poverty-stricken peasants a selfishness and demoralisation of
the worst kind, but they still retain a rustic heroism, a lowly
self-devotion to truth and right, that reminds one of the stories
of the earliest Christian times. But the trail of the tchinovnik
is found to-day even in the mir itself.
The official world is " much of a muchness " in every land,
but in Eussia it is to be studied in all its glory and excellence.
" Tchin " is a word of general import, denoting all that belongs
to rule and government and external authority, and a tchinovnik
is a personal member of the huge army employ I'd in (mi forcing
that external authority. He is naturally incapable, like his
brothers all over the world, of understanding how mankind
262 The Two Worlds, Peasant and Official.
could possiblj' avoid coming to grief, were it not for his quill-
driving, his stamj^ed paper, his big portfolio full of sealed
documents, his red tape, and his carefullj-drawn regulations.
Such an institutitn as the onir, with its absence of bj'e-laws and
dependence simply uj)on the common-sense and conscience of
the present daj, regardless of all codes and rules, is to him a
monster of anarchy, and from the time of the abolition he has
been tiying to bring it into subjection and " order." Happily,
the Liberal party was at first too strong to allow of its abolition,
but a surer way has since been found of accomj)lishing the
desired end. The official element has been introduced into its
constitution, thus linking it on to the vast and complex State
machineiy of which it seems destined to become a mere cog-
wheel in time, should no radical alteration be brought about
by some upheaval of those democratic forces that are now
held under by the military and police.
The method was simple in concej)tion ; the village elder, or
starosta, rausi be made a tchinovnik himself; in practice this
was not so easy, for as a rule the starosta, though a man of
good intelligence and practical wisdom, could not read nor
write, and a tchinovnik without those qualifications w^ould be an
unheard-of anomaly. The difficulty was overcome by providing
him with a pisar or scribe, who kept the registers, &c., of the
district, amounting to sixty-five in number for each volost.
This scribe has really become the more powerful of the two,
since the starosta is entirel}' dependent upon him. His
authority is wide-reaching, and he generally uses it in a way
that makes him anything but loved by the peasants. His
character is usually'- none of the best, as seems to have been
desired by the Government, for their regulations forbid any
one Avho has been through a " g3'mnasium " to hold the j)ost.
The starosta himself, though, as just said, dependent on the
jnsar, has, under the new regulations, become invested with
official powers over the community, in place of deriving his
power from it ; he summons and dismisses the onir at his
discretion, and can inflict fines not exceeding one rouble at a
time, or punishments of not more than twenty-four hours of
forced labour or imprisonment.
TiiE Two Worlds, Peasant and Oi-kicial. 263
To complete the slavery of the peasants under ofticial
despotism, a new order of country police was created in 1878,
called iiriadniks, chosen from the roughest, and invested with
practically unlimited powers in their own sphere — two condi-
tions that have inevitably made them, as a rule, into wild
beasts in human shnpe. As proofs of this we give instances
culled first from reports of proceedings in the police-courts,
and accounts in the Zemstvo newspapers.
A certain nriaJnik named Makoni came one day to a village
in Samara, Yorony Kust, to attend a meeting at the local
offices. There he met some friends, one of Avhom, a well-to-do
peasant named Chaibol, invited him and others home "to take
a glass." As tlie}^ opened the gate to go, a big sow used the
op]3ortunity to run out, and took it into its head to follow the
uriaclnil-. This he resented as a gross insult on the sow's part
— and shot it dead. Coming back in a somewhat "elevated"
condition they met the owner of the sow, a saloon-keeper, who
asked for compensation. This enraged the uriadnik so much
that he declared he had a legal right to shoot both sows and
men, too, if he pleased. An old soldier who stood by observed
that he, too, had served the Tsar, but had never heard of such
a law. Without a word the uria<hii'k rushed at him and felled
him to the ground, afterwards dragging him with much violence
to the lock-up.
Another uriadnik entered a cottage and found a calf tied by
its leg to a table. Without further ado he drew his sword and
cut it to pieces.
In one place a uricuhiik fired point-blank into a crowd of
unarmed people, and in another he rushed into the midst of a
number of peasants who were attempting to put out a fire, and
slashed right and left with his naked sword.
In the district of Bogorodsk the uriadnik used to steal the
peasants' oats at night. Caught once red-handed, he threatened
to imprison the owner, declaring that he was "in the execution
of his duty " ; with revolver drawn he went his way in triumph
through the crowd of enraged peasants. The matter was
reported to the authorities, but the man ^^as not even
dismissed.
264 The Two Worlds, Peasant and Official.
During my visit to Russia in 1886 the following incident
occurred in the village of Borki, near St. Petersburg, and was
also the subject of police-court pi'oceedings. TJriadnik Geras-
simov subjected a peasant named Marakin and the brothers
Antonov to the cruellest torture. The unhappy victims were
taken to an ice-cellar, and there stripped naked; their arms
were fastened behind their backs, and by a rope tied to their
hands they were hoisted up until their toes just touched the
floor. In this position they were left for several hours, the
uriadnik coming in now and then to see if, by additional
torture, he could induce them to agree to his desires. Evidence
was also given that on the way Marakin was bound hand and
foot, and_, fastened by his heels to the back of a vehicle, dragged
at a gallop through the mud.
In other places we have given examples of how the l-ulacls,
the allies of the tchinovniJcs, handle the peasants^ and the third
party to this Unhol}^ Alliance, the priests, make common cause
with them in grinding the faces of the poor. We now tell the
story of what is known as the Logoschino affair, which exem-
plifies the practice of many of the most highly-placed officials.
It would, like other crimes of the same description, have passed
without notice had not party interest in the highest Govern-
ment circles made it the occasion of disgracing a rival. Even
then it took seven years for justice to be done.
After the Polish rising was suppressed (1863-4), about 70^000
hectares of land belonging to the nobility who took part in the
insurrection was confiscated, but this was not enough to satisfy
the greed of the tchinovnihs, who proceeded to plunder the
peasants. One of these plunderers was General Tokarjev^
Governor of Minsk, who received from Potapov, the Governor-
General, an estate of 3,000 hectares, worth about 9,000 roubles-
yearly. But this land really belonged to the peasants in
Logoschino, who had a well-attested claim, and sent a dej)uta-
tion to the Governor, with title-deeds, as soon as they heard
that their land had been made over to him. But the deputa-
tion was refused a hearing, and the deeds of the peasants " dis-
appeared " without an}-- traces left. When the Minister of the
Interior, to whom they had appealed, asked for explana-
The Two Worlds, Peasant and
tions from Minsk, reply was sent that the land was State pro-
perty without shadow of doubt, and the peasants' complaint
groundless.
Meanwhile the Governor-General was not idle. When he
learnt that five peasants were going as a deputation to St.
Petersburg, he despatched an intimation to the Ministry that
these men were revolutionists ; result — they were thrown into
prison without any trial, and banished to the White Sea coast.
Everything being now clear in his favour, Tolcarjev proceeded,
in 1874, to take formal ]30ssession of the estate. Agents were
employed to collect the rents, but the peasants refused to j)ay.
Twenty-six of them were thrown into prison, and soldiers were
sent to enforce obedience and the payment of rent. The
peasants attempted to break through the ranks, but were
beaten off with clubbed muskets and scared away with a volley
of blank cartridge. Four days before the news of this reached
him, Tokarjev had telegraphed to St. Petersburg that the
inhabitants of Logoschino were in revolt, and had repulsed his
soldiers. General Loschkarjev was immediately despatched,
wdth a free hand. He took a battalion of soldiers and 250
Cossacks, and marched from Minsk against " the rebels."
Colonel Kapgar now comes upon the scene, a ready tool in
the Governor's hand. His first act was to store several cart-
loads of birchrods in the police station at Logoschino ; then,,
escorted by two policemen, he summoned the villagers, abused
them in the coarsest terms, and told them that " a general was
coming with an army who had full j^ower to bury them alive.
Hog them to death, in short, do as they pleased with them if
they did not at once submit." The terror-stricken peasants
at once gave way, and sent three of their number to pacify this
terrible general. They met him some miles from the place, but
did no good. At evening Loschkarjev with his troops
entered the village, and at once commanded the Cossacks to
keep watch all round and see that none escaped. A fresh
deputation brought bread and salt as tokens of submission.
But the General would have nothing to say to the "rebels"
before they had paid 500 roubles rent for 1874, and 5,000 roubles
for 1873 — that is, the year before Tokarjev became possessed
266 Tjie Two Worlds, P>:asant and Official.
of the place ! But they could do nothing in the presence of the
armed soldiery but ask for time. They were allowed just forty
hours, with the intimation that if the 5,500 roubles were not
then forthcoming, the whole sum of 12,000 roubles would be
•exacted.
Then the General left matters in charge of the ispravnik.
Colonel Kapgar. He at once refused to allow them even until
the next morning, and insisted on immediate payment. "When
they rej)resented that they had no ready cash for such a large
amount he rushed about like a madman, swearing, striking, and
kicking at them all, and shouting commands for their punish-
ment. He ordered each of the 233 families to pay him twenty-
iive roubles on the spot, and they had at once to sell their
goods to the ^' Jews" for absurdly trifling sums, or to borrow at
a rate of 3 per cent, per n-eek.
An ej-e-witness gives the following samples of the treatment
meted out to these unfortunate people, whose onl}' crime had
been refusal to pay rent to a robber for land that was their ow^n.
The peasant Korolevitch was so roughly handled that he never
recovered. Lukashevitch, an old man of sixty-nine years, asked
the isjyravniJ: for some days' grace, but he gave him two violent
blows in the face, felling him to the ground, and thereupon
ordered him to be Hogged ; this was done under Kapgar's
own supervision, and so effectually that the old man had
to be carried from the spot. Kapgar even demanded money
from an old blind beggar, and when he declared he had none,
hit him in the face and threatened to flog him, but the old man
went round the village and begged ten roubles.
The soldiers also, as wassmallwonder, behaved like brigands.
One of them came to a peasant's hut to take him in the
middle of the night to the police-station, and while he was
•dressing struck his wife, who was pregnant, such a violent blow
in the back that she swooned, and next day suffered a
miscarriage.
By these means Kapgar collected the amount in two days,
and it was sent to the Governor. The troops were withdrawn ;
General Losclikarjev reported in St. Petersburg that the revolt
had been quelled without firing a shot, or the use of any violence,
The Two Woklds, Peasant and Official. 267
thanks to the moderation and tact of ispravnik Kapgar, who
talked the peasants into a proper frame of mind, and procured
their submission to their lord's rightful claims. Lo5chkarjev
was rewarded with special marks of the Tsar's favour, and
Kapgar received a high military decoration.
As said above, so the matter would have rested, had it not
suited Potapov's rival, who had a ma^'oritj in the Cabinet, to
take it up. But Potapov was so strong in the Senate that he
escaped with a slight reproof. Then the Cabinet reported the
matter to the Tsar, recommending a severe sentence. The Tsar
endorsed this with his own hand in the words " Most
decidedly." In spite of this Potapov's party succeeded in
deferring the execution of the Tsar's orders for three years.*
Besides these illustrations, gathered from public records, we
here give some notes specially written by a friend in Russia
for our use, containing descriptions of cases that have come
under his own personal notice.
A snowstorm is raging, with dismal howls. If we go out of
doors we are at once covered from head to foot with driving,
lienetrating snow, or bitten in the face by a cold, sharp wind.
If we sit in a warm room our thoughts turn with a sad
unwillingness, with prickings of a half-wakened conscience, to
the traveller who is overtaken by so terrible a storm. I do not
know whether it is better for travellers on horse or foot. A
pedestrian runs great risk of exhaustion and burial in some deep
snowdrift ; a rider may equally perish with his steed. But for
us who are just now fighting a famine storm it is a day of rest.
No applicants for aid throng our doors, and we can spend some
hours in our own pursuits, giving ourselves up to thought,
busying ourselves in household matters, reviewing the past, or
planning the future work, bringing into coherence man}- of the
impressions we have received. I will use the occasion to set
down some of my experiences of the recent past.
A glorious winter evening. It is more than 20° (Reaumur)
of frost ; the sun is overcast. Through the grey clouds is seen
just one red streak of sunset. A frost mist fills the air, hiding,
■* See Poriadok (the official Gazette), 1881, Nos. 330- ;U0.
268 The Two Worlds, Peasant and Official.
as with a rosy veil, the nearest as well as the more distant
hills.
I go out by the shore of the Don. On the steep bank,
opposite where I stand, is a village looking, in this evening
light, as if of porcelain. I see an even row of cottages, with
pink, round, overhanging roofs, and below these a ravine,
leading to the Don, where piled-up snowdrifts seem to glide in
finely-moulded shapes. And the outlines of all are softened by
the translucent frosty mist.
Through this village I had to pass, and began to wander off
in the direction of the bridge that crossed the Don. From the
other side] a small figure came rapidly to meet me. Soon I
recognised a little girl of about ten years. When she came near
enough to see who I was she uttered in her small, childish voice
the well-known, usual words, "I am coming to your grace."
"What do you want?"
" My mother is dying."
" Come, I will go with you."
We went up the steep bank, and as we approached the village
the beautiful vision disapj)eared. To begin with, I saw that
from several roofs the straw had been taken, so that only the
framework stood there, like gnawed skeletons. Beneath the
overhanging roofs the walls of the huts stood up, half buried in
the snow. Openings were dug through the drifts to the small
frosted windows which, however, were almost hidden behind
heaps of dirt and refuse.
We entered the last cottage in the street ; its owner had
built it in more prosperous times, for it was of brick. Under
present conditions it is more miserable to live in than those
built of wood. Inside was darkness, damp, cold, and foul air.
I recollected that the day before a little girl had come from this
house to ask for money " for gas," i.e., for lamp oil, and I had
refused. They must then have applied to a rich peasant in
the same village to lend them some.
The girl took a vessel and ran out, slamming the door after
her. When my eyes became accustomed to the gloom I could
distinguish the objects within. Doors, window, corners, and
rents in the roof, with the lower part of the walls, were all
The Tavo Woklds, Peasant and Official. 26D
covered with rime. The rest of the roof and the upper walls,
that retained some warmth from the daj- just gone, were wet,
and streams trickled from them in several places. On the oven
la}' a heap of rags and old clothes. From it came a noise,
something between groaning and snoring. A hollow sound
reached me from another quarter, but just where I could not
tell. I could see no one on the bench.
The girl returned and lit the lamp.
" Where is your mother? " I asked her.
" In the oven, and father is on top."
She opened the oven and put her head inside, calling,
*' Mother, come out, harin (the gentleman) is here."
I had known this family for some time. The girl was not
their own, but the illegitimate child of a soldier's wife, and
granddaughter of the old woman whom she called " Mother,"
because she had grown up under her care. The old woman
*^ was dying," that is, was ill. Her husband had been so for a
long time, and no one now troubled about him. When he
heard our voices he rose up, groaned out something, and lay
down again. The day before they had used manure as fuel, and
had not yet recovered from the exposure to the fumes and
smoke from it.
Soon after my entrance a young woman came in. She was a
daughter of the old woman, and lived with her family at the
other end of the village. Now she had come to visit her mother.
At sight of me she burst out crying, and lamented her
wretchedness. Her famil}-, also, was suffering from lack of fuel.
" I came to move them to my place ; the}' cannot live here.
But what a life is in store for us ! God help us ! I have seven
children of my own. Our cottage is smaller than this, but it is
built of wood ; with snow all round it is warmer, but here it
is unbearable."
I approved her plan, and promised to help them with fuel. It
was one of those families that were eating up their last
resources, of which we have so many. This obliges us to adopt
the method of crowding two or three families into one hut, and
giving fuel for the one place, otherwise we should not have
enough for all. But we have not ourselves the courage to tell
270 The Two Worlds, Peasant and Official.
them to crowd together in this way ; this packing of people in
polluted air is terrible. Still it is the only way of keeping them
from freezing to death.
" We must move at once, because to-morrow my husband is
going away," began the young peasant woman, putting some
things into a sack, while she roused up the old people.
" Where is he going ? "
''To the volost."
"What for 9"
'* The stanavoi (police commissary) is coming there to collect
taxes."
" But why does your husband go there '? "
" They are driving them all together, from the whole village
district — all who have a plot of land,"
I did not believe her, and could not understand her discon-
nected talk, but went to the starosta. He belonged to the
" inhabitants " ; that is, he possessed a cow and two horses,
and was consequently regarded as '' settled " ; he had no need
to go round looking for work, a condition that is becoming
rarer every day. But his position was not enviable, for he had
a large family. He had been a soldier. When I asked if it
was true that they were driving them all together to the volost,
he answered, '^ Yes, it is true, your high-born nobility."
But even he could not explain the whole matter. All he
knew was that everyone had received orders to be at the office
of the district by 8 a.m., and that the stanavoi, and perhaps the
ispravnih himself, would be there.
When I left the starosta, the evening had cleared, and it was
as light as day. The cold was more intense, and the moon
flooded the hills and valleys with her pale beams. As I went
homewards, the snow crackled under my feet with ringing
sound. After crossing the Don, I turned again to look from
my own shore at the beautiful village. It was more beautiful
still in the gleaming light of the moon. Then I recalled the
order of the village police concerning the next day's meeting,
and determined to be there and see what would happen.
Next morning I meant to start in time to see the beginning-
of the meeting, but business hindered me, and I could not leave
The Two Worlds, Peasant and Official. 271
till later on. The meeting was called for 8 a.m. ; I left in time
to get there about 11 o'clock, and was afraid I should be too
late. The cold was still more intense. When I came to the
village in which the district office was situated, my attention
was at once attracted to the great crowd. At several izhas stood
teams of peasant's sleighs together, the horses taken out, but
not unharnessed. They stood with heads hanging down, every
now and then shivering all over ; some were uumching a
handful of straw that had been thrown them ; others had not
even this meagre fodder. The sleighs were empty ; only in a
few there was a layer of dried leaves at the bottom. The
peasants were standing close together in groups in the street.
The villagers were not willing to receive guests in their houses.
I had visited this village a little while before, to inquire into
the condition of its families. I knew well how cold and
damp were those huts inside — the usual winter condition in
that district. They are very careful over their warmth, and
few will lend their huts to strangers. It was only those with
relations there that could get shelter. As I passed the groups I
recognised many faces. I knew this district well, had visited
every village, almost every hut, and every face I recognised
brought to mind some special suffering, some particular
distress, that had brought about our acquaintance. It was one
of the poorest districts in all that part of the country.
By some mistake it had been counted among those that had
had a good crop, and three volostft that had suffered more from
bad harvest than last year had been refused relief loans, and
now it was demanded that those received last year should be
repaid as well as the taxes.
As I approached the oflKce the peasants were more closely
crowded, and there were still more sleighs with wretched-
looking horses and sad-faced men. The vestibule and the
session-room were thronged. I pushed through the press to-
the table, where the local authorities, the starshina and the
pisar (scribe), were seated.
" Has the danavoi arrived? " I asked.
"Not yet," answered the siarshinay a short man, dressed in
a peasant's cloth coat, with thin dark hair, and a restless,
272 The Two Worlds, Peasant and Official.
cowardly yet stubborn, look on his face. His small dark eyes
sought mine, and his voice varied as he gazed, from fear to
affected humility, and again to truculence and confidence in
his authority.
The scribe was a young man, dressed in a kind of jacket,
whose face wore an expression compounded of scepticism and
routine.
" Where is the stanavoi then ? "
" In the village close by. It is said that an old woman has
been frozen to death there, and he is detained about the body,'*
answered the starshina.
I left the office, having given directions that I should be
sent for when the stanavoi came, and went to a hospital in the
neighbourhood, where a physician of my acquaintance lived, in
order to warm myself.
As I passed through the village I called at several cottages
where I had business, and afterwards spent a couple of hours
with the doctor, expecting the message, but none came.
I returned to the office. It was 4 p.m., but the stanavoi had
not yet arrived. The hungry, shivering peasants were still
standing in the streets as in the morning. Large numbers
were grouped before the drink shops. What had they to spend
in drink ? Their last sheep ? Their next harvest P I do not
knoAv. Cold and hunger had compelled them to have recourse
to this poison. We may not judge them.
I approached one of the groups, and was immediately sur-
rounded. ^^Has he not yet come? " I asked.
" No, and we do not know when he will come either."
It was painful to look at these people. Why had they
gathered here in the morning ? I went again to the office.
The starshina was still sitting as before at the little table.
"When is the stanavoi coming?" I asked.
" I don't know. Something has detained him." He looked
still more frightened and disquieted.
" Why do you not dismiss the meeting ? "
*' I cannot do it. He may come at any moment."
" But night is coming on already. What will the stanavoi
do here then ? "
The Two Worlds, Peasant and Official. 273
" That I do not know ; but I have no power to let the
people go."
I advised him again to dissolve the meeting, and started for
home. After I had walked some way I saw long rows of men
and sleighs leaving the village ; the starshina had evidently
dismissed them.
Afterwards I learned that he had kept the starostas, and the
chief of the police had arrived at 7 p.m. ; he gave strict orders
that the taxes were to be collected, threatening to sell up the
peasants to the last stick. Then he left.
What is the cause and purjjose of all these unnecessary
sufferings ?
It is night. The storm howls still more fiercely. I have had
only one applicant for relief to-day. Through this terrible
weather he had come a distance of six versts (about four miles) .
When he came in he fell on his knees before me.
" Let me not die of cold ! " he said, in a quivering voice.
*' We have had no fire for two days. . . . My family . . .
the children — barefooted."
I turned away. Hastily I wrote an order for five pud of
wood, and gave it him, trying to avoid his look. He left.
So far, my friend's description. In another letter I was told
that these peasants had been ]}ublidy flogged in the cruellest
way by order of the authorities because they could not pay
their taxes.
Count Tolstoi allowed me to use an extract from his book,
then in preparation, which described the manner in which this
flogging takes place, as seen by himself. This book has since
been published ("The Kingdom of Heaven is Within You"),
but we retain the description as fitly supplementing the narra-
tive just given.
On 29th of September last (1892), as I was travelling to a
famine-stricken place, I saw, at one of the railway stations, a
General steam up in a special train, with a small company of
soldiers ; they were on their way to Tula, to punish several
unruly peasants, who had dared to withstand a young lord,
who had flagrantly trampled on their rights. . . .
18
274 The Two Worlds, Peasant and Official.
I describe this occurrence, not because it was anything out of
the way, but because it was the only one I have myself wit-
nessed, and for the truth of whose description I can personally
vouch. .
The troops were drawn up before the door of the courthouse.
A band of policemen with new red belts, in which were loaded
revolvers, were stationed round the little group of guilty
peasants, who were waiting the punishment of their misdeeds.
Some way off stood thousands of men, women, and children,
who were there as spectators. When the Governor-General
arrived, he stepped out of his carriage and made a short, sharp
speech, at the end of which he ordered a bench to be fetched.
This was not at first understood, but the police oihcer who
attended the Governor, and was responsible for seeing the
punishment carried out in an effectual and orderly way, ex-
plained with terse directness that his Excellency wanted a
bench on which a man could be thoroughly well flogged. This
was speedily forthcoming, a bundle of specially-prepared rods
brought forward, and the executioners called to the front.
These were two runaway convicts, since no soldier would
himself be used for this degrading work.
When all was ready, the Governor ordered the first of the
twelve peasants, reported by the landlord as originators of the
riot, to be brought out. The victim was a man in the forties,
the father of a family, whose uprightness had become a
proverb, and who enjoyed the respect and confidence of his
fellow-citizens. He was told to undress and lie on the bench.
The peasant made no attempt to beg for mercy ; he knew the
uselessness of such a prayer. Silently he made the sign of the
cross and lay down. Two policemen ran to hold him in his
place. By his side stood a physician, to render medical aid if
necessary.
The convicts spat in their hands, struck a blow through the
air with their rods, and began the flogging. The bench was
seen to be too small, so that it was difficult to hold the writhing,
tortured man upon it. The General ordered a wider bench to
be brought, and a plank fastened to each side. One of the
soldiers saluted and answered, " Aye, aye, sir," and hastened
The Two Worlds, Peasant and Official. 275
with all humility to fulfil the great man's command. Mean-
while, the poor, half-naked man stood there with doleful mien
and sunken eyes, his under-jaw shaking, and his bare legs
shivering. When the other bench was brought, he was fastened
more tightly to it, and the floggers resumed their work. At
every blow the gaping wounds became more frightful and
ghastly. Back, sides, and limbs were streaming with blood,
and after each fresh stroke the victim uttered a hollow moan
of pain, which he strove in vain to repress. From the
thronging circle round came the sobs of the martyr's wife,
mother, and children, besides the frightened, quickly-checked
cry from those whose turn was to come next.
The miserable Governor-General, who in the intoxication of
his power persuaded himself that he was obeying the call of
duty, counted the strokes on his fingers, as he calmly smoked
a cigarette, which an obsequious adjutant lighted in the flame
of a match, held up aloft.
After more than fifty strokes, the peasant ceased to cry or
move. The skilled physician, who j)laced his services and
knowledge at the disposition of the Provincial Government's
hospital, stepped forward to the tortured being, felt his pulse,
s tooped to listen if his heart were beating, and infomied the
representative of the Imperial might that the victim was
unconscious, and that further punishment would be at the risk
of his life.
But the Governor-General, more than ever intoxicated with
his brief authority, maddened like some wild beast at sight of
blood, commanded the punishment to proceed, and the torture
was renewed until the seventy strokes were complete. It seems
as if, from some unknown cause, this seventy were a sacred
number, to fall short of which would be an aifront to
justice.
Then the Governor took his cigarette from his mouth and
said, " Enough ! Bring out the next ! "
That this is not exceptional, but carried on to a frightful
extent, may be seen from these statistics. In two villages in
the district of Slobodski, in the year 1878, no fewer than 618
276 The Two Worlds, Peasant and Official.
heads of families were flogged for not having paid taxes.*
Between 1878 and 1881, out of 1,200 heads of families in a
single village district, 797 were flogged. t In 1884, 178 out of
415 peasants were flogged in three villages in the province of
Kiev, for arrears of taxes. J In a period of less than six
weeks, in ten villages of the district of Nova Ladoga, in the
province of St. Petersburg, 224 heads of families out of a total
of 517 were flogged, for their inability to pay the taxes
demanded bj the " paternal Government."
* " Stetches of Self-Government." S. A. Priklonski, St. Petersburg
18S3, p. 173.
t " Annals of the Fatherlan<1," May, 1882, p. 139.
J " tketcbes of Self-Government," p. 356.
CHAPTER XVII.
IS THERE A EEMEDY?
A Conversation — A Kixssian's Views — The Fatal Breach — True Division of
Labour — Healthful Development — Paramount Claims of Life — A Revolu-
tion Inevitable — '• Go to the People."
Cax anything be done ? is the question that must be upper-
most in the minds of those who have read the preceding pages
and in any degree formed a living conception of the state ot
things there depicted. It is not for us to give an answer, but
we may fitly close with a presentation of the views of many
Russians themselves as to the right way out of the evil
conditions that sap the life of that unhappy country. The
conv^ersation here given is fictitious only in that the real names
of the participants are withheld, and many things are brought
together which were said at different times. OtherAvise, the
substance is a true record, and the occasion is historical and
not imaginary.
" The essential cause of the general and constant misery
among the masses," said our friend Kudrin, filling a glass with
tea from the boiling samovar, " is the unnatural gulf that
yawns between the so-called * upper ' and ' lower ' classes." He
spoke in his usual quiet manner, with a depth of conviction
that was born of wide experience, extending over many years,
both among the peasants and in " society." Of aristocratic
birth and education, he had, as a young man, moved in the
highest circles, but had afterwards abandoned both rank and
property, and " gone to the people," among whom he had lived
a long time, working hard to help them both in material and
moral things. My other companion in the low and damp izba,
where we had gathered round the samovar at the close of a
day's relief work among the famine-stricken, was a jovial
278 Is There a Remedy ?
physician, who, in character, opinions, and appearance, pre-
sented a strong contrast to the serious Kudrin.
^' The terrible distress among the peasants can be perman-
ently remedied in no other way than hj abolishing this
unnatural cleavage between the masses and the so-called
people of ' intelligence.' "
" Explain your views as to the cause and cure of this misery
more fully," I said to K.
" No, rather let us have a consultation," he answered. " "We
are like quack doctors, working daily side by side with the
recognised physicians of society. Let us then have a con-
sultation."
" Bien, allons ! " chimed in the doctor, breaking off his
humming, and beginning to drink another glass of tea.
" We start then," said K., " from the proposition — that, at
least, as far as I am concerned^ has the force of an axiom — that
it behoves every man to think and act according to his true
nature, to satisfy the real wants of his body and soul, and
promote his healthful development."
" Excuse my interrupting you with a demurrer to your
axiom," I said. *^You know that Professor Metcherkajeff
denies this proposition in his criticism of Count Tolstoi and his
views in the Vestnik Europi, pointing out that man possesses
rudimentary organs which have lost their functions during
the process of his evolution. Therefore, he argues that the
presence of an organ does not necessarily imply the duty of
using and developing it. What do you say to that ? "
" This atrophy of any organ takes thousands of years," he
answered, " and it is only when the use of one is superseded
by that of another that it takes place. In all probability,
should the present conditions of civilisation hold good for
some thousands of years, man would lose both arms and
legs "
"Yes," broke in the doctor, jestingly. " The descendants
of our well-fed friend, Tikvov, will then look like pumpkins on
toothpicks, those of Professor Metcherkajeff like puffballs, and
our ladies of the beau monde, after looking for centuries like
wasps, will finally break in two at the middle."
Is There a Remedy? 279
" I believe, though, it will be long enough before we reach
that stage," went on Kudrin. "Even the professor and his
friends seem to agree that man must exercise his body as well
as his brains, if he would be really healthy, since they praise
gymnastics so highly, and that is merely a substitution of
artificial exercise for natural work. To-day, among upper-
class people, it is considered a great achievement to handle
iron balls with ease and skill, to exhibit extraordinary powers
of climbing, jumping, running, &c., without any other
object than that of excelling others. About these matters
telegrams fly round the world, long newspaper articles are
written, books are published, and costly institutions are estab-
lished, while our fellow men, who need our help in their
struggle for mere existence, are left to themselves."
Here the doctor made some objections, which Kudrin
answered, and then went on :
" I stick to my proposition, that it behoves man to live and
work in accordance with his true nature ; to procure for himself
the sustenance for his body, to protect it against hurtful
influences, keep it in a healthy condition, and give to both
soul and body the power to use, create, and enjoy life, thus
attaining to the highest good.
" But in this work, that should be harmonious, an unnatural
division has arisen, so that one part of mankind uses only the
brain or mind, and the other only the body. But, just as an
engine cannot work well without an engineer, so it cannot be
good for phj^sical work to be done without the mind to guide
it. As the mind can do great things within the sphere of
imagination and theory, but cannot provide the hody with
its necessaries, so the brain-workers have become men of
imagination and theory only, while the bodily toilers, deprived
of necessary mental culture, have sunk to the level of beasts of
burden, or soulless machines.
" If the engineer leaves his engine, it may certainly run for
a time, but sooner or later it will stop work ; the water in the
boiler will be exhausted, the bearings wear out or perhaps take
fire, or something will hapj^en, and the machine either come to
a standstill or be destroyed. Now we se<' that the great mass
280 Is There a Remedy?
of labourers, deprived of the advantages of intelligent labour,
go on working long and usefully, but sooner or later their force
inerie is used up.
'^The engineer, on the other hand, who leaves the machine
he was set to manage, may go on for a long while dreaming
and constructing clever theories, finding satisfaction in his
works of genius, but at last he must die of want and hunger,
unless he returns to the machine that produces the things
needful for the sustenance of life. So we see the so-called
intelligent classes engrossed in their brilliant theories, that
float in the air like balloons without '':'allast. But the decisive
crisis is approaching. *The kingdom which is divided against
itself, &c.' The kingdom is man, the engineer is his reason,
the engine his physical body. Through the division of these
elements in his nature, the individual man must perish, and so,
also, must the society that consists of individuals so divided.
This is the state of things at the present time. With one
class of men reason is dead and inert; with the other, the
bodily organs have become unable to be used for their purpose,
and these men have become unproductive dreamers."
"But your analogy is not quite exact," I interrupted. "Your
opponents themselves, the dreamers, assert that they are the
engineers of humanity, and look on the physical workers as
machines. According to them, this is one of the first principles
of the division of labour, and is of axiomatic force in their
eyes."
" Wait a little ; I will soon explain further. I know that all
comparisons are defective ; every figure illustrates only a part
of the truth. We know, well enough, that a small minority
exert themselves as ' engineers ' over all the rest, whom they
manipulate as machines at their pleasure, but that this should
have the force of an axiom is absurd. My comparison is de-
fective, for in the case under discussion the machine and the
engineer cannot be separated. I wanted to enforce the idea,
by means of this figure, that the engineer must not be set over
the machine except in one and the same organism. It is only
when their mutual work is free and natural that they can fulfil
their true ends; apart, they will never succeed. Mutual and
Is There a Eemedy? 281
harmonious work will never be effected through compulsion.
When violence puts the engine in motion it soon destroys the
whole machinery, bringing with it general ruin.
" But there are other means than compulsion for achieving
this end ; there is one that does not hurt, but gives life and
strength. This is the co-operation of love. True moral love can
unite the different elements, but it is very rarely given the
opportunit}' of showing its strength.
" I do not object to division of labour in general, but most
decidedly do reject that at present in force. There are two
radical vices in the prevailing division. First, it is not based
on free exchange, but on the slavery of the weaker, under the
rich and powerful. Secondly, the specialisation is made without
regard to considerations of health, or the conditions of life in
general.
'' There is no other cure for the evil than the union in the same
person of these two kinds of work. In this way only can they
become powerful for good. The division of labour, whose one
justification is the greater production of the special brand of
work, will always take place. More than that, it will be greatly
extended for the benefit of labour, but always on condition
that violence and compulsion be suppressed, and a law estab-
lished, enforcing due regard to the sanitary, moral, and
intellectual needs of every individual worker. The truth must
be inculcated that there is no * black ' and ' white ' labour " (a
•Russian distinction for lower and higher labour), "and that
there is no labour that is in itself useful or hurtful, no occupa-
tion that is moral or immoral, without taking into account the
work imparted to it by the labourer himself.
*' You cannot allot work to classes of men as intellectual or
physical, for by such division human life is destroyed. You
can distinguish between the intellectual and physical parts of
each branch of production, and every man must share in both.
Of course he cannot manage the entire work of production him-
self, but he must accommodate himself to that portion of it,
both intellectual and physical, for which he has the greatest
capacity, and this distribution must in no way be dependent
on questions of caste or any privilege whatsoever."
282 Is There a Eemedy?
*^ There always liave been and tliere must always be class
divisions and other differences in external conditions. It is a
law of nature,", interpolated the doctor.
" In the face of such an awful chronic dearth in a land of
such immense resources as ours, inactivity is unpardonable, and
it is frivolous to talk of such a state of things as necessary and
natuval. Nothing can be more 7t«natural ! But the remedies
we propose are considered so new-fangled that they bring
suspicion on both themselves and us.
" The famine now raging is not of yesterday ; for many years
its causes have been at work, and the bad weather was only the
occasion for revealing the chronic misery and the constantly
decreasing working power of the labourer, deprived of all
mental culture, oppressed by violence, with his whole life
distorted.
" They object that this calamity is only incidental and local ;
that a couple of good years will set all right ; that this year
there has been a good harvest in Caucasia, and in other parts of
Russia, in Europe and in America there is corn. I reply that
there certainly may come good harvests, but they will not
remove the evil. The sudden leaping of the llame is no good
sign. Not much discernment and honesty is needed to see
that, if the present conditions continue, the life of the people is
like an expiring candle flame : it still burns and sometimes
flares, but it is nearly gone out.
" Occasional revivals of prosperity cannot remove the distress.
They say there is much corn in Caucasia, but they have not
been many years there at the process of exhausting the land, so
that they still get large supplies. The same is true of Central
and Southern Russia and America, but in Western Europe does
not a large part of the population already depend on foreign
bread, and perish with those who feed them ? This present
distress has had a bad effect on Western Europe, which
to a great extent lives by the production of articles of
luxury, all kinds of trash, which they force on the rest of the
world.
"If the present division of labour, or rather sundering of
mankind into two parts, is to continue, it must lead to a not
Is There a Remedy ? 283
far-distaat ruin. Salvation lies only in the reunion of the
severed parts, and the healing of the whole."
" If such a union between the spiritual and the physical, the
so-called 'intelligent' and 'working classes' is possible," I
said, " why has it never existed, generally speaking, and why
doas it exist nowhere at the present day ? Differences of caste
and class have always been the rule among all peoples and in
all times.
*' That is true, but what has become of all those peoples with
whom caste has flourished '? They have perished with their entire
civilisation, or been vanquished by other races. The Indian,
the Egyptian, the Greek, the Eoman, the Spanish and Moorish
civilisations have all perished in this manner ; the French is in
the act of perishing, and the same fate will overtake the
English and German civilisations. What remains of the
thraldom under the yoke of tyrants during those long
centuries? The Egyptian pyramids, the Roman Coliseum, the
stones of which are cemented with the sweat and blood of slaves.
The lasting inheritance which these peoples have left behini
them in the shape of useful knowledge and fruitful thought is
not the result of caste ; it rather came into being in spite of it.
There will remain of European civilisation mere ruins of huge
fortresses, temples and palaces, monuments of the intolerable
dominion of militarism, priestcraft, and Mammon- worship, of
the calamitous severance of "upper" and "lower" classes, of
schism between intellect and brute force. Shall we follow the
disastrous example of these peoples?"
" What do you suggest, then, as a means of remoulding
your social life, and radically changing its direction ? " I
asked.
" Just what is done with soil that has become barren and
covered with w^eeds. You plough it again, plough deep, and
turn up the clods so thoroughly that the upper becomes the
lower, and all is reversed, so that Avhat is at present sustaining
the burden and pressure may come to the top and inhale fresh
air, life, and strength. The whole social order must be
reorganised, human life must be reconstructed — we must begin
to live afresh. Only in such a regeneration of society is
284 Is There a Eemedy?
salvation possible. However great the sacrifices demanded,
whatever terrible events may precede and accompany this
reconstruction, there is no other way of salvation, and all that
will compel such renewal of life we ought to welcome gladl}-.
No change of outward form can deliver us ; the very
principles of life must be radically altered.
" As to the nature of this change, since the causes of this
fatal class separation are moral — greed, lust of power, vanity,
love of pleasure — so the true remedies must be sought in the
moral sphere. The life of the upper classes in general, not
only of the openly reckless and licentious, but of those who
are regarded as orderly and pious, must be pronounced
immoral when tried by the standard of Christian ethics.
How can it be anything else than immoral to live in luxury
and affluence while my fellow-man is perishing of want and
misery ? "
The doctor, who was pacing up and down the room,
here interjected that luxury was necessary to the State
besides being pleasant to the individual ; that it was a
spur to social development, and gave work to a great many
people.
"You must pardon me for not taking you seriously," said
Kudrin, ^'^for every educated man knows now, or ought to
know, that those are fallacies long since exploded. Emile de
Laveleye and M. Say, not to mention other prominent
economists, have amply proved the immoral and inhuman
character of luxury, i.e., of everything made to excite and feed
artificial wants and tastes at the cost of much labour. When
about 40,000,000 of our countrymen are in want of the bare
necessaries of life, how can it be moral and useful to spend vast
amounts of capital and labour in producing articles of luxury,
that are not simply useless, but frequently directly harmful
and productive of great moral evils ? Where is the good sense
oE talking of providing them with work to satisfy your lusts,
when you have first of all robbed them of the right of
producing necessaries for themselves ? "
" But," said the doctor, " the poor are contented and happy
in their misery. Besides, they live according to Tolstoi's ideal
Is There a Remedy? 285
and yours; they have no luxuries, and live on as little as
possible."
" I should not answer your jest," returned Kudrin, "if it did
not seem to many people a real argument. It is not true that
these people are * happy ' in their misery. It is true that many
have become so degraded that they are incapable of desiring
to get out of these wretched conditions, but that is a so mach
stronger indictment against the present social order that
creates and fosters such boundless misery. Can we blame
these men who receive such small return for their labour that
they are driven to live in hovels where a decent farmer would
not house his pigs ? Even in wealthy France the great majority
lack the dwellings, food, and clothing needful for the health of
the bod}'. As for Tolstoi, his work most certainly does not
prove that he considers the condition of the peasants normal
and 'happy.' Is it not his life's aim to lift them out of their
material and spiritual misery, though to be sure it is with far
other means than that of luxury that he is trying to rouse them
from their stupor."
Here the conversation was interrupted b}' the entrance of
a peasant, who came in the middle of the night, crying bitterly,
and entreated the doctor to come to his wife, who was dying of
typhus. When the doctor had gone I asked Kudrin if he
thought there were any prospects of this social regeneration
of which he had spoken. He answered : —
'' In Russian society there is a remarkable phenomenon to be
seen at present, which is not found to any great extent in other
nations. I mean the ' going to the people ' (khoshdjenije
v^narode). This does not date from yesterday; it is now
almost half a century old. People of intelligence, men and
women, young and middle-aged, go into the country among
the peasants, devoting all their time and powers to helping
them, in the endeavour to raise them from their degra-
dation. The means they have used are of various kinds,
and some have been attended with but slight apparent
success, but this cannot hinder the growth of the movement.
When these men and women find new methods they go and
put them into practice. The ' progressive intelligence ' ^of the
286 Is There a Remedy ?
nation scoffs at them, the Government persecutes them, the
ignorant and superstitious people are sometimes incited to
hostility against them. This is nothing to them ; they are
animated by an all-powerful idea, and they will continue to go
to the people. At present their numbers are larger than ever,
and what they bring with them is very significant — no learned
theories, but a simple and natural feeling, the emotion of
sympathy. Of all the movements of this kind, that of the
present time is probably founded least of all on social or
philosophic theory, but simply on the emotion mentioned, on
this living force, and if they go in humility, with a true
practical sympathy with their brothers, suffer and labour with
and for them, it will not be in vain. Through suffering the
character is refined, strength is confirmed, love is tested and
made strong. It is this love that is to unite all as brothers,
and work for the healing of the dismembered organism, for
the reunion of those forces of intellect and physical strength.
From this force that works for uplifting and enlightenment
shall other forces spring, that will bring with them the
practical solution of the difficulties that now face us. To all who
have gone to the people I would cry, 'Remain there.' Ye who
have not yet gone, but in whose breasts a heart is throbbing
with pity for your suffering brothers and sisters, go now to them !
This is my answer to your question as to the fundamental
cause and cure of the distress."
The night had advanced far into the small hours. The
doctor returned, and we retired to rest. The conversation had
awakened in my mind many thoughts, both old and new, that
kept me pondering until the morning light began to break
through the little window of the hut. "Will Kudrin's beautiful
dream ever be realised? Will this abyss that now yawns
between the " classes " and the " masses " be filled before the
whole gigantic fabric of our present social order collapses like a
house of cards and is buried in its depth ? Will this dominion
of organised tyranny, enforced by laws, authorities, and official
religions, ever be supplanted by " an association of all in
love " ?
LONDOX :
■W. SPEAIGHT AND SONS, PRINTERS,
FETTER L.VNE, E.C.
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