The Moujik

The Russian calendar is full of saints' fiays and of holidays of every kind, and Ivan would sooner see his hay or his oats rot upoii the grouud than do a stroke of work upon any day which offers the smallest canonical excuse for remuiuing idle. Then there is "the drink. " This is the darling vioe of the country and the real cause of the poverty of the peasant classes and of half the inisery that exists throughout the land. The flelds remain half cultivated because Ivan caunot spare the time to go out to work, and his really exemplary 'ife cannot do it all, though she does her best, because of the sinall ohildren at home. As for Ivan himself, he is in Üce kabak, or drinking shop, and cannot be expected to tear himself away for nny very prolonged period, for all his friends are there, and why should he be the exception? If any money comes in by the sale of hay, or oats, or inilk, or anything else, the monopolist who keeps the viliage drinking shop knows well enough what becomes of it; so perhaps does ivan, but it is quite certain that poor, patiënt, hardworking Masha, his wife, and the small children seenothing of it. They have their lump of black bread for dinner, and perhaps a partióle of the same lef t over for supper, and that is good enough for them. Ivan lives on vodka chiefly and leaves most of the rye bread for his family, but occasionally he indulges in a wooden bowlful of schee, which is a kind of cabbage soup, or toys with a trifle of salted herring.