Provincial Russia . and hencenone of that atmosphere of constant twittering andhopping from bough to bough that animate theEnglish woods with all the live murmur of asummers day. The features of southern Uralscenery that stamp themselves most strongly onthe memory are not i,he hills themselves, but theseillimitable silent forests and the lonely rivers. In the agricultural villages in the Urals thereare few obvious contrasts with peasant life inCentral Russia. Here also are the long streetsof wooden huts, the starling-posts, the wells withsuspended poles, the courtyards with the brownishwattled
Provincial Russia . and hencenone of that atmosphere of constant twittering andhopping from bough to bough that animate theEnglish woods with all the live murmur of asummers day. The features of southern Uralscenery that stamp themselves most strongly onthe memory are not i,he hills themselves, but theseillimitable silent forests and the lonely rivers. In the agricultural villages in the Urals thereare few obvious contrasts with peasant life inCentral Russia. Here also are the long streetsof wooden huts, the starling-posts, the wells withsuspended poles, the courtyards with the brownishwattled fences. Generally speaking, the Uralpeasants, however, are better off. Their soil isnearer a condition of virgin fertility. They havethemselves more land, and in Bashkir districtscan lease large areas on reasonable terms. Wood,too, is abundant and cheap. This comparativelysecure position, and the fact that here, on theoutskirts of the Muscovite empire, serfdom didnot press so heavily on the life of the people, have. THE URALS 49 given them certain psychological characteristics oftheir own. They are probably the most practical,matter-of-fact, hard-headed part of the Russianrace. Though not so sturdily independent asthe northern peasantry, they are much more sothan the central, and would be astonished at theservility common in rural England. This isespecially true of the mining districts, where thepeople have been brought in touch with Jews,administrative exiles, and master workmen fromtowns or Western Europe. The Duma represen-tatives from this country are exclusively the enlightenment in the mines and works isoften but a half-education that produces violentprejudices, an intolerant class pride, and a coarse-ness of mind entirely foreign to the real material prosperity, too, has inevitably affectedrural simplicity, and morality is as little a strongpoint in such villages as temperance. There aremany English managers throughout the Urals,and their general te
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Keywords: ., bookauthorstewarth, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1913
