. All the Russias: travels and studies in contemporary European Russia, Finland, Siberia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. e abundant harvest of this season. All thehouses are of wood, gray with age, often dilapidated, the wideroads straggle through them, mere mud-tracks in rainy weather,and there is almost always a white church with a green roof. Butnever a superior house, never the residence of some one well-to-do. These villages have no squire and no Lady exception they exhibit one dull level of poverty, one SIBERIA FROM THE TRAIN 129 unbroken record of toil which just keep
. All the Russias: travels and studies in contemporary European Russia, Finland, Siberia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. e abundant harvest of this season. All thehouses are of wood, gray with age, often dilapidated, the wideroads straggle through them, mere mud-tracks in rainy weather,and there is almost always a white church with a green roof. Butnever a superior house, never the residence of some one well-to-do. These villages have no squire and no Lady exception they exhibit one dull level of poverty, one SIBERIA FROM THE TRAIN 129 unbroken record of toil which just keeps a roof and a fire andfinds a meagre sustenance. The price of wheat is very low, forwant of transport, and the middle-man—a Russian, not a Jew—pockets most of the profits. As we get farther east we passmore prosperous colonies of Bashkirs, one of the many strangenative races scattered over Eastern Russia. Here is agriculturein its most primitive aspect. Half a dozen shaggy little horses,tied head and tail, trot briskly in a circle, knee-deep in wheat,and in the middle stands the peasant with a whip, urging them. The Boundary Between Europe and Asia. on like the ring-master in a circus. There is no need to muzzlethe beast that treadeth out the corn; he is kept moving so fastthat he never has a chance to lower his head. Near by is a similarring, where a man is winnowing by the simple method of tossinggreat shovelfuls of the grain into the air, and the chaff sails awayin clouds. Much of this grain goes to the windmills which clusterround the little towns. One of these, Morchansk, has hundredswithin the space of a few acres, all turning busily in the lightwind. The peasants hereabouts have a curious superstition which I30 ALL THE RUSSIAS prevents them from selling their wheat except as flour. Theybelieve that if they sell the grain they lose the vitality of theseed for their next sowing. Superstition, indeed, is encounteredin Russia at every step. In this very town of Morchans
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjecttolstoy, bookyear1902
