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118
A Policy op Death.
the local authorities received the hint to hamper them as much
as-possible, with the result that they have now come under the
control of the purest obscurantism. This device is a favourite one
with the Government, and most effectual. A decree forbidding
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
preventing the peasants from getting education that could be
invented.
I did, however, meet a youngmushiJc 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 republic." He had also taught himself arithmetic,
and was now pi-actising 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-knowleclge 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
acquire 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.
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