Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XVI. The two Worlds, Peasant and Official
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
accordingly, although divorce is not recognised hy 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
miserable condition of life to which they have been condemned by
human greed and lust of power. The mushik counts it an
honour to work and suffer “for the mir,” that is, for the
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
protection 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 Russia 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 employed in enforcing
that external authority. He is naturally incapable, like his
brothers all over the world, of understanding how mankind
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
