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till later on. The meeting was called for 8 a.m.; I left in time
to get there about 11 o’clock, and was afraid I should be too
late. The cold was still more intense. When I came to the
village in which the district office was situated, my attention
was at once attracted to the great crowd. At several izbas stood
teams of peasant’s sleighs together, the horses taken out, but
not unharnessed. They stood with heads hanging down, every
now and then shivering all over; some were munching a
handful of straw that had been thrown them; others had not
even this meagre fodder. The sleighs were empty; only in a
few there was a layer of dried leaves at the bottom. The
peasants were standing close together in groups in the street.
The villagers were not willing to receive guests in their houses.
I had visited this village a little while before, to inquire into
the condition of its families. I knew well how cold and
damp were those huts inside—the usual winter condition in
that district. They are very careful over their warmth, and
few will lend their huts to strangers. It was only those with
relations there that could get shelter. As I passed the groups I
recognised many faces. I knew this district well, had visited
every village, almost every hut, and every face I recognised
brought to mind some special suffering, some particular
distress, that had brought about our acquaintance. It was one
of the poorest districts in all that part of the country.
By some mistake it had been counted among those that had
had a good crop, and three volosts that had suffered more from
bad harvest than last year had been refused relief loans, and
now it was demanded that those received last year should be
repaid as well as the taxes.
As I approached the office the peasants were more closely
crowded, and there were still more sleighs with
wretched-looking horses and sad-faced men. The vestibule and the
session-room were thronged. I pushed through the press to
the table, where the local authorities, the starshina and the
pisar (scribe), were seated.
“Has the stanavoi arrived?” I asked.
“Not yet,” answered the starshina, a short man, dressed in
a peasant’s cloth coat, with thin dark hair, and a restless,
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