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kept to cultivate himself. On this he worked, paid taxes, and
lived with his wife and children. “I kept bees,” he says, in a
letter to a friend, “and a piece of land, and my seven hectares
supplied my needs for the support of my family. I ploughed
the fields, cultivated grass and root crops, and generally got a
good harvest. I had one horse and two cows.” In dress and
everything but personal character he shared the mushik’s life
completely. One who knew the Prince intimately, and on whose
veracity I can implicitly rely, gave me in St. Petersburg the
following account of his influence on them.
“Such a degree of savagery prevailed among the peasants in
that district of South Russia where Prince Khilkov lived that
it was even dangerous for a stranger to pass through it. After
the great change in the Prince’s life, he began to go among
them, New Testament in hand, talking with them in brotherly
fashion, showing them a better way, a happier mode of life, ready
with advice and help on all occasions, just as he had already
given up all his property for their sake. And what was the
consequence? The whole region is transformed, drunkenness
and crime rarely occur, and the people live in mutual peace
and goodwill.”
Of course, in the eyes of official wisdom all this was
“dangerous,” and could only escape interference for a few
years. It was, besides, impossible for one of Khilkov’s
character and conviction to avoid collision with the authorities
of such a Church and State. The landowners and ecclesiastics
were foremost in transgressing the nominal laws, and oppressed
the peasants in every way. These looked for help to the
Prince, who never refused his aid, either of word or deed, to
those who asked him. The story of his first collision with
these gentry will illustrate the impossibility of peaceful
relations between them.
It is a favourite device to obtain the lands of the peasants
by goading them to revolt by some unusually flagrant injustice,
and then confiscating their holdings. It happened that a
certain Count desired to enlarge his estates in this way, and
he received the aid of his fellows. But Prince Khilkov
explained the plot to the peasants, and when they were
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