THE RUSSIAN TEMPERAMENT
The Russian presents what would seem to an American peculiarly diverse
traits. Generally, he is peaceable, malleable and docile, has great
capacity for assimilation and imitation, but lacks initiative and
will power. A Russian is very sympathetic, and often finds it hard
to control his tears. Sometimes a whole group of men will be found
together crying over the troubles that might have befallen one of their
number, such as the death of a friend or the loss of an animal by theft
or death, a crop failure, or some similar misfortune. Russians dearly
love music and dancing. The most popular folk song is “Down on Mother
Volga.” The most popular folk dance is the Cossack Dance, where men and
women whirl about by themselves, and it is a most wild and inspiring
sight indeed.
Though on the whole peasants are very dirty, yet every village has its
public bath house, frequented every week even during the winter time,
and in the summer bathing is the great sport of the peasant.
In no country in the world are the women more carefully brought up
than in Russia. Of course, I refer to the intelligent classes. As for
the peasants, they grow up exactly as the peasants of the European
countries, excepting that they are probably better Christians. And it
is the fear of God that makes the percentage of virtuous women among
them exceptionally high. Weddings and Easters are the chief fiestas
in the life of the peasant. A wedding often lasts for two weeks,
every participant consuming a great deal of vodka. It is considered
a shame to leave a wedding sober. In fact, a peasant drinks when he
has sorrow, and he drinks when he has joy; he drinks when he has a
good crop, and drinks when he has a poor crop to drown his sorrow; he
drinks when there is a death or a birth in the family; he drinks at a
wedding, a baptism, an engagement; at the closing of a trade, and if
he can find no other reason, he will drink to the saints and to the
health of our Saviour Himself. I am not a teetotaler, but here say that
the ruination of the Russian peasant does not lie in his not enjoying
the liberties of a republican form of government, for which he is at
present not ready, nor in the bleeding to which he has been subjected
for years by a certain class of Hebrews, but vodka is his ruin, and
poor as the peasant is, about $1,000,000,000 are paid annually for this
poison. While it is realized that under the present system the Russian
budget would be wiped out if the government stopped the manufacture
and sale of vodka, it seems that some other way could be found for
the government to support its huge army, so necessary to hold the
conflicting elements of that vast empire together, and to protect life
and property. Great efforts are now being made in Russia to abolish
the drink evil, thanks to the personal interest of the Emperor in the
matter. We know how difficult is the solution of the problem in this
country, and we must give Russia time for the abolition of alcohol.
[Illustration: A LITTLE RUSSIAN GIRL-MILKMAID OF KIEV
She carries all her belongings with her and brings fresh milk from the
country to the people in Kiev]
The Russians are the most hospitable people in the world. They never
refuse a beggar alms. It is no more possible to escape the beggars of
Russia than death itself. When entering churches, business places, or
walking in the streets, you are trailed by a score of beggars. When
you reproach Russian officials for permitting this, they tell you
Russia is a free country, and any one may beg who wishes.
The Russian is essentially a democrat, but with a very loose plan
on how to maintain his democracy. He has a perverted conception of
what comprises personal liberty, and a queer idea of what constitutes
decency, although his family relations are doubtless on firmer grounds
than the American. A hotel in Russia where one cannot live for months
or years with a woman who is not his wife is unknown, notwithstanding
the fact that the passport is always certain proof to the proprietor
of a couple’s living together illegally. I have often wondered why
the government permits such indecency, but it seems to be a custom.
Of course, a large percentage of Russian women disapprove of this. A
certain class in Russian society, pretending to be progressives, was
incensed at the time the Russian writer, Maxim Gorki, was ousted from
one of New York’s respectable hotels, since the proprietor did not
fancy Gorki’s living there with his soul mate.
[Illustration: IVAN IVANOVITCH
Smoking a cigarette; his friend, and barefooted wife, all “taking it
easy,” as is generally the case with the peasants. Those of South and
Central Russia are far more active than the peasants of North Russia]
That we Americans should enforce prohibition, clean out our
red-light districts, arrest drunken men and women, see to it that
the motion pictures are not demoralizing, make it an offense for a
man to live with a woman unless he is married to her, punish people
trafficking in white slavery, stop the betting on horse races,
and fine Sabbath breakers, causes some educated Russians who have
traveled in the United States to return and speak of us as tyrannical
disciplinarians. Few Russians understand that political liberty
cannot exist without discipline, even if it should involve what some
consider to be a sacrifice of individual liberty. Until Russians come
to understand the wisdom of self-restraint, they can never be governed
otherwise than by the hand of a military autocrat. In my opinion, this
must continue for some years to come; otherwise Russia may suffer
not unlike Mexico, although I do not intend to convey the impression
that the open-hearted, faithful Russian has any of the despicable,
treacherous characteristics of the Mexican.
When a section of the United States demanded autonomy, the government
put down the rebellion by a long, bloody war. In Russia to-day some of
the Finns, Tartars, Armenians, Gruzins, Sarts, Kalmicks and Khirgis,
and even a few Little Russians think they can govern themselves and
establish a nation for themselves, and they resent the idea of the
government interfering with the carrying on of their propaganda. If the
Douma in Russia were independent of a certain conservative class, and
of the Tzar, and of the army, it would likely vote the disintegration
of Russia to-morrow. Until the Russians have some idea of what
self-government means, they need a Diaz as much as Mexico does, instead
of a too kind-hearted man like the Tzar. It is astonishing to note the
ignorance of a certain race which has in the past years represented the
Emperor as a tyrant.
[Illustration: PREPARING FOR THE “SHACHSE WACHSE” CELEBRATION
The pious Sheit Mohammedans beat their heads and backs with chains
until all sensation is gone and the flesh looks like black-and-blue
pulp. They then stick knives into the mutilated parts of their bodies
until they fall exhausted from hemorrhages ensuing, when they are
picked up and carried into the Sacred Bath Houses. (This photograph was
taken at Baku, Caucasus.)]