general appearance of the peasants, that their old
slovenly lazy habits were giving place to industry
and self-respect. On inquiry, I found that on this
estate, serfdom had been abolished for some
years, and that the work was all done by free
Russian labourers. The Lady Obrassoff had
freed her serfs, and by a judicious system of
encouragement and assistance was gradually
making men of them.

"It is true," said the steward, "we pay more
for labour now, and we have to give them
pasture-land and wood at a mere nominal price.
But we get more work for our money, and
by-and-by the small farms let out will become
more valuable, and pay higher rent, although
madame's income from her land has been for
a time reduced considerably. The profits of her
works, too, are already so much increased, that,
on the whole, we thrive under the new system.
This will not be the case with many other
proprietors who have not taken care to conciliate
the people, and find good work for the surplus
population. At first, I was much put to it
for workers in the mills and shops; many of
the people having heard of high wages in
Moscow and St. Petersburg, rushed there, but
most of them have since returned, bringing
report home that in the great towns work is
scarce and living high, and that, on the whole,
they find themselves better off in the Small
village. I expect that as soon as the serfs
are free to go where they choose, great bodies
of them will rush to the capital and large towns,
expecting high wages. This will glut the labour
market in places already fully stocked, and they
will return to their native places. For a time
they may cause great loss and annoyance to
those who possess land and works in the interior,
but a few years will remedy the evil."

In the winter of 1862, many serfs, who had
been spontaneously freed by their barons, rushed
to Moscow. When I was in Moscow last, the
city swarmed with masses of starving peasantry
seeking work and finding none; on a late
country journey I saw thousands crawling back
to their villages and begging their way.

Visiting madame at the great house, I found
an English governess at home with her there,
in the heart of Russia. It is a general practice
among the better classes in Russia to
educate their children, especially girls, at home.
Placed under the charge of a chief governess,
a young Russian lady is often attended by a
retinue of tutors, comprising a German, a Frenchman,
an Italian, and an Englishman, besides
Russian dancing, drawing, and music masters.
I knew a case in which a young lady's education
cost her guardians two pounds a day, for teachers'
and governesses' fees alone. All must be natives
of the country whose language they profess to
teach, and must come, or profess to come, from
their capital. Scotch or Irish men or women
are tabooed either as governesses, teachers, or
companions.

Haying complimented madame on the
improving condition of her estate,

"Ah, yes," she said; " my steward has done
wonders outside, and we have not been idle
inside. All things are changed, and oh, how much
better it is! Formerly, when the people were
my own, I was obliged to have seventeen or
eighteen servants of one kind and another in
the house, to wait on us four ladies, and then
we were not half served. Now, we have only
five hired servants, all free, besides the gardener
and coachman; and from these we get better
attendance. We are quieter, there is less waste
and stealing, and the cost is not one-half. The
effort was at first hard work, for, sometimes when
we were teaching them to be free—poor things—
they did not know what it meant. But we
persevered, and now I am very happy. It will be a
long time, however, before I get the idea out of
my old head that these independent creatures
are my children. Lucy" (the English governess)
"and Sanya have started a school for the
peasants' children. At first they bribed the
little things, and even the parents, before they
could get them to come; now, they have too
many. "The young ladies also visit the sick and
the aged; and Lucy has lately taken to
remonstrating with the few lazy and drunken fellows
in the village. About a year ago, she gave
me a little book of Scripture tales, of which I
am extremely fond; it is in English. Well, we
three Russians soon translated it into Russ,
intending to get it printed for circulation among
the peasants and their children. But you see,
at my last confession I had to tell the priest
what I and my girls had done. He saw the
manuscript, and prohibited the publication."

"And will you not publish it?"

"Oh no; it would be wrong. I dare not.
It is as much as I can do, to get the school
carried on. But come here into this corner; I
want to tell you about Lucy. That young lady
has a strong determined character, and must
have been trained in good principles. During
the first three months she was in my family, she
effected a great change in it. You know how
abjectly the peasants behave when they ask a
favour or receive one?"

"Yes; they cross themselves, bow down their
heads level with their heels, kiss your feet,
grovel on the very ground, and kiss the earth
you walk on."

"So it is, and we are so much accustomed
to it that this servility seems natural. They
will do it to our children when occasion requires,
crawling and grovelling before them. Poor
young things, what can they imagine but that
the abject souls are dogs and pigs compared
with themselves? I have seen one little fellow,
not disposed to grant a request to a great
sprawling man, join to his denial a kick in the
face. Well! One day after Lucy had been a short
time here, two male peasants came in and began
their prostrations before the young girls; they
had a petition to make to me, and wished
for their intercession. Sanya, although she is
a good girl, took it quite in order, as part of
her natural birthright. Not so Lucy; I was
in the next room, and heard her say, 'Get up,
men, and stand on your feet like human beings;