Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 June 1877 — Seditious Socialist Tracts in Russia. [ARTICLE]

Seditious Socialist Tracts in Russia.

pssr£|rs eS&B sorship, some of them fwrvljd Up.tnoorBrothore.’^&T'will 'lertte as a good specimen of Its kina- ' There were once four brother*, lr begin*, wtto livid in a-great forest, unconscious of the existence of other Hoiks. But at laatdhe day they chased fe bear to the topdf* mountain, fiyjn-which they got their first viewofShe ▼tHXgee and homesteads, and ipen tiU the soil. So they determined to explore the new land which lay before them, and to make «c----quintance with the way* of civilized men. The first man they met strongly recommended them to go buck to their forest home, but they paid no attention to him. The next passer-by was a pilgrim, who sang, ah be went, ado leful shag, the burden of which was: I roamed all over Russia, groans the moujik sad From hunger he moans, from huqg«; > From Sbldjbe grpaqp, from ookl. 4 £ . Hearing this, the brothers took counsel together and resolved. to separate for a time and travel in different directions, and then Vo come together again and oontpare their accounts, so as to find out where men llvs most comfortably. •One of them, Iran, went northward- Coming to a village he was surprised to find the peasants hard at work beneath a blazing sun, while a landed proprietor was look-, ing lazily on. Venturing 6n an expostulation, all that he guinea was a flagging, whereby-“he at length understood that laws mean this, that the rich man may bully tge poor, and the poor man must pat up wills everything and always bold his peace, -and grovel, moreover, as 'the other’s feet.” A little latex he was told by an pld man, with whom he drank, all about the peasants; how they were serfs until they were freed by the Czar, *and how arbiters were appointed from among the gentry, who gave only bad land to the peasants, ana called in soldiers ’to shoot them if they complained. Musing on all this, Ivan went further. “ Many villages and towns did he visit; everywhere was life bitter to the peasant ana the workman." At last he witnessed a case of such oppression on the part of a village elder that the peasants mutinied. The police came, and seized Ivan es a ringleader, and he was sent to Siberia. Meanwhile the second brother, Stepan, had gone south. There one day he found an official arbiter attempting to force some villagers to accept the worthless land he wished to allot to them as their share. As ■they refused to agree, the arbiter called in soldiers, who attacked the people. In the tight which ensued a young soldier killed hi? father. Horror-stnick at the sight of the old man’s blood;-the soldier turned and slew the arbiter whose orders had brought about she ’ parricidal deed! The other soldiers were then beaten off by ithe villagers, whom Stepan proceeded to lharangue, saying that the sdldiers ought to make common cause with the people, and all Russia ought to rise in simultaneous rebellion, and not go trusting to the Czar. “It seems to pad * shame that so many millions of men should be able to ■do nothing else for themselves, but should go on trusting in some one'else.” But the peasants merely replied: 11 We’ll hand vjou over to the authorities foreuch apeeches.” And at last they dideo, and Stepan was sentto Siberia as a rebel. The third brother, Dernian, had visited the cities of Eastern Russia, and there worked hard. But, however much he toiled, he never could do more than barely support ••existence. Money he could fey no means acquire, for the employers of labor .kept it all for themselves. One day he was present when some villagers refused to pay their faxes, saying they were too poor to do so.” A priest was sent for, who urged them to obey the authorities, whereupon .Dernian argued the point with him, and the result Was that he also was sent to Si-; beria. Thither also; about the sameftime, was the' fourth brother sent He had, besu »p delighted by the sightof a tnGnasS, with-its White walls, and green roofs, glided domes, rising amid trees on a ; .cliff above i river, and so struck by the interior in whfefe pilgrim? knsltjknd monks sang, and taper* hnrned, :aud iaceifse Wiofed, that hduaked leave ito fivelndt as a servaflt,- thinking it a kind •of sacred paradise. Bat, to- his horrbr, iheToind thit the monks wste dissolute ihkteoalue& and the abbot an impestor who meohanjcnl means to Jftaw tearsfram *OO eyOs of a “ miraculous picture*’ and nabney from 'the pockets of the - faithfUlattempting to. reveal this and similar seized by the people, and seafnibte his three brothore, to 8iten row! leading*;” fiwn dear mother ißusaS to step motti&HSibefia,” tile left* broth<ss met again. Comparing their'fixpefiehcea they came tp the conclusion that nowhere was there to Be found a pl«ne ill whldh the poor .Jive happily. But ithe timet would come, KejrSH agreed, when ithe people would rise » revolt, and their temtessors would be qxeffthtpwa, and the poffr man would be able Jt> IJve ad his ease. .Thie'eupon.ihey all foqr aiade good their eehawe. Aitd from that tune forth (thus enflffithe stogy) they have been traversintfptissia, evfr rousing the peasants, inviting tlem to fine bloody feast. They Wandfcr Jfortli, Sootfi, East and West. Nobody knows them, no eye sees them, but all can hear thtte loud-sounding voieu and at the sound of that voice the peasant takes courage, lifts up his downcast head; feels his doU-.spriag like a fountain within hiwAd U «a2y to ttand up for hls frasdam from taxes. And when t^ey