Chapter 7 "Farmer" VII

seven The master arrived in his carriage--that's what the village called the District Police Chief.When and why he came, everyone knew a week ago.There are only forty households in Zhukovo Village, but they owe more than two thousand in taxes to the government and the Zemstvo. The chief of the district police station took a rest in the tavern first, drank two cups of green tea as a "reward", and then walked to the village chief's house, where a group of farmers who owed taxes were already waiting outside the house.The mayor, Antip Sedelnikov, despite his youth—he was only in his early thirties—was stern and always defended his superiors, even though he himself was poor and could not pay his taxes on time.Apparently he relished being mayor, liked the idea that he had power, and that power was sternness, and he didn't know how else to show it.At the village meeting, everyone was afraid of him, and he had the final say.Sometimes, in the street or near a tavern, he would suddenly shout at a drunk, tie his hands behind his back, and put him in the detention cell.Once he even locked up the old woman for a day and a night, because she came to the village meeting instead of Osip and cursed at the meeting.He has never lived in the city, and he has never studied, but he has got a lot of esoteric words from somewhere, and he likes to use them in his speech. For this reason, he is respected by the villagers, even though others cannot understand them. What means.

Ossip walked into the village headman's cabin with his tax book.The head of the district police, a thin old man with long gray sideburns and a gray uniform, was sitting at the table in the upper seat and writing something.The room was clean, and the four walls were covered with colorful pictures torn from magazines.In the most conspicuous place next to the icon, there is a portrait of the former Bulgarian Grand Duke Batenbeck ②.The mayor, Antip Sedelnikov, stood at the table with his arms folded. ①In the Russian farmhouse, the place where the icon is placed on it. ② Batenbeck (1857-1893), Prince of Germany, served as Grand Duke of Bulgaria in 1879. He was pro-German and Austrian. In 1886, under the pressure of pro-Russian military officers, he was forced to abdicate.

"My lord, he owes one hundred and nineteen rubles," said Osip, when it was his turn. "He paid a ruble before Easter, and he hasn't paid a penny since that day." The district police chief looked up at Osip and asked: "Why is that, fellow?" "Please, my lord," Osip said excitedly, "let me say a few words. The old man from the village of Lyutorets said to me last year: "Osip, sell your hay... to me. . 'Why not?I have a hundred poods of hay to sell, which are mowed in the pasture by some women.Okay, we negotiated the price...it was good, consensual..."

He complained about the village chief, turning to look at the peasants from time to time, as if he wanted to invite them to testify.His face was flushed, his forehead was sweating, and his eyes became sharp and fierce. "I don't understand what you're talking about?" said the district police chief. "I'm asking you...I just ask you why you don't pay the money you owe? You all don't pay. Do you want me to take the responsibility for you?" "I can't get it out!" "There's no reason for that, my lord," said the mayor. "It's true that the Chikildeyevs belong to the poor class, but ask the rest, it's all the vodka's fault, a gang of rogues. They Nothing."

The district police chief made a note of something, and then said to Ossip calmly, as if asking for a glass of water: "Go ahead." The district police chief quickly left.He got into a cheap four-wheeled carriage, coughing, and looking at his long and thin back, it could be seen that at this moment he had forgotten Osip, the mayor, and the debtors of Zhukovo. Money, he was thinking about his own thoughts.He hadn't gone a mile when Antip Sedelnikov took away the Chikildeyevs' samovar, and the old woman ran after her, screaming with all her might: "Don't take it away! I won't let you take it away, you devil!"

The village chief strode fast, and the old grandmother, hunchbacked, furious, panting, staggered after him, her kerchief falling to her shoulders, her white hair tinged with green, blown by the wind. fluttering in.She stopped suddenly, like a real rioter, beat her chest with her fists, drew out her voice, screamed louder, and wailed: "Orthodox Christians, you who believe in God! God, they oppress! Folks, they oppress! O, O, good people, avenge me!" "Grandma, grandma," snapped the village chief, "don't make trouble without reason!" Chikildeyev's house became very dull without the samovar.To have the samovar taken away was as degrading and unseemly as the family's reputation had suddenly been discredited.It would have been better if the mayor had taken away the table and the stools, and all the bottles, so that the house would have seemed emptier.The old grandmother cried out, Maria wept, and all the little girls looked at them and cried too.The old man felt ashamed, and sat in the corner of the room dejectedly without saying a word.Nicholas had nothing to say.The old grandma always loved and pitied him, but now she forgot to be considerate, and suddenly kept yelling at him, scolding him, and kept shaking her fist in his face.She scolded loudly, said it was all his fault, and bragged in her letters that she received fifty rubles a month at the "Slavic Market", but actually sent very little money home. Why?Why did he come home with his family?If he dies, where can we get money to bury him? ... Nicholas, Olga, and Sasha looked so pitiful.

The old man coughed, picked up his hat, and went to the village chief.It was dark.Antip Sedelnikov was soldering something by the stove with puffed cheeks.The house smells of gas.His children were thin, unwashed, and crawled on the floor, not much better than the Chikildeyevs.Her wife was ugly, with freckles and a big belly spinning silk.This is a poor and unfortunate family.Only Antip looked young and handsome.On the bench stood a row of five samovars.The old man said a prayer to Batenbeck and said: ① The Bulgarian Grand Duke Batenbeck's portrait was hung next to the icon, and Osip made a mistake in his busy schedule.

"Antip, have mercy, and give me back the samovar! For Christ's sake!" "Bring three rubles, and you will take it." "I can't get it out!" Antip puffed up his cheeks from time to time, and the fire would whistle and crackle, and the samovars would be reddened by the light of the fire.The old man rubbed his hat, thought for a while, and said: "Give it back to me!" The village head with tanned skin is now black all over, like a wizard.He turned to Osip and spoke quickly and sharply: "This has to be decided by the local governor. On the 26th of this month, you can go to the executive meeting to express your dissatisfaction verbally or in writing."

Osip could not understand him at all, so he called it a day and went home. More than ten days later, the chief of the district police station came again, sat there for an hour, and then left by car.In those days, the wind was strong and cold, the river was already frozen, and the snow did not fall, but the road was difficult to walk, which made everyone distressed.One day, on a festival evening, the neighbors came to Osip's house to sit and chat.They were talking in the dark room, the lights were not lit because no work was supposed to be done during the festival.There were a few pieces of news, but they were all unpleasant.For example, the roosters of two or three families were caught to repay their debts and sent to the township office, where they died because no one fed them.Another example is that some sheep were taken away from several families. They tied up the sheep and loaded them on carts to transport them away. Every time they reached a village, they changed to a cart. As a result, one sheep was smothered to death.Now there is a question to be answered: whose germanium passed?Who is to blame?

"It's the Zemstvo!" said Osip, "it's not who it is!" "No, the Zemstvo is to blame." They blamed the Zemstvo for everything from debts, oppression, poor harvests, etc., although none of them knew what was going on with the Zemstvo.This has been the case for a long time.Some well-to-do peasants opened their own factories, small shops and inns, and became members of the Zemstvo, but they were still dissatisfied, and later cursed the Zemstvo in their factories and shops. They also talked about God's not snowing: they should have gone to transport firewood, but the road is now full of potholes, cars can't drive, people can't walk.Come on, fifteen or twenty years ago, the conversations of the people in Zhukovo were much more interesting.At that time, every old man had such an expression on his face, as if he was hiding some secret in his heart, knew something, and hoped for something.They talk of documents with golden seals, divisions of land, new lands, and buried treasure; what is implied in their words; no one in Zhukovo now has a secret, and their whole life is in the palm of their hand , everyone can see, and all they can talk about is poverty and fodder, and why doesn't it snow in the sky...

They were silent for a moment.Then I remembered about the rooster and the sheep, and started talking about whose fault it was. "Zemstvo!" said Osip despondently, "it's not to blame!" Eight The parish church is in the village of Kosogorovo, six versts away.Farmers go there only when needed, for baptisms, weddings, funerals.Usually pray to the church across the river on the line.When it comes to festivals, when the weather is good, the girls dress up and go to mass in groups.They wore red, yellow, and green dresses and walked across the pastures, making people happy to see them.But in case of bad weather, they had to stay at home.On fasting days, they go to the parish church for confession and communion.During the week after Easter the priest went through all the farmhouses bearing the cross and charged fifteen kopeks each for not going to church on Lent. The old man didn't believe in God, so he almost never thought about him.He admits that there is magic, but he thinks it's only about women.When someone talked about religion or miracles in front of him, and asked him some questions, he would always scratch his head and answer unwillingly: "Who knew this!" The old lady believed in God, but she was a bit confused.All the things in her mind were mixed together, and as soon as she thought of sin, death, and salvation of the soul, suddenly poverty, and all kinds of worries came in again, and she immediately forgot what she was thinking just now.She couldn't remember the prayer words, and usually before going to bed at night, she stood in front of the icon and whispered: "Our Lady of Kazan, Our Lady of Smolensk, Our Lady of Three Arms..." Maria and Fiocla often cross themselves and fast every year, but they don't understand anything.The children were not taught to pray, and the adults did not teach them about God, nor did they teach them any rules, except that they were forbidden to eat meat during Lent.The rest of the family was pretty much the same: few who believed, and even fewer who knew the rules.And at the same time everybody loves the Bible, fondly and reverently, but they have no books, no one reads the Bible, talks about the Bible.Olga sometimes read the Gospel, and everyone respected her for that, and addressed both her and Sasha respectfully as "thou". Olga often goes to neighboring villages and county towns to participate in church naming festivals and thanksgiving prayers. There are two monasteries and twenty-six churches in the county town.On the way to the pilgrimage, she was always distracted and completely forgot about her family. It was only when she returned to the village that she was pleasantly surprised to find that she had a husband and a daughter, so she said with a beaming smile: "God has blessed me!" What happened in the village disgusted and pained her.The peasants drank on the Feast of Ilia, drank on the Feast of the Assumption, and drank again on the Feast of the Cross.The Feast of Our Lady of Pius is a diocesan festival, on which the peasants of Zhukovo drink wine for three days.Not only did they drink up the fifty rubles of the public money, but they went from door to door to collect money for the drinks.On the first day, the Chikildeyev family slaughtered a ram and ate three meals of mutton in the morning, noon and evening.They ate a lot, and at night the children got up and ate a little more.During these three days Kiriak was so drunk that he drank all his possessions and exchanged his hat and boots for wine.He beat Maria so hard that she passed out and the family had to pour water on her head.Everyone felt ashamed and disgusted afterwards. ① Orthodox holiday, on July 2nd in the Russian lunar calendar. ②October 1st in the Russian lunar calendar. However, even in a "slave village" like Zhukovo, there is a real religious festival once a year.It was August, and all over the county, from village to village, people greeted the life-giving Madonna.On the day that Zhukovo Village was looking forward to, it happened that there was no wind and the sky was gloomy.Early in the morning, the girls put on bright and beautiful dresses to welcome the holy image. In the evening, people carried the holy image, cross and banners, and sang hymns, and entered the village. The church bells were ringing.Crowds of people from the village and people from other villages filled the street, noisy, dusty, crowded... Be it the old man, the old lady, or Kiriak, everyone stretched out their hands to the icon and looked longingly at it. it, crying: "Protector, Holy Mother! Protector!" Everyone seems to suddenly understand that there is no void between heaven and earth, and that the rich and powerful have not taken everything away. Although they are bullied and enslaved, suffer unbearable poverty, and suffer from the scourge of terrible vodka, there is The gods are protecting them. "God of protection, the Holy Mother!" Maria howled and cried, "O Holy Mother!" But after the prayer of thanksgiving was finished, the icon was carried away again.Everything was back to normal, and the rude shouts of drunks came from the tavern from time to time. Only rich peasants are afraid of death. The richer they are, the less they believe in God and the word of salvation.They light candles and say prayers only out of fear of death, just in case.Poor peasants are not afraid of death.People say in front of old men and granny's that they've lived too long to die, and they don't mind.They also told Fiokla without any scruples in front of Nikolai that when Nikolai died, her husband Dennis could be taken care of—retired and went home.As for Maria, not only was she not afraid of death, she even wished she could die sooner.She was glad that her children were dead. They are not afraid of death, but they overestimate all kinds of diseases.It turned out to be some minor illness, such as gastrointestinal disorders, or catching a little cold, the old woman immediately lay down on the stove, covered her tightly, and began to moan loudly and non-stop: "I'm going to die!" The old man hurried to ask The priest and the grandmother received communion and received the anointing ceremony before dying.They often spoke of colds, of roundworms, of induration, that the roundworms roiled in the stomach and clumped up to the heart.They are most afraid of catching a cold, so even in summer they wear thick clothes and keep warm on the stove.The grandmother likes to see a doctor, and often goes to the hospital by car, where she is said to be fifty-eight years old, not seventy years old.In her opinion, if the doctor knew her actual age, he would not treat her, but would just say: She should die, she doesn't need any treatment.She usually left for the hospital early in the morning, and brought two or three little granddaughters with her, and came back at night, hungry and angry, and brought back medicine for herself and ointment for her little granddaughter.Once she took Nikolay with her, and he drank the potion for two weeks afterwards and kept saying he felt better. The old woman knew all the physicians, healers, and witch doctors for a radius of thirty versts, but none of them satisfied her.On the Feast of Our Lady of Refuge, when the priest walked through all the farmhouses holding a cross, the deacon told her that there lived a little old man near the prison in the city, who had been a doctor in the army and was a good doctor, and advised her to see him.The grandmother listened to his advice.After the first snow fell, she drove into the city and brought back a little old man.The man with the beard, the veins all over his face, and the robe was an Orthodox Jew.At that time, the family was hiring a few hired workers: an old tailor wearing a pair of scary glasses made a waistcoat out of rags, and two young boys made felt boots out of wool.Kyriak lost his job because of alcoholism and now lives at home.He sat next to the tailor fixing the harness around the horse's neck.The room was crowded and stuffy, and there was a foul smell.The Jews checked Nicholas and said that he needed cupping and bleeding. He puts on many jars.The old tailor, Kiriak, and the little girls stood watching, and it seemed to them that they saw the disease streaming from Nikolay.Nikolai himself watched the jars attached to his chest slowly fill with thick black blood, and felt that something had really escaped from him, so he smiled happily. "That will do," said the tailor, "thank God, if it works." After the Jews pulled out twelve jars, they put in another twelve.After drinking enough tea, he drove away.Nikolay began to tremble, his face thinned, as the women said, to the size of a fist, and his fingers turned blue.He covered himself with a quilt and put on a sheepskin jacket, but he still felt colder and colder.In the evening he cried out in distress, told them to put him on the floor, told the tailor not to smoke, and then lay quietly under his sheepskin coat, and died before dawn. Nine Oh, what a harsh, what a long winter! After Christmas, my family had run out of food, so I had to buy flour.It was pitiful to see Kiriak now living at home, with his nightly quarrels and frights, and his morning pains with headaches and shame.In the corral, day and night, the hungry cow wailed and wailed, which broke the hearts of Granny and Maria.It seemed to be a deliberate embarrassment, and the weather was always cold and the trees were rattling, with thick snow and high snowdrifts everywhere, and the winter dragged on for a long time.There was a real winter blizzard on the Feast of the Annunciation, and another snow on Easter. ① Orthodox festival, on March 25th in the Russian lunar calendar, it is said that the angel told the Virgin on this day: Jesus will be born. But anyway, winter is finally over.In early April, the days became warmer and the nights remained cold.Winter refused to give up, but the warm spring weather finally won the battle. Finally, the ice and snow melted, the river ran, and the birds sang.The entire pasture and bushes by the river were submerged in the flooded spring water, and from Zhukovo village to the other side of the river became a swampy land. From time to time, flocks of wild ducks took off and landed on the water.The setting sun in spring is like fire like tea, reflecting the colorful clouds all over the sky. Every night, it creates a new picture that is different from usual. It is so wonderful. When you see the same color and the same cloud in the picture in the future , is simply unbelievable. The crane flew very fast, whining loudly, as if calling for its companions.Olga stood on the edge of the slope, looking for a long time at the overflowing spring water, at the sun, at the bright church that seemed to have grown younger, she couldn't help shedding tears, she was so excited that she couldn't breathe.She eagerly wanted to leave here and go anywhere, even the ends of the earth.It had been decided at home that she should return to Moscow as a maid, and that Kiriak should go with her to find porter or other work there.OK, let's go! When the road changed a bit and the weather warmed up, they set out on the road.Olga and Sasha each carried Xingyi and wore bark shoes, and set off before dawn.Maria came out to see them off.Kiriak will have to stay at home for another week because of his poor health.Olga crossed herself facing the church for the last time and prayed silently.She thought of her husband, but she didn't cry, but her face was wrinkled and ugly like an old woman's.This winter, she became thinner and uglier, her hair was a little gray, her face no longer had the lovely look and happy smile of the past, and after suffering the pain of losing her husband, she only had a sad resigned expression.Her eyes were dull and fixed, as if she were deaf.She was reluctant to leave the village and these farmers.She recalled the scene of Nicholas being carried away, that there were requiem prayers beside the farmhouses, and everyone sympathized with her grief and cried with her. In summer and winter, there were often times when these people lived as if Worse than cattle, it is terrible to live with them.They were rude, dishonest, dirty, drunk; they were not on good terms, and quarreled constantly, because instead of respecting each other, they were afraid and suspicious of each other.Who opened the tavern and got the villagers drunk?farmer.Who squandered the public funds of village communities, schools, and churches, exchanging the money for drinks?farmer.Who stole from a neighbor's house, set fire to it, and perjured himself in court for a bottle of vodka?Who was the first to speak out against the peasants at Zemstvo and other meetings?Still a farmer.It is true that it is terrible to live with them, but they are human beings, they suffer and weep just like everyone else, and there is nothing in their lives that cannot be excused.The heavy labor made them sore at night, the severe winter, the poor harvest of food, and the crowded housing, but no one helped them, and there was nowhere to wait for help.Those who were richer and more powerful than they were could not help them, because they were themselves rude, dishonest, drunk, and swearing just as badly.Those petty officials and local governors treated the peasants like tramps, and they even addressed the village chiefs and church leaders with "you", thinking they had the right to do so.As for those greedy, miserly, dissolute, and lazy people, they come to the countryside only to oppress, plunder, and scare the peasants. How can they talk about helping the peasants or setting a good example?Olga recalled how pitiful and humiliating the two old men had looked when Kyriak was taken to punish him with a tree last winter!Now she felt sorry for all these people and felt sorry for them, so she kept looking back at the cabins as she walked. After sending off three versts, Maria began to say good-bye, then knelt down, kowtowed, and cried aloud: "I am left alone again, wretched man, how miserable, how unfortunate..." She cried like this for a long time. Every time Olga and Sasha turned their heads, they could always see her kneeling on the ground, holding her head in her hands, kowtowing to someone next to her.Several rooks circled above her. The sun was high and the weather was hot.The village of Zhukovo lagged far behind.The walk was pleasant, and Olga and Sasha soon forgot about the village and Maria.They cheered up, and everything around them aroused their interest.Sometimes a mound appears; sometimes a row of telephone poles, one after the other, stretches out into nowhere, and finally disappears on the horizon, the wires on them humming mysteriously; Small villages, from which there is a smell of dampness and marijuana, which somehow gives the impression that happy people live there; sometimes the bones of a horse lie alone in the fields.The skylark sang incessantly, the calls of the quail echoed each other, and a crake blew intermittently, as if someone were actually pulling an old iron door knocker. At noon, Olga and Sasha came to a large village.In a broad street they met a little old man, General Zhukov's cook.He felt hot, and his sweaty, red bald head glistened in the sun.Neither he nor Olga recognized each other immediately, and then they both turned their heads and looked at each other for a while. After recognizing each other, they went their separate ways without saying a word.They stopped in front of a more luxurious and newer wooden house, and Olga bowed deeply to the open window and said loudly in a soft, singing voice: "Orthodox Christians, for Christ's sake, give some charity, and ask God to bless you, and may your parents rest in peace in heaven." "Orthodox people," Sasha sang, "for Christ's sake, give alms, and God bless you, and keep your parents in heaven..." April 1897