Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: October 9, 2025
I was finishing this book, which I had been working at for two years, when I happened on the 9th of September to be traveling by rail through the governments of Toula and Riazan, where the peasants were starving last year and where the famine is even more severe now.
As an illustration of the illusions in which the peasantry indulged at this time, I may mention here one of the many characteristic incidents related to me by gentlemen who had served as Arbiters of the Peace. In the province of Riazan there was one Commune which had acquired a certain local notoriety for the obstinacy with which it refused all arrangements with the proprietor.
"What is it?" drily inquires the woman from Riazan. "Should you like a taste of water-melon?" "I should, thank you." Thereupon, Konev begins to make his way towards the voice. "Yes, bread, soft wheaten bread such as you " Here the other woman whines in beggar fashion: "And give ME a taste, too." "Oh, yes, I will. But where the devil are you?" "And a taste of melon as well?" "Yes, certainly. Hullo!
Meanwhile from the women's corner there comes a soft, intermittent whispering; and as it continues to filter through the darkness, I strain my ears until I succeed in catching a few of the words uttered, and can distinguish at least the voices of the whisperers. The woman from Riazan mutters firmly, and with assurance: "Never ought you to show that it hurts you."
Vainly, at the same time, the woman from Riazan is prodding the assailant in the back, whilst her female companion is shrieking, and the crowd at large has leapt to its feet, and, collected into a knot, is shouting gleefully, "THAT'S the way! THAT'S the way!" "Five!" the fair-headed peasant counts. "Why are you doing this?" the prostrate man protests. "Six!"
Though abandoned by the princes of Tchernigoff and the grand prince George II, of whom they had implored help, the dynasty of Riazan accepted the unequal struggle. They were completely crushed; nearly all their princes remained on the field of battle. Legend has embellished their fall.
Yet before he occupied it, he showed the real principles that actuated him, proved how true had been Boris's conclusion. He ordered the arrest and degradation of the Patriarch who had denounced and excommunicated him, and in his place appointed Ignatius, Bishop of Riazan, a man suspected of belonging to the Roman communion.
Presently the tall man strides towards the fair-headed peasant, deals him a single blow which knocks him from the back of the young fellow, and, turning to the crowd, says with an informing air: "THAT'S how we do it in Tambov!" "Brutes! Villains!" screams the woman from Riazan, as she bends over the young fellow.
"Nothing, sir," replied the waiter, bowing, "except that last night there arrived a military lieutenant. He has got room number sixteen." "A lieutenant?" "Yes. He came from Riazan, driving three grey horses." On entering his room, Chichikov clapped his hand to his nose, and asked his valet why he had never had the windows opened. "But I did have them opened," replied Petrushka.
Here they are one with his scanty beard and patched coat and plaited shoes of reed, just like the father left at home in Kazan or Riazan province; one with gray beard and bent back, leaning on a staff like the old grandfather; one, a young fellow in boots and a red shirt, just as he was himself a year ago he, the soldier who must fire upon him.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking