Love: the reward : A novel

Preface

. I" O "*' S|^N this novel, I have attempted to give a tej\_. sketch ofthe Russian people, and especially gr^* of those who are desirous of effecting some change in the government of their country. I write of the present day, and for the present generation which condemns every liberal Russian politician, whose enemies call him a Nihilist. Turgenev allowed his Nihilists to say that it was their duty to destroy : he should rather have said that it was their duty to deny — that there was any efficacy in the panaceas for the ills of Russia, which the quacks of the early reform period proposed. Englishmen should no more judge the Nihilists by the pictures drawn by an aristocrat, than a Russian should gather his knowledge of English society from " Vanity Fair." The best apology I can offer for the appearance of this novel is that I can promise the

PREFACE.

. reader a vivid description of the Russians and of Russia ; and I have a tale to tell, which I beg the critics and the public to allow me to place before them. I am much indebted to many Russian works, to the " Times " newspaper, and to many books descriptive of Russia and of the Russians, written in English, French, or German. For the plot, and for the second and third volumes, I am entirely responsible. Mr. T. Aubrey Bryne, of Boston, shares with me the responsibility for the first volume, and to him the copyright belongs in the United States. Philip May.

Chapter I. All The World

'S A STAGE. RILOFF, the fabulist, in his " Panegyric in Memory of my Grandfather," gives us a sketch of one of the hereditary nobles reigning supreme upon his estate, in the days when no one dared to dispute his authority. You visit the estate, you observe the hungry looks of the peasantry, crowded together in filthy hovels, and you fancy that there must be a famine in the VOL. I. B land ; but when you visit the nobleman, and behold the table loaded with plentiful and sumptuous fare, your fears are dispelled. The host can boast of a long line of noble ancestors, who have in various ways made themselves so illustrious that it is unnecessary for him, or for generations of his descendants, to trouble themselves about doing anything for their country. When this noble was a boy, his father gave him a spaniel, and he amused himself by pinching the dog's ears, until the animal turned round and bit his hand.

" My dear child," remonstrated the father, " have you not enough serfs ? You may pinch, scratch, or bite them, with impunity. Dogs are such stupid brutes ; they will not allow themselves to be hurt without biting in revenge." Neither the estate nor the owner about to be described will much resemble the typical one of Kriloff; but then Ivan Ivanovitch Alexandroff was a Liberal. He had been banished to his estate in consequence of the part he took in the insurrection of 1825 ; he was discontented, and had peculiar notions and ideas as to the rights of men ; and he considered the serf a higher animal than the dog or horse. The proprietors and their estates near Iksan were more like those described by Kriloff; they cared for their horses and dogs, sometimes indulging in sentimental feelings for these creatures, whilst the " souls " cared for themselves, when their noble barrin* could spare them the time.

The village of Iksan was the property of Ivan Ivanovitch Alexandroff. The manor house, the only building of any importance upon the estate, was a large stone edifice of two storeys, and any one driving along the high-road would observe its size and ugliness. The carriage-drive, from the village to the residence, looked very bare ; for the owner had sold the timber when he was enjoying life in St. Petersburg, and since his youth, he had put off the planting of young trees from day to day, and from year to year. The village church was small, and a part of it * Lord. LOVE : THE REWARD. 4 was railed off, that the proprietor, his family, and his friends, might pray unobserved by the eyes of meaner mortals. The partition also served to conceal the absence of Ivan Ivanovitch Alexan droff from his serfs, as the part of the church reserved for his use was seldom occupied.

This nobleman, however, was not a bad man, for he gave the customary tithes to the village pope* on natal days and church festivals, and he allowed his " souls "f to fast upon the some two hundred fast-days appointed by the Greek calen dar. The cottages of the serfs were upon both sides ofthe road. They were built of logs, or of stakes and plaited withes, covered with clay. In each there would be a stove, a wooden seat or two, a box, a couch perhaps, and certainly a picture of the Virgin, treated by all the inmates with reverential awe. The size of the buildings varied ; but none of them were large, though some would contain a * Russian priests are called popes. t The popular name for serfs. grandfather, a grandmother, and all their descend ants, except married daughters and their children.

The serfs were not totally destitute of rights ; they were persons attached to the soil. Their early history serves to explain their position. When land could be obtained by settling upon it, the Slav peasantry was much given to roaming, and villagers were easily tempted to leave their settlements by golden reports of fertile plains ahead. Each little community was at first a self governing body, and had a village council, con sisting of the head of each family, one of whom was elected " elder " or president by his fellows. The settlers were bound to afford mutual protection against the assaults of men and wild beasts ; they worked together in clearing the land of trees, which they used for building their log-huts ; and they made roads and prepared the soil for agriculture, each working for the benefit of the community.

When the land was prepared for tillage it was divided, and each family received as much as its members could cultivate, whilst the portion LOVE : THE REWARD. reserved for grazing was generally held in com mon. The wealth of chieftains, where these could be found, depended little upon the quality of the soil, and still less upon the extent of the estate, but chiefly upon the number settled upon it ; so they sent out agents to attract those cultivating the public lands by glowing accounts of the fertility of their soil, which the peasants might cultivate, two-thirds for their own benefit, and one-third for the benefit of the lord. The peasants in these communes ruled them selves in the same manner as those who had settled upon unoccupied land. The village council, with the chosen elder as president, distributed the land and the burden upon the land; and like the more fortunate rentless settlers, they were free to leave their holdings, and to wander away into a district not yet reclaimed from Nature.

This was in early times. Then serfdom was imposed upon them. At first, settlers had to pay a capitation tax to the local governments, which the little communities, having little or no friendly intercourse with one another, were unable to resist. It was the right of might ; in the case of those who had pitched their tents upon unoccupied and unclaimed soil, the first step— in the case of the others, the second step towards slavery. Governments and landowners were desirous of retaining the settlers, upon whom the state burdens rested, and upon whom the nobles depended for their wealth. It was the right of might once more. Ukases were issued to prevent the peasant population wandering from place to place ; and thus the settler was attached to the land, and consequently reduced to serfdom. Some rights still remained to him, and at first he was in a better position than the Latin slave in the time of Justinian ; for the communities still held the land, without which he could not be sold ; but the Russian laws referring to serfs in force during the reign of Nicholas, which lasted from 1825 to 1855, were in many respects similar to those in the code of Justinian.

LOVE : THE REWARD. In Russia, as previously in Italy, the difference between master and slave was not embittered by prejudices of race or colour. Serf and noble were of the same race ; but the Russian master seldom educated his serfs to fill posts of confidence in his family, as the Romans had been accustomed to do. Laws were made by pious and merciful Russian, as by Roman, emperors, for the amelioration of the condition of the slave ; but the laws referring to serfs were generally disregarded in Russia. Paul restricted the peasant labour for the lord to three days a week, but the law did not prevent the lord forcing his serfs to work six, or even seven, days a week, at his good pleasure. The law of Nicholas against the division of families, when inheritances were to be divided, was also set at nought.

There was law and tradition to say that the serf was attached to the glebe; still the proprietors did not hesitate, even during the reign of Nicholas, to advertise that they had serfs to let for a term of ninety-nine years. The serfs were entirely in the power of the nobles, for the knout could give its answer to the knave who dared to speak of his rights or his wrongs to his lord ; and he could not avail him self of the protection, to which the law entitled him. The noble, in petty cases, had the administration of justice _in his own hands ; but cases of importance were tried by a judge, elected by the local nobility, who depended for his emolument upon the bribes which he could obtain for the administration of justice or injustice. Justice was blind ; she could not see that the scales were unevenly balanced, or that the sword was blunt.

Occasionally a landowner was sent to Siberia for cruelty to his serfs ; but the more merciful were often those sentenced to exile, and generally a friend or relation at Court would come to take possession of the estate, and to treat the serfs with greater cruelty. Ivan Ivanovitch Alexandroff remembered this, and acted with the caution necessary of one already under the suspicion of the Government. LOVE : THE REWARD. At first, Alexandroff proposed to give his serfs some sort of instruction ; then the Governor called, and the idea was abandoned. The Govern or stayed the night ; Alexandroff produced a pack of cards, and lost a thousand roubles. The Governor afterwards paid him an annual visit, upon each of which Alexandroff, who never played cards except upon these occasions, lost a thousand roubles.

When the noble guest was taking his departure, he would shake Alexandroff's hand in a most friendly manner. He would also invite the boyard to pay him a visit at his residence ; but Alexandroff was a careful man, and never required this extraordinary and more expensive protection. There were several landed proprietors in the neighbourhood ; none of them, however, were influenced by any sentimental ideas or theories in the treatment of their serfs. There was Prince Kraptokin. He was of the highest hereditary rank ; nevertheless, he was poor ; and as he held no official post, and had no rank in the Tchin,* his title of prince was of little value. He only possessed about six hundred acres, and about fifty " souls." He was a hard master ; yet, with only twenty male adult serfs, it was difficult to provide for himself suitably, to pay the interest on the mortgage of his land and " souls," and the taxes to the Crown.

He desired to reform Russia. A Constitution would make Russia, he thought, much like France before the Revolution. He ob jected to paying taxes ; and it was radically wrong, he thought, that his high hereditary rank should fail to provide him with a fat sinecure ; for he felt himself capable of filling such a post, with honour and dignity to the chief person concerned. A general upon the retired list was a great man for discipline ; and his serfs did not lead a very enviable life. He made them almost perfect serfs ; then, one cold night, goaded to rebellion by his cruelty, they set his house on fire. To obtain his revenge, he paid the expenses of a journey to Siberia for those he deemed the ring-leaders ; and, * Civil Service. LOVE : THE REWARD. 12 as they were all bad, he flogged the rest, guilty or not guilty.

It taught them all a lesson ; except six of the more favoured ones, who were igno miniously discharged by the lash from the ranks of serfdom. There was a judge who had withdrawn from the bench. He bad not been even as honest as judges were then expected to be; that is to say, he took larger bribes than those to which his position entitled him. He had ceased to reside in the capital, because his superiors had brought some plausible charges against him. He was accused of selling his judgments, even against widows and children, and of other trifling irregu larities. He was disgusted with cities, with officials, with the whole world ; and he vented his spleen upon any poor erring serf who failed to call him " Your Excellency." Colonel Volynski was the richest man in the neighbourhood, and also the judge of the district court.

When a dispute arose between free men, he was the person to adjudicate the matter. He was systematic, and passing honest ; for he allowed both sides to pay him the same honorarium, and then delivered judgment as the merits of the case seemed to warrant. If he had taken an honorarium from one side only, and had given judgment ac cordingly, his judicial income would have been increased ; but he possessed broad acres and many " souls," and preferred to remain conscientious. When Ivan Ivanovitch Alexandroff ha,d passed some years at Iksan, a young noble, Lertoffski by name, came from Moscow, and settled on his paternal acres. He was a man of liberal ideas, and had imbibed largely of philosophy — ancient, French, German, and Turkish. He was a fatalist and a pessimist, an admirer of Voltaire, of Jean Jacques Rousseau, of the English Constitution, and of Turkish customs in regard to marriage.

Nicholas Petrovitch Lertoffski was rich, and his library was stocked with books, many of which were forbidden by the censor. He studied botany, and built a conservatory ; he wrote a little and studied much ; he erected a harem, and fitted it LOVE : THE REWARD. 14 up a la Turque; and as all these proceedings were contrary to law or custom, he returned the annual visit of the Governor. Alexandroff and Lertoffski soon became intimate friends, though they did not agree upon all subjects, especially upon gynarchy. Alexandroff was fond of children, but he was rather afraid of women. He compared a maiden to a pure white convolvulus, delicate and bright in the days of youth ; closing up and fading away when touched by the rude hand of man. There is a popular saying : " Marriages are made in Heaven."

Alexandroff had heard this, and was no sceptic ; yet whenever he was hard pressed to take a wife by one of his fellow-nobles, he would add to this proverbial expression : " But when women are married on earth they cease to be angels." Lertoffski did not disagree with his neighbour, as much as might naturally be expected of one who indulged so largely in matrimonial bliss. He had a mission to fulfil ; and as he could ALL THE WORLD 'S A STAGE. 15 not propagate his ideas at Moscow, he had come into the country, determined to educate and elevate the world, indirectly, by bringing his influence to bear upon his own family. The "wives" of Nicholas Petrovitch Lertoffski were certainly as virtuous as those of his neighbours. This, indeed, was not saying much for them, and much might have been said ; for the Slav peasant girls hold good character in great respect, and she whose fame is touched by ill reproach forfeits many ofthe honours ofthe wedding festival.

They sing songs of love, songs belonging to a golden age of innocence ; but to a lover they yield the love of the heart, not the maiden's purity. Nicholas Petrovitch was very kind to his peasant brides, and being young, handsome, and winning of manner, he won their love. He told them that in old Russia the boyards had always loved the fairest flowers of the earth ; he taught them to read, and he endeavoured to teach them a little history and philosophy — the rest he trusted to posterity. LOVE : THE REWARD. Lertoffski had great influence in determining the fate of Iksan and of its master. Alexandroff was very glad to make use of his neighbour's large library, containing many of the new books which crossed the Russian boundary in spite of Nicholas. The neighbours began to thee and thou one another.

Alexandroff softened his heart a little to the pretty fairies and fairylings whom he had once despised. He listened to the songs of his neighbour's nymphs, chanting of the joys of love ; he became a godfather ; he began to compare the relative charms of individuals, then finally ... a woman took compassion upon him. He married the daughter of a village pope ; this could be done, though it was contrary to ecclesias tical law for anyone but a young priest to marry a beneficed pope's daughter. Money appeased her father's fears of the law, and his superstitious veneration for the ordinances of the Church ; though his reverence did feel some pangs of conscience at first, whenever he had to cross his threshold after dark. But when the surplus stores of Iksan found their way to his humble abode with tolerable regularity, the terrors of the good man were allayed.

Ivan Ivanovitch Alexandroff was not very successful as a husband. The compassionate one had thoughts of St. Petersburg and Moscow, and it would have cost Alexandroff a large sum to obtain permission to leave his estate. It was not, however, so much of money that he thought, as of leaving his neighbour and his neighbour's new books on philosophy. Chiefly for philosophical reasons he had yielded himself to the bonds of Hymen ; but, for some cause or other, the com passionate one did not care to serve for a study. The new autocrat at Iksan relieved the house keeper of her keys. She attended more or less to the necessaries of the house, generally less; and the Iksan manor house was not so comfortable a habitation as before. There was new furniture, to be sure, but poor Ivan Ivan'itch* considered * Not so respectful as Ivanovitch.

C VOL. I. LOVE : THE REWARD. that the house was gayer in the olden time. When he would mention his exploits in 1825, she would tell him that she had no patience with rebellion. " You see, my dear Marsha," he would say, " if our soldiers had not mistaken the Constitution to be the wife of the Grand Duke Constantine, there is no knowing what might have happened." " A wife," she would answer, " is better than any Constitution ; a Constitution is not orthodox." When he read the poems of Ryleieff, she would say that he well deserved hanging, if it were only for being a sickly sentimentalist. She would add that the " little Father "* was only too merciful in sparing her husband and the rest of the insurgents who were neither hanged, nor transported to Siberia. As one may well observe, she gave herself all the airs of a Court Miss fresh from the capital, whilst she was, in fact, the daughter of the pope of a neighbouring village.

" ' On the last day of judgment, where will they be who shave their chins ? ' " the husband read to * The Czar is so called by the peasantry. his wife from one of the prohibited books belonging to Nicholas Petrovitch. " ' Will they be with the old believers who wear their beards ? No, they will stand aside with the beardless heretics.' " Ivan Ivanovitch, it may be remarked, had a fine beard ; but his beloved Marsha had heard that beards were not fashionable in St. Petersburg, and she was consequently unable to admire it. " Peter the Great had a right to do as he liked. He was the little Father ; it was perfectly or thodox," she answered. She had forced him to give up his pipe ; but she allowed him to smoke cigarettes, because Nicholas Petrovitch smoked them, and he, comparatively speaking, was a man of fashion.

She objected, however, to her husband driving over to see him, upon account of the harem. Peter the Great ordered that women should no longer be hidden away like a light under a bushel, she would say ; she supposed that Nicholas Petrovitch belonged to some sect, and she had no toleration for sects ; they were all heterodox and damnable. LOVE : THE REWARD. 20 She was a fairy Russalka, a graceful wood nymph, a fairy only made for beauty and sport, for gentleness and dainty cares ; and her Ivan and all rural Ivans were mortals, common and gross, and she longed to sip the sweet perfume of civiliz ation in towns, where perchance culture might be found, if only in such another buttercup. Nicholas Petrovitch was welcomed to Iksan, for he could tell her wonderful little anecdotes of civilized society ; and once he was kind enough to present her with a fashion journal that had come all the way from Paris.

He could manage her wonderfully. " Ah ! my friend," he would say, " dost thou not see that it only requires tact ? " " Women," Ivan Ivanovitch would answer, " are all very well in their way, without doubt, but their way is not my way. If I were in thy place, I should rejoice ; for thy women are thy serfs. I would give each of them an outfit, and pay their expenses to Siberia.* I would cease * The noble could send his serfs to Siberia by defraying the expenses. to sacrifice myself for the future benefit of my country ; but I would pack such an outfit for the serfs that they would all be eager to start." " As to my sacrifice and my ideas, thou canst not put thyself in my place. From senile barbarity, young and fresh vigour will spring, to dwell in the youthful breasts of a new people. There must be a new cycle of events, another volume of universal history.

With reference to thee, and thy cares, I cannot place myself as lord within thy halls, but if thou wouldst profit by my experience and philosophy, give thy female general the outfit, without the travelling expenses." During the reign of the female autocrat, the peasants found that there were two to entreat, instead of one. Peter, the moujik, came one day to beg for a cow. " Since your Excellency was good enough to allow me to marry, my wife has taken it into her head to long for a cow, with which to supply butter to the table of your Excellency." Alexandroff consulted the autocrat of Iksan. LOVE : THE REWARD. 22 She told him how many roubles he was to write in his book against the name of Peter and Peter's wife. "Mind," she added to Peter, "you will have the black cow Ivanovna, and I shall know how much butter to expect, so don't say she is not a good milker."

Peter kissed the sleeve of his master's coat, for Alexandroff was a Liberal, and liked not over-much humility in a man ; but the lady was orthodox, and loved the good old times ; so Peter was taught to show proper respect to his noble lord ; and had to plump down on his knees to kiss the master's boots, that he might more suitably show his reverence for the husband of his mistress. When Peter escaped from the manor house, he remarked to a fellow-moujik, " What a woman it is ! By the butter and eggs she wants, one would tthink she wished to feed all her unborn descendants ! " In due time her descendants were ushered into the world, with due pomp ; and the pope, the moujiks, and all the society of the neighbourhood were feasted. First there was a boy, then a girl, then another girl. There were feasts on the name days, but the poor moujiks had no share in this feast ing; the pope and society were invited, because that was customary and, socially speaking, necessary.

The poor mother could not endure the inevit able trials of her state, and those which cruel Ivan thoughtlessly imposed upon her. The domestic serfs were the worst of their kind possible ; they never could understand baby, and as to imitating the costumes in the fashion journal which Nicholas Petrovitch had given her, they were wofully incapable. It was, she thought, a good deal of ignorance and stupidity, combined with any amount of stubbornness. The troubles and trials of life oppressed her far too heavily ; and there was no one even to make the frocks and bonnets which she planned. The nearest shop was ten versts off, and the proprietor was an outrageous swindler. So she gave way beneath her burden, and deigned to allow her spirit to pass away. LOVE : THE REWARD. 24 All the honours for which a Czarina could long were paid to her remains.

There were many mourners by the body, day and night, to watch and pray ; and the village pope, or a representa tive, was always present, chanting portions of the burial service. Three days after the departure of the spirit, a solemn procession left the house, headed by Ivan Ivanovitch, who carried the picture of his wife's saint. There were many popes, who had as sembled in honour of the deceased and of her husband ; and they carried banners and pictures of saints ; and incense was also burnt for the santification of the dead. Even the moujiks were provided with tapers ; and these flickered — just as the lives of men do now and then — and sometimes they went out, as the funeral cortege was wending its way to the public entrance of the chapel. There the coffin, with its velvet cover and rich embroidery, was placed in the middle of the sacred edifice, and every one of sufficient rank kissed the deceased, and the peasants kissed the coffin, which was then enclosed in a wooden box and lowered into the vault.

For forty days there were to be services in the chapel, or in the house, for the repose of her spirit. When the funeral service was over, the party returned to the house, which in the meantime had been made to look as desolate as possible, all the ornaments having been taken away. The tables, however, had been spread as if for a feast, and there was a long table in the hall for the moujiks. The village popes prepared mead, which all the company sipped as it passed from hand to hand, and from room to room. Whilst the cup was circulating, the priests were praying, and our friend Peter told his fellows not to weep too much, for " a woman has only half a soul." Still, whilst the friends and relations of the deceased continued their lamentations, the moujiks did not cease to give loud voice to the grief cry ing within them ; and this was not silenced until the steward bade them fall to at the funeral board LOVE : THE REWARD. prepared for those of low origin.

As to the High Origins, they drowned their sorrow in potations, and every one did his best to make the poor widower forget his sad bereavement. The peasants sat down quietly. They, too, drank to the spirit of the departed. Peter cast his eyes over the table, and they had a sorrowful look, resting as they did upon the good things before him. Then he said in a tone indicative of his great woe — " The Great Father is wise and good ; for if the poor dear sainted barinna* were here, how she would miss these cakes ! " * Mistress.

Chapter II

A BUDDING NIHILIST. IAXIM TSIEPHERKIN was an enthusiast. By this we do not mean to affirm that he was an idealist ; on the contrary, his enthusiasm was for the practical. His great desire was to reduce every* kind of knowledge to the most simple and the most useful form. His brain was omnivorous, and it seized upon anything which was of interest to humanity. This included, of course, every science, and he called his olla podrida, sociology. Being a Russian, he was unable to acquire much knowledge in any branch of his extensive science ; but he obtained some smattering of LOVE: THE REWARD. political economy, of law, medicine, and mathe matics, to say nothing of history, geography, and the zoology of the lower animals, which he studied for the purpose of comparison, hoping thereby to place man in a higher state of civilization.