A Russian Proprietor

lan of action in the management of his estate; and his whol

he poor serfs belonging to the estate, and the distribution of assistance with the approval of the Commune, wh

young man was now no longer a novice either in the pr

e pocket of his light overcoat, and started out of doors. It was a great country-house with colonnades and terraces where he lived, but he occupied only one small room on

hair, with a bright gleam in his dark eyes, a clear complexion, and rosy

e seen strength, energy, and the goo

en, mothers with babies in their arms, dressed in their Sunday best, were scattering

t page of which, inscribed in his own boyish hand, were a number of names of his serfs with memoranda. He read, "Iván Chur

, almost hid the two windows. The one on the front had a broken sash, and the shutters were half torn away; the other was small and low, and was stuffed with flax. A boarded

only over the eaves hung the thick straw, black and decaying

remains of a post, and the wheel, and a mud-puddle st

interest in beautifying this place. Under one of them sat a fair-haired girl of seven summers, watching another little girl of two, who was creeping at her

me?" asked

nd kept opening her eyes wider and wider, but made n

an old red girdle, peered out of the door, and also said noth

old woman in a quavering voice, bowing l

the little yard, the old woman, resting her chin in her hand, went to the doo

ed manure that had not been carried away: on the manure were th

wheel, and a pile of empty good-for-nothing bee-hives thrown one upon another. The roof was in disrepair

face, framed in a dark auburn beard and hair where a trace of gray was beginning to appear, were handsome and expressive. His dark blue eyes gleamed with intelligence and lazy good-nature, from und

ly on his neck, face, and hands, by his unnatural stoop and the crooked position of his l

a dirty shirt of the same material, which kept hitching up his back and arms.

h his work; making energetic motions, he finished clearing away the wattles from under the shed

xcellency!" said he, bowing

dof with boyish friendliness and timidity, glancing at the peasant's garb. "Just show

y, sir, and only by the mercy of God the cattle didn't happen to be there. It barely hangs at all," said Churis, gazing with an expressive look at his broken-down, ramshackly, an

n falling in too, won't they? You need to have every thing made new,-rafters and girders and posts; bu

made no

r, but not supports. You

cy for every thing we wanted, what kind of serfs should we be? But if your kindness went so far as to let me have some of the oak saplings that are lying idle over by the thresh

to-morrow, that one will; the day after, a third. So, if any thing is to be done, it must be all made new, so that

can t

ou think? Will the

oment. "Can't help falli

eting, that you needed to rebuild your whole place,[5] ins

. "If you would give me four joists and some props, then, perhaps, I might fix things up myself; but

hut so wretche

y day," replied Churis indifferently. "A day or two ago,

struc

y: whacked her on the back, so t

d she get

en ailing ever since; but

, who had been standing all the time at the door, and h

especially on Sundays," she replied

rs. "Why, if you are so sick, don't you come and get advice at the dispensar

ve had to work in the field, and at home, and look after the