all day for the pomestchik. Many labor while half naked, and tortured with hunger; but it matters not, they must labor for the pomestchik. Is it not a cruel punishment? And yet these people have neither defender nor protector.
124. Three days for himself and three days for the pomestchik; in a word, one year for himself, and one year for the pomestchik: this is the peasant's life. But from the year in which he works for himself he must first deduct eighty days which are festivals,—for these people are very pious,—then eighty other days of idleness resulting from the accidents of labor. And, finally: the peasant is not a stone, he may fall ill, perhaps for fifty days in two years. There remain, then, only one hundred and fifty-five days in which he can labor for himself.
125. I ask if, in this case, he can, on one hundred and fifty-five days of work, supply all his wants for two years, that is, for this year and for the next (in which he labors for the benefit of the pomestchik). Consider that he must, besides, collect enough money to pay each year the fiscal and personal taxes. If the husband or wife should die, there remain perhaps a dozen children under age: to-day they have the funeral, and to-morrow they must resume work for the pomestchik.
126. Besides that, the pomestchik takes from the peasants divers provisions, as chickens, geese, eggs, butter, etc. He keeps note of what is given, and with those who give nothing he
