Through Famine - Stricken Russia. By W. Barnes Steveni. (Sampson Low and
Co.)—The reality of a famine is most strikingly brought before us in these pages. Mr. Barnes Steveni, by accompanying some of the great landowners and making house-to-house visitations, could understand to the full the ignorance and helplessness of the Russian peasantry. Accustomed in the days of their serfdom to the village corn-magazine in times of scarcity, now that they are free, and must act on their own initiative, they fail completely to cope with a calamity. The magazines, too, have been done away with. The killing of so many horses will, of course, produce a lasting effect. The Russian nobles did their part as they should, for it must be remembered they are mainly responsible for the apathy of the peasants, whose education has been put off till the advent of Nihilism has rendered its application dangerous to all parties. Nothing could give a more striking illustration of the vastness and looseness of the Russian Empire, than Mr. Barnes Steveni's account of a famine in a part of it.
Previous page
