CHAPTER IV 



AMONG THE DON COSSACKS 



TN the early spring of 1888 my husband received a let- 

 ter from a Professor Kusnetzoff, the director of a 

 teachers' seminary in the Caucasus, in Eastern Russia, 

 saying he had read my husband's articles in Agricul- 

 ture; that he was very much interested in them and in 

 the man who wrote them ; that he had a big estate thirty 

 versts from Yiesk; and that he would be very glad to 

 secure my husband's services as manager of the estate. 



Remembering his sad experience with Mr. Maslini- 

 koff, editor of Agriculture, my husband answered 

 Professor Kusnetzoff, asking him whether he realized 

 that it was a Jew to whom he was offering the position. 

 An answer came back stating that he "was above the 

 question of race and creed." He "put character and 

 manhood above all," he said, "and if willing to take 

 the position, nobody need ever interfere with you in any 

 way." He offered him six hundred rubles a year, with 

 full maintenance for himself and family. 



Always a man to whom money was distinctly a 

 means and never an end in itself, my husband was well 

 satisfied with the terms. Often have I heard him give 

 expression to the freedom that he felt when his earn- 

 ings were well disposed of his monthly check sent to 



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