98 FORESTRY IN LITHUANIA. 



is one not limited to this province, but an illustration 

 taken from it may be more satisfactory than mere illusions 

 to the general forms which it assumes throughout the 

 empire. 



By one of my personal friends I was informed that on 

 the occasion of wide spread famine in this region some 

 years ago, provision was made by the Government for the 

 supply of the destitute with corn. He happened to be 

 present when the Government official, appointed to en- 

 quire into the state of the poor in the locality where he 

 was, came to the house of a poor man whom he knew to be 

 in want. To his surprise, in answer to the enquiry of the 

 official whether he needed help, he said, ' No/ The official 

 seemed equally surprised, and varied the form of the 

 question, but still got the same reply. He began to 

 reason with the man in regard to the folly of not availing 

 himself of the provision which the Government had made 

 for supplying corn to them free of all charge ; but still the 

 man maintained that he did not need it. And the 

 apparent philanthrophy of the official was completely 

 baffled by the apparent independent spirit of the peasant. 

 When the official had gone my friend astonished asked of 

 him, ' How is this ? You and your family are in danger 

 of starvation, and yet you say you are not in want. I 

 cannot understand it/ ' Yes,' said the peasant, ' we are 

 in want. But of whatever grant may be made by the 

 Government a great deal will be retained by those 

 through whose hands it first passes ; the same will be done 

 again and again by all those through whose hands it must 

 pass in succession before it could reach us ; and reach us it 

 never will. So if we must starve any way I would 

 rather starve just as I am than give to these fellows an 

 opportunity of making money under the pretext of saving 

 us from starvation/ 



But among the courtiers there was to be found, in 

 the times spoken of by Mackenzie Wallace, or shortly 

 thereafter, ' Lithuanian nobles, who found it more profit- 

 able to serve the Tsar than their own sovereign/ 



