Photo and copyright by the II. C. ^^'hite Co. 

 the: MII.KMAIDS OF KIEV 



While Kiev is a part of what once was Poland, the bulk of its population is not Polish, 



but Russian Slavs 



government and their hatred of their 

 aristocratic brethren caused the insurrec- 

 tion to die aborning. 



SINCERE HOSPITALITY 

 _ Whatever may be said about the rela- 

 tions between the PoHsh aristocrat and 

 the PoHsh peasant, however, the hospi- 

 tality of the former has always been 

 whole-hearted and sincere. Tactfulness 

 is as natural with them as taking to the 

 water is natural with a duck. They like 

 company and love entertainment, and are 

 as fond of dancing as any other people 

 in the world. It takes vigorous men to 

 stand all the liquor that is provided by 

 the Polish host. 



The journal of the Countess Francoise 

 Krasinska, who afterward married a son 

 of Augustus III, written between the 

 years of 1759 and 1761, is an interesting 

 picture of Polish life just before the par- 

 tition. "There are two classes of cour- 

 tiers," she writes in describing her own 

 home, "the honorary and the salaried 

 ones, all alike nobles, with the sword at 

 their side. The first are about twenty in 

 number; their duties are to wait in the 

 morning for the Count's (her father) 

 entrance, to be ready for any service he 

 may require, to accompany him when vis- 

 iting or riding, to defend him in case of 

 need, to give him their voice at the Diet, 



104 



