114 FORESTRY IN EASTERN RUSSIA. 



Christian he was, not we ! And now for the conclusion of 

 the life of this truly good man. 



' In 1872, as I was returning home I met him in the 

 Post Hotel at Perm, when he said to me, "The saddest 

 calamity of all has happened to me now. I am going to 

 bury my dear and only brother, and we have yet to quarrel. 

 Yes ; for 50 years it has always been Yes, Yes, with 

 us ; and now I have received a telegram that he is dying." 



' But it was otherwise determined. The reported death 

 of his brother had so preyed upon his mind that he only 

 arrived in Rostoff to die. He was taken and the other 

 left — left to struggle on — left to carry his brother's 

 remains to the family burying-place, while that brother 

 winged his flight to the better land, where there are no 

 unfaithful partners, and where no thieves break through 

 and steal.' 



Everything comprised in this little sketch is in keeping 

 with much which I have heard in regard to Russian mer- 

 chants — Russian roguery — Russian piety — and in regard 

 to the wealth and extensive manufacturing and commercial 

 operations of many who, belonging to the communal class 

 of the population of the villages, have given themselves to 

 mercantile pursuits. Without trenching on stores of 

 anecdotes which from time to time I have heard forty or 

 forty-five years ago, but in regard to which I am unable 

 now to state who was my informant, or to vouch for my 

 recollecting the precise terms in which they were told, I 

 shall have occasion to bring forward many like narratives to 

 these in making use in this chapter, or in some subsequent 

 chapter, of material which my friend and correspondent 

 has placed at my service. 



In circumstances such as have been detailed, wrong- 

 doing in any way and every way abounding, the alleged 

 depression of many smelting and manufacturing establish- 

 ments in the district need not excite great surprise, and 

 even when it was attributable directly to the failure of an 

 abundant supply of fuel from the forests ; this it may be 

 possible to trace to like abuses. 



