A PEASANT CAPITALIST.

Southland Times, Issue 1234, 8 April 1870, Page 3

A PEASANT CAPITALIST.

i An occasional correspondent of the Manchester Examiner, writing from Moscow, tells the following strange story : — " The present year appears to be one of strange discoveries in Euasia. The unmasking of the impostor Eeb-ber, on the western frontier, was speedily followed by the detection of the chief of the Celibate Brotherhood of Morshansk, which in its turn was succeeded by fresh discoveries of a similar nature in various parts _of the south-eastern Provinces of Russia ; and now these are supplemented (as we learn from one of the Moscow daily papers) by an occurrence, which in any country but Eussia, would pass for a plagiarism from the most improbable part of Dumas' * Count of Monte Christo.' Tn a small village near the town of Poltava live a couple, named Sidoroff, resident for many years in the 'same place, and at present considerably on the wrong side of fifty. As far as can be ascertained they have always lived in precisely the same fashion as their peasant neighbors, from whom they are in no way distinguished. Neither husband nor wife can read or write. On a fine morning in the latter part of last month, the cashier of a G-overnment office in Poltava, was surprised by the entrance of a man and woman — no other, in fact, than our elderly friends above mentioned — clothed in ordinary sheepskin frocks, which bulged out over the breast as if covering a bundle. The pair came timidly up to the official's desk, and the following conversation took place : — Peasant : G-ood morning, father ; is it here they change old bank notes for new ones ? — Clerk: Yes; we can give you Borneo f the new issue if you like. How much money have you got ? — Peasant : How much ? Ah, my father, that is just what I cannot tell you, for I don't know myself. — Clerk (laughing) : "Well, but you can make a guess, surely. Three roubles, or five, or ten ? — Peasant : No, more than that. My wife and I have been counting the notes all day. and we haven't got to the end yet !— Well, let me see them. — Each of the two strange applicants heaped upon the table an enormous pile of tattered, greasy bank notes, many of which appeared to be of considerable antiquity. Th« experienced eye of the cashier saw at a glance that the sum was a very large one, and he called in several of his colleagues to asaist him in counting it. Under the hands of these practised reckoners, the task which had occupied the slow-fingered peasant for a whole day was speedily completed, and the sum total set down at 86,000 roubles, or nearly £12,000. This unexpected discovery naturally made a great noise in the town, and of course was not long in reaching the ears of the police, who not unreasonably saw some ground for suspicion in the possession by an illiterate peasant of a sum which in many parts of Russia would be accounted a considerable fortune. Sidoroff was accordingly called up and examined, but to very little purpose. To all interrogations on the subject of his wealth, and the way in which he had become possessed of it, he replied persistently, 'My grandfather saved \t> ,and I saved it.' On being asked why he had not made some use of this treasure — which, indeed, would have sufficed to gratify any wish which a Eussian peasant is. at all capable of forming— he replied, very characteristically, '"What was I to do? "We are peasants, and live like peasants ; the moneys been there long enough, and there it may stay.' Nothing being discovered which could in any way confirm their suspicions, the authorities dismissed the capitalist in sheepskin, who returned home as if nothing had happened. The next day, however, he presented himself to the astonished eyes of the cashier, whose thoughts had naturally run upon him a good deal diiring the last twentyfour hours. Peasant — G-ood morning to you, father ; do me one more little favor if you please. Clerk — Why, what now, brother ? Have you got another batch of bank notes; for us, or did we count the last notes wrong?' Peasant— No it's not that ; I only wanted to know whether you change gold here as well as notes. Clerk —Certainly we change gold too. How much have you got? Peasant— Two chest's full. In fact, the entire sum possessed by this illiterate laborer amounts to at least 190,000 roubles, or £26,000. Eussia is often called a strange country ; and it may well be thought so when we find therein common field laborers possessing nearlj £30,000 in hard cash and, with all this wealth, still living on black bread and cabbage soup, dressing in dirty sheepskin, and passing their lives in a stifling hut, crawling with vermin, and measuring about 12ft. by Bffc. Such a sum, put out at fair interest, would put the owner in possession of a princely fortune by this time ; but the great principle of making money is one which the illiterate peasant has yet to learn." . ' . .-, - .