He could not possibly see everything. Now the
government was selling bonds for a new loan, and
one of the ''strangers" said he knew there was no
more gold to pay for these, so the paper would be
good for nothing and the peasantry had better not
buy it. Of course, he added, officers, police offi-
cials, and the bureaucrats would say one must do
so; but such men were all in league, and had
always been ready to exploit those who were be-



REVOLUTION IN THE VILLAGE 61

neath them. They did not even want our masses
to know reading, nor have any comforts; and now
they were down on the Duma, which would soon be
closed by proclamation from above. The people
were strong, however, at last, and were learning to
imderstand, so the tyrants must beware. Thus
through the months villages, even far away in the
provinces, were prepared by agitators for what was
to come, and when at last one day in early March,
191 7, they heard of the revolution they were far from
siuprised. In Bouromka the people took it very
quietly, and felt at first no difference, only they
hoped to see a mending of their troubles. Isolated
as our peasantry had been, living in one of the
richest provinces of Russia's black-earth district,
they felt the general misery perhaps less than did
the rest of Russia. Their individual ownership of
property had made for conservatism, and well-
being was also fostered by the instruction we had
helped to give them during several years previously.
