onsiderable amount of capital, and
they received a quantity of land very much greater than the Russian
peasants possess. Besides this, they enjoyed until very recently several
valuable privileges. They were entirely exempted from military service
and almost entirely exempted from taxation. Altogether their lines fell
in very pleasant places. In material and moral well-being they stand as
far above the majority of the ordinary German colonists as these latter
do above their Russian neighbours. Even in the richest districts of
Germany their prosperity would attract attention. To compare these
rich, privileged, well-educated farmers with the poor, heavily taxed,
uneducated peasantry, and to draw from the comparison conclusions
concerning the capabilities of the two races, is a proceeding so absurd
that it requires no further comment.

To the wearied traveller who has been living for some time in Russian
villages, one of these Mennonite colonies seems an earthly paradise. In
a little hollow, perhaps by the side of a watercourse, he suddenly comes
on a long row of high-roofed houses half concealed in trees. The
trees may be found on closer inspection to be little better than mere
saplings; but after a long journey on the bare Steppe, where there is
neither tree nor bush of any kind, the foliage, scant as it is, appears
singularly inviting. The houses are large, well arranged, and kept in
such thoroughly good repair that they always appear to be newly built.
The rooms are plainly furnished, without any pretensions to elegance,
but scrupulously clean. Adjoining the house are the stable and byre,
which would not disgrace a model farm in Germany or England. In front
is a spacious courtyard, which has the appearance of being swept several
times a day, and behind there is a garden well stocked with vegetables.
Fruit trees and flowers are not very plentiful, for the climate is not
favourable to them.

The inhabitants are honest, frugal folk, somewhat sluggish of intellect
and indifferent to things lying beyond the narrow limits of their own
little world, but shrewd enough in all matters which they deem worthy of
their attention. If you arrive amongst them as a stranger you may be
a little chilled by the welcome you receive, for they are exclusive,
reserved, and distrustful, and do not much like to associate with those
who do not belong to their own sect; but if you can converse with
them in their mother tongue and talk about relig