PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE EARLY EUROPEAN IMMIGRANT.
DOUKHOBORS.
A little girl of ten or twelve completed the family. The man managed
some how to cut and carry poles and together they built a very neat little
house, finished with clay, and well whitewashed and some outbuildings
were also erected. During their second year they had actually four acres
in crop all spaded and hand-raked, and well fenced, as well as a good
garden. A team of any kind had never been on the place, except one
was hired to bring supplies or seed, and which was bought by the woman
with her earnings. They had a pig or two and some hens. All the work
on the farm was literally done by hand. The crop, a good one, was cut
with the sickle and threshed out with a flail on a clay platform, and the
grain was cleaned by throwing it up in the wind.
The Doukhobors evidently had noticed what these poor people were
doing to make an honest living and they knew of the man's disability
through his partial blindness. They must have talked things over among
themselves, for one day three stalwart Doukhobors arrived leading a pair
of steers, and a heifer fresh calved. They called the Galicians to the gate
and with courteous bows, asked them to accept the cattle from the Doukho-
bors as a brotherly gift to deserving people. The languages are different,
but have something in common and I believe Galicians and Doukhobors
can make themselves understood fairly well. The Galicians were very
much surprised and very grateful. The ropes on the cattle were put into
the hands of the Galicians and the Doukhobors, bowing and raising their
caps departed quietly on foot to their village. I happened to be an eye
witness of this incident. I realized what was going on, although I did
not understand the language; and I thought to myself, "These people may
be ill-informed and peculiar, but they practice what they preach and
one cannot help but respect them."
Bibliography follows:
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