129. It is claimed that the condition of the pomestchik's peasant-slaves is preferable to that of the peasants employed by the State. They say that, because they do not know us, for there are many thousand of us, and we can prove the contrary a thousands times. But the pomestchik stands by himself, and he has but to say that the peasants under his protection are happier than those employed by the State, and his words will be believed.
130. All that is now over, and slavery is abolished; but the sorrow that the sight of its infamies has caused me has not yet disappeared, and it will for a long time leave its traces on my soul.
Till the age of sixty, the peasant labors for the pomestchik; deducting from this his thirteen years of childhood, there remain forty-seven years, of which twenty-four are spent in laboring for the pomestchik, and the twenty-three which remain in laboring for himself.
Try now to hire a peasant who is employed by the State, and say to him: Labor for me one year with your wife, your children, and your cattle: maintenance, clothing, implements, etc., to be all at your own cost: if you waste anything while laboring for me, put it in the account against yourself. For what price would the peasant consent to labor thus for a year?
He would ask at least 500 roubles, which would amount in twenty-three years to 11,500 roubles.
