Vlas Mikhaĭlovich Doroshevich, The Way of the Cross — The Channel (1916)
“ When they have absolutely made a space bare, they move on farther. They eat into the forest. And behind them they leave the fresh-hewn stumps of trees, the bare glade, the black traces of the bonfires. They trample down everything. ”
Vlas Mikhaĭlovich Doroshevich, The Way of the Cross — The Channel (1916)
“ These are the bonfires of the fugitives. At night the fugitives wander about in the neighbourhood. They dig up the potatoes, take all the cabbages, drag off stacks of corn waiting to be ground, and piles of hay. At some places where the fugitives have been out and foraged, the people complain: —Lord a' mercy! The oats which were being brought to us have fallen into the hands of the fugitives on the road. So much oats was sent, and we have the invoice for it. But only half arrives. The fugitives have stopped the wagons on the road and taken away what they wanted. ”
Vlas Mikhaĭlovich Doroshevich, The Way of the Cross — The Channel (1916)
“ Oh, these relief stations beginning to be built after the fugitives had already arrived! The peasants were really affronted by the people of Holm province —The Holm people, these are the ones who were rude to us. This is the general saying In Kaluga province, in Mogilef, in Smolensk, and in Minsk. The Holm peasants—are the most exasperating people. Especially exasperating How they talk of their own province! —And is your land good? —Our land? There's no such land anywhere else in the world. Do you call your ground land? I shouldn't think it worth cultivating. Now ours is land. ”
