= RUSSIAN WORKMEN.
{"newspaper_name": "The Wilmingtonian, and Delaware advertiser.", "edition": "01", "page": "p1", "byline": ""}
The ingenuity of the common workmen or
peasants of the Russiansis very remarkable.
His powers of invention are far from des-
picable and his capacity for imitation alto
gether extraordinary. Whatever he sees IN
the mechanical arts he can almost to GER
taintv copy. though to person in the same
class of life in any other country of Europe
it would offer insuperable obstacles; Lns
faculty is perhaps Asiatic, for it also be-
longs in an eminent degree to the Chinese:
no other man within our pale OF civiliza-
tion executes so much and so well with such
Inadequate means. The Russians are ig-
norant in great degree of all those scien-
tific inventions among US calculated to SUI
persede or to expedite human labor; yet IN
the most trying difficulties he is rarely at a
loss, and ultimately is sure to conquer them.
The model Of flying bridge OF one arch,
intended to cross the river Neva, and the
conveyance to the capital Of the rock upon
which the statue of Peter stands, besides
numerous other examples of ingenuity, are
proud trophies to the capacity of these most
| illiterate Doors. The carpenters only I'M
| plement is his axe, with which he performs
with admirable neatness and precision all
the delicate and complicated operations OF
his trade.


The workmen at Petersburg are the most
| rude and uncouth creatures lmaginables
many, with long boards, and wrapped in
sheep skins, looked like so many Orsons Just
returned from the woods. They are in fact
all from the country Brought up to an out
door trade, they gain permission from their
landlords to seek out the best market tor
| its exercise, usually Petersburg, Novogorod,
Moscow, or some other large cities, by pay
ing him an extra sum for the indulgence;
but before their departure frequently mar
~ and leave their wife behind, in the care
oftheir father, who. exercising all the rights
of the husband, cshabits without reproach
with his daughter-in-law, and perhaps rears
family of beings at once brethren and
children to his absent son. This detestable
custom, though checked of late years, still
exists in shameful degree. 1t seems so
unnatural, that it must have originated from
the recommendation. of their lords, who are
paid by the head Instead of the acre. rather
than from any natural perversity OF pro-
per feelings in the people. From whatever
cause, however, it arises, it is an unques-


rionable proof of the most horrid barbar'


ism.