The houses are all frame buildings with a thatched roof, erected upon a
foundation of large unhewn stones, the interstices of which are filled with
clay, and built in an oblong shape, of strong, round pine logs placed one
on top of the other. Each layer is stuffed with moss, and the ends of the
logs are interlocking. The buildings consist of one story only, with a very
small, unvaulted cellar.
Usually there are only two rooms in these houses, and wealthy peasants use
both of them for their personal requirements; the poorer classes, on the
other hand, use only one of the rooms for themselves, and the other for
their horses, cows, and pigs.
The most prominent part of the interior arrangement of these rooms is the
oven, covering about six feet square, with a brick chimney in the houses of
the wealthy, but without chimney in those of the poor, so that the smoke
must pass through the door giving a varnished appearance to the entire
ceiling over the door.
There are no chairs in the rooms; during the day broad benches along the
walls and oven are used instead. At night, the members of the household lie
down to sleep on these benches, using any convenient piece of clothing for
a pillow. It seems the Russian peasant of one hundred years ago considered
beds a luxury.
Every one of these houses, those of the rich as well as those of the poor,
contains in the easterly corner of the sitting room a cabinet with more or
less costly sacred images.
Pages:
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183