Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 23, 1912.djvu/464

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The interests and aspirations of the city workmen find expression in a great many chastushki, dealing with the town, the factory, the employers, and the conditions of life and work. In these factory-songs the workmen complain of the drudgery which is their lot:—

The workman feels quite consciously that he has no chance of bettering his condition, or of freeing himself from the yoke of his hard work:—

It is difficult to enumerate the content of the chastushki. Everything finds in them mention and notice, practical philosophy, attitude towards religion, and the authorities; the moral ideas of the people; a chronicle of everyday life; incidental subjects and events. The chastushki also touch