Page:Morgan Philips Price - Siberia (1912).djvu/132

 96 huge square brick stove, serving both for heating and cooking, took up nearly half the available space in the room. A rough bench and a table completed the furniture, while the household utensils were kept in a small storeroom at the back of the house. The rooms had been whitewashed with scrupulous care for Easter. It is usual to assume in Western Europe that Russian peasants are very dirty and unpleasant to live with. As far as Siberia is concerned, however, especially in the remoter districts, I never have seen cleaner houses or peasants with more self-respect. In fact, the cleanliness and self-respect seemed to increase in direct proportion to the distance from civilization.

I noticed an interesting circumstance connected with the size of the rooms in a Siberian peasant's house. If the head of the family originally built a large living-room, with a view to retaining his children when they grew up, the younger generation would continue to live together with the older, marry, and raise up a third generation all under one roof. If, on the other hand, the paterfamilias was unable or unwilling to build more than a small living-room, the younger generation would go off, marry and make another home for themselves. One sees both kinds of household in a Siberian village. In each case the power of the family to provide for its needs is approximately the same, for, whether the family remains together or is dispersed, each one, when grown up, is entitled to take up a certain proportion of land from the commune.

There is little pretence of decoration in the house of a Siberian peasant, and the only attempt in this