Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XV. Later Sects
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intelligible application for him. This time the district authorities
discovered that it would not do, because it was not written
according to legal form. Tolupa returned to the village,
continued his work, called his co-applicants together, and
provided himself with a legal application. One cannot give
all the details; it is enough to say that after two years Tolupa
found that to gain his cause was not so easy.
When he found that he could get no satisfaction out of the
district authorities, he bade farewell to his wife, and set off for
the chief town of the government. At home he was
accustomed to a few comforts, tended by the loving care of his wife,
but on this tedious march he was soaked through and through,
slept in the open air, ate dry bread, &c. His constitution,
formerly as strong as iron, though worn, could not withstand
all these privations. He reached the town with great difficulty,
and had to spend five weeks in hospital. The Governor received
his application, and returned it to the district authorities for
further investigation....
A year later saw P. P. again marching slowly, with a sack
over his shoulders, to the government’s chief town. He was
older and more bowed, always restless and excited, both at
work and at rest ever thinking of this one thing. He had had
during this time to suffer many insults, sorrows, and
disappointments, but these did not grieve him as much as the fact that
those who were, in his opinion, appointed to look after the
observance of the law themselves trampled it underfoot.
“They are not servants of the Tsar,” he cried, indignantly,
“they defy his will.”
When, at last, his case was forwarded to the authorities in
St. Petersburg, P. P. breathed more freely. “Now our cause
is won. It is no longer insignificant officials, who understand
nothing of laws and statutes, but ministers!” He would have
preferred these ministers to have been military men. “A
soldier,” he said, “is always just, even if strict, and never
flinches from the law.” He particularly liked the military men
of the Emperor Nicholas’s time. “How is it to-day? Now
they take all kinds of liberties on themselves!” referring to
the Stundists. “Look at those ignorant peasants, who abjure
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