Each  one  had  to  use  his  judgment  to  determine  which  of  the  paths
he  should  adopt,  and,  having  made  his  choice,  he  had  to  struggle
along  as  he  best  could.  I  remember  once  asking  a  proprietor  what
effect  the  Emancipation  had  had  on  the  class  to  which  he  belonged,
and  he  gave  me  an  answer  which  is  worth  recording.  "  Formerly,"
he  said,  "  we  kept  no  accounts  and  drank  champagne ;  now  we  keep
accounts  and  content  ourselves  with  kvass."  Like  all  epigrammatic
sayings,  this  laconic  reply  is  far  from  giving  a  complete  descrip-
tion of  reality,  but  it  indicates  in  a  graphic  way  a  change  that  has
unquestionably  taken  place.  As  soon  as  serfage  was  abolished  it
was  no  longer  possible  to  live  like  "  the  flowers  of  the  field."  Many
a  proprietor  who  had  formerly  vegetated  in  apathetic  ease  had  to
ask  himself  the  question :  How  am  I  to  gain  a  living  ?  All  had  to
consider  what  was  the  most  profitable  way  of  emplo3dng  the  land
that  remained  to  them.
