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There was a certain nobleman who had chosen a superintendent from the
peasantry on one of his other estates. No sooner had the power to govern
been vested in this newly-made official than he began to practice the
most outrageous cruelties upon the poor serfs who had been placed under
his control. Although this man had a wife and two married daughters,
and was making so much money that he could have lived happily without
transgressing in any way against either God or man, yet he was filled
with envy and jealousy and deeply sunk in sin.
Michael Simeonovitch began his persecutions by compelling the peasants
to perform more days of service on the estate every week than the laws
obliged them to work. He established a brick-yard, in which he forced
the men and women to do excessive labor, selling the bricks for his own
profit.
On one occasion the overworked serfs sent a delegation to Moscow
to complain of their treatment to their lord, but they obtained no
satisfaction. When the poor peasants returned disconsolate from the
nobleman their superintendent determined to have revenge for their
boldness in going above him for redress, and their life and that of
their fellow-victims became worse than before.
It happened that among the serfs there were some very treacherous people
who would falsely accuse their fellows of wrong-doing and sow seeds
of discord among the peasantry, whereupon Michael would become greatly
enraged, while his poor subjects began to live in fear of their lives.
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