Not able to purchase whole panes of window glass the peasants use fragments of glass of any shape they can get.
These are set in pieces of birch bark cut to the proper form and the edges held by wax or putty.

The bark is then fastened to the window sash much as a piece of mosquito netting is fixed in a frame.
Near Springfield, Missouri, I once passed a night in a farmer's house.
The dwelling had no windows, and when we breakfasted we were obliged to keep the door open to give us light, though the thermometer was at zero, with a strong wind blowing.

"I have lived in this house seventeen years," said the owner; "have a good farm and own four niggers." But he could not afford the expense of a window, even of the Siberian kind! Ten or fifteen miles above this village we reached Mihalofski, containing a hundred houses and three or four hundred inhabitants.
From the river this town appeared quite pretty and thriving; the houses were substantially built, and many had flower gardens in front and neat fences around them.

Between the town and the river there were market gardens in flourishing condition, bearing most of the vegetables in common use through the north.

The town is along a ridge of easy ascent, and most of the dwellings are thirty or forty feet above the river.