CHAPTER VI.
A PEASANT FAMILY OF THE OLD TYPE Ivan Petroff--His Past Life--Co-operative Associations--Constitution of a Peasant's Household--Predominance of Economic Conceptions over those of Blood-relationship--Peasant Marriages--Advantages of Living in Large Families--Its Defects--Family Disruptions and their Consequences.
My illness had at least one good result.

It brought me into contact with the feldsher, and through him, after my recovery, I made the acquaintance of several peasants living in the village.

Of these by far the most interesting was an old man called Ivan Petroff.
Ivan must have been about sixty years of age, but was still robust and strong, and had the reputation of being able to mow more hay in a given time than any other peasant in the village.

His head would have made a line study for a portrait-painter.

Like Russian peasants in general, he wore his hair parted in the middle--a custom which perhaps owes its origin to the religious pictures.