Article On The Census In Moscow | Page 7

of his goods to the poor, and if
he had wronged any man, to him he would restore fourfold. And
remember how all of us, when we read the Gospel, set but little store on
this Zaccheus, and involuntarily look with scorn on this half of his
goods, and fourfold restitution. And our feeling is correct. Zaccheus,
according to his lights, performed a great deed. He had not even begun
to do good. He had only begun in some small measure to purify himself
from evil, and so Christ told him.
He merely said to him: "To-day is salvation come nigh unto this
house."
What if the Moscow Zaccheuses were to do the same that he did?
Assuredly, more than one milliard could be collected. Well, and what
of that? Nothing. There would be still greater sin if we were to think of
distributing this money among the poor. Money is not needed. What is
needed is self-sacrificing action; what is needed are people who would
like to do good, not by giving extraneous sin- money, but by giving
their own labor, themselves, their lives. Where are such people to be
found? Here they are, walking about Moscow. They are the student
enumerators. I have seen how they write out their charts. The student
writes in the night lodging-house, by the bedside of a sick man. "What
is your disease?"--"Small-pox." And the student does not make a wry
face, but proceeds with his writing. And this he does for the sake of
some doubtful science. What would he do if he were doing it for the
sake of his own undoubted good and the good of others?
When children, in merry mood, feel a desire to laugh, they never think
of devising some reason for laughter, but they laugh without any reason,

because they are gay; and thus these charming youths sacrifice
themselves. They have not, as yet, contrived to devise any means of
sacrificing themselves, but they devote their attention, their labor, their
lives, in order to write out a chart, from which something does or does
not appear. What would it be if this labor were something really worth
their while? There is and there always will be labor of this sort, which
is worthy of the devotion of a whole life, whatever the man's life may
be. This labor is the loving intercourse of man with man, and the
breaking-down of the barriers which men have erected between
themselves, so that the enjoyment of the rich man may not be disturbed
by the wild howls of the men who are reverting to beasts, and by the
groans of helpless hunger, cold and disease.
This census will place before the eyes of us well-to-do and so-called
cultivated people, all the poverty and oppression which is lurking in
every corner of Moscow. Two thousand of our brothers, who stand on
the highest rung of the ladder, will come face to face with thousands of
people who stand on the lowest round of society. Let us not miss this
opportunity of communion. Let us, through these two thousand men,
preserve this communion, and let us make use of it to free ourselves
from the aimlessness and the deformity of our lives, and to free the
condemned from that indigence and misery which do not allow the
sensitive people in our ranks to enjoy our good fortune in peace.
This is what I propose: (1) That all our directors and enumerators
should join to their business of the census a task of assistance,--of work
in the interest of the good of these people, who, in our opinion, are in
need of assistance, and with whom we shall come in contact; (2) That
all of us, directors and enumerators, not by appointment of the
committee of the City Council, but by the appointment of our own
hearts, shall remain in our posts,--that is, in our relations to the
inhabitants of the town who are in need of assistance,--and that, at the
conclusion of the work of the census, we shall continue our work of aid.
If I have succeeded in any degree in expressing what I feel, I am sure
that the only impossibility will be getting the directors and enumerators
to abandon this, and that others will present themselves in the places of
those who leave; (3) That we should collect all those inhabitants of
Moscow, who feel themselves fit to work for the needy, into sections,
and begin our activity now, in accordance with the hints of the

census-takers and directors, and afterwards carry it on; (4) That all who,
on account of age, weakness, or other causes, cannot give their personal
labor among the needy, shall intrust the task to their young, strong, and
willing relatives. (Good consists not in the