File:Europe of to-day (1922) (14802414573).jpg

Identifier: europeoftoday00unst (find matches)
Title: Europe of to-day
Year: 1922 (1920s)
Authors: Unstead, J. F. (John Frederick), 1876-1965
Subjects: Physical geography
Publisher: New York, Moffat, Yard and company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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^ in the eighteenth century. The BalticBarons of Esthonia and Latvia were the educated people,who owned the land, built the towns, and made thecountry like an outpost of Germany ; the Ests and Lettswere ignorant peasants and hated the Baits. An old Lettfolk-song * shows the feeling of the Letts towards theBaits, and suggests the condition of their chimney-lesscottages of a hundred years ago. ** Oh, poor German guest!What wouldst thou in our wretched hut ?Thou canst not stay in the yard,For in the yard is wind and rain.Thou canst not stay within,For within is smoke.Listen ! I will advise thee !Go to the bottom-most place of Hell,Where the Devil makes his fire.No rain there, German ! No smoke there ! * Quoted from The New Eastern Europe, by Ralph Butler. THE EAST BALTIC STATES 219 After Esthonia and Latvia were absorbed into theRussian Empire, the new masters tried to make the
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9. Peoples of Eastern Europe. Emery Walker Ltd. sc country Russian, but did not succeed. Perhaps thegreatest change was that some of the Ests and Letts were 220 EUROPE OF TO-DAY helped to buy small areas of land from the Baltic Barons.Yet most of the natives were landless, and one greatreason for their demand for independence was theirdesire to own the lands on which they worked ; the landwill now belong either to the peasants who cultivate itor to the state as a whole. Lithuania was conquered by Poland, and consequentlyPolish nobles were the owners of the land ; then Russiaobtained Lithuania as part of Poland, and when the Polishnobles attempted to rebel against the Russian Governmentthe whole country suffered. In Lithuania, as in Esthoniaand Latvia, and indeed in all the east of Europe, thepeasants have a great land hunger, for such land asunder Russian rule they obtained from the Polish land-owners was not sufficient for their needs, and many ofthem were forced to emigrate. The lan

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