Not a "famine" Government, mind you! For these are the Volga Provinces--Samara, Pensa, Voronish, Vintka, and a dozen others.

No! Tver the civilized, the prosperous, the manufacturing centre.
Osterno is built of wood.

Should it once fairly catch alight in a high wind, all that will be left of this town will be a few charred timbers and some dazed human beings.

The inhabitants know their own danger, and endeavor to meet it in their fatalistic manner.

Each village has its fire organization.