Eduard Vilde was born on March 4, 1865, in the Estland Gubernia of Tsarist Russia, in the county of Virumaa, in a farm-labourer's cottage at the Pudivere estate owned by a Baltic-German baron.
On the surface, the plot of Milkman of the Manor seems to be hackneyed and out-dated. The same theme, however, has been used by many authors even up to this day. The gist of the plot is that, from mercenary or political reasons a man connives to pass his wife on to some lover.
There is a parallel in Anton Chekhov's short story Anna round his Neck where blind ambition for rank and power takes hold of a government official who does his utmost to get the «Anna Order» decoration.