The Idaho world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1864-1918, 1872-07-11
aYou foolr cried one Of the listeners.

. / y
$50 | would" answered Balakireff
with grin, "but somebody else hac
done that already"
; At times Balakiref pushed his wag
; geries too far, and gave serious offence
to his formidable patron. On one o
these occasions the enraged Emperor
summarily banished him from the court
bidding him never to appear ON Rus
sian soil again." The jester disappear
ed accordingly; but week had hardly
elapsed when Peter, standing at the win,
dow, espied his disgraced favorite cool.
~ driving cart past the very gates OF
the palace. Forseeing some new jest,
he FASTENED down, and asked with pre-
tended roughness, chow dare you DISC
hey me, when forbade you to show
yourself on Russian ground?'
81 haven't disobeyed you" answered
Balakireff, coolly; q am not on Russian
ground noww
Not on Russian groundw
mo; this cart-load Of earth that Pm
sitting on is Swedish soil. | dug it up
in Finland only the other day"
Peter, who had doubtless begun al
ready to regret the loss of his jester,
laughed at the evasion, and restored
him to favor. Some Russian writers
embellished this story Ia German YER
sion of which figures in the adventures
Of Tyll Enlenspiegcl) with the addition
that Peter on hearing the excuse, an
.swered, II Finland be Swedish soil
now, il shall be Russian before long"
a thregt which he was not slow to fulfill.
The stories told Of Marshal SuvoroiT
are Of different order, and display,
better than whole pages of description,
the wonderful way in which he contriv-
ed to adapt himself 10 the rude spirits
with whom he had 10 deal, without los
ing one iot of his authority What Ma
poleon was 10 the French army, Suvor.
of was 10 that OF Russia: now testing
with a soldier. and now rcbuking Il gem
eral; one day sharing = ration Of black
bread beside b.youac fire. and the
next speaking Is m equal 10 princes
and potentates Ia fact, the two great
sponsors of Russian wit form 4 moss.
picturesque contrast. Balakircu has
very much the character IF Il spaniel IN !
a lions cagc-admiring, even while /
hooking his formidable patron-tehay- |
ing toward him with Laltwa@gish. |
halt-atEectionatc acknowledgements.
" offending, and pcrpctually forgiven
Suvuroh comes before lis au uucvawucii
King, one whose authority needed mol
outward synbol;au aut1crat II Naturc's|
full Of rough, hearty iam.li-I
arIty. that was III no danger # breed /
ing contempt. aud surrounded Dv men
who enjoyed the houhomic, while tacyI
dreaded tho dispIeasurc 81 the pue.nos-.
cd, grlmny man, who was in their ewes
the incarnation ot earthly power aui +
grandeur.
1t must he owned, however. that in
bis own peculiar vein Of pleasantly, the
bid marshal more than once met with
ais match. Oue Of his iayorito Jokes
was to confuse man by asking him
Unexpectedly, How many stars are
there in the sky?' l.
On ono occasion he put this question
10 his scntries, an n bitter January
night, such as only Russia can produce
The soldier, not whit disturbed. an
'wercd coolly, Wait a little. will tell
fou;' and he deliberately began tocount. /
One, two, three etc In this wav he
vent braveIy on to a hundred. at which
Joint Suvorof, who was already half I
rozcn, thought it high time to ride of.
lot, however, without inquiriug the
iamo of this ready reckoner. The next
lay the latter found himself promoted.
nd the story (Which Suvoron' told with
.rcat glee to his staff speedily made
IS way through the whole army.
On another occasion one Of his rencr.
Is OF divisions sent him a sergeant with
espatches, and recommending the bear
r to Suvoroff's notice The Marshal.
$ usual, proceeded to test him by
cries of whimsical questions; but the
atechumen was equal to the occasion.
How far is it to the moon?" asked
uvorof. ;,
Two of your excellency's forced
larches," answered the sergeant. r