The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1872-08-06
Anecdotes Of a Russian General.

p0eOn was to the French army, SuvorOff
was to that of Russia; now jesting with
soldier, and now rebuking General; one
day sharing ration of black bread beside
bivouac fire, and the next moment speak
ing as an with equal Prince and potentates.
Suvoroff comes before us as an uncrowned
king, one whose authority needed no out
ward symbol; an autocrat Of natures max
ing; full of rough, hearty familiarity, that
was in no danger of breeding contempt,
and surrounded by men who enjoyed the
bonhomm,e, while they dreaded the dis
pleasure of the little, pugnosed, grimy man,
who was in their eyes the incarnation of
earthly power and grandeur.
1t must be owned, however, that in his
own peculiar vein of pleasantly, the old
Marshal more than once met with his
match. One of his favorite jokes was to
ask a man unexpectedly: How many stars
are there in the skyP"
On one occasion he put his question to
one of of his sentries, on bitter January
night, such as only Russia can produce.
The soldier not whit disturbed, answered
coolly: Wait little and I'll tell you,"
and he deliberately began to COUNT
"One, two, three" &c. In this way he
went gravely on to hundred, at which
point Suvoroff, who was already half frozen,
thought it high time to ride off, not, how
ever, without inquiring the name of this
ready reckoner. The next day the latter
found himself promoted and the story
(which Suvoroff told with great glee to his
staff speedily made its way through the
whole camp.
On another occasion one of his Generals
of division sent him Sergeant with dis
patches, at the same time recommending
the bearer to Suvoroff's notice.
The Marshal, as usual, proceeded to test
him by series of whimsical questions,
but the catechumen was equal to the oc-
casion. elbow far is it to the moon?"
asked Suvoroff
"Two of your Excellencey's forced
Marches" answered the Sergeant.
"If your men began to give way in
battle, what would you do?"
"I'd tell them that just hehind the en-
emy's line there was a wagon load of corn
brandy"
"Supposing you were blockaded, and
you had no provisions left, how would you
supply yourself?"
"From the enemy ~
"How many fish in the sea ?''
GAS many as have not been caught"
And so the examination went on till
Suvoroff finding his acquaintance armed
at all points, at length asked him as a final
poser "What is the difference between
your colonel and myself?"
The difference is this replied the soldier
coolly: "My colonel cannot make me
captain, but your excellency has only to
say the word ~
Suvorof, struck by his shrewdness kept
his eye on the man, and in no long time
after, actually gave him the specified pro-
motion.
Suvoroff always affected the utmost
brevity both in speaking and writing, the
terseness of his dispatches being almost
unrivalled. The correspondence with
| IlllCc OUCulNlly lCldbiNO W lIlc toSdulb VI
Ismail, is unique in military history.
Potemkin copying the brevity of his gen
eral, wrote to him thus:
Marshal, you will take Ismail within
three days, at whatever cost.
" "PoTEMKIN."
The day after the letter arrived Suvoroff
carried the town by storm, with loss of
fifteen thousand men to himself, and thirty
eight thousand to the enemy, summing
up the fearful tragedy in one doggere
couplet, which, literally translated runs as
follows:
Praise to God, and praise to thee
Ismail's taken, and there be-"
The anecdotes Of the great Marshal's
eccentricities-his habits of wandering
about the camp in disguise, his whim of
giving the signal for an assault by growing
like cock, his astonishing endurance of
the heat and cold, his savage disregard of
personal comfort and neatness, are beyond
calculation; but perhaps the most charac-
teristic Of all, is his appearance in 1900 at
the Austrian Court, then one of the most
brilliant in Europe. On being shown to
the room prepared for him, "a splendid
apartment filed with costly mirrors and
rich furniture,) this modern Diogenes said
simply: "Turn out all that rubbish, and
shake me down bundle of straw.
What Causes 1t
A curious phenomenon has just happen