Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-07-16
SERGIUS RAZOUMOF.

Ostend with the hopeful assurance that
] would be amused At the end of fiji
teen days | was still seeking amusement
without having found it, and / was about
to take my departure ! was passing my
last evening at the Kursaal when man
whose aspect cOntrasted strangely with
the commonplace faces among which /
had lived since my arrival came and sat
down a short distance from me. As he
did SO the people who sat nearest to him
pushed their chairs away, and a murmur
arose among the ladies; eyes were di-
rected toward him. and even fingers were
pointed at him; but the newcomer did
not seem to notice the stir, but remained
motiOnless in his chair.
NyStitied by what had occurred
looked at him more attcntively. He was
tall, with i slight stOOp in his shoulders.
Ills regular features were framed in black
and lustrous hair. The expression Of his
face would have been a naughty one but
for profound sadness which toned
down its character. His costume was
black, and his clothes hung negIigentlv
on an cmaciatcd body. His age was about
thirty.
4 friend of mine passed by pointed
out the unknown to him.
: DO you know that man? inquired
Scrgius Razoumof. A queer fellow"
{" You know his history"
$3.50. Atcrriblc history. You must
get Philippe to tell it to you
Philippe, then, is acquainted with
him?
lie knows him very we'll
! went at once in search of Philippe
a Russian whom ! had met at different
watering places, and with whom | had
IL iT,tr int. IN,
the Princes Pavilion
Z want you to tell me Sergius Razou-
mof's history
Well, let,us 90 TO supper, and | viii
tell ii. | led him to the Pavilion de
IEstacade, and at the second course he
began his narrative:
Scrgius and / were fellOw-students
ut the University Of Moscow We both
came from the country, and at home we
were neighbors. lie was like a young
maiden in sweetness Of disposition and
in timidity His timidity was Of such
nature that one could discern in him the
presence Of Il trouble that had weighed
him down from infancy. He spoke but
seldom, kept himself apart from others,
and studied diligently We liked him as
one likes inotfensive beings, inspired by
that sentiment in which proud pity has
always more or less share. In fact
Sergius had experienced hard child
hood His father resided in the COVER
n0rship Of k He was a rich man,
miserably stingy and frightfully rude.
His face was yellow and bony, his eyes
chilling in their looks, and with the sly
and suspicious expression of a miser's
eyes His wife had died two years after
hA Ia d = J., 4 II,
country round that he had killed her
She was a girl of good family and had
been delcately nurtured. She wished
TO rear her child III ease. The old cur
mudgcon objected, but she paid no heed
to his words. Then the cruelty and ava
rice of this man were developed in all
their strength. From this moment the
mother and child were subjected, with
an inieXible rigor, to the lot of serfs
She was shut up, treated like a servant,
and the poor woman died from the
effects
The child grew up under this terri
bic master, who, from the time Sergius
was six years old, compelled him to rake
together the rubbish in the yard, while
he beat him numerically.
1t was dream of his fathers to make
his son a sort of head man on his estate,
and to extract from him all the money
that he refused to eXpend for his educa-
ton. He sent little Sergius to the field
to dig, to hoe and to labor.
But one day the brother of Razoumof
came to the old house, which, from neg
lect had nearly gone to decay He was
Very rich bachelor and Sergius was to
be his heir He was Il somewhat cult
waited man and he could not comprehend
the neglect with which RazoumOf treated
his son. He insisted that the child should
be sent immediately to Moscow to under
take his studies Unless he does So
he added, he will inherit nothing from
ne, The father shuddered at this last
remark as much as ut the thought of the
expense which would be entailed upon
him by the education of his son He
Wept, entreated declared that he would
give his son brilliant education at home
lie even sent for diab for this purpose.
The diat is 4 chorister in the Greek
Church, who is generally too ignorant to
read. The brother persisted, and the
child was sent to Moscow
can still remember old Razoumof as
he appeared on the dav of Scrgius' de
parture. Enveloped in a long, olive
colored oyercoat, greasy and patched
with cloths Of various colors, he shed
tears while telling me of his brothers
criminal whim. 1t was, nevertheless. the
brother who bore the expense of his
nephew's tuition, SergiuS' father having
ceased, after the second year, to send
him money
- He will cost me the very eyes in
my head, he moaned, agitating his skinny
arms; | will die on a bed of straw'-(he
dropped his tears on my shoulder)-'y yes,
on 4 bed of straw-he, he, he!' And then
he ran from the dilapidated tarantass,
which little boy was taking from under
shed, to the stable, where an old ser
want, as dry and weazen as his master
was engaged in tying up with old pieces
of Irvine the mice gnawed harness. When
the horses were hitched to the vehicle
the old man INDUCED in few more high
words, and little Sergius started on his
journey.
81 He remained eight years at Moscow
At the age of twenty-one he had com
pleted his studies, in which he had dis