The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1875-12-03

hours | was az hharAOf. To my friend,
the staroSta, at the great Kharkof Sta
tion, who was quite equal in rank and
pay to most postmasters themselves, |
said: DO me a service. little friend, as |
wonld DO one for you | am going to
leave my wife. tn whom have been un-
kind and am going to enlist in the guards
But l wish her to forget NE, and she
must think NE dead. Write to her in a
week and tell her was taken with the
cholera and died. Beg her to forgive
me for my unkindness; say that l was
grateful for her love, and that it was my
last wish that she should marry some lad
more worthy or her than myself Make
interest to have most surely the station
continued to her as postmistress. She
IS priests daughter and can write" We
crossed ourselves; be swore; we bowed
to the image in the corner of the stable,
we kissed, and in five minutes l was
gone. At the recruiting Office | enlisted
for the EmpFess' regiment of cuirassiers
OF the guard, as "a fourteen years voIun-
teer guard, aud in false name. I'd of
course, no papers, but they asked no
questions, for | was fine recruit My
beard was shaved, my hair was cut, and
when L got to Petersburg and was fitted
with my uniform and eagle-crowned
helmet, no one would have known me.
| rose TO sergeant and second riding
master. From your padarojna see that
you are English. Now, in '55, when |
had served my time, there were rumors
of war in Turkey against you, and
tempting offers were made to me to stop
and drill the new recruits. Bat | was
wretehed, and hoinesiekness drove me
South, though if 1 found my wife dead,
or married again, intended to kill N.Y.
self. Petersburg is not n place for
Cossacks, either. By brooding over the
past, / had become madly in love with
my wife. 1t was no use to tell myself
that had left her well off; that she was
married again and happy; that she was
fortyfour and fat; or else, perhaps a
scarecrow. / was madly in love.
81 got my discharge and pension pa
pers, and started south. At kharkof,
my friend was dead What if she, too,
were dead! ''Who keeps the Donski
post-station now!" / murmured, crossing
myself tie while under my long cloak.
1.-The widow" "A widow that has kept
it fourteen yearsW 1.-The same" In
eighteen hours l was there. / recogni-
zed two of the old men, but they not rc.
rushed into the house. She was at
her day book, writing, not changed.
Only graver, and with silver in her black
hair. ''AIy own Olga, in the best styles
of old days. See did not turn to look
at me, but threw up her arms and fell
forward on the table. | rashe,. to her
and felt her heart, with mine, too, al
most ceasing to beat. In moment she
came to herself our lips fast glued to-
gether This was in '53. This is 80.
Sixteen years gone like day. We have
made up for the past, little lord.
''But would you believe itl That
wretched government Mt Petersburg in
sists that l am dead. and that the DON
ski station is kept ey my widow Or
else they say the cuirassiers' riding-mas-
ter must be dead, and with him his pen
sion. My widow accepts the situation
with a smile. for neighb3rs knew better
than to believe the government, but she
keeps the books, signs the receipts. and
pays the taxes. / draw my pension in
my cuirassier name. A great Petersburg
noble who was passing here last week,
told me that he didn't believe word of
my story, but that the postmistress and
were quite in the fashion" What
did he mean -HtcmiLIan's udgaziae.