The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-08-18

| 'WuaI Oen naQ nldQen IN their Souls"
| "You never gave taper to the Holy Vir-
gin nor to your patron saint" he said. "Do
| you expect them at the day of judgment 10
make intercession for you?
"Plenty of time to provide for that,,' re-
| piled Nikita.
"Timep' cried the priest, "what do you
mean by time. you hoary sinner? You are
on the verge of the graver'
''No, not so bad as that good father. l
am perfectly well at present." said Nikita.
sold man, how old are you"
81 don't know, your reverence"
"About thirty"
swell, then, you must be hard upon sew
enty years old, and you talk about having
| plenty OF time before you! Repent of your
sins now while God is pleased to spare you."
"Al right. 1 will repent, father"
Sand about those tapers ?"
| "All right too. I'll attend to them.
Please give me your blessing, father"
He knew the good priests blessing would
cost nothing, otherwise the old rascal would
have dispensed with the benediction. The
pastor gave it him, however, and went away,
amused by this peep at the queer weaknesses
of human nature.
A fortnight after (Nikita had done nothing
about the tapers) his sons horse justified the
opinion he had expressed concerning horse
flesh as an investment, for it died, as it had
lived, in he tcart, engaged in its daily labor.
| This was a great misfortune to the whole
family. A horse is as important as the shirt
| on his back to the Russian serf. The fields
| In Russia lie fallow three years out of four,
and the great distances things have to be car.
| ried upon those enormous farms make a
horse absolutely necessary, even if the peas
| ant and his family have to live on one meal a
/ day for year to pay for it.
| Nikita's sons determined to implore their
| father to lend them money enough to buv a
horse, Horses are not dear in Russia. Be-
| fore the Crimean war very good little work
| horse might DO bought for twelve or fifteen
| roubles.
| church, before sitting down to table the
brothers threw themselves at their fathers
foet, and holding up their hands they both
| cried, "Give us blessingp'
Nikita waited quietly the request that
would follow this preamble.
"You know our horse is dead" said the
elder.
eve cannot afford to buy another" said
the younger:
"Yes," said Nikita, providence seems to
have been very hard on you. We are told
that the Lord chastens those he loves"
LEND us the money to buy another" said
| The younger.
"We will all pray to God to bless you, for
ever and ever!" cried the younger. The
whole family, women and children and in
| fants who were standing by, now fell upon
their knees before the head of the family.
The old man put his hand inside his shirt
and patted the little bag hung round his neck
by string.
"May the Lord take pity on you," he said,
81 can do nothing for you"
II fol INV ata
| our dear fatherp' they all cried in that note
of application which rises full octave higher
than the highest note of the greatest tenor,
"help us, take pity on usv
With a gesture they could all understand,
Nikita stopped his ears. The supplcation
ceased.
"There are Jews" said the old man, "you
must borrow
He sat down at table; and no one said an
other word, for Russians respect for the
head of his family is so great that no one
dared to push petition or remonstrance fur
ther, nor did any one even dream of stealing
him, behind his back, Old Nick, dog in the
Manager, and whatever else is Russian for ex-
| pressions of that kind, but no one was want
| ing for moment in deierential considera-
ton.
They went to Jew. Nikita said truly,
There are plenty of Jews in Russia 4
There are plenty there and everywhere. The
best part of the poor peasants earnings finds
its way into the clutches OF the Jews.
A new horse filled the old stall in the sta
BILE, and things went on as before, except
that the economy of the family was more Sc
we're than ever. Nikita, however, insisted
upon having all the comforts he was accus-
toned to.
"It was not my fault" he observed, ''that
the horse died. | want my kvass and my tea
as | have always had"
His daughter gave it him-eating less and
toiling more. But it was not she who fell i'll.
Poetical justice does take place sometimes
it was Nikita.
One evening he remained too long after
the sunset on the bank of the river. He had
high fever in the night, and severe chill the
next day when he lay on the top OF the enor-
nous stove, shivering under great pile of
cloaks and sheepskins. Two or three days
passed. He got no better. Now and then he
asked for drink in hoarse voice, when the
little gran ison left to wait on him, would
give him the kvassjug. The sick man would
eagerly drink the sour beverage and turning
round without word of tn INKS would 60 off
into doze again.
The fourth day his'condition began to alarm
the family. The Russian peasant seldom
takes much notice of the sufferings OF any
member of his family and very rarely any of
his own. The spirit of fatalism and unlim-
tied resignation which is the most marked
feature in his character, leads him to look on
sickness and on death as disagreeable but in
evitable things, to be accepted like ia change
of temperature, storm OF wind, or any 9TH
| er accident of the seasons. But Nikita was
| the head of the family. His life was more
| precious than one of their own. His eldest
| son proposed to him to bring the midwife.
Don't smile, o sons of the cities, for the
world turns round. Our modern question
about women doctors was practically settled
l once upon time, was unsettled about one
hundred years since, and has now come up
| for reconsideration. It is the midwife-the
| sage femme who sets the broken bones,
binds up important wounds, gives simple
remedies for human natures various ills in
remote villages, not only in Russia, but in
more civilized countries, even at this present
| day.
"The devil take your midwife" snarled
the sick man. "Time enough to send for her
when Pm dying"
SIT is not very far to town." put in the
second son at length, Suppose we 60 and
get the DOCTOR"
Nikita hardly let him finish his suggestion
before he flung wooden bowl at him which
had contained some cruel. The missile
SIuck ultu Oh one sue OI us QeaQ, ana Inc
poor fellow stood half stunned and quite b.
wildered by the effect of his kind words, wip-
ing the cruel from his face with the sleeve of
his jacket.
"The doctor! Yes indeed! You must be
anxious to see my precious money pass into
| other hands-my money that I took such
pains and care to scrape together. You
| would not think of paying the old thief for
coming here to see me? You would all of you
come waiing about your poverty to me and
| saying piteously, "Father, we haven't got
cent-she cured .you.' Deuce take you,
| every one of you."
Nikita fell back as he said this, and spoke
| not another word that day. That night he
was no better. His breathing was so diff
cult that the family got frightened. They
sent for the priest.
"Bah he's not very SICK" thought Father
Jakim the moment he saw him.
He drew near the stove, sat down upon a
stool and spoke to the old sinner.
'Nikita Vlassief", said he solemnly, 'rve
come to see you to speak of the mercies of
the Lord and his divine compassion
"Good evening, good evening"" growled
out the patient savagely.
s.Vou aro unru eicly MN MAN old fr;o,d