The Lamoille news. (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1877-1881, 1878-07-03
My Russian Bishop.

keep her steady, Mac, and tell
Brown, in the engine-room, to stick to
her present rate of speed. Seven knots,
all things considered, is decent going,
even downstream, on one Of these Rus
sian rivers; and then we are in duty
bound, you know, to economize the COM
pany's firewoOd, cheap as it is."
cay, sy, Captain Burton" cheerfully
responded my tall, raw-boned first Off
Ger, entering with national alacrity into
a question of thrift.
Macgregor, chief mate, and Brown,
chief engineer, were, with myself, John
Burton by name, the only three Eng
lishmen on board the Fair Helen, a fine
steamer, of light draught, but consider
able engine-power, belonging to the
Anglo-Russian Steam Navigation Com
pany, and built expressly for service on
the Dnieper. We were pretty far to the
north just then, in the government of
Mohilew, where the great river first be-
comes navigab.e for anything bigger
than skiff or fiatboat, and were COM
ing down now with a string of RATS in
tow.
Macgregor left me on his round of
inspection, but !, who had just then no
call of duty, remained idly leaning
against the taffrail, and gazing, now at
the summer SKY of greenish blue, now
at the swampy and reed-grown shores,
where herds of black buffaloes and
focks of sickly sheep browsed on the
rank grass, and once again at the brown
waters of the sluggish Berysthenes, now
swollen by recent rain. Astern of the
steamer was the long array of RATS
which we were towing, composed of tim
ber, cut down in the forests farther
north, which forms valuable article of
export to tho more pastoral and treeless
south of Russia. Most of these RATS
had shells or straw -thatched novels built
upon them, to screen the laborers from
sun and rain; and at the edge of each
udll-uODth N1til iObB pOlOo III
their hands, kept watch. in case the
clumsy craft should ground among the
shadows and mud banks.
I had now spent over two years in
Russia, and had acquired some little
knowledge of the country, and, what
was harder, q tolerable smattering of its
very difficult language, while there were
those who regarded nae as singularly
lucky in having been appointed, young
as I was, to the command of the Fair
Helen. The duties, however, incumbent
on me as skipper of a river steamboat in
Russia, we're not much to my inclina-
tion, and I believe should long since
have resigned my post and gone back to
blue water and a sailors life, had it lot
been that fell in love, and that my love
was returned.
Pretty Annie Clements, only child of
the English manager of Prince Demi-
doff's paper mills at Mohilew, was the
enchantress whose bright eyes detained
me in Russia, and only two months had
elapsed since our troth-plight had re-
ceived the sanction of Annie's father.
Mr.. Clements, who had from his youth
up filed lucrative positions in the
Czar's dominian, and had saved money,
was good type of a class of English
men who may be described as Anglo
Russians. His industry and business
habits had given him marked superior
ity over the people among whom he
dwelt; but at the same time he was i'm
bued with an almost superstitious re-
spect for the government under which
he had long lived, and for every abuse
and every freak of administrative tyran-
ny on the part of the higher powers.
"This must be Bykhow!" said l,
starting from my reverie, as 1 caught
sight of the copper-coated cupola of the
Church of st. Michrel, overtopping the
wooden roofs Of the tiny town; "but
what have we here p I added, as boat
put off from the wharf and was soon
alongside of the steamer, which had
slackened speed in obedience to signal
from the shore. "Why, it is bishop r.
And, indeed, the most prominent per-
sonage of the group which presently
boarded us was, to judge by his garb
and mien, a prelate Of the Russian
Church. He wore gracefully flowing
robes, of almost oriental aspect, and the
quaint mitre, with it's narrow edging OF
purple and gold, which distinguishes q
Muscovite bishop. Behind him came
three attendants-his chaplain, his cro-
sier-bearer, and another. who tinkled a
little silver bell; at the sound of which
our Russian sailors and deckmen drop