Litchfield enquirer., 1878-03-07

others who are more innocent than I will re- main in Siberia all their lives | thought you might know more about it than l. :" ttts '.-
 If were speaking to any other but "a Ba-3 rinksi, ? said I, s'I might suppose that persecu- tion had shaken your fidelity to our cause, as it has in other cases whereithe flesh is weak; but know you too well to think you wouldcr aipardon by recanting Have you any friends at court 5?''J 9seia @g0 On ."f5 I-s'None that know of" he replied 'sand far from recanting was to often outspoken in my loathing of Russian barbarity. l ex- pect the chief inspector told me the truth when he said it was my poems that had procured me the pardon never deignedto seek. D. "Your poems, Casmir? Have you turned poet then? ....-;f I.i "A man must do something in those long Siberian evenings, which are eighteen hours long," he answered, with 8 smile and slight blush.s T wrote some verses which the exiles repeated over their winter fires, and after I had been ten years at Irnsk, many of them had become familiar in the mouths of the scoE onists One day when the chief inspector came on his half yearly rounds, he alluded to these poems and asked whether would give him copies of them, I didso for there was no reason to refuse" H :,z.tf{f ..t -... ri q4s
 Were they patriotic poems Was there no politics in them ?' e'"'4'." '@
 'sOh, MO, they were ballads and sonnets snch as the peasants in Iithunia and Ukraine might sing in wedding -feasts, or drone at fu- neral wakes. As had composed them during perennial snows I entitled them collectively Snow-1akes. They were enough to make ! small volume" -~..s. -a e,a :2T .,a.gf
 (Which has been published?" ,. ..- ..e...,
 ''So it seems, but not with my name to it, or with my leave. Three years passed after I had seen thechief inspector, and then he came oIx yl@ camel. ''I have had your verses printed said he; 'here are a thousand roubles as the price of the copyright, and the emperor's pardon along with them. I thought he was joking, but the next morning the escort arrived to take me away in the sledges, and here am." l made no immediate answer, for I was plunged in deep thought. remembered hav- ing seen on Countess Marienha's table small volume with the title ''snowfakes," and l felt presentiment that it had been she who applied for Casimir's pardon. But if my sus- picions were correct, and if Paulina had infu- ence enough to bring back proscript from Si beria, then it was evident that she must still be ill the pay of the imperial police, and her treacherous friendship might be as dangerous to Casimir now as it had been of Tore 1 stood in Woful straits, for l could not warn Casimir to stand aloof from lady who enjoyed the re- pect of the poles, and upon whomhe would be sare to call as a matter of duty. All 1 knew to Paulina's disadvantage had been told to me by her self in the confessional, and if had divulged a word of It, I must have betrayed the most sacred trust of my ministry.
 l could only rejoice that neither by word nor sign dId Casimir give any indication of re- membering the boyish passion which brought him such cruel hardships. He did not once pronounce Paulina's namewhile we sat togeth- er q
 It is not all to give an exile his pardon one must afford him some means of living and this the Russian government neglects to do. It also throws many obstacles in the way of a Poles earning his bread as he best can.
 The property of the Barinski's had been confiscated not only their lands, but their personalities, even to the wine in their cellars, had beeu seizEd and Casimr had to begin life afresh with the thousand roubles which pub fisher had paid for his poems. He had been educated like a nobleman-that is he had learned very many things superfcially and nothing we'll, but he completed his education in exile, and he might have prospered either as professor or writer of books had not the government imposed such rigorous conditions to his release as virtually chained both his tongue and his pen. Casimir was com pelled to reside at DolW, and was obliged to
 
 week; he was prohibited from teaching chil- dren from publishing line not previously submitted to the press-censorship, and was warned, moreover, that if he attempted to leave the country, or to excite public sympa- I thy for his wrongs either by dilating upon them among his friends or by communicating with foreign newspapers. his pardon would instantly be revoked. These conditions were not made known to the proscript until his arrival at Aof, h,,&h hml alt mission unless he would return to Siberia For handicraft, he determined upon utilizing the metallurgical knowledge he had acquired in the mines of Oural, and hired himself out as journeyman to silversmith.
 1 felt sad and ashamed upon learning that the heir of the great family of the Barinski was going to be employed as a smeiter for less than rouble day by Solomon Paskoff, who keeps the jewellers shop in the street of St. Barinskis. This very street was formerly call ed after the Barinskis, and every day, in going to his work and returning form it, Casimr would pass by the home of his fathers, which was now the residence of the general who commands the garrison. He did not seem to mind this much. and as to his work, he said with resignation that he was glad to find a livelihood at all for that Ioulka and her moth CT had only just enough to keep them, and he would have scrupled to take wife, unless he could earn at least the bread he ate. Besides he hoped to be able to get away before long with his wife and mother-in-law and join his sister Eveline in France.
 I owed Madame Zezoff and her daughter call now now that knew of Ioulkas engage ment, and so proceeded to their house, after vespers, the dao following that when had seen Casimir. The ZeZioffs lived in modest lodgings, without servant, and did their cooking for themselves, though time was when they had had several servants, in the days when they Dr. Zeziof was the chief praction- CT in Dolw, before the civil war, where he was killed by bullet in tending the wounded upon battlefield. Ioulka's hands were cov- cred with flour when she opened the door for me, and at the first compliment I uttered up- on her coming marriage, she blushed and ran back to the kitchen. Her mother came for ward laughing, and led me into the drawing room, where 1 found Crsimir, who was seated near the stove with muddy boots, for he had been walking about the town all day in search of occupation.
 It was then he told me that Solomon Pas kof had employed him, and we talked about this matter, Madame Zeziof seeming as con- cerned as that no worthier field could be found for his talents Presently Ioulka came back, with her hands washed, and sat down beside her mother to hem a handkerchief, but she was all radiant with inward happiness and saw nothing to fret about, now that Casimir had returned in health. It takes good deal to persuade a girl in love that the earth is not full of bright prospects. noticed that there was striking resemblance between mother and daughter they looked like copies of the same engraving, ,-the one in pale tints, the other in bright. Madame Zezioff's hair was silverlwhite, thoegh she was no more than fifty, and her complexion was pale as wax: Ioulkas hair was glossy chestnut, and her complexion pink: but both had the same large hazel eyes and an identical voice. low and soft which, as Milton truly says, is an excellent thing in wo- man.
 The Zezioffs wanted me to stay for supper, but had some parish visiting to do, and wish ed to avail of the evening for we were in early summer My visit was only one of congratula- ton however, fingered awhile, when Gas imir said he would dictate to me the ages and full names of Ioulka and himself. to put in the banns, ashe was desirous that no time should be lost in concluding the preliminaries of his mar