The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-10-05
peasant. "As he Is he can be of no earthly

aThat IL lust the thing" was the answer
| "He IL d very poor man, and his mind ~ not
very bright. He ID also very Negligent IN On.
paying OF taxes. 80 We thought TO what
sarthl use ean he be to us2 He h dead loss
TO the community. Tot him be our bai.iif
AT least then he must work and have Oil The
trouble for what he costs u.s.
Old Michael, on seeing ~ approaching, ran
out Of his cottage wringtng hlB hnnds, And
evidently very much excited.
| aWhat d yisitHtionr' he cried. "0h, the
people of Dubrovo must have sinned heavily
against heaven for being thus puDishadl"
| We tried, though Intellectually, W feasst1re
him, and asked hun tn Gull u meeting dachod
! OF all the house owners the next morning
| before work-that la, before o'clock. lie
promised " do 80, immediately. and trotted
out into the street, his gray beard flowing In
| the wind as he rAn along.
We returned to the house where our patient
| lay. She WAS rapidly sinking, her body was
already quite cold; horrible c0nvnlsipns dis
| torted her fage from time to time. The aif IN
| the room waE, despite the open wlha0Ws,
| almost insuferablr. We took al sueh Pr.
caltiunary measures as we could devise. All
| tho house and yard were sprinkled with car
bUIiG acid, HtIJf rugs 5tttkeA II HlneKar wore
suspended in the room where the patient IVY.
| 1t WIS late when we finished our WORK we
had but five hours for rest before dawn.
volunteered To keep the first nights watch ;
the doctor WAS to relieve me Mt ! n'clack.
The latter went home accordingly, leaving
me alone with TliushH, who had VI his own
free will expressed the desre to keep me COM
pnny.
We established ourselves Us well as We could
IN the hall Of The COTTAGE / hunted up large
empty box. which, turned up sidedown. served
ns u table, placed on 1t y small travelling lninp
which | had brought with me from the house,
ana sat down to read. Tliusba Glrled him
self up In d corner like q dog, and was soon
fast asleep. rhe cold night air, full of The
fragrance Of now mown hay. and OF distant
pine woods, streamed through the open door.
II was difficult to believe that amid the pence
ful rppose oil around, and LII the healthfni
breath Of that lovely night Invisible LENDS
should be lurking, threatening destruction
and death
"rol ne, Sergej Egorovitch," exclaimed,
all of sudden, 1linshas sleepy voice, lis It
trne that cholera IL an evil spirit that hovers
over the country? Tho old women say that
m day time II is invisible, but at night 1t takes
I'LL sorts III shapes a pig or skeleton. or an
II ons succeeds In killing that being, whatever
II may be, then the malady ceases. Can this
be true2"
"FUr shame, Tilusha." answered. laugh
Ing. How can you talk such nonsense. you,
our best pupltp The evil spirits are here" l
added. pointing 10 the pard where manure
old rags and Ill sorts of nondescript rubblah
were heaped up In one foul mass, "and to-
morrow we will have good deal Of work 10
exoros,lng them So noW sleep \, quietly ana 90
AT o'clock, true to his word. the Doctor
made his appearance. The patient was lying
In the came desperate condition. Her breath
came at long intervals, her eyes were closed,
the pulse had nearly Ceased to beat, and the
end was approaching.
| went home and fell soundly asleep. The
day had scarcely dawned when Gayrilytch en-
tered my room with glass OF steaming hot
tea fin his hand.
aYour Honor he said, rendering me the
military snlute, ut Is time for service"
I iumped out of bed, dressed hurrledly and
ran out to the village, followed by Gavrilytch.
On the road, noticed that the old man had
put on his uniform, as II W. were going Into
battle! He gave me d written answer from
the sanitary department. which the messen-
ger dispatched by me the night before had
Just brought. It Was signed by the secretary
and intimated that the next meeting OF the
department was TO take place two days later,
and that Until then nothing could be done. La
two days. And meantime half Of our village
might die. Though | was used to the as
founding indolence and incapacty displayed
by the Russian authorities In all similar cases,
still this answer exasperhtad me. 1t rendered
disintectants we possessed. had already been
spent Medicines we had none ut al, and,
m,at VA worte neit....sr we nor the village had
the money to buy any.
On reachiug the village we found tho whole
parish already assembled Oh the common b..
fore the baliff's cottage. The Doctor stood
among the men and spoke In d clear, quiet
voice. Iii few words he described the nature
III the malady, dwelling especially on two
roints: That cholera, though IN epidemic,
was not actually contagious. and that, there
fore, the fear OF touching or tending the sick
feeling Of dread OF itself rendered the human
body particularly sensitive Before and
above all, he recommended to them great
prudence In the use Of cold water and scrupu-
lous cleanliness.
some Of you and lend us hand. Old Aku-
lima ID dead, and she must be buried imme-
diatply. The coffin is ready, and the Catinsh--
ka will read the funeral service. But We want
three of you to carry the coffin"
After o short debate three Of the peasants
present were assigned to be bearers, after
which the crowd quietly dispersed. The
men seemed to have outslept yesterdays
panic The first fright once overcome, that
peculiar, somewhat Oriental feature In the
Russian national character-a quiet. passive
obedience to the DEGREES oil q supreme power
took the upper hand.
The spectacle which presented itself to US
on entering Akullna's cottage was CHASTITY
beyond description. The rising sun poured
torrents Of light through the open windows,
and Its rays fell ON the prostrate form Of the
dead woman, who, according TO the RusSian
custom, had been laid out on the table. Her
face was almost entirely black, and still bore
al expression OF indescribable suffering and
horror. BY the side Of the corpse sat q young
woman reading the prayers for the dead. She
was we'll -knoTn-rather too well-knoWn.
character In the village. "Mashka Soldatka'
MARY, the soldiers wife, she was called.
Her husband had been taken into the army
several years before, leaving her alone, young
and pretty, and without children. The con-
sequences may be easily imagined. Mashka
soon acquired an undesirable popularity
among the young generation Of peasants at
Dubrovo On long summer nights her cot
tage only too often became the rendezvous
for drinking and dancing parties, to the III
utterable scandal Of all the respectable peo-
pie The young woman had already been re-
peatedIy threatened with expulsion from the
parish.
"strange creature" said the doctor to me
in French. "She came here tonight Just
after you bad gone, and asked me II she could
he Of any use to me, / answered, No, and
advised her to go to sleep; but she said she
could not sleep while others were In terror
and Id pain, and declared her firm resolution
10 attend poor Akulina. When the latter was
dead 1t was she who washed the corpse and
laid it out In state on the table, and now here
she il reading her prayers"