Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1882-09-06

him to sweeten their bitter lot by a
weekly bottle of sakarra, or diluted mo
lasses; and L learn from an article in
a French Journal that some of these
unfortunates, who had passed long years
without any hint of sakarra, were forced
by chronic bowel complaints to return
to their old dry fare.
Fecior Darapski, born IVA, in Kars-
kod near Praga, Eastern Poland, WAS
brought to the government of Novgorod
in his 22nd year as a conscript to the
Russian army, and WAS soon after SEN
fenced to death for mutiny and assault
with intent to kill The Empress Cath
erIne. acting ON recommendation of
the Governor Of Novgorod, committed
his sentence to Imprisonment for life
but ordered that on every anniversary
of the deed Tan attempt to kill his col
onel, the convict should receive 40
lashes and be kept on half rstions for a
week after; the full ration being two
pounds Of black bread and a jug of cold
water. On these terms Darapski was
boarded at the fortress OF Kirilov till
1863. when at the approach of his Goth
birthday he was again recommended to
mercy, and liberated by order of the
late Gar.
Even the story of Nebuchadnekzsr
may be moro than an allsgory, as the
wild berries, roots, and grass-seeds OF
the Assyrian valleys contained surely as
much nourishment as sour rye bread !;
and who knows but grass itself might
do for while, since the Slavonian
peasants often subsist for weeks at a
time on sauerkraut and cabbage soup2
CorsIcan farmers live all winter on
dried fruit and poIeRta Chestnut meal }
and the Moors of medieval Spain used
to provision their fortified cities with
chestnuts and olive oil. During the
siege of Lucknow the native soldiers
asked that the little rice left be given to
their British comrades Us for themselves
they could DO with the soup, j. e., the
water in which the rice had been
boiledi
But the nc pl,ts ultra of abstinence,
combined with robust strength, is fur
nished in the record of Shamyl, the
heroic Circassian, who for the last two
years OF the war that ended with his
capture had nothing but water for his
drink and roasted beechnuts for his
food, and yet month after month defiel
the power OF the Rr.sian Empire in his
native mountains, and repeatedly cut
his way through the ranks of his
would-be captors with the arm of a
Hercules.
The philosophers of antiquity prided
themselves ON their frugal habits, which
ranked next to godliness iu their estims-
ton, as expressed in the famous aphor-
ism. "God needs nothing, and he is next
to Him who can do with next to moth
ing'-whose material needs are the
smallest. Primitive habits are certainly
favorable to Independence, especially in
genial climate, where a man i, above
the fear of tyranny and all SOCIAL obli-
cations, who, Ike Shamyl, can subsisi
on the spontaneous gifts Of his mother
Earth. do you know" Cyrus asked
| the emba1sador of a luxurious potenate
"hov invincible men are who can live
on herbs and seorns ?" II the Ssreaenr
had persisted in the simplicity of theil
fathers, the nineteenth century might
see Moorish kingdoms in Southern Eu
rope, and Arabian science and fruit gar
dens in the place of deserts and monklsl
besottedness. Cato needed no prophet,
inspiration to predict the downfall of 1
city where a small fish could fetch 4,
higher price than fattened OK.