Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1882-03-01
THE NIHILIST,S STORY.

ceased, no one spoke, and only the
cracking of the open fire, as it laug hed
and cracked upon the wide hearth
within, and the moan of the night-wind
roaming the lonely waste, without,
broke the silence, while we steadily
pulled at our pipes; then Thompson,
the host, arose and began to brew a
fresh jug of flip, and the West Virgin
ian, Destram, turned to his companion
and spoke;
"Alex, it's your turn. Give US a
Russian story, full to the brim with
horrors. A bear hunt upon your illim-
liable steppes, wolf chase along the
Volga, Cossack fight in the south or
Tartar raid upon the north; or better
still, tell us of your own Nihilistic
trials"
The man to whom Destram spoke
shivered, and his strong face, dark and
deeply cut, twitched a little, while his
eye cleaned. He hesitated a moment,
then carefully laid his pipe upon the
rough table, and half.turning, replied:
Gentlemen, if it is my turn / will
speak, and as my friend has suggested
the subject, although it is not a
pleasant one to me, l will tell you a
tale of my home, Russia, and of myself,
a Nihilist. If it seem strange, then
grant me that strange things and horri-
BILE ones may happen even in Christian
Europe, and in this nineteenth century.
1t is word for word true"
We drew nearer the speaker, and
listened intently. A Russian story
told in Colorado, for our cabin was far
up among the spurs of the Rockies, in
the western portion of the State, and
that story the history of a Nihilist, was
new and strange treat for American
ears.
"Six years ago, / was living in Darn
owsky, in the province of Rubin, in
the southern part Of the greatest of
European empires, a young man happy
as circumstances would allow, and at
the time of which l speak, doubly
happy and contented in my little
school; for / was teacher, since I
had just made the sweetest and pref
tiest girl in the village my wife.
marie Carloff was mine, won from
a score of suitors by love alone, for I
had little money, and / was content.
"Chief among the disconsolate ones
was the son of an ex-army officer,
Louis Lodiski by name, handsome
but unprincipled fellow, who for years
had been infatuated with Marie. How
ever, when our coming wedding was
announced, Louis left the village, and
1 was spared his scowl and muttered
threats, and soon forgot him in the joy
of home-life.
"For three years I was at rest.
Then came the great cloud that to-day
overhangs my native land, and its
dark shadow fell across even my hum
BILE threshold. l had been St. Peters
burg student, and when the strange
of communism, silent and
deadly, crept through the Nation, it
found in me an easy prey, and I be-
came n Nihilist, swore the terrible
oaths, and linked myself body and soul
to their unknown and horrible purposes.
l shudder now as / remember.
"There was circle formed in our
town, and two months after / had
joined it there appeared one night
us, commissioned from the
Grand Circle at Moscow as our chief,
Louis Lodiski.
81 bowed before him, but when l saw
the fierce light of baffled passion and
eager revenge CLEAN in his hated eyes,
brightly as when 1 last met him, then
as the rejected sutton of my wife, ] knew
and felt for the first time into what a
horrible pit / had fallen; for, free as /
was before the world, in secret / was
bound by my vows, the serf and slave
Of my bitter enemy.
"But of all this my wife knew moth
ing, except that her old lover was in
town.
"For time there was but. little work
for our society, but ii SO happened that
towards the spring new quartering of
soldiers was made in our town, under
the charge Of Colonel Jelikoff, q tried
and true officer of the Government,