The Opelousas courier., 1885-07-11
Stories of a Russian Prince.

Stories OF a Russian Prince.
In former times the nobility of
Europe held the common people in a
condition of vassalage. a relation in
which the serf was absolutely subject
60 the within of his master. lnaN@a
had SO clear a conceptiaEess
~ sao;o4,, anaes~@ggsol OF this state
tyranp~ N' -
- and cruelty. as had after
Nearing the stories which my Russian
guide told me one day, in the little
Russian village of Faborici. The fol-
towing was part Of his narrative in
which he spoke of a nobleman who
formerly lived in the castle in that
town. Ii gives also a view Of the
headstrong, ~overbearing, brutal char
acter of n class of Russian mobiles of
the last generation.
'Iremember n day." said the old
guide, when | accompanied my mas
ter the prince on one Of his hunts. 1t
was q bitter cold day, and there was a
slight show of ice on the river below
thin enough to be broken by a small
copper coin.
1--WE had caught a number of fine
hares I'M the fields, and on returning
the whole company of hunters paused
on yonder cliff. The monastery was
behind us, and the monks left off pray
ing and came to see u game. of
which the prince always presented
them with one-third.
eWell, my master was in a merry
mood. He sent off the monks to fetch
him a barrel of vodka-Russian
brandy. presently a number of the
bey-monks were seen kicking and roll
Ing before them a barrel of the re-
quired drink. My master took his
seat on 1t, preached it at once. and
with q ladle began to help himself ami.
us.
Eve all began to feel warm and
merry, and the prince became just a
little excited, 20 he told some Of Vi to
make a reisGk-to break the ice by
plunging head foremost down the cliff
on the ice on the river, and coming up
IN some other place.
"a few hard-headed ones threw
themselves down head foremost, but
on that day no one succeeded in max
ing q reisab. Some stupidity fell on
their backs on the ice, which was
not the ching at all. Others never
reached the Ice, but struck against the
side OF the cliff, and one unlucky fell
low put his neck out of joint and
neY moved again.
THE three who broke the ice never
cane Up but remained to take care Of
the fishes, Or perhaps were led away
down To the bottom Of the river by the
Wa~ter-fairies. Oh, dear, that was d
great day. MY poor prince was iii a
foalning rage
Iu fog YOU all TO death, he
screamed.
AT that moment his eye fell upon
bis own secretary. q timid, kindly
tempered man, and he ordered him to
make d yeisaE.
would do II il I knew how, your
highness,' replied the unhappy man.
sssIt Is time you learned your duty,
you rascal; make me a a'essaE this in
slant.
The trembling creature threw him
self down headforemost; he broke the
Toe, but he did not come up again-at
least we never saw him In these parts,
All fhatmy poor master wa 90 disap-
pointed that he burst into tears and
sobs.
eft ii plain that my last days are at
hand, cried bic. when ! cannot find
ons mar among my thousands who can
make i gsiseks But where is crop
cared Iaska. He ID the man that can
make rsssaIs one after the other.
Sand for him at once. |
sNoW this was none other than my
own father. lie was at work on d
farm Ill some distance. and q messen-
ger was sent TO fetch him. Mean
while the weather grew colder. 4 BIT
ter wind began TO blow from the north,
and the Ice became thicker. 1t was
almost dusk when my father arrived
and the ive had 10 thickened that Il he
had 4 head of iron he would have been
unable TO make geisak.
asNSoW. you rogue, show these fgnor
ant hounds how to make = gsisaks'
said tbs prince.
AAly father. who was an Iroll-Willed
man. knew better than ID disobey his
primes He gave him one look To
make sure that he was In earnest, re-
moved his slssep-skin coat and gave it
Al nle. saying, Son, keep this III re-
membranes 81 ne, for / ana g0lng To
rNva3sx@1 VHxan ia sa~daun8 hAy.saff