The Cecil Whig., 1885-05-30

Sportsman" which, in order to escape
the notice of the censors, was published
pieCemeal in detached articles in a
dozen or twenty different newspapers
in different parts of the Empire. Hav-
ing once been approved by the cen
sors, these sketches did not have to be
subjected to second inspection when
they were collected in a book. The
colorless title, which gave no clue to
the character of the book, was chosen
TOR the same purpose. But no sooner
were these apparently inohensive me-
molrS published than all Russia per-
ceived that the book was most tre-
mendous Indictment of the institution
of serfdom. There was no impassioned
defamation, no flowery rhetoric. On
the contrary, the style was sober and
cleTr, and the pictures presented were
such as every one recognized from his
daily experience. Not single criti-
cism of Russia's "peculiar institution"
was to be found ; but, for all that, the
book filed every one with the convic-
Ion that serfdom was equally degrad-
ing to master the serf.
TIE EFFLCr ON THE CZt2.
The Car read "The Memoirs of a
Sportsman" and he is said to have de-
clared to Tourgueneff that it was this
book which convinced him that the
adjustment of serfdom was political
necessity. Tourgueneff cherished this
assurance as the most precious memory
of his life.
"When l get blue" he once said to
me, "and think that 1 have accom-
plished nothing of what l dreamed Of
in my youth, l take The Memoirs of a
Sportsman from the bookcase, and en-
deavor to convince myself again that l
have not lived altogether in vain.'
An authentic life OF Tours lenef has
never yet been w4itten, and there is a
certain phase Of it which a biograper
can only touch upon with wary hand.
Certain abnorma7 relations which French
and Russian morality countenances are
apt to be severely judged upon this
side of the ocean. l have letter from
Tourgueneff in which he gently scolds
me for not having stated in my article
in 'The Galaxy refei ed to above,
that this daughter, of whom he was
vely fond, was an i71egitimate child.
'She was married about a yea-ago,"
he said in 1873, land she has recently
conferred upon me the undeserved dig
nifty of a grandfather. For you know
l was never married, and have really
no right to figure as family dignitary.
Some velJ comica, things occurred
while she was yet on my hands. One
day l received a letter from a captain
in the French a-my, whom l had never
seen and whose name | had never
heard. He had the kindness to en-
close his photograph in full regimen
tails and to inform me that he was con-
Siderably handsomer than his picture
would lead me to suppose. He. ESQ
gave long list of lis ancestors End
family connections, from which l y
fel.ed that he was man of eminent
respectabiliiJ. My daughter had been
pointed out to him at a concei,, and
he coolly suggested that her looks
pleased him and that he would be will
ing to mai. her if l would make a set
tlement upon her that would be salts
factory to himself md his family. If
agreeable to me, he would call with
the proper credentials at any time l
might designate. replied that if he
would kindly cr'l the follow 1g day be-
tween 2 and 3 in the afternoon, it
would afford me seat pleasure-to
F;cl him dow lstairs. He did not put
i an appearance nd l was much dis
appointed"
In the Spring e1d ea-ly Summer of
1879 I again spent severH' months in
Paris, and during that time passed an
evening every week in Tourgueneff S
company. His study was luxr' iously
appointed room, with low divans, great
oil paintings, and an ar of dreamy Or
entail languor. The gout had then got
a firm clutch on him and he could not
move about With ease. He sat in an
easy chair, and talked, With his heal
throw back and his eyes half closed.
l noticed that pan made no perceptl-
Bile difference in his conversational
powers on the contrary, it seemed at
times to rouse him to s:eater vigor and
br;''iancy. His house was rendez-
vous for miscellaneous company of
political exiles-chiehy Poles and Rus
slams. He did not profess TO sympa-
thize with them; but when they were
stal ling he helped them. One man,
whom | shall never forget if grow to
be 100 years old, had spent seven years
in solitary confinement in the fortress
of Kiev. He had been a student at
the University of St. Petersburg and
had, IN that capacity, presented an ad
dress to the Czarevitch complaining of
certain abuses. The reply of the Car
evitch was to have him and everyone
else who had signed the address thrown
into prison, without trial. His suffer
ings defy description. He was never
permitted to leave his cell for any pur-
pose whatever he nearly lost his sight ;
he lost his memory he became brute
in everythinu eyceDt form When he