The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1886-09-18
Abandoning Her Children.

From Scar S itttSTatees 1t"So'"'s @1"'P"S
An Esthoman woman, during the winter
of 1907, undertook journey to distant
relation, not only without any male COM
panion, but with three children, the young
est of which was still at the breast. A |
light sledge, drawn by one horse, received
the little party; the way was narrow, but
we'll beaten. The snow on each side deep
and impossible, and to turn back without
danger of sticking fast not to be thought of
The first half of the journey was passed
without accident. The road now ran along
the skirts of pine forest, when the travel
er suddenly heard suspicious noise behind
her.
Casting back look of alarm, she saw
troop of wolves trotting along the road, the
number of which her fears hindered her
from estimating. To escape by flight is her
first thought and with unspairing whip she
urges into a gallop the horse, which itself
snuffs the danger. Soon couple OF the
strongest and most hungry Of the beasts
appear at her side, and seem disposed to
stop the way Though their intention
seems to be only to attack the horse, yet
the safety of both the mother and the chill
dren depends on the preservation of the
animal. The danger raises its value; it
seems entitled to claim for its preservation
an extraordinary sacrifice. As the mariner
throws overheard his richest treasures to
appease the raging waves, so here has ne
cessity reached height at which the emo
tons of the heart are dumb before the dark
commands of instinct; the latter alone suf-
fers the unhappy woman to act in this dis
tress. She seizes her second child, whose
bodily infrmities have often made it an
object of anxious care, whose cry even Of
tends not her ear. and threatens to whet
the appetite of the blood-thirsty monsters,
she seizes it with an involuntary motion,
and before the mother is conscious OF what
she is doing it is cast out, and the last cry
of the victim still sounded in her ears when
she discovered that the troop which had
remained some minutes behind again close
ly pressed on the sledge. The anguish of
her soul increases, for again the murder
breathing forms are at her side. Pressing
the infant to her heaving bosom, she casts
look on her boy, four years old, who
crowds closer and closer to her knee.
"But, dear mother, am good, am | not?
You will not throw me into the snow like
the bawler p
"And yet and yet p cried the wretch
ed woman, in the wild tumult of despair,
"thou art good, but God is merciful
Away"
The dreaded deed was done. To escape
the furies that ragged within her, the woman
exerted herself, with powerful lash, to ac-
celerate the gallop of the exhausted horse.
With the thick and gloomy forest before
and behind her, and the nearer and nearer
trampling of her ravenous pursuers, she
almost sinks under her anguish. Only the
recollection of the infant that she holds in
her arms, only the desire to save it, occu-
pies her heart, and with difficulty enables
it to bear up.
She did not venture to look behind her.
All at once two rough paws are laid on her
shoulder and the wide-open bloody jaws of
an enormous wolf hung over her head. 1t
is the most ravenous beast of the troop,
which having partly missed its leap at the
sledge is dragged along with it, in vain
seeking with its hinder legs for a resting
place to enable it to get wholly on the frail
vehicle. The weight of the body of the
monster draws the woman backward. Her
arms rise with the child. Half torn from
her, half abandoned, it becomes the prey
of the ravenous beast, which hastily car
ries it off into the forest.
Exhausted, stunned, senseless, she drops
the reins, and continues her journey, ignor-
ant whether she is delivered from her pur-
suers or not.
Meantime the forest grows thinner, and
an insulated farmhouse, to which a side
road leads, appears at moderate distance.
The horse left to itself follows this new
path, it enters through an open gate, pant
ing and foaming it stands still, and, amid
circle of persons, who crowd around with
good-natured surprise, the unhappy woman
RECEIVERS from her stupefaction to throw
herself, with loud scream of anguish aud
horror into the arms of the nearest human
being, who appears to her as a gurdian
angel.
All leave their work: the mistress of the
house the kitchen, the thrasher the barn,
the eldest son of the family, with his axe
in his hand, the wood which he he hadjust
cleft, to assist the unfortunate woman; az ,
with a mixture of curiosity and pity, t
learn by hundred inquiries the circum-
stances of her singular appearance.
Refreshed by whatever can be procured
at the moment, the stranger gradually re-
covers the powers of speech and ability to
give an Ineligible account of the dreadful
trial which she has undergone. The in
sensibility with which fear and distress had
steeled her heart begins to disappear. But
new terrors seize her. The dry eyes seek
in vain a tear She is on the brink of
boundless misery. But her narrative had
also excited conflicting feelings in the
bosoms of her auditors; though pity, COM
misseration, dismay and adherence impos-
ed alike on all the same involuntary silence.
One only, unable to command the over
towering emotions of his heart, advanced
before the rest 1t was the young man
with the axe. His wildly rolling eyes
flashed ill-omened fire.
"Whatr he exclaimed 'Three chill
dren-thine own children The sickly in
nocent, the imploring boy, the infant suck
ling; all cast out by the mother to be de-
voured by the wolves Woman, thou art
unworthy to liver' and, at the same instant,
the uplifted steel descends with resistless
force on the skull of the wretched woman,
who falls dead at his feet.
The perpetrator then calmly wipes the
blood off the murderous axe and returns
to work
The dreadful tale speedily came to the
knowledge of the magistrate, who caused
the uncalled avenger to be arrested and
brought to trial He was, of course SEN
fenced to the punishment ordained by the
laws; but the sentence still wanted the
sanction of the emperor.
Alexander caused all the circumstances
of this crime, SO extraordinary in the mo-
tives in which it originated, to be reported
to him in the most careful and detailed
manner Here, or nowhere, he thought
himself called on to exercise the god-like
prerogative of mercy, by committing the
sentence passed on the criminal into a con-
demnatiOn To labor not yerv severe and