Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-07-22

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corrupted autocracy. From the soil
tude of his modest country seat the old
General neither saw nor cared to know
how the ideal. the deity he had wor-
SHIPPED had long ago fallen to pieces
ard lost the last glitter of its former
prestige. For him the Car was still
the father of his people. the ordained
and hallowed representative of God on
earth.
Needless to say, he had educated his
son in precisely the same creed. From
his tenderest infancy Andrusha had
been isolated from the outward world
and liveC<Kith his father curious life
of the past-the life of an old man, not
looking forward into the dazzling I'M
certainty of the future, but seeking in
the remembrance of the past all that is
good, sacred and joyful. The boy
grew up behind Chinese wall apart
from all the joyful excitement, the busy
uproar OF his generation. ''heavily la
den," as the great Russian poet Ler-
montoff says, with the hoary wisdom
of his sires."
When Andrusha was fourteen years
of age his father brought him to st.
Petersburg to the Corps DIES Pages. the
first military school of the Empire. On
taking leave of his son in the recep-
tiOn-room of the school the General for
the first time in his life betrayed some
weakness. He clasped Andrusha in
his arms and whispered: ''Be a good
boy, become an honest soldier; remem-
Der you have got an old father whose
life you hold in your hand. If you
should ever bring shame on our name
l shall die" The boy felt two heavy.
burning tears fall ON his brow, and be-
wildered. amazed by this unexpected
ontburst of feeling he had hardly
suspected, he threw both his arms
around his father and broke out into
fit of wild, uncomfortable sobbing
All the passion, all the love which had
been hitherto chilled in his young heart
by his fathers repulsive severity,
seemed at that moment to stream out
at once, shaking his body from head to
foot, and ngled with a half-conscious
feeling of pity for himself, for his cold,
bleak childhood.
And thus father and son parted.
During the four years of his studies
Andrusha but rarely saw his father.
The journey to PGltava was long one.
The net of railroads which now con-
meets the South OF Russia with the
capital did not exist even in the widest
dreams of loyal subject of the Car
Travelling was slow and expensive and
General Savelieff's fortune less than
modest. When at length at the end of
his studies, which he accomplished bril-
liantIy. the young artillery officer, An
drei Ivanovitch Savelieff. came to pass
the long vacation with his father in the
snail country house of Poltaya, the
latter was deeply struck with the change
in the appearance and temper of his
son. Instead of merry, somewhat
silent but healthy and blooming boy
there sprang out of the perekladnaya
(mail carD the General had awaited
with such throbbing Impotence, an
pale man, with nervously ex-
pressive, deeply-marked face. with
fiery, piercing and unflinching gaze
one of those young faces only to be
found among the Russian generation
Of to-day, a face telling 4 tale of deep
thought, of premature suffering and of
a great tormenting love. And the
boy temper was changed too. OF his
former awe, mingled with an impulsive
towards his father no trace
was to be found. He met the latter
but with certain mien of
and manly dignity which
struck the old General with utter
though it pleased him
on the other hand to find in his
son something akin to his own iron
nature. They met no more like father
and son, but like two soldier friends,
one younger than the other, but both
hardened in the great battle of life. 1t
was, however, precisely this resemb-
lance in both their natures that brought
them further apart than ever. Both |
were not slow in detecting that they
lad 40 interest, no idea, no aim in life |
IN common with each other. While
he son was hardly able to answer cor
:ectly all his fathers queries about the |
of this or that General, |
he newest patterns of uniforms, or the |
most recent events in the life of the I'm
,erial family, the father felt but little
interest and showed still less under |
for the young officers erudite
of the newest improve
nent in artillery or the projected re-
orm:, in the military administration.
Besides. the son had other studies
which engrossed him, other books, not
reatlses on artillery, which he read
without ever showing them to his
athar. Once the latter, coming I'M
into his sons room. saw the
tiles of two of these books, 1.-The Life
md Writings of Ferdinand Lassalle"
md commentaries on John Stuart
lilrs Political Economy" Both names
we're naturally unknown to him. and
he name of Tchernyshevsky, the cele-
rated Russian Socialist being not
'rinted on the last named book, the
rave old General retained no other
from that incident than that
is son. though a capital soldier, was
of q bookworm.
In autumn Andrusha returned to st.
'etersburg and entered the military
He passed rapidly one grade
+ the military career after the other.
'as in 1870 promoted Captain. the
hipka Pass affair, during which the
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