The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-05-04
yat> spmmev. wh>n u VA really warm. Ivan

bottle OF milk IN the bag with his to"Is aud
left her sleeping. with her strong haDdson,
white arm thrown up over Der DARK neal
A~kwardly he stopped down above her and
kissed her shoulder With his bearded bps and
as awkwardly there came into his uncouth
mind the wish that harm might I've FAR away
from her during bis absence. and that u
aught arrived it might be blessing And
then Ivan lynnoviicb tucked his long trousers
into his thick muddy boots and started on
I his way
Marianka did not sleep long after
that. She woke up and rubbed her
eyes and stared about, and laughed
aloud to herself as she saw that her husband
had already gone leaving the door little
lar. so that streak of the early daylight
shone in upon her face She might n well
get up. too there was always plenty to 10.
That was true enough She dressed herself
and said her PRAYERS. and ate her breakfast,
| and then. what first" Well ivan fvano-
vitch's shirts were there in the corner to he
washed
| So Marianka took up a oan and walked
through the vegetable patch and the ripe
oats down to the edge of the lake to fetch
some water It wss very still The hush or
dawn hung tenderly, like n silent benedic-
ton. over all the slumbering village, the
sombre lake and the great beautiful front OF
the palace leagues away.
Then there came a zephyr that swelled
/ into breeze-the breath new drawn OF
another new born day-the twitter OF bird,
ripples on the bosom Of the lake, and-what
else, Marianka shaded her eyes with one
hand. she dropped the can out OF the other
into the mud. There, indeed, before her
eyes, caught in the long tangle Of the marsh
grasses noated little bed and on 1t lay-a
little child.
Marianka laughed aloud joyously, and
then for superstition holds large place in
the mind of the Russian peasant she
screamed and murrnured, "Snakharka"
which means witch
But still, after ALL it was so pretty,
and asleep too, on the brown bosom OF
the lake, the little fiat wooden bed with
its warm coverings and linen pillow,
rocking very gently back and forth.
And it had floated-whence' To her very
door. it was, il ever should be hers; she
would this moment raise it, and carry 1t III
her arms up the hill slope, TO the good priests
and ask him If she were not right.
Marianka therefore lifted the child, a well
grown one of perhaps 3 or 4 years, and saw
that teneath it lay small packet Of papers
with writing on the label Sne could not
read, but she dragged the little bed on shore,
and swiftly carried the child, now vide
awake, and the packet TO tie priest On the
wgy the child cried softly for few moments,
and spoke few sentences III language
which Marianka could not understand, and
this puzzled her: she did not know that the
children OF persons of even small distinc-
ton in Russia, generally have an English
and a French nurse, ard thus early acquire
these languages, sometimes before their own.
Marianka ran into the yard, breathless,
with her burden. The good priest sat under
the porch reading his book of devotlons.
We'll" cried he, "Marianka, good morn
ing And what is thisf' He rose ana put
OF his spectacles.
''Oh, it is "A lake baby, it is mine, found
it just now, in the grasses. lying on small
wooden bed, and you, who can read, quick,
let us see what this says Comel Eli"
He took the packet from her band and
looked at il few moments Ill silence, and
then sighed
"WellF Marianka cried, "wellf
''Oh, you keep the child, it is yours, and
will put the packet away in safety until it is
grown up"
rs that bestf'
'Yes"
"Apd you will baptize my little one on
SundayP
"Oh, it is likely well grown child Ike
this has been already baptized"
''What shall We call itf'
"Oh-well, Koxandra, chr
"Very well"
'And Ivan Ivauovitch, what will he sayr'
"Oh, if am pleased he will be too"
"But it costs, child does"
'Yes true. but the love was ready first,
You see, and the meat will be also"
Marianka was quite right Ivan Ivano-
witch was as much delighted as his wife and
although their neighbors SHOOK their heads
and sighed over the Lake baby's mysterious
talk, its foster father and mother laughed as
they taught it each day some word of their
own language
Roxandra was fond Of the Lake karka she
would play on the shore for bours together,
and stich her little white feet in tie muddy
waters, end crow, and shout, and splash her
self like a yong duck, 80 that, It's she grew
older, Marianka would sigh sometimes. and
wonder II she could be the veritable child OF
The lake, n being OF mysterious aqueous par
entage But Ivan lvanovitch nudged his wife
and roared at her whims, and presently built
rough little raft for the child, in which she
padded herself, up and down had almost
ssid, but down" is wrong Roxnndra never
chose 10 go down the Lake of Karka, but al
ways up, up toward the Palace of Prince
Ol.anin, and one day she went SO far that
Maranka was frightened and screon,vd to
her from the shore.
But Roxandra heard nothing. and when
she did come home she was silent and Law
among the oats for an hour with her face
turned up TO 'he blue spring sky, she was
years old then.
And 10y the time she was 10 she could read
yea truly, for the good priest had taught her
tins, and many other things; SO many, indeed,
that Roxandra was the wonder of the village
of Oloi, and Ivan and Marianka were very
proud indeed of their child
She was the only one the priest tad so
favored 1T was enough for the others that
they could repeat their prayers and sing a
few hymns, but in some odd way of her own,
Roxandra, or, as all persisted in calling her,
Tho Lake Baby" had so entwined herself
about the good Old priest heart, that no