Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-22
UNCLE TOMS CABIN
In Another Language and Directed
Against Another Wrong.
ORIGINAL EXILES OF SIBERIA.
The Book That Directed the Worlds Atten.
tion TO Russia in 1906.
PRAsKoWJA LUPoLOwi'S INSPIRATION


Praskowja Lupolowa: In all the writings
OF George Kennan, OF Stepniak, of Joseph
Hatton, there is no figure more pathetic
than that of the beautiful young girl who
bore this name. Who and what was she?
Ah, that is mystery, like everything that
relates to the dreadful Russian horror-ban-
ishment to Siberia.
This much is certain: Her father was a
Pole who was exiled to Siberia for a politi-
cal offense. Doomed to this life of hell
upon earth, he little deemed that deliver
ance would come while his mortal spirit en-
dured; least of oil that his freedom would
be attained by the almost superhuman
efforts of his frail daughter OF II years.
This miraculous event occurred as by an
gelic supervention; for how otherwise can
we account for the safe conduct of girl of
II who undertook on foot journey OF 2,700
miles, from the Siberian deserts to the
court of Moscow? This awful journey
Praskowja Lopolowa made, nerved to the
task by the wild hope of winning the par
don of her father by throwing herself at the
feet OF the Gar. And that pardon she won.
In 1910, six years after her wonderful act
OF flial devotion, Praskowja Lupolowa died
at Novogorod. Not for the real heroine, but
for one of fiction. whose exploits were taken
from those OF Praskowja, was the heart of
the Christian world moved to pity.
AN UNCLE TOMS CABIN.
In 1906 Elizabeth, or the Exiles of
Siberia" was published in Paris, and in
stantly became the leading topic of CONVERSE
tion in every cultivated circle in Europe
and America. The sensation the bookcreated
nalA kl,,k Il l. >
Cabin" caused half century later; and that
"The Exiles of Siberia" did not win for its
authoress that un 'ading renown which will
ever be associated with the name of Harriet
Beecher Stowe, is only due to the fact that
the evil the latter combatted was destroyed,
while the Siberian exile system endures to
this day-and how much longer will it
endure?
The authoress Of 1.-THE Exiles of Siberia"
was Madame Sophie Coffin, born Ristaud.
In 1870 Sophie was married to Monsieur
CottiD, Partisan banker, much her senior,
whom she had seen but a few times previous
to the wedding day. With him she occu-
pied magnificent private hotel in Paris,
and their entertainments of tine beau monde
were nothing less than princelv. In three
years her husband died. This was in the
fatal year of 1898. The revolution swept
away the colossal fortune which she should
have inherited, and left her modest COM
petence, on which she lived in ease and re-
tirement. Then she began to write Her
first efforts were in the line of that which is
now a lost art, namely, epistolary effusions.
Her letters to iriehds were so fascinating
that almost in spite of herself she was led to
publication.
HER GROWING WORK.
"Malvina," love novel, was a great
success. "Claire," "Amelie," "Matilde,"
sustained her reputation. But the hour of
her full fame arrived when elizabeth, or
The Exiles of Siberia" was given to an
astonished world. The story was intensely
thrilling. The hero was called "Stanislas
Springer" but under that humble cognomen
the authoress conveyed the information that
he was none other than Prince Potowsky,
heir to the Kingnom of Poland, co-prisoner
with Kosciusko, sent into exile by the
Empress Catherine. In her preface to the
work Madame Coffin wrote: "This is a
true story, but the real heroine is much
above mine. In giving an aid to Elizabeth
in enduring her trip to Moscow, I much
her danger"
The real heroine was not far to seek. It
was Praskowja Lupulowa, who belonged to
a distinguished family, but the cause of
whose fathers exile was unknown. Eliza
beth makes the journey OF 2,700 miles on
foot, accompanied part of the way by an
aged missionary, Father Paul. Scarcely
anything in fiction is more touching than
the picture of the death OF this venerable
man of God, leaving the delicate girl of II
alone in the wilds of Siberia, with a lew
roubles for all her store. Even these she
soon parts with. She meets an unfortunate
man who is being dragged to the place of
his exile, and who, lacking the small sum
cannot let his beloved daughter
know his late. She gives him her last kopec,
and only asks as reward that he will give
Stanislas Springer, her father, lock OF her
hair, when they meet in exile.
THE BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT.
She continues her awful journey. What
fearsome sights it is hers to behold She
begs her way and at last she perceives the
walls of Moscow, and learns that the EN-
peror has arrived and Is to be crowned in a
Few days. Those whom she now supplicates
believe her to be an impostor and she ialls
faInting from cold, hunger and fatigue, in
suited by soldiery, almost perishing, when
man of pity gives her an honest shelter.
The scene where she asks and obtains the
pardon of her father is doubly dromatic by
its interruption OF the ceremony of corona
ton and by the unexpected arrival of the
son of the Governor OF Tobolsk, who loves
her; she loves, too-but her feelings have
been so absorbed in her filial duty that she
has had no thought ior aught else. In giving
him her hand she makes him promise never
to quit her parents.
The geographical knowledge displayed in
the book was at that time a revelation.
Edition after edition of the book was ex-
the "Exiles of Siberia" were soon
known In all modern languages. Dorvo |
1ramatiZed the work and a charming metrlc-
al version OF the work appeared in England. |
Although Elizabeth's story is not now, as
once it was, an active feature in literature,
it must ever hold the distinguished and |
position Of having been in bellies |
Iettres, ii not in stern reality, the original |
''EIiles of Siberia" OLIVE LOGAN.
THE MOTOR GANGLIA