The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-07-15
PRASKOWJA
LUPOLOWA.
The Original of Nine. Cottin's
Exiles Of Siberia"
An Authentic Journey-0.ive Logan Writes
Of One of the Most Famous Novels Of
the Eighteenth Century.

mySttly, Hhc everything lnaL relates 10 Inc
dreadful Russian horror = Punishment to
Siberia.
This much is certain: Her father was a
Pole, who was exiled to Siberia for polit-
ical offense Doomed to this life of hell
upon earth. he little dreamed that deliver
ance would come while his mortal spirit
endured; least of all that his freedom would
Il 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 2700
miles from the Siberian deserts to the court
Of Moscow? This awful journey Praskowja
Lupolowa made, nerved to the task by the
wild hope of winning the pardon of her
father by throwing herself at the feet of the
Gar. And that pardon she so won.
In 1910, six years after her wonderful act
of tiliai devotion, Praskowja Lupolowa died
at Novgorod
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.
In 1906 " Elizabeth; or the EXiles of ST.
IBERIA" was published in Paris, and in
stantly became the leading topic of con-
versation In every cultivated circle of
Europe and America. The sensation " hich
the book created was analogous to that
which Uncle Toms Cabin caused half
century later; and that :" The Exles of ST.
IBERIA did not win for its autil0ress the
unfading renown which will ever be asso-
ciated with the name of Harriet Beecher
Stowe Is only due to the fact that the evil
the latter cOmbated was destroyed, while
the Siberian exile system endures to this
day-and how much longer will it endure {?
The authoress Of The Exiles of Siberia"
was Nine. Sophie Coffin, born in Ristaud.
Her place of nativity was Tonnicus, where
she first saw the light of day in 1873. She
was reared at Bordeaux, under the eyes of
a mother well able to direct her daugh-
ter's education in arts and letters. From
her infancy Sophie displayed serious and
thoughtful disposition, and was an apt
scholar, but nothing led her family and
friends TO suppose her the possessor of
AN IMAGINATION so BRILLIANT
AS that which later displayed itself. In
1870 Sophie was married to Monsieur Cot
tin, Partisan banker much her senior,
whom she had seen but a few times pre-
vIous to the wedding day. With him she
| occupied magnificent private hotel in
Paris and their entertainments of the beau
! monde were nothing less than princely.
| One would suppose that for girl Of II this
| splendid life would have possessed charms
! 50 various and so potent as to obliterate all
yOuIHlul SauHeSS, Dut Sucn was not the
| case with Nine. Coffin. She performed her
social tasks with exactness because she
felt that in sacrificing her tastes to her
| duties she was doing what was right, but
| with study and literary work lay her incli-
| nations.
In three years her husband died. This
| was in the fatal year of 1898. The reyolu-
ton swept away the colossal fortune which
| she should have inherited and left her a
modest competence, on which she lived in
| ease and retirement. Then she began to
write. Her first efforts were in the line of
| that which Is now lost art, namely, epiS-
tolary effusions. Her letters to friends were
| so fascinating that almost in spite Of herself
| she was led to publication. She held strong
views on the subject of the literary pursuit
| for women, thinking that though the i'm
| pulse within must be obeyed which babe
| them write feminine modesty should pre-
vent their delivering their work to the
| types. Later she recanted ON this point,
| saying, truthfully enough, that as she had
| violated the injunction herself her position
| would be an untenable one did she not ac-
| knowledge o change of opinion.
"Malvina," a love novel. was great sue
| cess. "Claire," Amelia" "Matilde," sus-
tanned her reputation. Mime. Coffin was a
| Protestant and visited England, where she
| learned the language. She resided in Nor
| folk street, Strand, then quiet thorough
| fare, not unsuited for the abiding place OF
young widow whose life was devoted to
| literature and study.
But the hour Of his full fame arrived
when Elizabeth; or, The EXiles of ST.
| beria," 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 that Prince Poniatowsky, heir to the
| kingdom of Poland, cOprisoner with Kos
ciusko, sent into exile by tho Empress
n..l l.n- tla l.
Nine. Coffin wrote: This a true story, but
the real heroine is much above mine. In
giving an
AID TO ELIZABETH
In end uring her trip to Moscow. much
| dim inished her danger"
The real heroine was not far to seek. 1t
was Praskowja Lupolowa, who belonged to
| distinguished family, but the cause Of
| whose fathers exile was unknown.
Elizabeth makes the journey of 200 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 few
| robes 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
necessary, cannot let his beloved daughter
| know his fate. She gives him her last
| kopeck, and only asks as reward that he
| will give Stanislas Springer, her father, n
lock OF her hair when they meet in exile.
| She continues her awful journey. What
| fearsome sights it is hers to behold She
meets gangs of people-men and women,
| chained together-who are being driven to
| the mines of Nertshink, to work until they
| died; or into the desert steppeS of lrkutsk
| to people the savage borders of the An
| CARA. Anon she sees troops of exiles who
| hait lac had ~ nrI IN ha frn of
| China, where, by the Emperor's orders,
| these persons of birth and refinement are
| to be set TO work at masonry, carpentry
| the hard labor of building new town in
| that lonely region. Some were on foot, but
| those who were refractory had their ankles
tied together, and attached thus, head
| downward, to the seats of wagons full of
| boxes, dogs. chickens and what not, we're
| pounded and dragged across the plains.
| 1t is recital TO make the blood run cold.
Soon she is reduced to beggary, and she
says to those she accosts: I'm the name of
God, aid me! come from beyond Tobolsk,
and | go to Petersburg to ask pardon of the
| Emperor for my father, exiled in Siberia"
This simple prayer, frequently repeated in
| the course of the work, makes an effect diff
| cult to portray. 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. She thinks she sees the end of
her troubles, but alasi she is mistaken.
| Those whom she now Suppllcates believe
her to be an impostor and she falls faintng
from cold, hunger and fatigue, insulted by
soldery, almost perishing, when u man OF
| pity gives her an honest shelter.
| The scene where she asks and obtains tie
| pardon of her father is doubly dramatic by
its interruption Of the ceremony of corona
ton and by the unexpected arrival of the
| son Of
THE GOVERNOR OF ToBoLsK,
| har foo I,,t foo
| ings have been so absorbed in her ilial duty
that she has had no thought for aught else.
In giving MIN her hand she makes him
promise never to quit her pareuts.
Some grand phrases are to be found In
this exciting book ITO live far from ones
! country is a frightful destiny, but there is a
wOrse-to die far from it." To all inquiries
respecting the cause Of their exile the prs-
oners are sternly told: The prudence OF
the Court of Russia has seen fit to send you
/ hara y permis sim fnr his yyifa IN ancnn-