Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-12-17
would thereby save him


from the temptations of life. from
the temptation. when he grew up.
of forsaking the faith and making ship
| wreck of his soul. I concluded to pre-
| pare for him a sure path to Heaven.
Early in the morning, long before day
| light broke upon the world, went out
| into the dark to the garden behind the
| izba. knelt down and asked the Re-
| deemer for a sign. i asked that if it be
His viii that offer up my Grisha the
desire to do so should come from the
right side; if not, from the left. You
must know that, according to our be-
lief. angels give all thoughts from the
right side, and the devils all from the
left. After long praying the thought
came from the right side, and returned
with joyful heart to the izba, for
now knew that my sacrifice would be
acceptable"
On broad bench in the inner room
Grisha slept with his mother, a gentle
woman, loving her boy passionately,
and admiring his precocious wisdom.
kurtin, fearing opposition from his
wife, sent her on some pretext to the
neighboring village. Then turning to
his son, he said: Rise. Grisha, and
put on q white shirt, that 1 may rejoice
over thee" Knrtin afterward explained
TO the examining magistrate that in the
society to which he belonged it was con-
sidered sinful to die in striped or col
ored clothes. When the boy had put on
the white shirt he was told by his ia
Their to lie down again on the bench.
Kurtin folded up a fur coat and
carefully placed it under his sons
head; then sitting down beside him
he drew knife from his sleeve and
stabbed him several times. The child
was sinking fast as the red dawn grew
brighter in the eastern heavens, send.
ing level beams through the little win.
dow of the izba, and luridly illuminat-
ing this terrible fanatic in the eXecu.
ton of his awful deed. Kurtin noticed
the crimson light stealing athwart the
CHASTITY face of the faultless sacrifice.
He was awe-striclSen, trembled convul-
sively, and. tottering to the corner
where the icon hung, he fell PROSTATE
on his face, and impIored the Almighty
to accept his offering. Then, returning
to his still living son, he cried: For
give me, Grishenka, that l have made
thee suffer, it is all for thy good, little
boy" The dying child, not yet I'M
conscious, murmured: 'Good-by little
father But kurtin, not yet satisfied,
placed the boy in an easier position,
and made him say: ''God will pardon
| thee, little father" Then he lighted
! fresh candles before the icon, and
prayed for the soul of the boy one of
| those pathetic Russian prayers for the
dying, asking the child to try to repeat
| the words after him. The poor little
| fellow did so as well as his trembling
voice would allow, and quavering out
the last word of the prayer, his terri
| BILE sutferings ended.
When kurtins wife returned home
she saw at a glance what had hap
| pened. Horror-stricken. she ran to the
village elders The neigh bors floclzed
to the scene of the fearful tragedy, and
found the murderer lying senseless be-
fore the icon.
About fortnight afterward the gov
ernor of the state jail of Vladimir in
vited the doctor and the chief warden
to a consultation on the state of pris-
oner confined in a lunatic ward, who
had refused for days to take any food,
| and who passed his days and nights III
agonizing cries for forgiveness and help.
They went to see the prisoner. Open
ing the door of the cell in which he was
confined. they saw through the imper-
feet light a shapeless bundle, huddled
close up to the wall. motionless. But
all suffering had ceased. It was the
body of Dmitri Kurtin, starved to death.
Christian World.