The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-13
SONIA.
,Y SHANNON BIRCCH.

Sonia?
 "Yesr'
 And what you will say would be counted sedition. would 1t not, sonia?'
 "Yes, Catharina, it would be un- Justly called sedition"
 And you are a suspect, do you not think? You are under surveillance. do you not believe? C,h. Sonia. fear for youy
 you will be counted an enemy of the State; you are counted so now. I fear you will be pronounced one. and I fear the anathema. Go no farther. Sonia: a step more and 1t may be the loss of liberty, the loss of friends, the loss of reason, and of life itself. Be warned. Sonia oh, be warned now"
 "I cannot rest away, Catharina. must go; 1t is but to tell them what think is best for them, and for our country and for our race. No power can make harm of that!"
 "No harm, Sonia, in itself, but now at this hour--you may do yourself endless harm. Do not go tonight; rest at home! You have incurred the sus- picion of the police; the ministry will be unrelenting if you are once ar rested, and, oh, the dreadful thoughts of Siberia! Remain away. Sonia!"
 T would not pain you. Catharina, hut it is my part, and I must act 1t out; it is for the love of liberty-for the love of my race. Many waters can not quench love, neither can the floods drown It."
 Sonia Petrosky, of noble birth. un- der the tutelage of her father. dis tinguished Russian subject became a lover of civil liberty and an advocate ioh onfra n ChfenmA Ant of her countrymen. The study of so- cial science with her was impersonal while her father lived, and was con- fined alone to theoretical forms of government, for Nicholas Petrosky was commissioned by the Czar to an impor- tant post, and disloyalty to his ruler never occurred to him. He only thought that 1t became a gentleman and. a subject of the Czar to- become enlightened, to be able to choose we'll when in Gods own time the best in government should come, and when 1t came the Czar would be still the Czar, but the people would be more the people; the resurrection of liberty would redeem the people and 1t would glorify the Czar.
 At the age of seventeen, by the death of her father. Sonia came into possession of an ancient name and great riches; these did not deter her from applying herself more arduously than ever to questions concerning the good of her country and the liberty and happiness of her countrymen, conditions that would have seemed hopelessly remote had she not be- lieved that government could be moulded to the will of the people, when their will should once become directed by enlightenment.
 Sonia held no intolerance of the Czar, her life was a fervid longing for the people to express in their government the majesty of the people themselves. Was the majesty of the Little Father to wane in the light of the majesty of the people? She did not know. but she knew that when the majesty of the people was awakened that this awakening must come from below from the hearts of the people, and she knew-for love of her countrym .-that she must not cease to preach the gospel of civil liberty. But among her associates were those who be- lieved in beginning at the top and re- moving their rulers by violence; she believed in supplanting by peaceful methods--by the outgTowtns of en- lightenment; to enlighten was her mis- sion, and when called to address a se- cret meeting of her political asso- ciates, whose watchword at least was human liberty. she acceded against the earnest discussion of her elder sister. Catharina.
 Sonia attended the meeting and spoke of the uplifting of the people that in the end would peacefully lead to the dignity of self-government. Her gen tie eloquence might have been heard without alarm by any person or class within the empire, but there were those among her hearers who would use oth- CT methods who charged that the peo- ple could never of themselves arise while oppressed as they were, and that 1t was necessary first to destroy their oppressors
 On the day following the meeting minister of state was slain and among the conspirators were found some who had the night before attended the min istrations of Sonia Petrosky. This was condemnatory. Sonia was immediately put under arrest, and when question: ing on what charge was answered.:
 "On a matter of state"
 By whose authority?" may ask. By order of the Czar!"
 Sonia was tried as a conspirator against the state and against the life of one of its ministers. She was con- demned: the court, pronouncing sem tence, said:
 sonia Petrosky, you have been found guilty of a crime punishable-unless otherwise modiied-by death. In elem ency, I will not impose the death pen- alty, but sentence you. for life. to ex- ile-in Siberia
 Michael Andrachenko and Sonia Petrosky, playmates in youth, became the tenderest of lovers. Michael. an elder son, possessed of title of nobil- ity and the family estates. Sonias views on the equality of mankind greatly perplexed him, but with a low CTS blindness to details he saw only the main figure of his desires in Sonia, and she, pleading the cause of hu- manity, was for this reason no less fair; but Michael, being unconvinced and believing Sonla's mission calcu- lated to postpone their wedding day, and dreaming of nothing worse. would, when overburdened with Sonia's ear nest appeals, often thrust his clasped hands above his head in gesture of dissenting submission that called forth from Catharina the accusations:
 Michael has given his usual sign of distress, Sonia; cannot you see that 1t is you he Is giving up to and not to your logic It is more of yourself that he wants, Sonia, and less of the advo- cate. Is it not true, Michael?"
 "True, true, Catharina; if I have Sonia I want nothing more in all the world"
 Catharina heard of the arrest with dread although assured by Michael