Los Angeles herald., 1909-05-17

I
toner as well as the victim of the law
who suffers.
Five terrorists-three men and two
women-are seized and condemned 10
death. AT the trial all of them were
calm, but very serious and thoughttui.
Their contempt for their judges was
so intense that none of them wished TO
emphasize his daring by even su-
perfuous smile or by a feigned express
sion of cheerfulness. Each was simply
as calm as was necessary to hedge in
his soul from curious, evil and inimi-
cal eyes the great gloom that precedes
death"
With the terrorists are to be hanged
two murdererS-one a simple, stupid
peasant and the other desperate from
a district noted as the breeding place
of thieves. These men are not calm
and their Characteristic mental ago
nies occupy many pages. The peasants
case is stated sympathetically but in
words that are full of omen for the
future.
Yanson had drifted from place to
place, seeking work as farm laborer
Where he is finally employed they speak
a Russian he does not understand and
for two years he fails more and more
into utter silence. But while Yanson
spoke but little he was listening to
something all the time. He heard the
sounds of the dismal, snow-covered
fields, with their heaps of frozen ma
nure resembling rows of small, snow
covered graves: the sounds of the blue
tender distance, of the buzzing tele
graph wires and the conversation of
other people," And the air was full of
rumors of violence So one night in
the qufetest, most deliberate way, Yam
son killed his master and robbed the
house. He was not in want; all his
limited animal wants were satisfied.
but the primitive beast in the man
had scented the violence in the air
and he slew for the satisfaction of un-
satisfied longings; in dull, mute rage.
caIous to Difference
"To an intellect so neglected and
callous the formalities of trial mean
nothing, just as the laws penalty could
be no deterrent, since his ina agination
had never grasped the idea of death. It
is only toward the last, when the
guards have finally impressed on Yam
son that on such date he will be taken
out and hanged by the neck-it is only
then that the feeble mind seizes the
situation. A horribly painful scene en-
sues.
He had never thought of what death
was, and 1t had no image to him, but
now he realized it clearly. He saw, he
felt that it had entered his cell and was
looking for him, cropping about with its
hands. And to save himself he began
to run wildly about the room. And
there was nothing behind which to hide.
And the door was locked. And it was
dark. Several times he struck his body
against the walls, making no sound,
and once he struck against the door
it gave forth dull and empty sound.
He stumbled over something and fell
upon his face, and then he felt that it
was going to seize him. Lying on his
stomach, holding to the floor hiding
his face in the dark, dirty asphalt,
Yanson howled in terror"
My purpose being merely to interest
readers in AndreyeV's work, to the end
that it may be studied I have taken,
as an illustration of his style and the
treatment of the theme, only the one
character for which he himself pro-
fesses the profOundest sympathy-the
pathetic figure of the socially deserted
life to which society at last pays at
tention only by bringing it to a fright
full end with long and deliberately plot
ted mental torture. For to such. as it
seems to me- death, when finally real
lied has terrors that the educated
mind never can know. Just as I noted
years ago that men of intellectual re-
sources bore with Indifference the
weight of the long arctic night. while
the ignorant and unlettered repeatedly
went insane amid the ponderous ST
lence.
One other passage I desire to quote
in conclusion. again from the authors
preface THE misfortune of us all is
that we know so little, even nothing.
about one another-neither about the
soul, nor the life. the sufferings. the
habits, the inclinations, the aspirations
of one another. Literature. which
have the honor to serve, is dear to me
lust because the noblest task it sets
boundaries and distances" A trlImpet
call to American men of letters!