Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-09-18
The Daily Story
FUTILE ATTEMPT-BY PETER SCHoNSKY.
copyrighted. Literary Bureau


a wife who for years led him a dance.
then ran away with an officer in the
army, leaving him alone with son,
Boris. year old
Naturally the count was imbittered
against women. The very sight of one
of the opposite sex threw him into a
state bordering on insanity. He at
last became so affected on encounter
ing a woman that his physician recon-
mended that he go where he would not
meet them.
So Count Ivan sold out his estate
near st. Petersburg and went into ST.
IBERIA. where he bought large tract of
land. in the center of which he built
himself a house He encircled his land
with a high wall. in which there was
but one opening. at which he stationed
a guard with instructions not to per-
nit any woman or female child to en-
ter the Enclosure. His servants were
all men, and if any article was needed
that a man could not make it was OBJ
tanned from without.
Besides keeping away from women
himself. the count decided to keep his
son away from them. When Boris be-
gan to talk his father gave orders that
he should not be told that there were
such persons as women in the world.
The boy was to grow up thinking that
the only human beings were men. Per-
haps there was a trace of insanity in
this. but be that as it may, so great
was the care taken to keep all sexual
| knowledge away from Boris that he
was fifteen years old before such
knowledge came to him.
| The revelation reached him in this
way: A lady of Moscow, Catherine
| Barchikoff, had the same experience
with her husband that Count Ivano-
vich had with his wife. Barchikoff
having deserted her for her maid The
/ sight of a man did not have the same
I effect upon her that the sight of a
woman invariably had on Count
Ivanovich, but she determined to bring
up her baby daughter, Nathalie. in
ignorance of the male sex. keeping
her so If possible till she should have
passed the age at which young girls
usually marry.
Now, Nine. Barchikoff knew as vel
as did Count Ivanovich that it would
be impossible to bring up girl never
to see man unless in a wilderness
So she began to make inquiries as t.
where she should find an uninhabiteC
region in which to live. Very nat
urally, she arrived at the same conclu
sions as Count Iyarovich. Siberia wa.
but thinly settled. and it was tn,
nearest region to St Petersburg fitteC
for the purpose, was not far from
railroad terminal and therefore avail
able for receiving supplies. Thus i
happened that Count Ivanovich tool
a son and Nine. Barchikoff a daugh
ter to the same neighborhood in ST
IBERIA, the one to keep his boy ava!
from women. the other to keep her cir
away from men.
Siberia is a very large country, bu
not large enough to keep apart a maj
, and a woman, provided there be bu
one man and one woman within it
limits. even though they be at point
farthest apart Boris Ivanovich ant
Nathalie Barchikoff were the onl,
youth and maiden in the region il
9 which they dwet. and they were no
: very far apart. Ergo. if the abov
| reasoning is correct it follows tina
. despite the watchfulness Of their re
: spective parents they would sooner 0
T later form a union.
: Boris grew up a manly young fel
}. low and before he was thirteen year
I old began to chafe at being confines
r within an inclosure. When he aske
: permission to go outside the walls hi
father said to him:
Are you not permitted to roam owe
vast territory? Have you not river
O in which to fish? Have you not forest
!. in which to hunt? Be content. my boy
4 Within opr domain you are safe; witt
3 out it you will be subject to a grea
n danger"
What danger:"
q without our walls is an amin:
o something like a man. 1t is made
the image of man, but has the ey
of a serpent. 1t charms men as I'll
snake charms birds. If you once me'
one Of these creatures you are liabl
> to be devoured."
o Far from being impressed with sue
: warning. Boris, who was fond c
hunting, thought continuously abol
= this creature fashioned something lik
n man. yet able to charm men to d
% stroy them. Gradually desire gre
=. upon him to see one of these creature
If he felt spell coming over him /
q would shoot the vampire. II was n
long before he was trying to bride Il
guard at the gate to let him out. b
/? the guard was incorruptible. SO wht
IT Boris was in his sixteenth year
rode away one morning with an ;
and his gun and, reaching the wall. C
down a tree that leaned toward II an
when the tree fell against the top
the wall. climbed up and dropp'
down on the ground outside the
closure.
The boy. keeping his gun ready
=, protect him in case OF need, hunted
hours for the manlike creature his
Their had told him about, but foul
only wild animals. He returned
Telling a tree on the outside AGAR
-, abe wall and went home. no one hs
ing discovered his absence DeyoDd I