Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1913-12-02
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
!: A Futile
Attempt
TO Keep . Boy and : Gfi
! From Wedlock
~ PETER schoNsKY

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+ ~ PETER scnoNsKY
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Count Ivan Ivanovich, Russian no
bieman, had the misfortune to marry
wife who for years Led him a dance
then ran away with an officer In the
army, leaving him alone with son,
Boris. q year old.
Naturally the count was imbittered
against women. The very sight OF one
of the opposite sex threw him into q
state bordering on insanity. he at
last became 80 affected on encounter
ing a woman that his physician recon-
mended that he 60 where be would not
meet them.
80 Count Ivan sold out bis estate
near st. Petersburg and went into 81
IBERIA, where he bought a large tract OF
land, in the center Of which he built
himself house. He encircled his land
with a high wall. in which there was
but ono 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 II 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 bis
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 trace Of insanity In
this, but be that as It may. % 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
Barchiko6. had the Same experience
with her husband that Count lvano-
vich had with his wife, Barchikon
having deserted her for her maid. The
sight Of a man did not have the same
effect upon her that the sight Of
woman invariably had on Count
lvanovich. but she determined to bring
up her baby daughter. Nathalie. In
ignorance Of the male sex. keeping
her SO II possible till she should have
passed the age at which young girls
usually marry.
Now. Nine. Barchikof knew as well
as did Count Ivanovich that It would
be impossible to bring up girl never
to see q man unless In q wilderness.
So she began to make inquiries US to
where she should find an uninhabited
region In which to live. Very nat
urally, she arrived at the same conclu-
sions as Count Ivanovich. Siberia was
but thinly settled. and 1t was the
nearest region to St Petersburg fitted
for the purpose. was not far from
railroad terminal and therefore avail
able for receiving supplies. Thus It
happened that Count Ivanovich took
q son and Nine. BarchikoR O daugh-
ter to the same neighborhood In 81
IBERIA. the one to keep his boy away
from women. the other to keep her girl
away from men.
Siberia Is Il very large country, but
not large enough to keep apart man
and q woman. provided there be but
one man and one woman within Its
limits. even though they be at points
farthest apart. Boris Ivanovich and
Nathalie Barchikoff were the only
youth and maiden in the region In
which they dwelt. and they were not
very far apart. Ergo. II the above
reasoning Is correct 1t follows that
despite the watchfulness Of their re-
spective parents they would sooner or
later form a union.
Boris grew up manly young fel-
low and before he was thirteen years
old began to chafe at being confined
within an Enclosure. When be asked
permission to 60 outside the walls his
father said to him:
Are you not permitted to roam over
a vast territory? Have you not rivers
in which to fish7 Have you not forests
in which to hunt? Be content, my boy
Within our domain you are safe; with
out 1t you will be subject to q great
danger"
what dangerT
Without our walls Is an animal
something like q man. It Is made In
the image Of a man. but has the eye
Of q serpent. It charms men as the
snake charms birds. II you once meet
one Of these creatures you are liable
to be dsvoured."
Far from being impressed with such
Q warning, Boris. who was fond Of
hunting, thought continuously about
this creature fashioned something like
q man. yet able to charm men to de-
stroy them. Gradually q desire grew
upon him to see one Of these creatures.
II he felt spell coming over him he
would shoot the vampire. It was not
long before he was trying to bride the
guard at the gate to let him out. But
the guard was incorruptible. So when
Boris was In his sixteenth year he
rode away one morning with an az
and his gun md. reaching the wall, cut
down a tree that leaned toward It and,
when the tree fell against the top Of
the wall. climbed up and dropped
down on the ground outside the in
closure.
The boy. keeping his gun ready to
protect him In case Of need. hunted for
hours for the manlike creature bis "a
Their had told him about. but found
only. wild animals. He returned by
Telling a tree on the outside against
the wall and went home. no one hav'
ing discovered his absence beyond the
Enclosure.
Boris made many such trips befor
he found the manlike creature. Com
ing one day to q high fence. he climb |
ID 1t and pursued his way through |
forest Presently. coming to a lake
whose surface was frosen, he saw
what he was convinced was the crea-
ture he was DESTROYS to meet skating
on the ice.
From what bis father had told him
he had got an idea that there was
something hideous about the animal