The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-09-05
A Russian
Heroine
By F. A. Mitchell


TRANS while Anna and her mother re
manned in their cabin home endeavor
ing TO extract living from the littl
patch Of ground which surrounded 1t.
There came a time when the Russian
army was driven back past their cabil
and In due time an Austrian army ad
vanced, taking up the position which
had been held by the Russians. ON
day general. followed by a membe
Of his staff, rode up to the cabin. Dis
mounting he went In and looked abou
him. The cabin had but one story, bu
there were three rooms-a living room
a kitchen and a dining room. Going
into the living room, the general told
bis aid to go to the generals under bis
command and tell them to come TO him
for a conference. The aid rode away
and presently the generals began to
ride up to the cabin and Join their com
inander In the living room.
1t is nearly always cold in Russia
that is, where this part Of the great
worlds war was going on, and Anna
was directed TO make a fire In a big
stove that stood in the room. This she
center Of the room on which he spread
maps. When half dozen officers had
joined the commander the door of the
room they occupied was closed.
For three hours the men talked over
plan of attack for the next day.
he Go,h In
Russia there was In the west of Europe,
and the attack was to be more like such
warfare has been In past times
At 10 o'clock in the morning one of
the generals was to attack. the Russian
right flank. AS soon as reinforce
to that point another attack was to be
made on the left flank. This was to be
the main offensive, aud the ground on
that side being disadvantageous for
the Russians, the attack there was to
be persisted in till the flank was
turned. Then a third bolt was to be
launched on the center.
The commander took a pencil and
bit of paper and noted all these points, |
celebrating them so that there would be |
no mistake. This paper he gave to the |
aid with instructions to make copy |
of what he had written for each one of
his subordinates, that there should be |
no mistake through failure of memory. |
This was done. Then the commander
called for the paper on which were his
Instructions and, that 1t might not fall
into any one else's hands, opened the
stove door, noticed that the fire within
burned brightly, tossed the paper In
and closed the door. Then the officers
left the cabin and rode back. each to
his own headquarters.
Later In the day Anna went into the
living room to make it tidy after the
occupation of the officers, who had left
the dirt from their boots. She swept
the floor rearranged the furniture and,
taking up the sweepings in dustpan,
opened the stove door to throw them
In. Near the front of the stove lay a
bit of paper, or rather fragment, for
)ne- third of it had been burned. Anna
.ook the paper out Of the stove and {
writing had been burned. 1t was in I
he German language so the girl could +;
lot understand what it was. but I
hough she was only a peasant with g
little or no education, she surmfsed |
hat it might be of importance to the a
Russian military commander. a
She showed the paper to her mother,
Who, though she could not decipher the 7
writing on it. agreed with her daugh- /;
er that it might be of service to their :
But when Anna proposed
0 try to make her way with it through
be Austrian lines the woman could not :
{ once consent, for she knew that If '
7ould be killed at once.
The problem with Anna was how to G
onceal the paper. She finally decided
D tear off all but the writing and roll
/. into little ball. She would carry
he ball In her mouth and If necessary
,ould swallow 1t. !,
She left the cabin at nightfall to try 4
nd steal her way through the lines. 8,
he spent much time searching for a
oint where the line was thin, but n
allied to find such a place. But the :,
,ldiers slept, and by crawling through "
lshes she eluded them. The patrolling q
entries were awake, but she watched
II one of them had reached the far y
i'd of his beat and passed over it be- P
,re he returned. Beyond the camp :
,ntries were pickets, and these she
lceeeded n passing in the same way.
When about midnight she attempted
pass the Russian pickets she was
ed at and wounded. but she cried out
Russian: Let me pass. / bring
.ws to your general" Then the picket
me to her and helped her in.
She was taken to the headquarters of :
e commander, who was awakened by
II conductor, and after telling her
DRY she unrolled the paper she had
ID handed it to the general He read
carefully, then, looking at his watch.
claimed:
1T is past midnight. There is no 4
ne to lose. Call the men TO arms and |
nd the generals to me-"
In the gray of dawn the Austrians
me. but found their enemies ready J
r them. They were also ready for /
e feint on their flank, the attack on
cir center and the other flank. The
nsequenee was that the Austrians
re thrown into confusion and a rout