Year: 1873

THE CROSS SURETY.


Once upon time two merchants
lived in certain town, just On the
verge of stream. One of them was
Russian, the other was Tartar /;
both were rich. But the Russian
| got so utterly ruined by some busi.
ness or other that he hadn't bit OF
property left. Everything he had
was confscated or stolen. The Rus
sain merchant had nothing to turn
to-he was left as poor as rat. SO
he went to his friend, the Tartar, and
besought him to lend him some mon
ey. :,


sect me surety" says the Tartar.


"But whom can l get you, seeing
that havn't soul belonging to me !
Stay, though there's a surety for
you, the life-giving cross on the
church !"


"Very good, my friend, I'll trust
our cross. Your faith or ours, it is
all one to me-" says the Tartar.


And he gave the Russian merchant
-5O 900 rubles. The Russian took the
money, bade the Tartar farewell, and
went back to trade in divers places.


By the end of two years be had
gained $50, 900 rubles by the $4,000
he had borrowed. Now he happen
ed to be sailing one day along the
Danube, going with wares from one
place to another, when all of a sud-
den a storm arose, and was on the
point of sinking the ship he was In.
Then the merchant remembered how
he had borrowed money, and given
the life-giving cross as surety, and
had not paid his debt. That was
doubtless the cause of the storm.
No sooner had he said this to him.
self that the storm began to subside.
The merchant took a barrel, counted
out $4,000 rubles, wrote the Tartar
note, and placed it, together with the
money, in the barrel, and then flung
the barrel into the water, saying to
himself: Gas I gave my cross as
surety to the Tartar, the money will
De sure TO reach MIN. ..


The barrel straightway sank to the
bottom everyone supposed the mon.
ey was lost. But what happened ?
In the Tartar's house there lived
Russian kitchen-maid. One day she
happened to 60 to the river for wa
ter, and saw the barrel floating along.
So she went little way into the wa.
ter and began trying 70 get ahold of
it. But that wasn't to be done
When she caught at the barrel, it re-
treated from her; when she turned
from the barrel to the shore, it float
ed after her. She kept on trying and
trying for some time, then she went
home and told her master all that had
happened. At first he wouldn't be-
lieve her, but at last he determined
to go to the river and see for him
self what kind of barrel was float
ing there. When he got there-sure
enough there was the barrel floating,
and not far from the shore. The
Tartar took off his clothes, and went
into the water before he had got
any distance, the barrel came float.
ing up to him off its own accord. He
laid hold of it, caught it, took it
home, opened it, and looked inside.
There he saw quantity of money,
and note lay on top of the money.
He took out the note and read it, and
this is what was said in it


"Dear friend return you the $4,000
rubles for which, when borrowed them
from you, gave the life-giving cross for
surety"


The Tartar read these words and
was astonished at the power of the
life.giving cross. He counted the
money over to see if the full sum was
really there. 1t was there exactly.


Meanwhile, the Russian merchant,
after trading some five years, made
a tolerable fortune. And returned
to his old home, and thinking that
barrel had been lost, he considered
it his first duty to settle with the Tar
tar. So he went to his house and
offered him the money he had bor-
rowed. Then the Tartar told him all
that had happened, how he had
found the barrel in the river, with
the money and the note inside of it.
Then he showed him the note say
ing:


"Is this your hand write ?"


cit certainly is," repli ed the 9TH
er.


Every one was astonished at this
manifestation, and the Tartar said


"Then I've no money to receive
from you, brother, take that back
again."


The Russian merchant had q SER
vice performed as thank. offering to
God, and the next day the Tartar
was baptized with all his household.
The Russian merchant was his god
father, and the kitchen maid his
godmother. After that, they both
lived long and happily, and survived
a great old age, and then died peace
fully.-Ralstoa's "Russian Tales"