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Show PewU fijl? Nfifef)5p wSS iwrJiI':ip m! m$mL mmmm m&nmf vwi Wt?iP 'Tis Kaktkh mokn. Louotiie anthem .4SMfl nVA4-. T'C3 And is bobne o the wm awat. imgVf ST 'lis K.MKB mohn. And the bakth Tv);al 6"Cfe That Chiust t. n.sr toat. $ feliC may in which the chief priest exclaimed, 'llo is not herd" as ho ttirned away and left tho church with his comrades, as if to seek the sacred body elsewhere tho sudden and triumphant return of tho procession through the opposite gate, with heads uplifted and banners displayed dis-played and a joyous shout of "Christ is risen," and then the sea of light that surged np through the shadowy throng as thousands of taers were lighted at once, while the choir jicaled forth the grand resurrection anthem, and on every side was heard the greeting which was echoing at that instant throughout the length Bud breadth of Russia, "Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!" lint here there were no pomp and splendor, no bronzed gates or marlilo cornices or pillars of polished granite. All was rude and simple; plain timber, plain stone, and the only ornament worth naming was a massive silver crucifix cru-cifix above the altar, purchased with the offerings of the pious Cossacks of lsl'J out of the sjMiils won by them from the retreating armies of Napoleon. Just at that moment, however, I made a iiscovery which put, everything else out of my head at once. In the foremost fore-most rank of the crowd around the platform plat-form on which lay the symbolical coffin stood directly opposite to the spot where I was placed a man who seemed anxious to avoid olservation, for the lower part of his face was hidden by the collar of his long gray coat, and the npjiorpart by the cap which ho carefully lield before be-fore it; but a sudden movement of the throng exposed his face for one instant, ami it was that of Masha's soldier lover, young Sergt. Dmitri Riidenko! The look of fierce and hungry expectation expecta-tion in this iron mans stern gray eyes made me shudder, for I saw by it that his victim was still concealed in the church, and that he was ready to pounce iilHin him as soon as the tit moment arrived; ar-rived; and the sudden starting up of this deadly pertinai it y, this sleepless ambush of death amid all the peace and brightness and joy of the nation's great day of gladness, had an indescribably ghastly effect. Meanwhile the ceremony proceeded and all went on as usual till tho high priest and his acolytes mounted the platform, plat-form, and the former, raising the tin-fastened tin-fastened lid of the collin and letting it fall again, uttered in his deep voice the wonted ormula; "He is not here!" "He is here!" shouted a voice of thnn-' thnn-' der, as Dmitri Rudeiiko, springing with one bound onto tho platform, Hung oien the collin again and dragged from it small, slight, pale faced young man in the dress of a peasant. "See, brothers, tho villain who would have murdered our father the czar!" Instantly all was confusion. A sea of furious faces and tossing arms eddied around the platform, nnd the air rang with a deafening clamor of conflicting voices, through which pierced suddenly a shriek of mortal agony, as Mary Mas-loff, Mas-loff, bursting like a nianiao through the heaving throng, threw her arms round EASTER ECHOES. Ic-slSs?5 OW bent in past, w ! glan-lyVny j W t'i' tS&l Our tribute unto , iWr '" j Si The smilinit mother, itX8'M' 4 II on whose brow gfi$? 1 VVf 0 The a,1i(ii yurs i A-rtjrSLi.V M rest litthtly now, I SysW? J ' Whero 'lime, that IsSmV fi 1 U hoary motifcler !vfc&f 1 "i 1 wand. ifyg&L i- RvluetantlyhashUd Ho views wilh Just Vll II a II llSl ami Ii"l)le jiriiie III1 1: ll in 'V ' Her lifiirthstone at If Mi "II i ' tliisKiisler tlilo. III 1 ' WW Likewise tho fauii. 9 f it lilt ly' bead As list'nlnR to the Eauter peals He tli)nkn f KimtBi-x Rone before. As if ho were a boy ouce more, ! And in the simlipUt of the day Forgets his hair is streaked with RTay. Tim maiden aunt thinks with a sikU Of bonnets in the days none tiy And, with a touch of old time zest, Today puts on her very best. The bachelor (whose outward crust In, lifter nil, but human dust, Anil brushed away by w oman's eyes) To-day the tooth of Time defies. And KiK'k'ed cut in the best of style lie greets his kindred w ith a smile. v it . . And so it proved. Time passed, but the horses came not; and 1 was just about to spring up and give the big Cossack Cos-sack a sample of my fluency in Russian scolding when I was stopped short by hearing a low, deep voice say beside me, hardly above a whisper, yet terribly distinct: dis-tinct: "I shall have him to-night!" The speaker's tone was so full of deadly dead-ly menace that the howl of a hungry wolf or the hiss of a snake could hardly have lieen more ominous of evil. Raising Rais-ing myself cautiously, I peered over the edge of the wagon, and saw a young man and a girl standing together at the yard gate the jrirl in the picturesque costume of a Cossack maiden, the man in the uniform of a Russian iion-commiB-sioned officer. . The young woman had her back to me, and it was only by the fine outlines of her figure that 1 could guess her to be beautiful. But the man's face was plainly visible, and even I started as I saw it. Handsome as it undoubtedly was, it looked absolutely terrible in its grim inflexibility of purpose. It was the face of a born soldier, to whom duty was everything one who, if ordered to kill his own father or brother in battle, , would have done it without a moment's hesitation. I The talk went on. and I gathered from j wai merely trodden earth, larded with crushed beetles and furrowed by the ex-j ex-j cavatioiis of iimuiring poultry. The t blackened rafters stood out like tho ribs of a whale enlivened by the gambols of numerous spider Bloudins on tight ropes : of their own plaiting, and every now and I then one of the troupe lost his hold and fell with a loud splash into one of our tumblers of tea nnd lemon juice. ( Ine entire corner of the room was occupied oc-cupied by a huge t iled stove and another by an enormous bed, the patchwork cpiilt of which looked like a colored map of the United States. Iu the third corner cor-ner hung the portrait of my host's patron saint, with a tiny lamp burning before it, and a pious roach .making a j laborious pilgrimage around its staring i gilt frame. i Hut there was plenty of good cheer ! and merriment iu this lit tit; hovel, queer ' as it looked. The corpulent brass sam-' sam-' over looked down upon a brown rye j loaf as big as a footstool and an enormous enor-mous bowl of buckwheat porridge, sig-; sig-; nificantly called "postnaya kasha" (fast-; (fast-; ing porridge), while a perfect mountain mount-ain of sugared "Easter cakes" which our host's sturdy, sunbrowned, red kerchiefed wife had s'iit the whole day in baking rose around the dainty of the season, a pyramidal mass of thick pasty dough, spotted with a wt ft The youth, a stranger to d'lll enre. With raplure views each maiden fair, lie loves to look upon the face Where beauty claims r resting place, - And gazes with a keen dcliuht I'pou her Easter pluinaite liriuht. With necktie new he walks nlnui; Ileside her in the Master throni;. , lie counts it joy to take a part ! I Where beauty shares the odds with art, j And trives no thought to future ills i I When he shall have to foot, her hills. Tom Masso.v. the prisoner's neck and cried wildly; "Brother, bruthur! I thought yotl dead! Is this how we meet again?" For one moment the young sergeant stood as if turned to stone by this awful revelation, which showed him that he had won his betrothed at the cost of her own brother's life. Then his face hardened hard-ened suddenly like congealed metal, and a wave of his hand iiuinmoned a dozen soldiers from the throng, who formed a l ing around (Map Ma.doff and his sister j and led them to the church door. The cold, keen night air seemed to re-I re-I ?ivo the fainting tf-'rl, and clutching her lover's arm with both hand3 she said in a fierce whisper: "I know that your men will do whatever what-ever you tell theni. Let my brother go!" "Let a prisoner escape? Never!" "If you do uot you bhall never see me again!" The young soldier's handsome face quivered for a moment with the agony ' of a mortal struggle, ami then the storm passed and ho answered with terrible : calmness: I "So bo it. I -diall do my duty, even ! though by doin.i it I should lose you for-j for-j ever!" I "What is all this?" asked a deep voice from behind, and all three recognized with a start of amazement in tho big, hard featured, middle aged man who j had spoken tho czar himself, Alexander i Ill of Russia! and behind him appeared ' the long gray coats and shining helmets of his guards without whom, haunted as he was by dread of assassination, he never stirred a step. The emperor repeated the question, and Rudenko told the story in a few simple words. But, brief as ho waa Alexander heard enough to understand the greatness of tho sacrifice which this young soldier had made for his duty's , sake, and his harsh, somber features brightened into a glow of manly admiration. admira-tion. "You have done well," said he emphatically, em-phatically, "and more than most men would have done in your place. And you," he added, turning to young Mas-loff, Mas-loff, "what harm have I ever done you : that you should wish to kill me?" "Iliad sworn it," replied the Nihilist sullenly, "and I had to keep my oath." "Foolish boy," said the czar in a tone of scornful pity, "do you pretend to strive for liberty, and yet fetter yourself with an oath that forces you into treachery treach-ery and murder? But I will not destroy a man's life and a woman's happiness from any mean regard for my own safe-i safe-i ty. Oo I pardon you; you are free!" j i The last time I visited Mirgorod, Dmi-I Dmi-I tri Rudenko and his wife were the happiest hap-piest couple in the- town, and Mary's Nihilist brother (who lived with them) was as loyal a subject as any man in the czar's dominions. EASIER EVE IN A COFFIN. AN ADVENTURE IN THE COSSACK COUNTRY, j BY DAVID KEK. I Copyright. All rights reserved.l j ..- s r N EVERY Rus- it that the young sergeant was on tho track of a Nihilist emissary sent to nmr- , der the czar, who was expected to pass through the town that night with an : armed escort. "I followed him to the church, Masha" (Mary), said he, glancing up at the tall, green tower of painted wood, which, with its gilded cupola nnd metal plated roof, glittered brightly in the last rays of the setting sun; "but he slipped round a corner, and when I darted round after him I could see no more of him than of my own ears. He must have a confederate among these long robed rogues, who let him into the church by some secret way, for, as our proverb Mi's. , , They who wear wide sleeves Iu their heart are thieves. "But no matter ho can't escape now, for six of my men are on the watch for him outside, and the reward for his' apprehension, ap-prehension, along with what I've saved already, will just make up the sum that your father demands for your wedding portion, and then I can get my discharge from the army, for my term of service will be up next month, and then" The last "and then" was pointed with an emphatic kiss. "It does seem hard, though," said the girl, with a touch of womanly compassion in her voice, "that a man must die to make us happy. We shall feel as if we were eating our wedding feast out of a coffin." "A man!" cried her lover fiercely; "a traitor and assassin, you mean, who has plotted against the life of the emperor." "True," answered his betrothed, changing chang-ing her tone again, "nothing is too bad for a man who could plot against Father Alexander Alexandrovitoh" (the czar). "We Cossacks have always been loyal, and always will be." "Always!" echoed the young man emphatically. em-phatically. "And now good night, dooshenka"' (my little soul), "for I must go and see that this fellow doesn't slip away from us." Here was a romance ready made to nij hand, and I at once decided to remain re-main in the town that night and see this stringe drama to the end a decision which evidently relieved the worthy postmaster, who w;us at his wits' end for a fresh lie to account for the non-appearance of my hcrses. "Perhaps tiie noble pan" (gentleman) 'would lie pleased to step in and take 'bread and salt' with us," he hinted, "it's a poor place, but" "Never mind, brother," said I; "food and shelter are always worth having, and I know that a Cossack welcome is bound to be a warm one." In truth, there was no fault to be found with my welcome, though the postmas-, ter's hut was certainly no palace. The walls were of logs, cemented with clay and dried leaves, and jointed together like the frame of a schoolboy's slate, not a nail being used throughout. The floor kind of smallpox of currants and raisins, which is to a Russian Easter wuat the traditional plum pudding is to an English En-glish Christmas. Just as all was ready for our meal in came tho jsistmaster's pretty daughter in all the splendor of her holiday clothes-embroidered clothes-embroidered blue jacket and crimson skirt, striped stockings, and a string of colored beads round her neck. Her late appearance was fully explained by the huge basket of Easter eggs, gay with all the hues of the rainbow, which she carried car-ried in her hand. Behind Mi-s Praskovia came another - girl about her own age, who was presented pre-sented to me as her foster sister, ami who seemed to be treated with great respect re-spect by the whole family, being (as I afterward learned) the only daughter of a prosperous corn dealer in the town, i who was quite a capitalist in the eyes of these simple folks. Her face impressed i me only by its extreme beauty, but the i moment I heard her voice I recognized j the girl whose talk with her lover I had i overheard half an hour before, j But amid all the merriment of our gay i party Maria disioovna (Mary, daughter : of Joseph) was si fa tigely sad and silent, and her sadness was fully explained : when she at length said - iively: I "Ah! if only my poor brother were here aiv-oiig us, how happy wo should be! Perhaps he's not dead after all; it may have been only a report. And if ho ever did come back, surely i:iy father couldn't bo so cruel as to drive h.im out again!" The honest postmaster answered only with a shrug of his broad shoulders (being (be-ing evidently skeptical of any kind deed on the part of her father, Oisip Masloff, who had the name of being the most hard fisted and hard hearted old fellow in the whole district), and hinted to ns that we must not sit too long over our supper, as we would have to bo at tho church in good time for the opening of the night service. An hour later wo were in tho church, which was tilled to overflowing, even the romantic old graybeards and tottering totter-ing grandams of the community being visible amid the crowd by scores, probably proba-bly for the first time since the previous Easter. The whole scene was certainly a strange contrast to my last Easter service in Russia, which had been celebrate! cele-brate! not in au obscure provincial church, but iu the great Isaac cathedral ; at St. Petersburg. In a moment I re- called the whole ceremonial the massed thousands of assembled worshipers amid the vast granite columns of the splendid cathedral; the plaintive hymn dying away in a cadence of mournful sweetness i among the mighty arches overhead; the gorgeous robes and long silky hair of the priests in the center, grouped around the coffin that typified the death and burial of our Lord; the tone of wondering dia- ff 'y- irjKo1 sian village, from tl C-'t-'J ,lle W1,itu S0il t0 t. T-' J f the Black, Easter ll ' I "I ""Vis the festival I of thewh.de year.' Christmas is oele-WtXxif oele-WtXxif bra ted with a V i r'&i-l ' "kolyadovanie" f sy'ti (singing of carols) - n(I 11 1 i h e r a 1 Kiit lniing of can- J dies and setting forth of good cheer. At midnight on New Y'ear's eve the country lasses trip forth to ask the name of the first male passer by whom they meet, as an augury of that of their own future husband. But Easter, and Easter alone, is to Russia what Christmas is to England, or the "Jour de l'An" to France a season of universal good will and feasting and merry making, when even strangers greet each other with a kiss on both cheeks and reply to the salutation "Khristos voskres" (Christ is risen) with the traditional countersign, "Yo istinay voskres" (He is risen indeed). Somewhat in this stylo my thonghts ran a.s I lay stretched on the hay of my tarantass (traveling wagon) in the courtyard court-yard of a little Wnswim post house on the outskirts of a tiny Cossack town on the Upper Don, toward sunset on Easter eve, awaiting the fresh horses which the burly, bearded postmaster had promised irje with a fluent confidence that made me fed sure ho was lying. |