Show I AN AFFECTING SCENE I and The Kcpricvc of a Mother Daughter Condemned to Exile j I was a witness to an affecting incident last Saturday writes a correspondent from I Moscow to the San Francisco Chronicle I got up early and went to a guardhouse distant I dis-tant about a mile from tho Kremlin from which I was informed tho Siberian exiles I I would start Upon reaching tho place I found a small crowd assembled to overlook the event In front of tho guardhouse stood a cart which recalled the tumbril of the French revolution Within it were a few articles of dress somo food water and n pairof womans shoes A peasant Munk I held the horses head Four mounted Cos i i sacks patrolled the guardhouse and kept the I crowd back Not a word was said by anybody any-body All awaited in eilence the coming of tho condemned Presently the door of the I Guardhouse was opened An officer came forth and handed a paper to ono of the Cossacks Cos-sacks who took it with a salute and instead of tucking it in his belt placed it in his cap The guardhouse door now opened again and Cossack soldier caine forth driving two women a before him with the butt of his rifle There was no violence shown He was guiding rather than pushing them One was an old woman upwards of 60 years of age She had a very Germanlooking face and was evidently neither a noble nor a peasant Her countenance was dry and hard and expressed neither shame nor regret re-gret Her companion a woman of not more than half her age had a more refined air but seemed equally stoical or stolidI could I not which quality it was She was also of a say German type When they reached the the tailboard assisted over cart they were a Cossack and they squatted down and commenced by to talk to one another in low tones They seemed indifferent to the opinion of the lookerson They were followed fol-lowed by three or four other couples until the cart was full 1 I The latest coiners made a sensation They wildlooking Jezebel evidently a were a I Finnish peasant woman and a young girl of 17 or 18 years who seemed to be a Russian I and a noble She was in complexion a brunette delicate slender and evidently unused rough treatment or fare She I used to wag not any pretty but had a very interesting I face with rather a large mouth and nose I and great black flashing eyes hedged with long eyelashes Her dress was a poor one and much stained As she looked about her with a despairing air her eyes caught those crowd and she stopped I of some one in the and trembled but said not a word Some commotion took place in that part of the crowd to which the prisoners looks had been directed but no sound broke the si I Fence The peasant and the noble were I hence I lifted into the cart the former with com j and menacing air the latter pressed lips overcome with fatigue and fainting with II shame and emotion Next came the male prisoners some fifty or sixty in number They were a sorrylooking lot and hardly seemed worth so much trouble Not ono of them was fit for mining work Of the whole number there were not moro than two or three faces that were interesting or appeared ap-peared to indicate men of superior intelligence intelli-gence They were formed into column behind be-hind the tumbril and the Cossacks took i stations on their flank Another commotion now appeared in tho crowd A man running from tho city rushed into the midst of it calling aloud a womans name The Cossack officer frowned and two of his patrols were sent over to preserve order At their approach the people fell back and disclosed in their midst an old lady in a fainting condition held in thoI I arms of a young man evidently a relative ov friend They were both of tho noble class The young man held a reprieve in his hand a reprieve for one of the exiles in the cart The precious paper had been brought over from the telegraph office near the luemlin in a single unbroken dash and the bravo courier was lying on the ground exhausted j and panting for breath Committing the j fainting women to those near him the i young man advanced and showed the ic prieve to the Cossacks who thereupon conducted con-ducted him to the ollicer at the guardhouse Both of the gentleman wont inside the door closing behind them Meanwhile the fact had been communicated to tho young girl in the tumbril that she had been reprieved How it was dono I know not for nobody had approached the cart and no words had been spoken aloud She stood up and looked I about her until she saw her mother the old i lady who had fainted in the crowd The agony of the young creotmo was piteous pite-ous to behold She clasped her hands she stretched them toward her beloved parent Sho appealed by her looks to the guard who refused to notice her Sho cried aloud she attempted to lean down fromthe cart but was caught and pushed back Sho wrung her poor hands and turned her weeping eyes to heaven as though all earthly help had I been refused and naught was left but an appeal I ap-peal to God At this moment the guardhouse guard-house door again opened and again an II officer came forth showing the reprieve to the young girl in the cart and briefly informing in-forming her that hor sentence had been I mercifully deferred ho ordered her to bo I liberated and then personally conducted hero her-o the guardhouse to which place also the gills mother was shortly afterward conveyed con-veyed I could fancy the rom on of mother and child after such an episode i learned in the city that tho latter was a concert singer who had been found guilty of singing sing-ing inflammatory songs sentenced to a fate ten thousand times worse than death the gold mines of the Ural She had been called back just in time A day later and she would have been despoiled of all that renders the life of a woman sweet and hopeful hope-ful |