i if EVENING PUBLIC LEDGER- PHILADELPHIA', MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1919 v:? MARIA BOTCHKAREVA, FEASANI, SOLDIER AND PATRIOT, c 1 MAY PROVE TO RUSSIA WHAT JOAN OF ARC IS TO FRANCE -a J 5i ' 1'i Ki ftl JLife Story of Woman Proves a History of the Revolution and Appall ing After-EffectsMrs. Emmeline Pankhurst, Noted English Suffragist, Speaks of Her as the Greatest Woman of the Century and Gives Reasons Russia, Inchoate, Invincible, Agonized, Striving, Rising Colossus, Has Its Incarnation in Botchkareva Besought All Freemen to I Liberate Her Beloved Country From the Galling Yoke of the Invading Germans " r Vivid Picture Painted of Peasant Poverty. Child of Destitute Couple, Her Life One of Grinding Toil She Resolves al Last to Commit Suicide Terrible Hardships of Trip to Siberia Are Graphically Described At Fourteen, Continuing Years of Soul-Searing Toil, She Became Main Support of the Family half years old, small and very thin, breathless. I told her of thc offer Published by Trtdcrlck A. Stokes Companr. under the tltti of Tathkn. Copyright. 1910, by Troderlilj A. Stokes Company INTRODUCTION spirit of this phenomenal rustic, n tremendous issues of the revolution. T N THE early summer of 1917 the world was thrilled bv a news item from Pctrograd announcing the for- mation by one Maria Botchkareva of a women's fighting unit under the name of "The Battalion of Death." With this announcement an obscure Russian peasant girl made her debut 1 in the international hall of fame. From tho depths of dark RuS- la Maria Botchkareva suddenly emerged into thc limelight of mod- em publicity. Foreign correspond- ents sought her, photographers fol- lowed her, distinguished visitors paid their respects to her. All tried - . to interpret this arresting person- ality. The result was a riot of mis- information and misunderstanding. Of the numerous published tales about and interviews with Botch- kareva that have come under my observation, there is hardly one which docs not contain some false or misleading statement. This is partly due to the deplorable fact that tho foreign journalists who in- t ...i t. : .i T: to tho world during the momentous year of 1917 were, with very few exceptions, ignorant of the Russian language; and partly to Botchka- reva's reluctance to take every ad- in.(.imii. cfronn. ,nn yoy nnnfi- dence. It was her cherished dream ... t. i. i . u.-i:r to have a complete record of her life --.! i I.--1, r" ,,,. HWllJuiaviu u uuun. .. .j. This work is the realization of that dream. To a very considerable extent, therefore, the narrative here un- folded is of the nature of a confes- ston. When in tne unitea scales m the summer of 1918, Botchkareva determined to prepare her autobiog- raphy. Had she been educated ""enough to boj able to writo a letter fluentlv. she would nrobablv have written her own life-story in Rus- sian and then had it translated into English. Being semi-illiterate, she Zing of this book was this: Botch- kareva recited to me in Russian the t.nrv nf hnr life, and I recorded it Hn English in longhand, making every effort to set down her narra- tivo verbatim. Not infrequently I would interrupt her with a question ordinary memory. It took nearly a hundred hours, distributed over a period of three weeks, for her to tell mc every detail of her romantic life. ' At our first session Botchkareva made it clear that what she was go- Jtng to tell me would bo very differ- cnt from the yarns credited to her in. thc press.. She would reveal her :..,,f 0if nml l,ro,b- nt, tnr. pthe first time tho scaled book of Vrpast This shc did, and in doing found it necessary to secure tho partisanship and selfish patriotism, ber that only a full clean sweep of tu " "-i-iv " "v-. n-inemoer nuw nujipy my jnou.er unowicr. in mus manner i nisposea ervices of a writer commanding a Overflowing with gentility and kind- the Germans from our soil can give v " ' and hurrie(I as fast was when father arrived, but this of thc entire bottle. Drowsy and knowledge of her native language, ncss, she is yet capable of savage you the free Russia you lonir for" ""Z ,, ,pat , thr,oufh happiness did not last long. Poverty weak, I took the baby into my arms which is the only tongue she speaks, outbursts and brutal acts. Credu- 1c;A Ar ' T t, ' a ,fcst- Sud(1en'i' shc heard the, nnd miscry cut it bhort. My father's and tried to rock it to sleep. But 1 Tho procedure followed in the writ- lous and trustful as a child, she can AU UUN virsh. howling of n pack of wolves. Olga's ,igid nntui.0 asserted itself again, myself began to stagger, and fell Intended to draw out some forgotten traits a4re illustrate(1 in alm;st XU yitch Frolkov, was born into kf of brcad wa """crcd experiences. However, one of Bokh- Take away from serfdom at Nikolsko, a village in' the d,rfct "s trampled in the kareva's natural gifts is an extra- . .. , . "m rovln,n of VoVfrnrnj H ,. Out of breath, and without he so ruined completely several widely writer to keep the narrative down and was Promoted to thc rank of After the wedding the young cou circulatcd talcs about her. Perhaps to a strict recital of facts.' It is sergeant. j!0 VC Nikolsko, my father s the chief of these is the statement really incidental that this record is Returning home at the end of the birthplace, where he had inherited u the chic: ot tneso is tne statement that' Botchkareva had enlisted as a ,,,... ., i 4 that' Botchkareva had enlisted as a ... ., i . h fallen husband Whether his her. fallen husband, wnetnor tnis pnifiinr 111111 iruiiu lu war lu uvcniru invcnuon wS uiu prouu ut nei vown mind or was attributed to hcr , joriginally by somo prolific corrc- .Bponaenv, i uu imi. nuuw. m .iy event it was a handy answer to the eternal question of tho pestiferous Journalists as to how she came to 'be a soldier. Unable to explain to ino conventional worm mm. pro- found impulse which really drovo her to hcr remarkable destiny, she adopted this excuse until shc had an opportunity to record thc full story of her daring life. ' Thi. UnrAr ii.iii nion rxmm'n tinf distrustful attitude based on mis- understanding tnat nas uecn mani festcd toward Botchkareva In radi- cal circles. When she arrived in Z Un ted State she was Immedi- Ml ,. ri.j . . .--..-i .i... '. tlonary," royalist and sinister in- ' triguer by the extremists. That ' was a grave injustice to her. She HLPIV I1IL11CU ItH U LUUULCfiUVUlU is Ignorant of politics, contemptu- .... . ... ,1 . . oub of intrigue, ana spiritually xar and above party strife. Her mis- s'lon in life was to free Russia from K the German yoke. , Being placed virtually in the po- aition of a father confessor, it was ' wy privilege to commune with the Russian army at the front to the experience, which . she could never but ' i. l -,,, u.iv,. V-ij-N '. L ' ' aL-a'- i.ibditL. r, ;.'. jjaj. ,'L .... . , l iHiM Til . tVfVidMiW ... ...VjatBi i ,? V 'jffitiXi'ri- n' 'iiiMMBfMHtoVSirffia tfh "mKWBwmi i 'ivSmSmBBIiMlfKii m iuiK0BFKtKSBtKEtzKHKKKfKBKtKKHflBfBKfKtSMstnBX fc.SliBHBK7BsBWlBHBBVE . v. mirxinMmmmmBtfmiammrTMMmmimaammK.iiem r privilege I shall ever esteem ns Priceless. She not only laid bare before mc every detail of her nmaz- 5n ,ife that memory could resur- rcct' but n,so allowed mc to ex- plore thc nooks nd corners of her benrt to n Jf" l.hat.n? frIenJ f ho1rB cr .dld; MnintaininR a crttl- cal "Wtudo from tttc beginning of Ur assoc't.on, I was gradually ojchclmcd b the largeness of her w,,. , - BoSEv. M Mmlln JSSSS". S h the woman of lhc ccnt Tho Tn unf c,i . .. t." , v.. .. uiiiw nus OUUI1 OI Arc a peasant girl," wrote a corrc- spondent in July, 1917; "Maria Botchkareva is her modern paral- lei." Indeed, in the annals of hls- tory since the days of the Maid of Orleans wo encounter no feminine figure equal to Botchkareva. Like Joan oi Arc this Russian peasant sirl dedicated her life to her coun- try's cause. If Botchkareva failed and this 5s Vt problematical, for who will dare forecast the future of "ssm7 it would not lessen her ? . " "" UU4 "",ra""- ,st". ag0 ,s no mcasuro of truc gcnius- L,ke Joan of Arc Botchkareva is tnC Symbol Of her COUntry. Can ihfc be a n,orc f riki" incarnation f France than thnt conveyed by the , ' .. muw ...vcyca uy mc ""-." "' "".i uuicimurcva : n (-,,,)! 4,,JB,. , . ,,,. ,Uu , , .. , '. ,.:. rM......i 4 .l. .!... bdnff nb,e to gcribbc hef own wvt,o. iiliutatcu IU uiu cxicni. OI ,vkh difllcultVi shc ,B cndowed with the genius of ,ogic Ignorant of hls. name (. and literature, the natural hi. cidity of her mind is such as to cad her directly to the very few fundamental truths of lifV Tirllirim, with all tho fervor of her primitive Knnh shn U tnlomr in n -fcl,:r, behoving a philosopher. Devoted to her country untry with every fiber of her being, bhc is free of impassioned be easily incited against people and xnlnBs- mirepia and rash as a fighter, her desire to live on occa- sions as indescribably pathetic. In . "nKar a em do d es al R V " ' a rncler's cs ot ?",. .1. , " !,.,.,, H ,. i,au k ,.. tl(m Jn Botchkareva. Know Botch- kcreva and vou shaji know Russi8( tbat jnchoate, invincible, agonized! striving, rising Colossus, in all its depth and breadth. It must be made unmistakably clear hero that the motives rcspon- sible for this book were purely per- sonal. In its origin this work is exclusively a human dnciimpnt n ,.. ord of exuberant life. It was the purpose of Botchkareva and the ....... " w ura i valuable not only as a biography of startlinir nersonalitv. but as a rv. valuable not only as a biography of startline- nersonalitv. but as b vpv. " ' " " elation o ccrtain Phascs of n mo- mmtovu pcri0d in human history - - ' . . , , v' v Because Botchkareva nlways has been ftnd BtJ1j .g fctrictl nonparti8an and bCause 8ho does not pretend to pnss judgmcnt upon events and nlen( h reveiati0ns are of nrlmn imnnr! tancc. The reader gets a picture of Kcrenaky In nction that completely efraCcs all thnt has hitherto been gajd 0f this tragic but typical prod- uct of tho Russian intelligentsia, Kornilov, Rodzianko, Lcnine and Trotsky and somo other outstanding personalities of the Russian revolu- tion appear in these pages exactly "-v " uiu. Not a single book, so far as I know, has appeared yet giving nn accou'nt of how the Russian army at .i,w....j i 1..1 vitw AviW VM,WVV4 IU HIO ItlWlUHUlli What was the state of mind of tho Russian soldier In the trenches which wns after all the decisive fnc- tor in tho developments that follow- .t j....,... ., . ... .1. .. . ca, aunng mo nrsi oigni monms oi 1917? No history of unshackled Russia will be complete without nn answer to this vital question. This book is the first to disclose the re- actions and emotions of the vast and is of cspcclnl value coming from a veteran peasant soldier of the rank and file. Perhaps surpassing all else in in- terest is the horrible picture we get of Bolshevism in action. With the claims of theoretical Bolshevism to establish an order of social equality on earth Botchkareva has no quar- ,. she said so to Lcnine and Trotsky personally. But then came "cr experiences with Bolshevism in PmCtiCC' a"d th"C fll0WS n b,00tl- "?"' "'ff i,.f " 'f ?' obocracy th"l,n h for(Cr ,n tho memory of thc reader. Botchkareva left tho United States toward the end of July, 1918, after having attained thc purpose of her visit an interview with Presi- dcnt Wilson. She Went to England and thence to Archangel, where she arrived early in September. Accord- i"K to a newspaper dispatch, she caused the following proclamation to bo posted in villnge squares and country churchos: "I nm n RiiKsinn nra.nnt nml eM. dier. At the request of the soldiers ana peasants i went to America ami Great Britain to ask these countries for military help for Russia, The Anies understand our own mUfnrriinne Dml T ...,, u v. Anicd armies which camc on, for tu e t-.i. .. j..- . thc purpose of helping to drive out our deadly enemies, tho Germans, "J "'"""'"I and not to interfere with our in- ternal affairs. After tho war is over the Allied troops will leave Russian soil. "L on my own part, request al loyal free sons of Russia, without rcferencc to party, to come together, actinE as one 'with the Allied forces, who, under the Russian flag, come to free Russia from the German yoke and in order to hpln tho now frco Russian army with nil forces, including Russia, to beat the enemy. "Soldiers and peasants! Remem- w 10rK wt November, 1918. PART ONF YOUTH" J UiAFIfcR I ,y childhood of Toil TlTY FATHER. Leonti s.m.n. hundred vcrsts fa verst is hm. .. thirds of a mile) north of Moscow. He was fifteen when Alexander II emancipated the serfs in 18G1, and remembers that historic event vivid- !'. heing fond even now of telling of tbe days of his boyhood. Im- Pressed into the army in tho early seventies, he served during thc Russo-Turkish wnr of 1877-78, and distinguished himself for braverv. receiving several medals. When a soldier he learned to read and write, . . .. , , . r he passed through Tcharanda, a fishermen's settlement on the shore . n icnaranaa, a fishermen's settlement on the shore ...... of a lake, in the county of Kirilov, -within forty versts of Nikolsko. No , dre.d .. mnu,n, miutr , nlf nnH h.ri ,v!fi, .. ... KHn in his pocket, he cut quite a fig- ure in the poor hamlet of Tchar- anda. There he met my mother, Olga, the eldest daughter of Elizar Naza- rev, perhaps the most destitute teller of tho place. Elizar, with his wifo and three dnughters, occupied a shabby hut on thc sandy shore of the lake. So poor was he that he could not af- ford to buy a horse to carry his catch to the city, and was compelled to sell it. far below tho market nrleo. to a traveling buyer. The income thus " " """'""n to Keep ine family from hunger. Bread was alwaya a luxury in the little cabin, The soil was not tillable. -Elizar's if.Hi,iw.if.... . tiwm ... u LIC JllUiV prosperous peasants in the vicinity for ten kopecks(a kopeck is normally half a cent) a day to labor from sunrise to sunset. But even this ad ji.i 1 . . , muunm money wub noi always 10 be had. Then Olga would be sent out to beg for bread in tho neigh- boring villages. Once, when scarcely ten years old, little Olga underwent a harrowing ater reca11 without horror. Start- ' K nomt' Wltn " Daske"ul 0l urcaU collected from several villages, she ' eart a most slopped ueating. ino . .... . f ,i ..". ,. .? V U.' SM 1C" unconscloU3 B found hersclf a,one The wo,v ap. parently had sniffed her prostrate body and gone their, way. Her bas- cious hurden, she arrived home. !t was in such circumstances that my mother grew to be nineteen,, wbcn sne attracted th'c attention of onil Frolkov, who was then stop- nins n Tcharanda on his way homo from the war. She was immensely fi"ttcred when he courted her. lie cven "ought her a pair of shoes for a Present, the first shoes Mio had ever worn. This captivated the hum- b'e OI?a completely, bhe joyously accepted his marriage proposal. . . , , . .small tract of land. together, and with ". ;., , Sl ". v. j ,. .., together, and with great difllculty uiuy uucu ii. nonaged to make ends meet. My two elder sisters, Arina and Sliuia, were horn here, increasing the nov- .. nf mv nnrents. Mv fnthcr. about this time, took to drinking, and began to maltreat and beat his wife. He was by nature morose and egotistic. Want was now making him cruel. My mother's life with him became one of misery. She wns consianuy in iers, .uwuys plenums for mercy and praying to God. I was born in July, 1889, the third S'rl in the family. At that time many railroads were being built throughout thc country. When I was a year old, my father, who had onco been stationed at Tsarskoyc- ""'"i "" - .." -.. tho capital, decided to go to Petro- crad to seek work. We were left without money. He wrote no let- . On the brink of starvation, - - . .--. my mother somehow contrived, with the aid of kind neighbors, to keep herself and her children alive. When I was nearly six years old n lntlr.r r11110 frnm fntbor iV,n fit "- 1 he hnd written us during the Ave years of his absence. He had broken his right leg and, as soon as he wns able to travel, naa started home. My mother wept bitterly at the, news, was glad to hear from father, Jfc 1 ! rmrv. .Kfii.s.irTft. . ..ttrfr,,, U'AQ tnfimmri lint linni. nt t in ininftad . 1. 1. 1 il il ji t if Maria Doldikurcva as a private soldier whom she had almost given up for cad. In spite of his harshness toward her, s.hc still loved bim. j,ardl hnd , wh a fouith child, also a girl, arrived :.. oul. familv. And there was no bread in thc house. From al, pnrt8 of 01Ir scction of the country peasants were migrat- ing that year to Siberia, where tho in all government allowed them large find the culprit. I shall always re mud. grants of Jand. My father wanted member the whipping I got on that r pre- to go, but mother was opposed to it. occasion. However, when our neighbor, Vcrev- kin, who had left some time pre- vious for Siberia, wrote glowingly f the new country, niy father made llp his mind to go, too. jIost of thc men wouid K0 aione) obtain grnntl 0f andk till them, buj(I homesteads, and then return qv famjijes. Those of tho pc.lsants who took theh. famiiies ., gQ that by the time we got to Tcheli- abinsk, thc last tciminal in Euro- pea'n Russia, and the government distribution point, we had not a - At the station my father ' ... .... ' .,.. obtained some hot water to make ten, while my two elder sisters were sent to beg for biead. sent w ' Wo were nssiened to Kuskovo. a hundred and twenty versts beyond Tomsk. At every station my sisters would beg food, while father filled our tea-kettle with hot water. Thus We cot alone: till Tomsk was reached. Our grant of land was in the midst of tho taiga, thc virgin Siberian forest. There could be no thought of immediately settling on jt( g0 my father remained in Tomsk, while the rest of us were sent on to Kuskovo. My sisters went to work ,. u,,,i ,i ,.,,ui r.. .... gtn, strong nnd in good health, bakC(j brcntj ror a living, while I took earo of the b(b .yyn. w" CXpCCt!nff visitors. She had baked some cakes ... ... "' Wt ' a Pint ot vodKa, wwch she put on the shelf. While e was at work I tried to lull tho haby to sleep. But baby was rest- less. Crying incessantly. I did not . ----. know how to calm her. Then my eyes fell on the bottlo of vodka. "It must be a very gqod thing," I thought, and decided to give a glass to baby. Before doing so I tasted it myself. J was bitter, but w wl AjKWiSl4 1 m .. 1 ' r. wnjv--" " " -" rWftft T-iJ T.f'XLmHarffHiMiMf. ..'.. T.UMmiM. . n impfc "s '. r v-n .j-Mmp, . , i,it,3jLmMam.m mm ! ijnaiwi'i'ifli mr1 ir 1 iniiwitninnii'ii m ' iilnTlMMaii iilTTt 1 1 IMTT ITfTMl n nil i MTTTiri 11 ntod more. I drank the first cup and, the bitterness I having somewhat worn off, I drained with tho chil(, to thc floor. Our mother found us there, scrcamlnir at the ton of our voices. Presently the visitors arrived, and my mother reached for the bottle, only to discover that it had been emptied. It did not take her long to Toward winter father arrived fiom Tomsk. He brought little money with him. The winter was severe, and epidemics were raging in the country. Wo fell sick one by one, father, mother, then all tho prs. As there was no bread in the house, and no money to buy any- thing, the community took care of us till spring, housing and feeding n mirnrlo nil of ns eseape(1 deathi bul our cIothea had become rags. Our shoes fell to pieces. My parents decided to move to Tomsk, where we arrived barc- loot and tattered, finding shelter at a Por inn on thc outskirts of the ,.. town. My father would work only a couple of days a week. He was l"z'. The remainder of the week he idled away and drank. My sis- rs serveu as nursemaid, wiuiu mother worked in a bakery, keeping the baby and mc with her. We slept in the loft of a stable, with the horses stamping below us. Our bed ws oi straw, inia on me noor, which consisted of unshnven planks thrown across logs. Soon thc baker's wite began to object to feeding an extra mouth, which belonged to me. ' wna then over eight yenrs old. wi,., ,in't ,... ...i i,- n ...ri.i She can earn hcr own bread," she nrgued.' u '"" ""- ' ' ? ,? T, tho proprieticss became impatient, threaten.ng to throw us all out. Finally father came to sec 1 with the good tidings that he h sec us, that he had f0Und a nlace for me. J wns to care tn .. fltfn.unar.nM !, i ,nf.i.n f- .. ..... -,.....-..... ,, .., 4t... , my board and eighty-five kopecks n month. "If you do well," my father added, "you will by and by receive a ruble." Such was the beginning of my career in life. I was eight and a I bomchow wa fc.4. a. I had never before left my mother's side, and both of us wept bitterly at parting. It was a gray, painful, in comprehensible world into which I was being led by my father. My view of it was further blurred by a stream of tears. I took care of thc little boy for several days. One afternoon, while amusing him by making tigurcs in the sand, I myself became so en grossed in the game that I quarreled frith my charge, which led to a fight. I remember feeling keenly that I was in the right. But the child's mother did not inquire into thc mat ter. She heard his screams and spanked me for it. I was deeply hurt by thc unde- served spanking administered by a strange woman. "Where was my mother? Why did not she come to avenge me?" My mother did not answer my cries. Nobody did. I felt miserable. How wrong was the world", how un just! It was not worth while living in such a world. My feet were bare. My dress was nil in mis. NnhoHv ml in ram for mc. I was all alone, without friends, and nobody knew of the yearning in my heart. I would drown myself, I thought. Yes, I would run to the river nnd drown myself. Then I would go up, free of all pain, into the arms of God. I resolved to slip out at the first chance and jump into the river, but before the opportunity presented itself my father called. He found me all in tears. What's the matter, Manka?" he asked. "I am going to drown myself, papa." I answered sadly. "Grcnt Heavens! What's hap- pened, you foolish child?" I then poured my heart out to him. begging to be taken to mother. He caressed mo and talked of mother's distress if I left my place. He prom- ised to buy me a pair of shoes, if I remained. But I did not stay long. The little boy, having seen his m-'u-r punish me, began to take advan.agc of me, making life quite unbeai able. Fi- nally I ran nway and wandered about town till dnik. looking for my mother. It was late when a police- man picke 1 me up crying in the street and carried me to thc police stntion. The officer in charge of the station took mc to his home for the night. His houso was rather large. I had never been in such a house before. When I awoke in the morning it seemed to me that there were a great many doors in it nnd all of them aroused my curiosity. As I J opened one of the doors, I beheld tho police officer asleep on a bed with a pistol alongside of him. I wanted to bent a hasty retreat, but he awoke. He seized the pistol and, still dazed from sleep, threatened mc with it. Frightened, I ran out of the room. My father, meanwhile, had been informed of my flight and had gone to the police station in search of me. no was reierrcu 10 ine ponce officer's home. There he found me, weeping on the porch, and took me to my mother. My parents then decided to estab- lish a home. All their capital amounted to six rubles. They rented a basement for three rubles a month. Two rubles my father in- vested in some second-hand furni- ture, consisting of n lame table and benches, nnd a few utensils. With a few kopecks from thc last ruble in her purse my mother prepared some food for us. She sent mc to buy a kopeck's worth of salt. The grocery store of the street was owned by a Jewess, named Nas- tasia Leontievna Fuchsman. She looked at me closely when I entered her store, recognizing that I was a stranger In the street, and asked me. "Whose are youl i . We jUSt "I am of the Frolkovs. iiiuvuu iniu mu uuscinciib 111 mu next block." 11T . .., . , . . , . "I need a little girl to help me out. Would you ike to work for me?" she asked. "I'll give you a ruble a month and board. I was overjoyed and started for home at such speed that by the time 1 got to my moincr i wast quite ,;.,fvf.,.r!1Sa: from ),e grocery woman. "But," I added, "she is a Jewess." I had heard so man1 things of Jews that I was rather afraid, on second thought, to live under the same roof with a Jewess. My mother calmed my fears on that score and went to the grocery to have a talk with the proprietress she came back satisfied, and I en tercd upon my apprenticeship to Naatasia Lconticvna. It was not an easy life. I learned to wait on customers, to run er rands, to do everything in the house from cooking and sewing to scrub bing floors. All day I slaved with out rest, and at night I slent on a box in tho passageway between the store and house. My monthly earn ings went to my mother, but they never sufficed to drive the specter of starvation away from my home. My father earned little, but drank much, and developed his severe temper even more. In time I got a raise to two rubles a month. But as I grew I required more clothes, which my mother had to suPP'y mc from my allowance iusiusiu iconiicvna was exacting nnd not infrequently punished me. But she nlso loved me as though I had been her own daughter, and always tried to make up for harsh treatment. I owe a great deal to her, as she taught me to do almost everything, both in her business nnd .... , T .1 in housework. - , must have bccn nbout eleven when in a flt of t T eled ,vith Nastasia Leontievna. Her bro- ther freauented the theatre nnH nn. stantIy taked of u , neyer quUe understood what a theatre was 1ik. but it allured me, and I resolved 0ne evening to get acquainted with that place of wonders. I asked Nas- tasia Leontievna for money to go there. She refused, "You little moujitchka (a peasant woman), what do you want with the theatre?" she nsked derisively. ..you d d Jewcss;.. j threw jnto hcr face fitfully, nnd ran out of the store T wcnt t0 my mother iltu told" hcr of thc incident. She was horrified. "But now hc won't take you back what will wc do without your waKes. Marusia? How will we nav thc rent? Wc will have to go bogging again." And she cried. After some time my employer came after me, rebuking me for my quick temper. "How could I have known that you were so anxious to go to the theatre?" she asked. "All right, I'll give you fifteen kopecks every Sunday so that you can go." I became a steady Sunday attend U .--,11- . A .1 ' . .' . "' V" """" "mng wun .UH.-IC31. inu piayers, ineir niiuiiKu ki"'" nu manners or speech. Five years I worked for Nastasia Leontievna, assuming greater duties with the advance of my yenrs. Early in the morning I would rise, open the shutters, knead the dough, nnd sweep or scrub the floors. I finally grew wenry of this daily grind and began to think of find- itlK other work. But my mother was sick and futher worked less and less, drinking most of the time, He grew more brutal, beating us all. unmercifully. My sisters were forced to stay away from home. Shura married at sixteen, and I, fourteen yenrs old, become the mainstay of the family. It was often necessary to get my pay in advance in order t0 kecP the family from starving, The temptation to steal camo to me suddenly one day. I had never stolen anything before, and Nastasia Leontievna repeatedly pointed out this virtue in me to her friends. "Here is a moujitchka who doesn't steal," she would say. But ono timc- on unpacking u barrel of suKar delivered at the store, I found, instead of the usual six susar- loaves- seven The impulse to take the extra loaf of sugar wns irre- sisviuie. mgnt 1 smuggiea II stealthily out of the store and took ,t l.nm Mv fnthrr wns natnnlslxw! "What have you done, Marusia? Take it back Immediately," hq or- . . T . . V. ,.. the wag not rea rf LeontIevna's, that the error had been made nt the reflnery( Then father consented to Veep it. (coNTlNUKp TQMOltno t 1 r ; 4 ,1 A ' 5, .M vi y ' i
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers