Newspaper Page Text
Vera
Nicholaevna
\ Story of the Russian
Revolution
By DONALD CHAMBERLIN
When I was a young nmn I was sent
to St. Petersburg by my employers to
establish a depot for the sale of the
chemical goods they manufactured.
I had letters to the American ambas
sador and, desiring to see something
of Itnsslan society, accepted such invi
tations ns he secured for me. Society
In Europe Is different from ours in
America In this—that the soveyelgn Is
its recognized head as well as the head
of the government. In order to see so
ciety In St. Petersburg 1 must see
the Count Circlls. The ambassador was
very good to me and put me on his list
for an lnvitatlou whenever there was a*
function of Importance coming off.
One evening at a ball at the Winter
palace I was In the refreshment room
partaking of the delicate viands there
when I saw a girl whom I had noticed
for her beauty of form and face, her
vivacity and general attractiveness. I
had asked for an introduction to her
mid had been promised one later in the
evening.
We were all standing in the supper
room, some eating, some drinking, and
since It was crowded l was pushed
very near the object of my admiration.
She stood with her back to me pledg
ing an elderly man whose many deco
rations marked him for an important
personage. Each held a glass contain
ing wine. Keeling something touch
me. 1 looked down and saw the girl’s
left hand. In her right she held her
glass, while her left hung beside her.
In the crush it had been pressed
against me. The man emptied his
glass and turned to a table near him
to replenish it. While lie was doing
so llie girl turned her head, gave me
an appealing glance and lowered her
eyes to her hand. Partly catching her
meaning. I looked down and saw some
thing between her thumb and finger.
I dropped ray hand against hers, and
she placed a tiny phial within my tin-
gel’s. This had scarcely been accom
plished when the gentleman turned to-
f
SmS MADE A SPBtNO FOR TH* WINDOW.
ward her with a bottle of champagne
in his hand, Ailed her glass, then Oiled
his own.
I have narrated bare fact; my as
tonishment 1 have not attempted to
depict. The girl sipped her wine, the
man tossed his off, then set down both
glasses, offered her his arm, and, she
resting her Angers lightly upon it, they
Went to another apartment.
Instinctively I slipped the phial into
m.v pocket, concealing so far as pos
sible what I did, for I knew that the
girl must have passed it to me to get
rid of it. and I surmised that she might
be watched. With a view to getting
an explanation from her I went to the
person who had promised me a» intro
duction and asked him to introduce
me at once. He went off to look for
her and returned saying that she was
in company with a minister of state
and he would not think of intruding
upon her at such a time. Unfortunate
ly very soon after this she left the pal
ace.
Before leaving myself I inquired who
she was and learned that she was the
daughter hf a colonel in the Russian
army, one of the nobles who in Rus
sia stand between the Imperial family
and the common people, a class that
have no voice in public affairs and that
are as much opposed to the autocracy
of the czar as those who are beneath
them. Her name was Vera Nlcho-
laevna.
1 went to m.v lodgings, and as soon
as I had entered and locked the door
of my bedroom I took out the phial I
had received to have a look at it. It
contained n colorless liquid. I was
tempted to touch my tongue to the
contents, but dar; net. Being a chem
ist, I resolved to analyse the liquid and
the next day did so. It wsa lucky
thut I hnd refrained from touching my
tongue to it. for it was n deadly poison.
I was for |inii time a prey to con
flicting emotions, nad it not been for
the personality of the girl and Its effect
upon me I would not for a moment
have been tempted to meet her with the
likely result of being drawn into a
dangerous position. Visions of dun
geons. of Siberia, of the scaffold haunt
ed me. On the other hand, I could not
banish her from my mind. 1 was hor
ror stricken tlmt one so young, so
beautiful, should be Implicated and
longed to prevent her going a step fur
ther and becoming an assassin, I
thought of her working In the mines
at Kara or dragged to the scaffold, and
while doing so I considered making
her acquaintance and using the secret
I possessed to comiiel her to desist
from political crime.
Nevertheless I did nothing at the
time and would have done nothing hud
not fate thrown n second and n much i
greater temptation in my way. Months
passed, and, having finished my work
in St. Petersburg, I applied for my
passport and started foi^Vmerlcn. At
the railway station I climbed Into a
compartment of a car. taking a sent
by the window on the opisislte side
from which I had entered. There was
but one other person in the compart
ment, and the light was Insufficient for
me to see him or her distinctly, for I
could not make out whether I was
looking nt a man or n woman. A long
ulster reaching from the chin to the
ankles concealed the figure, but 1
thought I snw a slight adornment to
the felt lmt indicating that the wear
er was a woman.
The passenger was looking out of the
window, apparently watching for some
one. Presently the guard shut the
door, but my fellow traveler did not
cense to white!). The train was mov
ing out of the station when I henrd a
gasp more like that of a woman than
n man, and, looking out, I saw a man
running to catch the train. The train
gathered speed, but from my position
I could not see the man chasing it.
The passenger put her head out the
window, but soon withdrew it and fell
buck on the cushion.
‘‘Did he catch It?" 1 asked.
There was no reply for a few mo
ments; then suddenly the other person,
starting up, threw open the ulster and
revealed the figure of n woman.
Great heavens! She was the girl
who had handed me the phial at the
Winter palace.
“He is on the footboard. When the
train stops he will come to arrest me.
That means for me the mines. Death
is far preferable. I nin going to die.”
She made a spring for the window,
but I caught her.
Sacrifice—very great sacrifice—rarely
comes when we are In our sober
senses. It takes us by impulse. Look
ing backward, I wonder how I could
have done what I did then, and I
shudder. 1 defied the czar of all the
Russins. I persuaded the girl to give
me her ulster and her hat, while I
transferred to her my fur overcoat,
my traveling cap and a stenmer rug
for a lap robe. With these articles,
the cap drawn down over her eyes,
she was well covered nnd, sitting in a
far corner, could not he told from a
man. I put on her ulster nnd her hat
and when the train stopped was sit
ting by the door, while Vera Nlcho-
laevna snt where I had been, pretend
ing to sleep. When the train stopped
I knew a search was being made, and
presently the door of our compart
ment opened, nnd an officer of police
looked in.
‘‘I am lost!" I cried in a falsetto
voice.
The officer wanted no better evi
dence that I was his quarry. I was
ordered to get out of the car, the door
was closed, and my captor told the
guard that the train could go on.
My object was to deceive the officer
as to my Identity as long as possible,
and this was not an easy matter, since
I was a man and he was looking for a
woman. I wrapped my ulster about
me and kept my hat well down over
my face. It was night, and this helped
me. Luckily I wore no beard. I was
taken to the jail of the town in which
I was captured and locked up. As
soon as the key was turned on me 1
muttered:
“Thank heaven, she may bo saved!",
The next morning the mistake was
discovered. I was sent to St. Peters
burg charged with assisting a political
prisoner to escape. I wrote to the
American ambassador to help me, but
had little expectation that my letter
would he given him. It was not, and
I languished in a dungeon.
I wrote again to the ambassador,
but my letter was not permitted to
reach him. Some unknown person in
formed him of my condition, where
upon he worked hard for me. He
would have failed had he not made
personal application to the czar. The
emperor was at the time asking for a
concession on the part of the United
States in a matter pending between
the two governments, and a bargain
was finally struck by which the con
cession was made on the one side,
while I was granted a pardon on the
other. After several months spent in
captivity I was released, given my
passport and told to leave Russia by
the first train.
From my parting with Vera Nicbo-
laevna, when I was arrested, till the
present I have never seen her nor
heard of her except Indirectly. One
day long after I reached America a
Russian came to see me and told me
that for the sacrifice I had made to the
cause of freedom in Russia, if I had
any favor to ask of him. it would be
granted so far as possible. I told him
that I desired no recompense except to
know where Vera Nlcholaevna was.
To this he replied that it was the only
Impossible favor I could ask. for Vera
Nicbolaevna was lost to the world;
her identity had been buried.
BERRY, THE HANGMAN.
How Ho Qot Hio Growoome Office and
Why Ho Rssigntd It.
Berry, the famous English hangman,
hnd nu extraordinary career, lit* work
ed as a carpenter, engineer and printer
before joining the police force. He
knew tils predecessors, Mnnvood and
Calerofi, and secured the post of hung-
mnu out of 1,400 applicants. It Ih said
that Berry was chosen as hnngmau by
the sheriffs of London through an an
swer ho gave to a question about hang
ing a man he knew to he tnnocout.
“Would you hang that gentleman over
there?" ho was asked. After looking
at the councilor, a venerable, gray
bearded figure. Berry Is alleged to
have replied: “I would hang the lot of
you. The crime would not ho mine,
but the law's.”
And yet Berry finally gave up his
office as hangman becuuse the execu
tion by him of two tmiocent persons
got on his nerves.
The first ease was that of a farm lad.
aged about eighteen, accused of shoot
ing a policeman. The hoy protested
his innocence to Berry up to the last
moment, hut was duly executed. Some
time after this Berry hanged the Neth-
erby hall murderers, one of whom Just
before ho died told Berry that it was
he who hnd shot the policeman for
which crime the boy had been exe
cuted.
Tho second ease was that of Mary
Leffley of Lincolnshire, who was ac
cused of poisoning her husband with
arsenic. She. too. protested her Inno
cence, but was hanged. Some years
later a farmer dying of cancer con
fessed tho crime. He said he had had
a quarrel with John Leffley. and when
both John and Mary were out he had
entered their eottnge and put arsenic
in a milk pudding which hud been pre
pared for John Leftle.v’s dinner.
It was on account of these two grave
miscarriages of justice that Berry ul
timately turned evangelist. He was
persuaded to go to a mission meeting
nt Bradford nnd there announced his
conversion.—London Tit-Bits.
GEMS IN A VACUUM.
They Take on an Added Brillianoe and
Fairly Glow.
The jewelers of ancient Egypt knew
more than modern craftsmen about
treating gems so that they would
shine and sparkle. Such gems as the
emerald, garnet and jacinth were live
lier and more luminous in the days of
tho Ptolemies than they eun be made
today. It is known that the diamond,
ruby, emerald and kunzlte become
more phosphorescent or tluoreseent un
der certain circumstances.
Gems exhibit the liveliest phosphor
escence in vacuum tubes. Even in
rarefied air some diamonds give out a
blue light, whicli is not present in a
denser atmosphere. In u vacuum a
diamond of four or five knruts gives
as much light as a caudle. The color
of the light differs not only with tho
origin of the diamond, but with the
facets of the same diamond. Maske-
lyne made a collection of diamonds
which glowed In a vacuum with nearly
nil the colors of the spectrum. An un
cut stone which was roughly cube
shape, with truncated corners and
edges, emitted orange yellow light
from the faces of the cube, pale yellow
from the corners, and lemon yellow
from the flat edgeB.
Next to tho diamond stands the ruby
as highly phosphorescent in a vacuum.
Tho ruby emits a beautiful red light,
as though It were incandescent. Kun-
clte shines with a golden yellow or
yellow tinged with rose. The emerald
shines with a crimson light. The
same gems become phosphorescent un
der the Influence of radium. The ultra
violet rays also produce luminosity In
gems.
It is well known that rubles from
the mines of Burma are more valuable
than those from neighboring Siam. Ex
ternally they look much alike, but un
der the ultraviolet rays the Burmese
stones which are called oriental rubles
glow like red embers, while the Siamese
rubies look almost black.—Independent.
Ireland’s Consy Island.
Coney Island is a good old Irish
name, which will be news to a vast
majority of people who visit that part
of the greater city. Brooklyn news
papers have asserted the name was
adopted from small animals which
made their homes in the sand. But
the will of Viscount Charlemont, who
died last summer, aged eighty-three,
directs that he shall be buried at Co
ney Island, Lough Neagh. Ireland, and
provides an annuity for the upkeep of
the "old tower,” which had been In
the possession of his family many gen
erations.—New York Post
Warm Suggestion.
Crusty Customer—Gimme a pound o’
sulphur. How much is it? Druggist-
Fifteen cents a pound. Crusty Cus
tomer—What! Hang it, man, I can get
It across the street for 10 cents. Drug
gist (in disgust)—Yes, and there’s a
place where you can get it for noth
ing.—Kansas City Star.
Ths Duohess’ Philosophy.
The old Duchess of Cleveland invit
ed a relative to her husband’s funeral
and told him to bring bis gun with
him when he came, adding. "We are
old. we must die, but the pheasants
must be shot”—Sir Algernon West’s
Reminiscences.
Outstripped It.
"As I recall things, you once had a
future before you.” said the old friend.
"Yes," replied the fate tossed man,
“but you see, I lived so fast that I
got ahead of it”
Conscience and wealth are not al
ways neighbors.—Messenger.
Swift’s Blood and Bone
Fertilizers
FULL VALUE for the price paid. ABSOLUTE
GUARANTEE of QUALITY, COMPLETE
SATISFACTION in the use and in the crop
results, all this and more is assured to buyers of
SWIFT'S FERTILIZERS
Made exclusively from CROP PRODUCING
MATERIALS. Ammoniated with Blood and Cattle
Tankage from Swift & Company’s own Packing
Houses. Mechanically Perfect. They represent the
BEST in Fertilizers. The SWIFT guarantee of
HIGHEST QUALITY goes with every bag.
MANUFACTURED BY
SWIFT FERTILIZER WORKS,
ATLANTA, GA.
Other Factories Albany, Ga., Savannah, Ga., Moultrie, Ga., Chester, S. C. r
Columbia, S. C. Spartanburg, S. C., Wilmington, N. C.
FOR SALE BY
J. A. STEPHENS, Newnan, Ga.
The husband has something to do to
make his home a happy one, as well as
the wife. When she tries so hard to
please the one she loves best of all in
the wide world—the one Bhe clings to,
though she must leave father, mother,
brothers and sisters, and many loving
friends for his sake, and perhaps en-
dure hardships never before thought of
—what harm will it do if he sometimes
gives her propar meed of praise? A
married woman loves the attentions of
her husband just as well as the young
lady does her lover; and if she is a true
wife she certainly is just aB deserving
of it. And if all wives received this
kindly sympathy, which is truly their
right, there would be fewer sorrowing
hearts and sad faces in the world than
there are now.
A painter of the “impressionist’.’
school is now confined in a lunatic asy
lum, according to the Pathfinder.
“Look here ; this is the latest master
piece of my composition.” They look
and see nothing but an expanse of bare
canvas. They ask, “What does that
represent?”
“That? Why, that represents the
passage of the Jews through the Red
Sea.”
"Beg pardon, but where is the sea?”
“It has been driven back.”
“And where are the Jews?”
“They have crossed over.”
“And the Egyptians?”
"Will be here soon. That’s the sort
of paintings I like; simple, suggestive
and unpretentious.”
The foundation of all good farming is
the upbuilding of the soil. The man
who makea his land poorer is a poor
farmer, no matter what else he may
be doing; and our whole system of
farming haa been a soil-robbing syBtem.
It is time for a change. True, the
change is being made, but much more
slowly than it should be. Naturally,
such change can only be made by indi
viduals, and until the number of individ
ual farmers who farm for the future
exceeds the number of those who think
not of their land, but only of what they
can get out of it, we shall be on the
wrong track.—The Progressive Farmer.
There are some old men and women
whose souls have ripened and Bweeten-
ed, even under chilling winds of adver
sity. Those whom they loved have been
taken from them; that which they most
ardently desired has been denied them;
that which they would not have chosen
has been laid upon them, and out of it
all they have extracted sweetness, pa
tience and Btrength. These qualities
draw toward them the weak and sorrow
ful, whom they send away with some
thing of that refreshment which the
ailing mast have felt who followed Christ
when he laid Hiahand upon them.
Two women, during a friendly meet
ing on the street, got to quarreling
about their ages, and used very strong
anguage toward each other. At last,
'as|if to end the dispute, one of them
turned away, and said, in a very con
ciliatory tone of voice; “Let us not
quarrel over the matter any more. I,
at least, have not the heart to do it. I
never knew who my mother was; she
deserted me when a baby, and who
knows but that you may have been the
beartleaa parent!"
NICHE IN THE COURT OF THE FOUR SEASONS. PAN
AMA-PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION.
E ACH of the four corners of tho Court of Four Hensons will be
adorned with groups of statuary symbolical of the seasons—
Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. The sculpture will be
set In niches screened by colonnades nnd mural paintings, also
suggestive of the seasons, will form the background for the setting.
The Court of Four Seasons will he 340 feet square. Mr. Jules Guerin,
tho noted artist, has charge of tho color pluD. and tho designer of the
court is Mr. Henry Bacon of New York.
Sold Hogs by Telephone
A South Carolina farmer had a large number
of hogs which were ready to kill. Tne weather
was so warm that killing was out of the question.
He went to his telephone,.called a dealer in
Columbia over Long Distance and sold his hogs
at a good price. He then called the local freight
office and arranged for shipment.
The telephone is now a neceisity on the farm.
You can have one on your farm at small cost.
See the nearest Bell Telephone Manager or
•end a postal for our free booklet.
FARMERS' LINE DEPARTMENT
SOUTHERN BELL TELEPHONE
AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY
57 S. Pryor St., Atlanta, Ga.