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CATHARINE'S PERIL;
OR,
The Little Russian Girl Lost in a Forest.
_A TALE FOUNDED ON FACT._
BY MRS. M. E. BEWSHER,
_Author of 'The Little Ballet-Girl,' 'The Gipsy's Secret,' etc. etc._
AND OTHER STORIES.
Seventh Thousand.
EDINBURGH:
OLIPHANT, ANDERSON, & FERRIER
(LATE WILLIAM OLIPHANT & CO.).
1881.
_MORRISON AND GIBB, EDINBURGH_,
PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE.
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CONTENTS.
PAGE
CATHARINE'S PERIL; OR, THE LITTLE RUSSIAN GIRL LOST IN A FOREST 5
THE SHABBY SURTOUT 27
JANE HILL 45
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CATHARINE'S PERIL;
OR,
THE LITTLE RUSSIAN GIRL LOST IN A FOREST.
CHAPTER I.
In the year 1812, Napoleon Buonaparte, after conquering nearly the whole
of Europe, invaded Russia, and led his victorious army to Moscow, the
ancient capital of that country. Soon this city, with its winding
streets, its hills, its splendid churches, its fine houses and cottages
so mixed together, its corn-fields, woods, and gardens, as well as the
Kremlin, consisting of several churches, palaces, and halls collected on
the top of a hill and surrounded by walls, fell into the power of the
French.
Rostopchin, the Governor, impelled by bigoted patriotism, resolved to
set fire to the city confided to him by his imperial master Alexander,
the Czar of all the Russias.
It was truly a heart-rending sight to witness the misfortunes of the
inhabitants, forced to quit their homes to escape a horrible death.
The provisions stored in the granaries and other places were consumed in
the flames.
The conflagration lasted about ten days, until almost the whole of
Moscow was laid in ashes. The main body of the Russian army had retired
towards Tula, and taken up a strong position on the road leading towards
that town, in order to prevent the French from advancing into the
interior of the country. Thus they were hemming them in on all sides,
only leaving them the choice of being starved or burned, or returning by
the way they had come, and wintering in Poland. This latter expedient
might have saved the army had it been adopted in time.
The terrible Cossacks, first-rate riders, with lances ten feet long, and
a musket slung over their right shoulder, were swarming around
everywhere, and annoying the French outposts, cutting off the foraging
parties, and hindering them in their attempt to penetrate into the south
of Russia, where they would have found plenty of provisions for the
winter.
Winter was fast coming on--a Russian winter, in all its bitter severity.
The snow began to fall, the rivers to freeze, and crows and other birds
died by hundreds.
God had sent His frost, and of the 400,000 enemies who had entered
Russia, but very few lived to behold again their native land.
Amid the confusion and panic that prevailed in the burning city,
Catharine Somoff, the little daughter of a Russian merchant, had been
separated from her relations and friends, and to her dismay found
herself alone in the crowd.
The weather was intensely cold. Forsaken and half frozen, the child
wandered up and down, not knowing where to find shelter. Both her
parents had mysteriously disappeared, and it seemed as if no one would
claim her. So passed the long hours of the night; and at the dawn of
day, Catharine, worn out by fatigue, cold, and hunger, fell down in
front of a church which the flames had not yet reached, hoping to go to
sleep.
Sleep soon comes to childhood; and, without doubt, this poor child,
exposed to such a temperature, would never have unclosed her eyes any
more in this world, had not a sutler's wife providentially come to fix
up her little provision market near this church, and, noticing the
lonely one, felt womanly compassion for the desolate, unprotected
Catharine. This humane French-woman took all possible care of
her--indeed, treated her as her own child, and by degrees the young
Muscovite, thus rescued from an untimely death, grew to love her
protectress with all the strength of her affectionate nature.
Meantime the French army had commenced its retreat, and the sutler's
wife had to leave Moscow.
Were M. Somoff and his wife alive, or had they perished, like numbers of
their fellow-countrymen, by famine or by fire, or amid the numerous
ills of a captured city? This was a problem not to be solved for many
long years. Nothing could be heard of them, so Catharine left her native
place with her kind friend and protectress, the sutler's wife.
The snow was very deep, and every puff of wind increased the
inconvenience of travelling; in some parts the snow-drifts were so bad
that the poor horses sank into them till nothing but their heads was to
be seen. The days were short, and the fugitives made but little
progress, although they were often obliged to march during the night. It
was owing to this that so many unhappy creatures wandered from their
regiments. The weather was unusually cold. Even those who were fortunate
enough to have on a complete dress of coarse cloth lined with
sheep-skin, the wool left on and worn next the body, and over all a
large cloth _shubb_ lined with wolf-skin, the fur inside, and a warm
lamb-skin cap, their feet encased in boots lined with fur, found their
sufferings very great. What must it have been for those unfortunates who
had but tattered pelisses and sheep-skins half burnt?--how fared they?
They were perishing from exposure, hunger, and cold. Wretched men were
seen fighting over a morsel of dry bread, or bitterly disputing with
each other for a little straw, or a piece of horse-flesh, which they
were attempting to divide.
It is difficult to imagine what the tenderly-nurtured Catharine Somoff
had to undergo in this perilous journey. The hills and forests around
presented only some white, indistinct masses, scarcely visible through
the thick fog. At a short distance before them lay the fatal river the
Beresina, the scene of untold horrors, which, now half-frozen, forced
its way through the ice that impeded its progress. The two bridges were
so completely choked up by the crowds of people, horsemen,
foot-soldiers, and fugitives, that they broke down. Then began a
frightful scene, for the bodies of dead and dying men and horses so
encumbered the way, that many poor fellows, struggling with the agonies
of death, caught hold of those who mounted over them; but these kicked
them with violence to disengage themselves, treading them under foot.
Thousands of victims fell into the waves and were drowned.
The reader will not be surprised to hear that at this awful time the
little Catharine was separated from her protectress, who was probably
drowned or killed, or else imagined the child to be engulfed in the
waters of the fatal river. At all events, the Russian child and the
sutler's wife never met again in this world.
'There is a power
Unseen, that rules th' illimitable world--
That guides its motions, from the brightest star
To the least dust of this sin-tainted mould;
While man, who madly deems himself the lord
Of all, is nought but weakness and dependence.
This sacred truth, by sure experience taught,
Thou must have learnt, when, wandering all alone,
Each bird, each insect, flitting through the sky,
Was more sufficient for itself than thou.'
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