The Ladies' Garland

THE UNCALLED AVENGER.

An authentic anecdote, related by M. Oldcup, of St. Petersburg:

The return of the victorious Russian army,
which had conquered Finland under command
of General Buxhovden, was attended with a cir-
cumstance which, it is true, has at all times been
usual in the train of large armies, but which na-
turally took place to a much greater extent in
these high northern latitudes, where the hand
of man has so imperfectly subdued the original
savageness of the soil. Whole droves of famish-
ed bears and wolves followed the troops on their
return to the south, to feed on the chance prey
afforded by the carcasses of the artillery and
baggage horses that often dropped on the
road. In consequence of this, the province of
Esthona, to which several regiments directed
their march, was so overrun with these animals,
as greatly to endanger the safety of travellers.
Hence in a single circle of the government, no
less than forty persons of different ages were
enumerated, who had been devoured during the
winter by these ravenous beasts. It became
hazardous to venture alone and unarmed into
the uninhabited parts of the country; neverthe-
less an Esthonian country-woman boldly under-
took a journey to a distant relation, not only
without any male companion, but with three
children, the youngest of which was still at the
breast. A light sledge drawn by one horse re-
ceived the little party; the way was narrow,
but well beaten, the snow on each side deep and
impassable, and to turn back, without danger of
sticking fast, was not to be thought of.

The first half of the journey was passed with-
out accident. The road now ran along the skirts
of a pine forest, when the traveller suddenly
perceived a suspicious noise behind her. Cast-
ing back a look of alarm, she saw a troop of
wolves trotting along the road, the number of
which her fears hindered her from estimating.
To escape by flight is her first thought; and
with unsparing whip she urges into a gallop the
horse, which itself shuns the danger. Soon a
couple of the strongest and most hungry of the
beasts appear at her side, and seem disposed to
stop the way. Though their intention seems to
be only to attack the horse, yet the safety both
of the mother and the children depends on the
preservation of the animal. The danger raises
its value; it seems entitled to claim its preser-
vation at an extraordinary sacrifice. As the
mariner throws overboard his richest treasures
to appease the raging waves, so here has neces-
sity reached a height at which the emotions of
the heart are dumb before the dark commands
of instinct; the latter alone suffers the unhappy
woman to act in this distress. She seizes her
second child, whose bodily infirmities have of-
ten made it an object of anxious care, whose
cry even now offends her ear and threatens to
whet the appetite of the blood-thirsty monsters.
she seizes it with an involuntary motion, and be-
fore the mother is conscious of what she is do-
ing, it is cast out, and--enough of the horrid
tale! The last cry of the victim still sounded
in her ear, when she discovered her troop, which
had remained some minutes behind, again close-
ly pressing on the sledge. The anguish of her
soul increases, for again the murder-breathing
forms are at her side. Pressing the infant to
her heaving bosom, she casts a look on her four-
year-old, who crowds closer and closer to
her knee: "But, dear mother, I am good, am
not I? You will not throw me into the snows
like the baby?" "And yet! and yet!" cried
the wretched woman, in the wild tumult of de-
spair--"Thou art good, but (God is merciful!)
Away!" The dreadful deed was done. To
escape the furies that raged within her, the wo-
man exerted herself, with powerful lash, to ac-
celerate the gallop of the exhausted horse. With
the thick and gloomy forest before and be-
hind her, and the nearer trampling of her rav-
enous pursuers, she almost sinks under her anguish;
only the recollection of the infant that she holds
in her arms--only the desire to save it, occupies
her heart, and with difficulty enables it to bear
up. She did not venture to look around: For--
All at once, two rough paws are laid on her
shoulders, and the wide open bloody jaws of an
enormous wolf hung over her head. It is the
most ravenous beast of the troop, which having
partly missed in its leap, or dragged along with it, in turn seeking with its hind legs for a resting place, unable to stand wholly on the traces. The weight of the body of the monster draws the woman backward-- her arms round with the chain: half torn off her. Half aiming it to the-- the cry of the-- not to win-- curl-- just-- them, am content, my-- ignorant whether her deeds surprise a man in cruel torn-- her. I wish a sill rolled-- a parasol at moderate distance. The hare, it to it-- all. lolls-- the-- now with it: it breaks through in open gate. Giant; foaming it stands still:-- and around a circle of persons who crowd round to see the good natured surprise, the unhappy woman recovers from her stupefaction, to throw herself with a loud scream of anguish and horror into the arms of the nearest human being, who appears to her a guardian angel. All leave their work; the mistress of the house the kitchen, the thresher the barn, the eldest son of the family, with his axe in his hand, the wood which he has just cleft-- to assist the unfortunate woman: and with a mixture of curiosity and pity, to hear, by a hundred inquiries, the circumstances of her singular appearance. Refreshed by whatever can be procured at the moment, the stranger gradually recovers the power of speech and ability to give an intelligible account of the dreadful trial which she had undergone.
The insensibility with which fear and distress had steeled her heart, begins to disappear: but new terrors seize her; the dry eye seeks in vain a tear; she is on the brink of boundless ni-- erv. But her narrative had also excited conflicting feelings in the bosoms of her auditors: tho pity, commiseration, dismay, and abhorrence, imposed alike on all the same involuntary si-- lence. One only, unable to command the over-- powering emotions of his heart, advanced be-- fore the rest-- it was the young man with the axe: his cheeks were pale with affright-- his wildly rolling eyes flashed ill omened fire. -- What!" he exclaimed, " three children-- thy own children ! the sickly innocent, the deploring boy, the infant suckling. all cast out by the mo-- ther to be devoured by the wolves!-- Woman, thou art unworthy to live!" And at the same instant, the uplifted steel descended with resist-- less force on the skull of the wretched woman, who falls dead at his feet. The perpetrator then calmly wipes the blood off the murderous axe and returns to his work.
'The dreadful tale speedily came to the know-- ledge of the magistrates. who caused the un-- culled avenger to be arrested and brought to trial He was of course sentenced to the pun-- ishment ordained by the law, but the sentence still wanted the sanction of the Emperor. Alex-- ander, the splendor of whose virtues is only rendered more conspicuous by the throne, caus-- and all the circumstances of this crime, so extra-- ordinarily in the motives in which it originated. to be reported to him in the most awful and de-- tailed manner. Here, or no where, he thought himself called on to exercise the godlike privi-- lege of mercy, by commuting the sentence pass-- ed on the criminal into a condemnation to la-- bour not very severe : and he accordingly sent the young man to the fortress of Dunamunde. at the mouth of the Duna, in the Gulf of Riga. there to be confined to labour during his maies-- t-- pleasure