Catharines Peril, or The Little Russian Girl Lost in a Forest

Catharine's Peril, or The Little
Russian
by M. E. Bewsher

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Title: Catharine's Peril, or The Little Russian Girl Lost in a Forest And
Other Stories
Author: M. E. Bewsher
Release Date: April 25, 2007 [EBook #21216]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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[Illustration]

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.
[Illustration]

CONTENTS.
PAGE

CATHARINE'S PERIL; OR, THE LITTLE RUSSIAN GIRL LOST IN
A FOREST 5
THE SHABBY SURTOUT 27
JANE HILL 45
[Illustration]

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