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Batyushha.*
[These, lines, which appeared- in
"Harper's Magazine" some years ago, appear
to have a peculiar appropriateness
now, in view of the hideous massacre at
Lena, the horrors of Persia, the bjrutaj:$erttence
on Miss Malccka, and the "Blood
Accusation," to which reference has already
been made.]
From yonder gilded minaret,
Beside the steel-blue Neva set,
I faintly catch, from time to time,
The sweet, aerial midnight chime—
"God save the Czar!"
Above the ravelins and the moats
Of the grim citadel it floats;
And men in dungeons far beneath
Listen, and pray, and gnash their teeth—
"God save the Czar!"
The soft reiterations sweep
Across the horror of their sleep.
As if some demon in his glee
Were mocking at their misery—
"God save the Czar!"
In his Red Palace over there,
Wakeful, he needs must hear the prayer.
How can it drown the broken crics
Wrung from his children's agonies ?—
"God save the Czar!"
Father they callcd him from of old—
Batvushka! How his heart is cold!
Wait till a million scourged men
Rise in their awful night, and then—
God save the Czar!
. Thomas fiailey Aid rich.
•"Little Father," or "Dear little Father,"
a term of endearment applied to the Czar in
Russian folk song.
—Exchange.
$