



Produced by Hanh Vu and Douglas Levy





MARIE

A Story of Russian Love

By Alexander Pushkin


Translated by Marie H. de Zielinska




CONTENTS.

         I. THE SERGEANT OF THE GUARDS.
        II. THE GUIDE.
       III. THE FORTRESS.
        IV. THE DUEL.
         V. LOVE.
        VI. POUGATCHEFF.
       VII. THE ASSAULT.
      VIII. THE UNEXPECTED VISIT.
        IX. THE SEPARATION.
         X. THE SIEGE.
        XI. THE REBEL CAMP.
       XII. MARIE.
      XIII. THE ARREST.
       XIV. THE SENTENCE.




TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.


Alexander Pushkin, the most distinguished poet of Russia, was born at
Saint Petersburg, 1799. When only twenty-one years of age he entered
the civil service in the department of foreign affairs. Lord Byron's
writings and efforts for Greek independence exercised great influence
over Pushkin, whose "Ode to Liberty" cost him his freedom. He was exiled
to Bessarabia [A region of Moldova and western Ukraine] from 1820 to
1825, whence he returned at the accession of the new emperor, Nicholas,
who made him historiographer of Peter the Great. Pushkin's friends
now looked upon him as a traitor to the cause of liberty. It is not
improbable that an enforced residence at the mouth of the Danube
somewhat cooled his patriotic enthusiasm. Every Autumn, his favorite
season for literary production, he usually passed at his country seat
in the province Pekoff. Here from 1825 to 1829 he published "Pultowa,"
"Boris Godunoff," "Eugene Onegin," and "Ruslaw and Ludmila," a tale
in verse, after the Manner of Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso." This is
considered as the first great poetical work in the Russian language,
though the critics of the day attacked it, because it was beyond their
grasp; but the public devoured it.

In 1831 Pushkin married, and soon after appeared his charming novel,
"Marie," a picture of garrison life on the Russian plains. Peter and
Marie of this Northern story are as pure as their native snows, and
whilst listening to the recital, we inhale the odor of the steppe, and
catch glimpses of the semi-barbarous Kalmouk and the Cossack of the Don.

A duel with his brother-in-law terminated the life of Pushkin in the
splendor of his talent. The emperor munificently endowed the poet's
family, and ordered a superb edition of all his works to be published at
the expense of the crown. His death was mourned by his countrymen as a
national calamity. M. H. de Z.

Chicago, Nov. 1, 1876.





MARIE.




I. THE SERGEANT OF THE GUARDS.


My father, Andrew Peter Grineff, having served in his youth under Count
Munich, left the army in 17--, with the grade of First Major. From that
time he lived on his estate in the Principality of Simbirsk, where he
married Avoditia, daughter of a poor noble in the neighborhood. Of
nine children, the issue of this marriage, I was the only survivor. My
brothers and sisters died in childhood.

Through the favor of a near relative of ours, Prince B---, himself
a Major in the Guards, I was enrolled Sergeant of the Guards in the
regiment of Semenofski. It was understood that I was on furlough till my
education should be finished. From my fifth year I was confided to the
care of an old servant Saveliitch, whose steadiness promoted him to the
rank of my personal attendant. Thanks to his care, when I was twelve
years of age I knew how to read and write, and could make a correct
estimate of the points of a hunting dog.

At this time, to complete my education, my father engaged upon a salary
a Frenchman, M. Beaupre, who was brought from Moscow with one year's
provision of wine and oil from Provence. His arrival of course
displeased Saveliitch.

Beaupre had been in his own country a valet, in Prussia a soldier, then
he came to Russia to be a tutor, not knowing very well what the word
meant in our language. He was a good fellow, astonishingly gay and
absent-minded. His chief foible was a passion for the fair sex. Nor was
he, to use his own expression, an enemy to the bottle--that is to say,
_a la Russe_, he loved