"Woe to me! Burning in hell's leaping fires Surely will soon be my soul! I took a pair of eggs once at a neighbor's-- Out from her hen--yes, I stole! "Once at the harvest at home I did linger-- Swore I was deadly sick,--when Taking my part in the drunken carousals Saturday night with the men! "Light was I ever with soldiers! Yet cursing God's name, when from me at last,-- My own son they took for a soldier! Even drank cream on a fast. "Woe to me sinner! Woe to me wretched one! Woe! My heart broken will be! Holy Madonna, have pity, have mercy! Into court go not with me!" NEKRASSOW. _The stoves of the peasants are built so that they can sleep on top of them in the extreme cold of Winter_. TO RUSSIA 'Neath a giant tent Of the heavens blue, Stretch the verdant Steppes; Range beyond the view. On the distant rim Lift the outlines proud, Of their mountain walls To the drifting cloud. Through the Steppes there rolls Stream on stream to sea, Wide meandering, Straying far and free. Do I Southward gaze-- Like the ocean there, Ripening fields of grain Wave and ripple fair. Softest velvet sod Decks the meadow floor, In the vineyards green Swells the grape once more. Do I Northward turn-- O'er the waste lands lone, Soft as eider down Are the snowflakes blown. And his azure waves High the ocean lifts, On his cold blue breast Now an iceberg drifts. And as leaping flame Burn the Northern lights, On the darkness gleam Through the silent nights. Even so art thou, Russian realm, become,-- Thou my native land, Shield of Christendom! Far away hast thou, Throughout lands untold, In thy glory fair, Russia, been enrolled! Art thou not in space E'en o'er well supplied? Where a spirit bold Freely wanders wide! Hast thou not alway Gold and grain rich stored? For thy friend a feast? For thy foe a sword? Guards and shields thee not With a sacred might, Holy altar forms, Deeds of glory bright? To whom hast thou e'er Bent an humble knee? Or before whom bowed Seeking charity? In the Kurgan deep, Met in open fight, Thou hast e'en subdued The fierce Tartar's might. Fought to bloody death The Lithuanian horde, The defiant Pole Scattered with a sword. And how long ago, Black clouds, rising out Of the distant West, Compassed thee about? 'Neath the lightning flash Sank the woods away, Trembled the earth's breast, Piercéd with dismay. And the inky smoke Ruinous did rise From the village burnt To the cloudy skies. Loudly to the fight Then the Tsar did call-- Russia swift replied, Coming one and all. Women, children came-- Men from age to youth, Gave their evil guest Bloody feast in truth! And in lonely fields Under ice and snow, To his endless sleep Laid the victim low. Where the snowstorms wild Raised o'er him a tomb, While the North wind sang Dirges in the gloom. Town and village too Over all our land, Now like ant hills swarm With this Christian band.