A PLEASANT STORY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 5, 6 January 1879, Page 4

A PLEASANT STORY.

Among the many picturesque traditions of the Russian army, there is a striking instance of the force of habit, the subject of which was a Russian officer who served at Sebastopol during the Crimean war. As soon as General Todleben's defensive works were so for advanced as to render the city proof against any immediate assault, the officer in question was sent to announce the good news to the Czar. After travelling night and day over the steppes for more than a week, he at length reached Moscow, where Nicholas then was, so utterly worn out that he had barely time to place the despatch in the Emperor's hand when, overcome with weariness, he leaned back against the wall, and fell fast asleep where he stood. The Czar, having read the dispatch, looked up to ask some question of the messenger, and at last perceived that the latter was in no position to reply. He spoke to him, touched him, even shook him, all to no purpose. At length he bent down close to the sleeper's ear and shouted at the full pitch of his voice, " Vashe blagarodie loshadi gotovi" (Your honor, the horses are ready). The sound of the words which had been constantly in his ears for the last ten days and nights, acted like magic upon the sleeping messenger. He sprang to his feet at once, and was overwhelmed with confusion on discovering where he was ; but the Czar laughed good-humouredly, and dismissed him with a high compliment on his promptitude.