THROWING A FAMILY TO THE WOLVES.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2389, 12 November 1880, Page 3

THROWING A FAMILY TO THE WOLVES.

Self-preservation is said to be the first law of nature, yet there are circumstances in which this law should be infringed, and the safety of others take precedence of the longing to preserve one’s own life from the danger which threatens it. Ho one, for instance, can read, without a feeling of indignation, the subjoined incident, related by a llussian contemporary. A peasant residing near Moscow was travelling through a deserted part of the country in a conveyance containing himself, his wife, and four children, when the party were pursued by a flock of howling, famishing wolves. The peasant urged the horses along at full speed, but in spite of all, the wolves gained every minute on the travellers. A horrible death seemed imminent, when the father devised a plan for personally escaping the danger. He took his youngest child in his arms and deliberately throw it to the pursuers. This averted the danger for a brief time, but soon after the wolves were again following the carriage in search of fresh pro} 1- . Successively tiic other three children were thrown to them and devoured, which enabled the man and his wife to reach a neighboring village in safety. The poor mother, who had in vain implored her husband not to sacrifice in this barbarous fashion tbc lives of her little ones, denounced the unnatural parent to the authorities. The case has just been heard, and the father acquitted on the theory that he had the right to sacrifice his children since his own life was at stake. The law of his country may absolve him, but every parent will condemn him.