[THE RUSSIAN IDEA.]
FROM THE GERMAN OF CONRAD VON BOLANDEN.
“We must obey the emperor rather than God.”
I.
A GOOD MOTHER.
The Baroness Olga von Sempach was respected, wealthy, benevolent, and therefore loved by the poor. When, in the summer, she visited her estates in Posen, to breathe for some months the healthy country air, the poor of that place would exclaim: “Our mother has come again!”
The baroness had, however, seemed lately to be greatly depressed, and her sad countenance had excited the sympathy of every one.
“Our mother is sick,” said the poor. “Her face is pale, and her kind eyes look as though she wept often. We will pray for our benefactress, that God may preserve her to us.”
And in the hours of want and suffering, many hands were raised in supplication to heaven for their mother Olga; but the eyes of the noble lady continued to be dim with weeping, and her sorrow seemed to increase daily.