The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette from Fort Wayne, Indiana • Page 8A

tttE FORT WAYNE JOUKNAtCAZETTE. QiKSO fern Smlrnova, Now the Drtdc of CoL Agafonoff, Dressed Just She Was WTien First Ite Met Her. 6JL WsEStl Jvtt air, TcSyillflLiwN LibIbIbIbIHiibIbIbIbIbIbIbIbIbIbIbIbIbIB Love Quest That Triumphed Through a Song How a Six Years' Search for the Beautiful Girl Who Disappeared After Singing at the Czar's Petrograd Palace Has Been Rewarded hy a Very Unexpected Reunion in New York. MANY ptychologiet reeogniie tk value of mtisie fit tht treatment of unhappy and mentally depred people It toothing and ben fetal influence in arousing tk tmeUon tym pathy love, ambttwn and appreciation ktld to of prim importance Therefore, tchen CoL Alexander A Agafonoff a Russian aristocrat, lonely and unhappy be moaning tk plight of ki native country heard a voice wt Nv York, tk voice of a countrywoman for whom had long tougkt, it it not ttrang that took hold of him, affecting htm a nothing had don in all kit miserable day ime flitk Red Terror that was tyoeeping ever ntse loved Jlueeia, And immediately lov cored triumph in a very unueual romance tchich began in a very mnlZ way in Dura and culminated tht United State CoL Agafonoff heard tk voice at a charity entertainment arranged by tk Ruteian Relief Committee for tk benefit of refugee toko seers her tntkout fund Tk latt tune had heard that vote far off Ruttia jutt before tk outbreak of tk war MEN have been known to fall in lor with voice, especially if the linger was young and beautiful. In thia case the sinter waa all of this.

Moreover (he waa dressed as a gypsy and ahe sang the songs of the gypsies. And then, Just about the time that CoL Agafonoff realised that he had fallen in lore, he lost track of the singer She disappeared and he went to war at the head of his regiment. And now that the war is over and he has found her again, quits by accident, it would seem, the romance has been renewed. The gypsy singer has become the gypsy bride of the Russian soldier and he has rowed never to loss sight of her again. But to get back to the beginning Before the war Vera Smlrnova, the daughter of a wealthy Russian merchant, was sent to Petro grad to study voice culture at the St Petersburg Conservatory, She was destined for the operatic stage and frequently was summoned to the Czar a palace to sing before the royal family In this way she became personally acquainted with the presiding evil genius of the Cxar household, the Russian monk, Rasputin.

"He was a wonderful dancer," she explained. I attended parties where he waa the life of the assemblage But for this acquaintance I suffered when the Bolshevik! came into power I was a suspect Fled Across Siberia to Japan ''They watched me and Anally one of my good friends, a relative of the Csar, wrote to me that (warning had reached him making it imperative for me to leave Russia if I valued my life It was only a matter of hours, he said before I would be arrested and shot "I fled at once travel ng in disguise across Siberia until I reached the coast I lived in Japan for a while. Then I decided to come to America But here I found great difficulties, I did not apeak the language very well and I was robbed of my jewels and soon all my money Is spent In the mean time CoL Agafonoff, who had heard the young woman sing at the Ciar palace nd bad fallen in love with her voice without knowing who ahe was. had been one of the first if Ml officers to be sent to the ront That was in 1914 uca ne rvvurucq rvtrugrsa mooins jaier, By HELEN H. HOFFMAN determined to And out who the beautiful ainger was she had disappeared.

The fortunes of war which overthrew the Ciar government also, made a refugee of Col Agafonoff In company with many others belong inig to the Russian aristocracy he made his way to England and thence to this country Fortune favored him in New York and soon he was In a position to be of service to many of hleunfor tunato fellow countrymen and women who found themselves face to face with unaccustomed straits. From time to time the Russian officer casual ly mentioned the young singer whom be had heard singing for the Ciar in Petrograd. He wondered if anybody had ever heard what became of her Nobody soemed able to tell him. One or two had heard that she had been suspected by the Bolshevists and that she had fled before they could ar rest her An Interrupted Song And that was about aa far as CoL Agsfonoffs search led him until the night of the charity enter talnment in New York. Be attended as a matter of course doing what he could to maka the affair a social as well as a financial success.

He was standing In the hall Just outside the music room where a program of vocal and instru. mental selections was being rendered, when he heard the opening bars ef a little Russian love song which he knew quite welL The last time he had heard that song was In Petrograd and at the Csar palace and the singer on that occasion was Vera Smirnova, the young woman who, all un knoen to her, occupied a specially reserved eor ncr in hla heart Then the singer In the nest room began her song and CoL Agafonoff could hardly believe his ears when be hesrd the voice of Hiss Smlrnova He advanced to the door of the music room and looked in She was there, sure enough) riot dressed in the brilliantly hued garb of a gypsy, but In a becoming evening dress, and she looked very charming Caring little at that moment for the feelings of the audience, he spoke her name and she stopped singing right in the middle of a bsr Evl dently she remembered the handsome Russian of fleer to whom sha had been introduced in the CoL Alexander A. Agafonoff. Czars palace. It was a question which of ths two seemed most delighted to meet the other again The Indulgent audience among whom reunions of old refugee friends are nothing new, waited until the army officer had expressed his delight at again meeting Miss Smlrnova.

Then he sat down and the singer began her song all over again That happened several weeks ago. Much has happened since. CoL Agafonoff took care not to let any revolutions, wars, battles or other outside matters inter fere with the course of true love And now they are married "Very soon" said CoL Aga fonoff, "my wife and I hope to be able to return to Russia Then we shall be perfectly happy "Col Agafonoff was about ths last person on earth I expected to meet in New York," said the Russian girL "When I met him in Petrograd he was a very stlnguished army officer In the ser vice of the Csar, while I was only an obscure student at the conservatory And I never dreamed that he had given aa much aa a second thought to me after that first meeting "bid I think about hunt WelL perhaps I did I knew he had gone to the front as soon as tic war broke out and I feared that he had shsred the fate of so many other brsvs Russians who gave their lives for their country "But I knew him the moiUaint he entered the music room where I wss singing for the Rus stan refugees' benefit Perhaps, too, I waa think ffip "She was e'nough; not dressed in the brilliantly hued garb of a srypsy, but in a becoming evening dress, and she looked very charming tag about him at the very moment I started to sing because by a peculiar coincident, the selection I had chosen wss one of the gypsy songs I had sung for the Csar the day Col Agafonoff and I first met "And then it seemed the most natural thing in the world to see him walk ght into the room where the concert was being given. Of course I stopped singing at once I couldnt help it unexpected appearance took my breath away for theAnoraent and all I could do waa gasp Everybody was so considerate however, that I was able to go on aa soon as Col Agafonoff had greeted me and taken his seat "And somehow or other believe that I Bang that old gypsy song that night better than I ever sang it before Odd Facts About the World's Many Kinds of Cats "I love little Pussy her coat la so warm. And if I dont pull her tall ahe wiU do me no harm" HOW familiar to at least three generations, this old nursery jingle has been.

Inciting love for puss and putting over" propaganda for the A S. A on unsuspecting outh at the same time. Among our English cousins who live on the Isle of Man the old rhyme is for the good and sufficient reason that their cats have no tails to pulL Just why nature discriminated against puss In this way, placing a topknot of hair at the end of the backbone instead of the usual snaky, waving appendage, seems to be shrouded In mystery Of course, there are a few cats with tails on the Island, generally Imported from England or Scotland, but the tailless Manx cats are most in evidence. In northern Russia and In Japan there are a few of the tailless cats which, 1 ke the Manx variety, have hindquarters higher thaa the forequarters The royal cat of Slam has a long thin tail, and in aome Instances it has a kink in it like the ta 1 of a prise bulldog, these famous and beautl rata are white when born and change gradu ally as they grow to a silky chocolate color, the coat shading to a cream tan under the belly, black face, legs and tall and big blue eyes. Be tag semi albinos they are rather delicate and hard to raise They are first i cousins to the Hm restate Trim.

IMS. Malay kink tailed cats which seem of a hardier race There la a hairless cat of Mexico descendant of a famous Artec breed, which Is almost ex tinct, but they are strange enough in appear ante to be Interesting if a trifle repulsive. The common domestic cat of Paraguay has a ahlny coat, indefinite in color, of abort hair laying flat to the body, like that of a dog The cats weigh but three pounds and a strangely elongated body India boasts a spotted cat of unusual appear ance. Domestic cats of Abyssinia have long pointed very hairy ears, one special variety being called the bunny" cat because it is marked exactly like a hare. Cats have been known In India for over 2000 years though the domestics tion of cats from wild ancestors originated In Egypt, where they were worshipped as emblems of the sun because "their eyes change with the suns course and also each month change with the moon." When a favorite cat died In an Egyptian home its owners always shaved their own eyebrows by wsy of appropriate mourning From Egypt the cat evidently entered Greece a fact proven beyond doubt by a won derful cat fresco found in the ruins of Pompeii Cat killers in Wales Switzerland and Saxony were punished in old times, the penalty in Wales being the payment of enough wheat to cover the body of the cat when it was held up by the tail, its nose touching the ground Among less civilised people cats are highly respected for being self supporting and always bringing home their prey In some localities they are trained to catch birds the sale of which is a source of Income to the owner of the cat White cats with blue eyes are very apt to be deaf, and in some cases the eyes are not bcth the same color It is said that in China there la a cat with pendant ears, and in South America a breed that is voiceless unable to wail but it Is difficult to find authentic proof as to the existence of either variety Most pecul ar in appearance ie the mombas cat of Africa.

This animal has short stiff brush like hair and orange colored eyes and is highly prised by the nativea The eeven toed Maltese cats with blue eyes are considered the finest ol thst breed. There are three shades of the tor toise shell cats the Species having black and nut brown coloring with green eyes Is held to be the most rare. The orange Persian cat Is con sidered the most beautiful, though the black white and blue phases of the breed are oftenest exhibited. The Angora haa the finest hair of the long haired cata and ia a beautiful beast though the Persian seems more popular The coon cat of Maine has fine hair, almost aa long as that of an Angora; It Is only one genera ation removed from Its wild ancestors, and though domesticated it is in no sense a lap tabby It ia very Intelligent and can be taught tricks and to follow its master 1 ke a dog The red tortoise shell cats are the suffragists of catdom, for there seems a great preponder ance of females) in fact, a male of thia breed Is rsrely to be found The ordinary life of a cat ranges from 12 to 11 years during eight of these years the female is a breeder averaging four litters a year It is an untruth to believe that to be a good mouaer a cat must be hungry A well fed cat will do twice the service In this line as mousing Is the animal a sport and not the satisfaction of hunger jsnsssasSSSjBsawaaaiaBBBBBBBBEaiBn rs nULl I Jtt. j( JlV II i axs rp rj t.i i HaaaawesaeaawMaaa a lii ii ti i.mkw Uijawiai.