was danger; but the papas (priests) would
not allow any precautions to be taken, and
the bank giving way, buried them as they
worked, without an attempt being made
to save them. Nine other nuns died by the
falling of a wall they were building. The
mother herself escaped, only by the fortunate
accident of exchanging her own labour (she was
up on the scaffolding with the rest) for the
harder task of a sister, named Rosalie Medumecka,
who was carrying gravel. Rosalie called
out, '' My mother, I can do no more! " and the
mother descended to relieve her, the sister
taking her place on the scaffolding. In a few
minutes a fearful crash, a cloud of dust, a
piercing cry, and a moaning prayer, startled
her from her labour; the wall had given way,
and the nine sisters were crushed beneath the
ruins. When she recovered from the faintness
into which this terrible sight threw her,
she was scourged, and driven to her work
again.

One morning, a Russian verse was found
written on the walls:

             Here, instead of a monastery,
             Are Siberia and the Galleys.

The Basilian nuns were accused of having
written this, and were flogged so brutally
that two died: one that same evening, and
the other the next morning. On this occasion
word was again sent to Siemaszko, telling
him that, terrified at their losses, they were
prepared to recant. He arrived at Polosk
in the autumn of eighteen hundred and
forty-one, to receive the same answer
of firm and vehement denial, the Abbess
Makrena passionately reproaching him with
being "apostate, traitor to the Church and to
Jesus Christ! " It was on this occasion that
he read to them the ukase signed by the
Emperor, which "approved, confirmed, and
found holy, holy, thrice holy, all that
Siemaszko had done, and that he may do for
the propagation of the orthodox faith,
commanding that no person dare to resist him in
anything, and commanding also that in cases
of resistance the military be placed under his
orders on his simple demand."  It was on this
occasion also that he broke the upper cartilage
of the mother's nose, and that he flogged the
sisterhood as he had threatened, " till he had
taken off three skins, one that they had
received from God, and two from the Emperor,
that is to say those that will come after;"
when he affirmed they would be less obstinate,
and would repent. After this scourging,
another nun, Baselisse Holynska, died, like so
many others before her. But Siemaszko had
not yet scourged them into pliability; and
still they resisted him and stood firm.

In eighteen hundred and forty-two, they
were again flogged twice a week, fifty blows
each time; and again three nuns died from the
torture: one died during punishment, and the
twenty blows that remained of her number
were struck on her corpse; one died two
hours after; and the third lingered in great
agony till night, when she expired in
her mother's arms, pressing the crucifix to
her bleeding lips, and murmuring, " I love
thee with all my heart! " as she died. After
they had been scourged thus six times, the
Russian General and his wife interfered.
They came to the place as the executioners
were about to begin, and the General
commanded him to desist, telling him that he
should be hung. " The Emperor," he said to
their proto-papa Wierowkin, "has no
knowledge of the horrible torments you inflict on
your victims; and when he learns that I have
hung thee, he may think, perhaps, ' The good
old man has lost his senses;' but you will be
hanged none the less for it." He did not
know that all this was done under the express
permission of the Emperor, and with his
knowledge. But Siemaszko returned, and by
virtue of the ukase inflicted fresh cruelties
on them; all the more bitter because of the
temporary cessation. One evening they
were brought home from work sooner
than usual. As they entered their prison
they were surrounded by a crowd of ferocious
men, whom drink, and rage, and
cruelty, and viler passions still, had
transformed into worse than wild beasts.
The nuns defended themselves—effectually,
though the place swam with blood, and the
barbarities used that fearful night were such
as make one tremble. Two nuns were
trampled to death, their countenances so
disfigured by blows and the iron heels of the
men's boots as to render them scarcely
recognisable as human beings. One nun died
from a bite in her shoulder, coupled with
other wounds, and one had her nose bitten off;
eight lost their sight, and the mother's
head was laid open, her side gashed with
a knife, and three wounds inflicted on her
arms. It was one prostrate mass of blood
and agony that those drunken fiends left
groaning on the floor of their prison.
During the night, a sister, Scholastica Rento,
died: Wierowkin and the Czermicks saying,
"See how God punishes you for your
obstinacy!"

Some months after this, a new punishment
was devised. The remaining sisters were shut
up for six days, and given only salted herrings
to eat, without a drop of water or any other
kind of food. This was one of 'the most
painful tortures they had undergone, and
made many of them fear for their reason.
In the spring of the year eighteen
hundred and forty-three their place of
residence was again changed. Between soldiers
with fixed bayonets they were marched
off to Miadzioly. Here again they were
placed with the Black Nuns, in a convent
formerly belonging to the Carmelites, and
here it was that the infamous murder and
torture of the baths took place. The nuns,
excepting those eight who were blind, were
put into a kind of sack, with both arms thrust