Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1892-05-03
RUSSIAN GRATITUDE.
WARN RlcrrTio> or riir SpIs>As

WARN RIcrrTio> of rIiE iSDIaNAs
CArrAis At IiBAu.
The steamship Indiana, which car
ried q cargo Of food Tor the starving
Russians, returned to Philadelphia last
week.
ut took "a. twenty-five days Ia gct Ia
ilbau." Captain sargent s,ii, "becau.e
~ rough weather. The wave. ran high
after th. flr-t week out, and on the tenth
DAY junior Engineer John A'kinson fell
on the deck during a heavy blow aud
broke hi. skull. u was the only melan'
choIy Incident of the trip. W, were
received az Iibau by Q dorm tugs. In
them wer. delegations of citifen. frou'
~. Petersburg. Moscow and Libau, the
mayor aud suite of I.ibau, ani news
paper reporters from half . hundred
papers.
"The latter boarded us fret, but he
csu.. they coaldnt speak English aud
w- could not speak Russian We couIi
not Civ. ihem the desired Interview.
They all ~orr full dress, although u VA.
10 o'clock In ih. morning, snd all the
citizens wore full drr.. or new uniforms.
They we're a msgnihlrnt body of men.
Consul General Crawford acted n in-
t.rpr.ter to those of the delegation Who
could not .Ieak' Engli.h, aud ". we're
hidden q cordial aud hearty welcome.
"we began Ia unload AZ oncr, using
lighter. belonging to an American hrm.
IL took four day. Ia dlschsrg- our cargo
to the railroad trains, which ran directly y
to the famine district, about s,0co mile.
la the Interior. During th.ss four DAY .
we ~.r- extended every po.-ibl. cour-
i..y that the citizens Of l.ibau could
think Of
Whenever any one from the ship,
whether be- was officer, sailoi or cabin
t.oy, vent Into the streets of iibau, be
wa. saIuted. I ws. on shore all Oh.
time, aud before twrnt y-four hours had
pa..e,i I b~gan to believe that WAS q
bigger man la the estimation of th. peo-
pl. than th. Crar.
eve we're rendered one banquet on
tosri the i.u..i,n warshlp stra.s, and
another In q pavilion on shore. Both
~erc authorized by Mayor AdolphI of
Iibau, With all IN. city officials, Count
ilrobin.ki, q state officer stationed NJ
i.ibau; Consul General Crawford, aud q
representative from 1t. Petersburg. On
the .treect. we we're bowed Ia until u
embarrassed us, and my first reception
la public I shall not 5000 forget"
.'It wasn't .o bad" sah th. captain.
II VA. kissed, that's all. ! suppose from
fret Ia last I VA. kissed q thousand
tIme.-perhap. mor-. IL would have
taken bell punch aud an expert book
keeper to keep count. The hr.t man
Who kissed M. MAS the mayor. Then
hI. suite followed, each Que kissing me
on the cheek. and, last ~ all the baud
stopped playing 80 that they could ki.'
me. too. lr. mighty peculiar custom,
bat II could be improved by the women
adopting IL. They don't. All the on.
c~rs w.r. greeted In the same way. sn'l
ON the nigh, of tb. pavilion banquet Dr.
Dolan and I we're SEIZED by q crowd and
fairly carriei through the streets.
"Ibe ship vas gi,sna h,nt.ome s'l.
yer loving cup, and q parchment scroll
signed by MI ciilIens, thanking Phlla.
ielphis for her charity. The Car .ent
me word that be had q present for the
shin, but could not stop to walt for u.
I will receive it. however, Ia week or
two, and In th. meantime Oh. crew arr
guessing What Il will be. We were Civ
en- Loaf of brown bread, with = silver
salt cellar In the centre, from the com
mander of the warshlp strass, ani an-
other from the wife of the libau Minister
of Finsncr, sophie sschsrbsichrf, who
al.o seni her photograph ani bunch of
flower. Ia the ladies of Philadelphia.
The giving of bread and salt Indicate.
good will aud represents an old Russian
custom.
.On the day We sailed two delegations
Of " workingmen called ON me. one from
IN. famine district aud one from libau
They sent To l'hilsd-lphia . message.
which translated literally reads: Our
thanks to the rich men of America whose
wealth has done so much for us, aud
love and greeting TO the worklngmen OF
America whose labors make men rich
and charity pos.ible.' The men from
the famine district were profuse In their
thanks. They were \ handy. Intelligent
lot of men, but very poorly clad. Prom
the beat one of them learne. that food
VAS very badly needed and that the In
dians's cargo might save 1000 lives.
"IIe said the sufierings of the p-a.antry
" ere Ind-scribable. They we're too nearly
dead from hunger, many of them. to
work. and. they had eaten up all their
seed wheat so there was no possibility
vf next years crop. People liy~i on
q loaf of bread week and killed their
horse. aud dogs for food. lie esiimsted
that $4,000 people had died from lack of
food alone, to say n"thing of the dI.ess-
=. which famine breeds, aud all his hg-
urrs were youched for by Count Brobin-
Xxi. lie also said that the system adopt
ed by Rudolph Blsnkenburg Was very
thorough, and that the food would
reach promptly the villages where IL
would do the most good.
AT I.ibau everything possible was
done to hurry the delivery Of the cargo
and some of Il had reached the mouths
of starving peasants before We left our
wharf. Fifteen thousand Russian jew.
live at Iibsu, which I. town Of 1000
inhabitants, aud they helpci us q great
deal. For doing this their race was
drunk In q tQzst at the banquet given on
the warship. Il was proposed by I'us'
.isn officer In full uniform. aud at the
time created q good deal of talk. did
not see q NlhIlIst or hear . word about
Nlhliism. Lbau is too prosperousa com
munity for anything Of that sort.
"The greatest need among the pess-
sats now IL seed wheat and seed corn. II
IL nearly planting time, aud there lsyery
little seed to plant With. II Was pltiful
10 hear the stories Of how the sufferers
would ssve up few hsndfuls of corn ~
wheat To plant until the Last moment
and then bc forced io part With h "a
save their lives. 10 doesu't take . very
live Imagination 10 make one understand
the good the cargo did under such CIR,
cumstaB ~ these. Every grain ol
corn Was worth drop of Ilfe's bloot, u
seemed In me, when heard the stories
which c,me from the famine district.
''Good feeling between Russls and the
United States has been established on NJ
solid q basis BY this oae manifestation
Of charity by Phlladelphlans ~ years ol
diplomacy could bring about. | belIev'
that In case this country shouh ever "a
70 war With Eugland, The entire neet o
ths nagniaesat Rsssian navy voaid b