The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-10-18


put on small allowance and we all had
risen from the table hungry, and after
awhile the children only had quarter
enough. and after awhile only one meal
a day, and after awhile no good food at
all, bat mixture Of wheat and cha1f
and bark of trees, and then three of the
children down with hunger typhUs, and
then all the family unable to walk, and
then crawling on hands and knees, and
then one dead in each room, and neigh
bOrs. not quite so exhausted. coming in
TO bury them. and afterward the house
becoming the tomb, with none to carry
the dead to more appropriate sepulcher
whole families blotted out. That was
what occurred in Russia in homes more
than were ever counted, in homes that
were once rs comfortable and happy and
bountiful as yours or mine, in homes
as virtuous as yours or mine, in homes
where God is worshiped as much as in
yours or mine. 1t was to do little some
thing toward beating back that arch
angel OF wretchedness and horror that
we went, and we have now to report
that, according to the estimate of the
Russian famine relief committee, we
saved the lives OF $4,000 people.
A RELIGIOUS PEASANTRY.
As at the hunger relief stations the
bread was handed out-for it was made
into loaves and distributed-many peo-
pie would halt before taking it and re
iigiously cross themselves and utter
prayer for the donors. Some of them
would come staggering back ard say,
please tell US who sent this bread to
us" And when told it came from
America they would say: What part
of America? Please give us the names
of those who sent it." All, God only
knows the names of those who sent it.
but he certainly does know, and many Il
prayer is going up. warrant you, day
by day, for those who sent -four by the
ship Leo. Perhaps some of us at our
tables rattle off a prayer that may mean
nothing. although we call it Saying
grace" but | warrant when those people
who received the bread which saved
their lives "said grace it meant some
thing. Our religion may not demand
that we ''crOss ourselves" but | have
learned that while crossing ones self IL
some gases may mean nothing but mere
form | believe in most cases it means:
'Oh, thou of the suffering cross of Cal
Yary. have mercy on me and accept my
gratitude" Prefer your own form OF
religion by all means. but do not depre-
ciate the religious forms of others. FrOlG
all can learn there were several good
people before we were born, and ! rather
expect there will be several left after we
are dead. | have travelled in many
lands, but tell you plainly, as told
Emperor Alexander III in the palace nj
Peterhoif. that had never been so i'm
pressed with the fidelity to their religion
of any people as by what l had seen in
Russia, and especially among her public
men.
said respectfully to a Russian when
saw him c=oss himself, What do you
do that forl" oh" he said, when !
DO that | always say, "'God have mercy
on me-! hold in my hand something
very suggestive. What does that blacl;
aud uncomely thing look like? That i
what is called hunger bread from Rus
sia; that is what millions of people lived
on for months before help came froE.
| England, Scotland, Ireland and Anne
lea: that is a mixture which seems u
| have in it not one grain of sustenance. |,
! is a mixture of pig weed aud chatf and
! the sv,eepiugs of stables. That is some,
! thing which if dropped in the street
| your dog or cat might sniff at but wo1,lG
| not eat. That was tle only food 81,
! which millions Of men and women ivrU
! YCu must look at that hunger bread Of
| Russia before you can get proper apqre-
! citation Of what an attractive and b.I.:;
/ -,F,,I +b:v,.r q, s,nysS lcaT pF broad = II /.
50 COplIuon 70 Us We cannot realize IL
meaning. Stop and look at 1t IN d b&.l-
erv window or see il on cour family -
! l1e-I I.Iean an honest Loaf of bread
/ wflite Es ball OF packed SHOW, wi54l d
cfTst lEOW-l as the atutuInnal woods, ana
for a keen appetite more aromatic than
! fiowers-a loaf Of bread as you remecn
her it III childhood, when the knife Il
| the hand of Your father or mother Gu,
clean through from crust to crust anJ
put before you, not quarter Of a Sic,
or "A half a slice, but a full round Sic,
and another and another just suited t.
a boy always ready to eat and for t.,
most time hungry, even in a well sup
piled house. | remember and you re
! member. if you had a healthy childhood
| lust how it tasted. Ny! My! Plum
| pudding does not taste as good now i:
that plain bread thGn. 1t was the'
bread at the table and bread between
meals. and bread before breakfast an'
bread before GONG 10 bed.
TIE POETRY OF BREAD.
Why does not some poet ring canr'
on a loaf of bread. or some modern r.;
phael paint it, or some historian tell 1t
history: Not like many articles Of food
pretentious, and iced all over like wed
ding cake, or dotted with fantastic III
gradients. but that grGndest product q
the earth. that richest yield of the TO"
mill. that best benediction of u hot Ove;s
a God given loaf of bread. But t.
rhythm of it. the luxury Of it, the meal.
ing of it. the benediction of it, the divla
mercy of it. only those know who i-;:v
seen a famine. No wonder Christ nc
this food into the sacrament and said &