The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-07-24


Yesterday 1 met n Reservist soldier ac-
companied by his mother and Wife. All
three were riding in a cart; he had had
t drop too much his wife's face was
swollen with tears. lie turned to me:
"Good bye to thee! Lyof Nikolaevitch,
VI off to the Far East,
..yyell, art thou going to fight 2"
well, some one has to fight!",
.'No one need fight!
He reflected for a moment. But what
as one to do, where can one escape = a
saw that he had understood me. had
understood that the work to which he
was being sent was an evil work.
Where can one escape?" That is the
precise expression OF that mental condi-
ton, which in the official and journals.
tic world Is translated into the words
& For the Faith the Tsar, and the Father
land" Those who abandoning their hun
b gry families, go to suffering, to death.
8i say as they feel: Where can one es 2
S careee Whereas those who sit In safety
! in tilrsr luxurious palaces say that all
Russisl. men are ready to sacrifice their
lives for their adored monarch and for
the g,cr: and greatness OF Russia.
s Yesterday. from, a peasant know. I
received two letters. one after the other.
This Is the first:
Dear Lyof Nikolaevitch-Well, to day
4 i have received the official announcement
OF my cali to the service, tomorrow
mist present myself at the headquarters.
That is all. And after that-to The
4 Far East to meet the Japanese bullets.
About my own. and my households
grief i will not tell you: it is not you who
( will fail to understand all the horror of
Il my position and the horrors Of war. all
4 this you have long ago painfully real
lied. and you understand it ALL How I
have longed to visit you. to have a talk
with you,.I had written to.you a long
letter in which i described the torments
OF my soul; but had not had time to
n copy 1t, when 1 received my summons,
What is my wife to do now with her four
schildren? AS an old man, of course, you
cannot do anything yourself for my
folks. but you might ask some OF your
friends In their leisure to visit my or
phaned family. I beg you earnestly that
II my wife proves unable to bear the
agony OF her helplessness with her bur-
lden OF children and makes UP her mind
i to go to you for help and counsel you
Twill receive and console her. Although
tshe does not know you personally she
believes in your word. and that means
much.
IT was not able to resist the summons,
ii but say beforehand that through mo
not one Japanese family shall be or
phaned. My God! how dreadful is all
# this-how distressing and painful to
abandon all by which one lives and In
q which ono Is concerned. I"
The second letter is as follows:
.Ilindest Lyof Nikoaevltch
only one day OF actual service has
passed. and / have already lived
through an eternity of most desperate
toments. From o'clock in the morn
ing till In the evening We have been
crowded and knocked about to and fro in
the barrack yard, like herd Of cattle.
the comedy Of medical examination was
three times repeated, and those who had
reported themselves III did not receive
even ten minutes attention before they
q were marked Satisfactory When wo,
these two thousand satisfactory lndivid-
uals, were driven from the military COM
rnander to the barracks, along the road
spread out for almost a yerst stood
crowd of yelat.Yes, mothers, and wives
with infantsSin arms. and If you had only
a heard and seen how they clasped their
fathers, husbands, sons, and hanging
Z around their necks walled hopelessly! Gen.
y orally ] behave in reserved way and can
restrain my feeling, but could not hold
out. and ! also wept. un journalistic
language this same Is expressed thus.
B 1.-THE uphsayel OF patriotic feeling is inn
nense'D
n 2 Where Is the standard that can meas
4 lire all this immensely of woe now spread
ing itself oyer almost one-thitd Of the
world And We. VIC are now that food
for cannon, which in the near future
Val be offered as sacrifice to the god OF
I'm vengeance and horror. 4
II cannot manage to establish my In
ner balance. OH. how ] eXecrate my
self for this double -mindedness which
not refuse y go yet while leaving his