Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-04-02
CIVILIANS OF RUSSIAN
CITY LEAD LIVES
OF UTTER MISERY

Confined From Page one)
r---o~----r---o--------~----
icaily handsome, and wondered with
a pang whether on a clustering night
in clamorous war town-where
everybody Is wanting something
would have done as much for an alien
who meant nothing TO me.
With a respectful warning to count
the Jumps Of coal morning. noon and
night and to send for him and his
lady" il they seemed 10 me to van
ish too rapidly the soldier clicked his
heels and went his way into the
storm
Thawed Out at last.
Forthwith the Czernilowski family
proceeded 20 thaw me out. the two
pretty Jossicas OF the mild eyed Shy
lock taking turns with their mother
in ministering before the mausoleum.
They play scrupulously fair in the
matter Of the Goals. and IL they had
not | should not have cared, for one
morning when ] went through the
crowded living room and show the
mild eyed one praying in the chill
dawn. with his face turned toward
Jerusalem. great awe came over me
and / was ashamed Of the blonde
soldiers suspicious.
The praying jew had some kind of
priestly headdress thrown over his
head, and his numerous family were
huddled in bed. some OF the beds
made up on the floor He was utter
ing the words Of his petition with
amazing rapidity and the son who
had the "affliction Of the lungs" had
stopped coughing to listen.
] don't suppose shall ever forget
the picture I saw in that dim light
so much trouble and so much faith;
the age long trouble that had come
upon generation after generation
through mans war making: the
faith, too, coming down through the
ages TO this little deprecatory man
and touching him with nobility, as he
stood In the squalld dawn with his
face toward the city Of God.
Plenty of Troubles.
Even when my hostess puts down
in her neat little bill the item Of
mark and a half a day for fires made
with the German armys Goals ! have
no heart to question 1t. for now l
know that my small troubles are a
festival compared with her real ones
1.-The son dying, the family scattered,
the house in Kalisch burned. the TO-
coo rubles gone. and she quartered
among strangers in a war town.
/ can hear the boy dying-cough-
ing his life away in the long watches
Of the highland as for the 10000
rubles. a ruble sounds like so much
more than 80 cents that find my
self becoming extensively sympathetic
in the matter of the fees for service.
so il goes with the women of these
parts in war time. and so II will GO
] suppose, with the dark eyed. gentle
Jessicas Of this household, and in a
few years they, too, will he cid be-
fore their time
The mother is a very pious woman.
Yesterday was Friday, and in the
evening I placed mark and my auto
goggles, from which the strap had
come loose. on her table and asked
her whether she would do that bit Of
sewing for me.
Scwish Sabbath Eve.
There were very earnest explana-
tons from her and very gentle ones
from the mild eyed one, the gist OF
which was that this was the eve of
the Jewish Sabbath. and so no work
could be done before nightfali of the
next day | did pretty well with bent
pins, and so we all saved our ortho-
doxy.
The rest of the town has been look
ing with equal scrupulousness after
its orthodoxy all day today The com
munity is so predominatingly Jewish
that scarcely any Of the dozens Of
dark little cavelike shops are open,
and except for soldiers, the streets
are almost deserted
Here's pretty messl Mrs. Czerni-
lowslIi has Just come in with the It'd
ings that petroleum has gone up to
marks a liter-and you can't buy il
even at ahat price.
So no writing tonight.
As early as o'clock in the after
noon it is too dark 10 read. Unless
l can find soldier to drink tea
with me, there is nothing for it nut
to 90 to bed and stay there for twelve
or fourteen hours. for II is not really
daylight before in the morning. If
man sat here looking into the dark,
hearing naught but the boom of the
guns at Bolimow. and thinking of
home-ach. that way the horrors
lie,
We might go over to the officers
casino and see what is brewing there
besides tea. Much as l loathe the
gloom and slop of the place, there is
human companionship there, to say
nothing of a most amiable dog which
responds to patting.
The quest for excitement at the Of
ficers' casino was not unrewarded In
truth the reward was an incident
enthusiastically Teutonic and not
without results. a phase of it which
also was Teutonie.
young under-Officor who, had
you taken him out Of uniform and
f.sfs hf,,, bssrtr fufn afs+flfa,. .fat hos