The Washington herald., 1919-04-26

an efficer, you are under the influence
OF the bourgeoisie."
who made me an officer IL not
you? Didn't your brethren. the COM
mon soldiers Of the First and Tenth
armies. send special delegates TO honor
mo and present icons and standards to
me. thus raising me to the grade Of Of
ficer7 I am OF the people. blood Of
your blood. q toiling peasant girl"
But we are tired of war. We want
peace" they complained. unable to
find fault with me personally.
II want peace. too. But how will
you have peace3 Show me howl" /
pounded vigorously. observing that my
talk was softening the crowds temper
considerably.
why, simply leave the front and go
home. That's how we can have
peace"
Leave the 'front.' / bawIed, with
all the power I could command.
what will happen then7 Tell me!
Will you have peace? Never! The
Germans will just walk over your i'm
pregnable defenses and crush the peo-
pie and the freedom. This Is war. You
are soldiers and you know what war
Is. You know that all is fair in war.
To leave the trenches! Why not hand
Russia over to the Kaiser! It's the
same thing. and you know it as well
as /. No, there is no other way to
peace than through an offensive and
| the defeat of the enemy. Conquer the
Germans and there will be peace!
Shoot them, kill them. saber them, but
do not fraternize with the foes Of our
beloved Russia
"But they fraternize with us. They
are tired of the war. too. They want
peace as much as we." said few men.
They deceive. They fraternize here
and send soldiers to fight our allies"
What allies are they to us II they
want no peacer' some argued.
They want no peace now because
| they know that the Germans are
| treacherous. You and know 1t. too
Haven't the Germans asphyxiated
! thousands Of our brethren with their
! deadly gases? Haven't we all suf-
fered from their dirty tricks? Aren't
they now occupying a large part OF
our country? Let's drive them out
| and have peace"'
There was silence. Nobody had any
thing to say. Greatly encouraged,
resumed, just as a happy idea dawned
upon me.
Yes, let us drive them out of Rus
sia. Suppose were to take you along
! to the front. to feed you well. to equip
you with new uniforms and boots
would you go with me to attack the
| treacherous enemy"
Yes. yes! We will go, You are our
! comrade. You are not a bourgeois
blood-sucker! With you, We will go"'
many voices rang from all sides.
But If you go with me-" l said. 81
would keep you under the severest
discipline. There can be no army
| without discipline. i am a peasant like
you, and / would take your word of
honor to stick it out But should any
one attempt to escape. | would have
him shot promptly"
I'VE agree! We are willing to follow
you, You are one of us! Hurrah for
Yashka, Hurrah for Botchkareva"
the crowd roared almost unanimously.
1t was a soul-stirring spectacle. But
| an hour ago these tattered men acted
| as IL their hearts were CONCEALED. Now
they were beating warmly. A brief
while ago they looked like the most
depraved thugs; now their faces were
lit with the spark of humanity. 1t
seemed a miracle. But it was not.
Such is the soul of the Russian; now
It is hardened and brutal, now it is
full of devotion and love
/ called up Gen. Naluyev and begged
| permission to take the body of desert
ers to the f.ont, asking for equipment
for them. The general refused. He
was afraid they would disintegrate the
| rest of the men. I assumed response
| bility for their conduct, but the gen.
| eral could not see it the way / did
| Copyright. 1919. by Frederick A. Stokes Com
pany. Al rights reserTed.l
To be continued.