The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-07-27

the excuse for everything. One tells now
surprised the Sabaroff coachman was
when his mistress interfered with his beat
ing the cook on account Of the lack of
variety in the meals. "Whatl does the
barinid mean to say may not even beat
her cook 7-now it is libertyW He was
almost too amazed to speak.
In the summer the family took coun-
try house on the outside of Odessa, but
we're even more uncomfortable there.
They were afraid to leave the grounds,
except in groups Of several people, and
always with some one armed. Thieving
and murder were an everyday occurrence,
so that the author says they became
callous to shots and cries. "The fruit in
or orchard was stolen nightly, the flowers
were uprooted, any any chairs or article,
such as the tennis net, left in the garden
overnight, had always disappeared in the
morning"
II.
Finally the Sabaroffs took fat in the
Cossack capital of Novocherkask thinking
they might be safer there. But people
with as much money and as many hats as
the Sabaroffs were not safe anywhere.
1t must have been exceedingly Incomfort-
able, for example, when the servants left,
for when pressed for reason they always
said: "The toUdrischi say it is dangerous
and that very soon the house will be
blown up" The mornings mail always
contained blaekhandish letters demand
ing money.
At last the Sabaroffs managed to con-
ceal themselves somewhere, and Miss
Power started on her eventful journey
back to England, which consumed three
months, the last seventeen days on boat
carrying 1000 people and proyisioned for
800. These were the days, of course,
when the railway service was badly dis
organized, and nobody hesitated to throw
an undesirable person off the train-al-
though Miss Power says the comrades"
were considerable enough on one train to
post the following notice: "Win the
tOrarischi kindly refrain from throwing
passengers on to the lines while the train
is in motion, as it creates bad impress
sion abroad" Miss Powers exit from
Russia took her across the entire coun-
try to Murmansk, filled with refugees,
where she was held for six weeks.
Making no apparent effort to % more
than simply record her own experiences,
the author has succeeded In writing book
that is unusually convincing. At no time
does she preach or moralize or even judge.
She describes the May Day procession
of the Reds or the Bolshevik burial Of
their dead as alphabetically as she does
anything else. If it is a possible thing to
catch a CLINT of humor in tragic events,
she may be counted upon to do it. Of
the May Day procession she says:
vt was all very strange and touching.
Perhaps of half of them did not realize
the meaning Of the word liberty but,
then, who does?" After the strange as
sortment Of men, women and children,
the last group in the procession consisted
Of band of ragamufins who marched
under red banner with the legend: The
Committee of Thieves greets the Russian
Republic" Writing of the burial day OF
the Bolsheviki, she says:
"After the banner bearers came men
and women carrying the white deal lids Of
the collins and followed by miscellaneous
crowd of young girls. Then before one
had time to realize that the corpses would
be exposed, bare headed men carried on
their shoulders the collins open-with
the dead bodies inside. There were heads
severed from bodies, limbless trunks,
crushed faces, green black, gray, and
startling white, hair matted with blood.
One body was covered with a piece of
white muslin, but as it passed a puff Of
wind caught the shroud in the air and
revealed black, contorted face and
trunk in pieces. And all the while there
was tine sickening odor of putrefac-