Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1919-02-13

SsS
Letter sroix HUN d; = " $500
II vs. 81 IN S| Omit b !. NJ
Nov. II; isisI
Dearest Folks: s11si
Once more ! take my pensi ia hand
and find myself at loss to know
what to doswith it. Things move =
slowly IN this section Of the universe
4 that there. is little in the way Of pros
\ gress to report, since last I wrote
\ But | hope YOU will be glad to "hear
/ the sound Of my voice again. ia
In the first place we are no longer
living in our car but have q very
comfortable room in the home Of some
Danish people who are in business
here. The room was previously used
for a den and contains four beauti-
full Morris chairs. IT is steam heated
and SO we are warm enough as q
rule during this, to US, extremely
cold weather. 1t is as cold as Green
lands icy mountain" here now and
they tell us it usually reaches 20 below
when it gets to be real winter Think
of me when you are toasting yourself
over your good old city steam heat
and think you are suffering because
the mercury may have gone down
temporarily to 20.
: / have a fur hat and muff and large
fur collar, the latter two being made
of the skin Of no other animal than
the humble goat They are really
quite pretty and very warm and, as
they are the only kind our purse
would afford and the only selection
there was to choose from, it was not
difficult matter to decide.
Ny coat, which was always too
warm in Iowa, feels here in Siberia
just like that affair which Dad used
to run his ashes through. I think ]
will line it with WOOL Carl will have
his uniforms, which are heavy and
warm and if. that won't do ! will pad
him up like a Chinese Mandarin.
We live next door to the American
Consul and go over quite frequently
to have coffee with him. He seems
to be quite a young man and is here
as the representative of the Inter.
national Harvester Co. His wife il
in Japan but some friends of his an
keeping house for him. The lady Of
the family speaks English very vel
! and has been awfully nice to me.
IS ! go in there nearly every day tt
press dress or borrow the Ladies
Home Journal or for some other gooC
reason. Goodness knows my clothes
need pressing as they have not seer
an iron since we left the Caucausu.
in March last. She is /going to LOAF
me one of her servants when we star
keeping house, if we ever do start
which seems to be hopeless now. NJ
This town is, or was, a city o.
100000 people and had houses Il
care for that many people. but sine,
it has been made the capitol, tn,
people have driftede in until now the,
claim there are more than 5OO,OOl
people here. There isn't square
inch of space left. We are trying I,
get some very desirable apartment.
through the military authorities bu
may not succeed as their ardor toward
Americans has somewhat cooled sine,
America has refused to send in mill
tary aid. don't much care what kim
of house it is provided it has !,
kitchen connected up with it. We hav'
been eating at the restaurants $,
long that we are simply starved.
There is an abundance of foo,
here but the cooking is simply i'm
possible. just think! goose cost.
4 only $1.50 and they are fat and juic,
4 but everything else costs enough t,
4 make up for the low cost of geese
The other day Carl and / stopped
in a furniture store to price som,
things so we would have some ide.
of what it would cost us to furnish
4 up our long dreamed of apartments
Among other things we priced a pail
I of bed steads which were very com
mon iron ones, nothing out of the ordi
nary at all, and they only wanted
$500 for them. That was the full
amount we have been allowed to fur
4 nish our whole house. It begins Il
look as though we would have to sci
ect a nice, clean soft board and winter
on that. There are lots Of cabine
makers among the prisoners and ref
ugees and perhaps we can make us,
of some of them and get in under oul
allowance.
Table cloths are $10O each. Chea,
glasses are 55 cents and other dishe,
are in proportion. don't see how
we can hope to furnish house ever
in the prevailing style adopted b,
all proper missionaries. Some thing.
can be ordered from Vladivostocl
but it takes two months to get then
- 81 4 ~ n ~. -. =. 49,