Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-04-11

! or them has come TO our SuCCOr at a
time when Germany is eating us up.
| The Allied ENJOYS are running away
from Russia, and those that remain
| do not listen to the voice OF the
masses, but to the representatives Of
Lenine and Trotsky. At Moscow
saw an official of the Soviet escort an
Englishman TO train. | was hungry
Ihefe were hundreds Of soldiers like
me at the station. Our hearts were
aching. We wanted to give him a
message, but he did not even turn to
us. Instead, he pressed heartily the
hand of the Soviet official"
What if we should appeal to the
AIIies' to America, England and
france, to furnish MS bread arms and
money Tor the reconstruction OF the
front?' l resumed
How can we trust them?" 7 was
interrupted again. They will come
mere and work together with Lenine
and his band of bloodsuckers.
why not get together and elect a
constituent Assembly, and let your
own ,',i leaders cooperate with the
Allies?" l suggested.
"But whom could we choose?"
That we would decide later. There
are plenty of good men still left in
Russia ] answered. But what n
l. for instance, should want to do
something, would you trust me?"
Yes, yes! We know YOU, You are
or the people," hundreds of throats
cried
We'll, let me tell YOU. then, I am
going to America and England. IL I
should get through and come back
with an Allied force, would you come
TO aid me in saving Russia"
Yes. We will! Yes, yes!" the
crowd roared
With this the meeting ended. The
train was made up and we hurried
toward it, singing on the way. ! felt
happy and hopeful. Several thousand
soldiers were not to be disregarded.
They We're almost unanimous in their
new view of the country's condition.
With my observations in Moscow and
on the way to Petrograd. this meeting
added enthusiasm 70 my hopes for
RusSia's salvation. It was obviously
a countrywide phenomenon, this
awakening of the soldiery.
Ny mother had received Petrukhin's s
letter, and for six weeks had mourned
me as dead. She was overwhelmed
with joy upon my return, but became
little uneasy as she perceived a long
line of girls, many of them almost
barefoot, file behind me into the little
cabin. She took me aside and asked
what it meant. confding that she had
only fifty rubles left of the money |
had given her before, l begged her to
be patient and assured her that |
would arrange matters promptly. |
Immediately went to the owner of the
cabin and several other leading peas
ants of the community, got them to-
l.1A. .1.s. IN@ -tt
ton, informed them that I had only
one thousand rubles to spend toward
the support of the girls, and asked
if they would undertake to feed and
house them on credit till my return
from America.
II swear that I will pay every ko.
peck due to you. I will get enough
money to pay not only the debts. but
to insure them sustenance and shelter
| to the end of their lives. Now I want
! you to keep a record of all your eX-
/ penses. Will you trust me?"
Yes" replied the peasants. 1--WE
know that you have done a great deal
for Russia, and we have confidence in
you"
This was the arrangement under
which the thirty invalids of my Bat
talon of Death were left by me in the
village of Tutalsk In March, 1913. The
thousand rubles I gave to my mother
with instructions to buy shoes for
the neediest of the girls. OF the five
hundred rubles given to me by the
consul l left three hundred to my
mother. I decided to take my young.
est sister, Nadia. along with me to
America Accompanied to the station
by my parents. the thirty girls and
half the community, ] started east
ward for Irkutsk and NladivoStok,
dressed once more as a woman.
At the station in Trkutsk l noticed
a young girl, with two tiny children
/ in her arms. Somehow her face
looked familiar to me, but T could not
place her. She was evidently in trou
BILE, poor and ragged, For a while she
stared at me. Then she ran up and
cried out breathlessly:
"Mania."
She was the younger daughter o,
the woman Kitova who accompanied
her husband who had killed the dog
catcher, into exile when | went there
with Yasha. Then she was not more
than eleven or twelve years old. Nov
she was the mother of two children.
! For three days. she told me, he
mother and herself lived on the floor OF
the station. They haG only seventy
kopecks left in their possession. witt
this money the mother had gone to th
town to find a LOGGING. More thai
three months they had been travelin'
from Yakutsk, where this girl hat