The Idaho recorder. [volume] (Salmon City, Idaho) 1886-1927, 1919-09-12
BELOW ZERO
HUMoR

II Is an impossibility to slay tn
sense Of humor III the average Amer
can. more particularly when he hal
pens to be a soldier. They may sen
him TO freeze In the Arctics or to bill
ter and burn In the deserts OF Mexico
but he never lacks the comeback"
A striking example OF the irrepres
sible spirit of the Yankee doughboy /
found In the American Sentinel. tn
newspaper published at Archangei b.
the American Red Cross. The Sent
mel publishes a description OF tn
place ard the customs of the peopl
contributed by doughboy. and tn
editor takes occasion to offer tn
comment that 1T IL the best pen pic
ture OF the town written by al
American"
We are SO far north that the
,ydoggone sun works only when 1t
feels inclined to do so. and in
that way II Is like everything else
In Russia. The moon isn't so
particular. and comes up. usually
backwards. at any time of day or
night. In any part OF the sky. It
having no set schedule. and often
II will get lost and will be on the
job At noon. Yet, We are so far
north that 80 degrees below will
soon be tropical weather for US.
and they will have to build fires
around both cows. before can be
MIXED. Probably about next
month some one will come around
and say that We win be pulling
out OF here In day or SO. but
then the days will be six months
long.
Now up here in this tough town
there are 269.891 inhabitants. OF
which 61.329 are human beings
and 20s.502 are dogs. Dogs are OF
every description. from the poodle
TO the 81. Bernard and from the
wolfhound to the half-breed dach.
shund.
The wind whistles across the
Dvtna like the Twentieth Cen
fury Limited passing Podunk. and
snowflakeH are AZ numerous. as
retreating Germans were In low.
or France.
The money OF the country In won
derful and bewildering puzzle to ths
American. but. as might be expected
he sees only the humorous side o.
Archangel's currency system. Hii
comment on the tangle of rubles ant
Confines and sous and francs
may be hard TO count. but did you
ever hear OF ruble or kopecY
A kopec In worth tenth of cent
ard there are hundred of them
In a ruhle. Al you will see, that
makes matters worse. ELL the mon.
ely In paper. coins having gone
out of circulation since the begin
w~ta ~ A q
the sixe OF postage stamp,
ruble looks like Z cigar store Ger.
tificate, q 36.rublc note resembles
\ porous plaster. and . 1OO.ruble
note the Declaration Of lndepen-
dence.
Every time you get on street
car you have 10 count out so ko-
PEGS for your fare. and most Of Ns
would rrther walk than be jam
med in tho two by four busses
and fish for the money. Before
boarding q car each passenger
usually hunts up a couple Of five
gallon milk cans. a market has
ket or two. and bag Of smoked
herring no that they will get their
kopecs' worth out Of the ride, be-
sides making the atmosphere AZ
pleasant ~ possible for the rest
Of tho passengers.
The important enterprise Of achiev.
lng Q meal In an Archangel reptaa.
rant naturally lenda itself to some
rharact eyiatic expression. We find
the following description Of the ap.
prQYad method OF trying to partske
of bfeakfast:
When . soldier In search OF
meal enters Z restaurant he says
to the waitress: 'Barishnia, "a
kaxsetie bifstek. pasalouiata.'
which means. Ian orxasrs a. shsef.
steAh. lady. please" You see. you
always say ''harishnia." which
really means girl.s and until
young lady 10 married she II al.
ways addressed In that manner.
She viii answer the hungry custo-
mer with, yah ochen soJalayu
shtco mas MET yestink prepasov
siechas," "a simple home cure for
lockjaw,) meaning. II am sorry.
but we are right out Of food to- +
day"
The hand. shaking habit has CYL
IDENTITY attained popularity in Arch
angel. The custom Ia SO universal
thai the Yankee views With some de
gree of alarm that II In taking root
among members OF his own company
Russian etiquette In dealt with IN
this fashion;
Whom a Russian mests another
man he knows on the street both
lift their hats ard fiirt With each
other II they stop to talk they
always shake hands, even II they
haven't aecn each other for fuiiy
twenty minutes Then they sim
ply must shake hands again when
they leave. When man meets
lady friend he usually kisses her
hard md shows how far he can
bend over wlfhoa, breaking his
suspenders.
"Ah." he viii say. yah ochen
rad vas yeedet. kak vui poLaVay'
eties" which in the United States
means, How do you doF To
which she win reply. "hlagadaru
vas. yah ochen khoroshaw. or
Very well. thank YOU II IL the
Knockout. A fellow has to shake
hands so much that some OF US
are getting the habit around the
company.
OLD WAY THE BEST
A&.rn-setAa