New Britain herald., 1921-12-29
PEASANTS DID
 NOT CELEBRATE
In No Mood for Observing Anni-
 VerSary in Russia

Ludogovka, Tartar Republic, Dee, Q0,-~The fourth anniversary of the establishment of the Soviet Republic in Russia found this peasant village of 600 people in no mood for cele- bratng. Foodless and cheerless, the starving population could have no heart for any sort of jubiation, even If it knew what the political maneu- vers at Moscow means. Like most Russian peasants, the unhappy folks Of Ludogovka have neither the learn ing nor the will to study politics. Bread, wood and warm clothing are their three desires They haven't enough of any of these.
 Winter has laid its first heavy coat ing Of snow on the flat prairies, and the peasants have started, grim-faced, on their endurance test to see how many can survive the six months of cold and privation. Many of the younger children have been deemed so completely underfed by the doc tors in the employ of the American Relief Administration that they will be given one good hot meal day.
 Ludogovka is a typical peasant vil- lage Of the poorer class. It is 60 miles from Kazan and many miles from the Nolga and railway communication. Snpanted log houses are scattered along a main street. The houses gen erally have two rooms. Some have three. Frequently the animal sheds are built against tie houses for warmth. Many of the stables are at 1,n hoa a1- t.lo dens which yielded few potatoes and cabbages this year because of the drought. The stables are chiefly de- serted. There Is no forage, no grain for the animals which have survived mp to this time on the dry stubble which will soon be under several feet of snow.
 Russia doesn't have blizzards such as are known in America. In late Oc- tober or nearly November the snows begin and continue gently nearly every day until the earth is covered to a depth of three or four feet.
 This winter will not bring it's cus- tomary round of winter sports and recreatons. There are no horses to draw the troikas and jingle the bells which ordinarily enliven Russian highways through the short days and long nights of frost.
 The home of Ivan Ivanovich Pe- troff is typical of the most poverty stricken houses visited by the cor respondent. Petroff is a farmer, as practically all the villagers are. He has the use of several dissiatines of land more than he was able to cul- tivate because of lack of animals and seed. He had once been sturdy : ant, over six feet tall. But his rag
 trousers show his legs have | Nnken to mere bones and his
 Ggly beard cannot conceal the lciat.on and sallowness of his face.
 wife is lying i'll, above large 7onry stove. A gangling, hollow boy of 16 stands listlessly and
 'cs at the strangers. A little girl z eight, who is getting the American ! ,leals, and two others, slightly older, who were not designated for the for efgn food, stand near their mother.
 The furnishings of the room are al- m ost nl It has the smell of poverty and neglect. Tn good seasons Russian PeCt1ohill llouSoS dIc StluOlH Cledn. InPy are never ventilated. But the smell of cabbage, soup and tea make them c cffensive in normal years.
 When asked what the family had to east. Petroff pointed to two loaves Of bread which lay on the stove and said there had been nothing else for his family in ten days. He threw open an adjoining room and pointed to a pile of the improvised flour" out of which the bread was made It was nothing but bround up grass, leaves, seed and other trash of similar character.
 The visitors offered him money. He took it unwillingly and asked: But what shall I do with it? There is nothing to buy in this village and can't go in search of food. Neither can my family"
 One of the American relief workers offered to buy some flour in a village many miles away. Through out the remote villages of the Tartar Republic and the Sarama govern ment American workers have found the same lack of food.