The Washington herald., 1921-09-06
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.


OF the incline, and we noticed sew
ersI campfires against the dark
OF trees from which
smoke arose.
Hundreds Meet Steamer.
The figures increase. almost all
of them carrying children in arms.
They struggled down the slope;
pausing ut times to turn and shout
back toward the trees from which
more figures followed. Several hun
dreds were at the waters edge as
we made fast to the wharfboat. l
went ashore with an Interpreter and
the secretary TO the governor.
Most OF the women wore long.
brown. sheepskin coats with skirts
attached with fur worn on the In
side. The babies. mostly naked,
were carried under their mothers
coats for warmth.
There was heavy silence over
all as we stepped among them.
''Tavarish. do you bring food? We
starve." The eyes OF the people
behind the speaker were fastened
on the face of the governors secre-
taTy as he answered:
Comrades I bring no food he
cause there is no food and in
Samara there are many as you and
l."
Hope Dies In Their Eyes.
Come you. then and take us
away from this sand pit. where we
are dying hourly"
Nor that, my comrades, because
even here you are better than in
the city, where thousands are
gathered. and where the air Is
death from pestiIence. You have no
bread here, and neither have they
there. but neither have they clean
air, and the water of your river
side"
Hope died in their eyes like the
shadows which come when the
clouds pass before the sun. There
was not an outburst of complain
ing voices one might expect when
starving wretches hear from the
lips of well-clad and well-fed Of
hcisl the words that spell their
doom.
Promises Americaa Food.
Il can bring you only words Of
the help that has been promised
and ! have brought with me four
Americans. who come to see your
needs and to send back messages
to their people to the end that food
may be hurried to you from across
the ocean"
These were the secretary's clos
ing remarks.
Some OF the listeners simply
turned slowly on their heels and
walked back across the sand.
A young woman with large.
round eyes that shone with a light
only found in mothers eyes
beckoHed me within a small corral
OF boughs where a child Of 8.
with dull. wide open eyes, laid nat
on it's back. staring straight up
ward. The child's body seemed
covered with a pillow over which
a blanket had been thrown. max
ing a mound several feet higher
than its head.
Stomach Filled With Clay.
The mother removed the single
covering. lifted the naked ctild to
feed. and revealed the horror. 1t
was "kewpie" exaggerated TO the
grotesQue-it had legs and arms Of
a brownie and the body OF bill
liken-the diameter OF it's girth was
equal to it's height-it was a TOW
balloon Of tisht-drawn yellow skin
with the head and limbs Of child
affixed. 1t was alive. but beyond
saving. Food was OF no avail.
The child could not eat-could
swallow nUthing-its body was
stuffed with cIay-black. greasy
clay. called eel" which has no grit
and which sticks to the teeth like
dough and which stills the gna wing
Of hunger in the stomach.
This substance is beyond the
elimination powers Of the human
system. with the result it remains
in the intestihes together with all
that follows il. Then comes the
swelling of the abused ''innards."
together with masses OF worms and
the horrible distension that changes
the likeness from that OF a man to
that Of super-infated goblin.
The rest of the body wastes. and
death comes as the only possible
relief.
Tax Collectors Tske Grain.
The Interpreter and sat on the
sand with an old man who had a
face like the Nazarene, with long
hair and a beard still black. A
small silver cross was suspended
from his chest by a greasy cord
His black shirt was open at the
throat. Three children with ghost
ly white puffs under their eyes
lowered near him.
Our needs are bread comrade.
We are dying" he began.
recollection of nv ample
luncheon aboard the steamer came
back with shame as the starving
man talked slowly on without ap-
parent agitation.
We have worked. cOmrade-look
at our hands. Ny sons have been
given to the war-to the revolution.
| have lost everything. First. went
my graDaries to the tax collectors
who came around and took the sur
plus that we had stored for the
winter-took even the grain for the
next seeding-stripped the gran
aries which we have kept filled for
centuries against the time OF need.
Land Became Desert.
Then the rain failed. and this
year the crops burned in the fields.
We picked a few. seeds from the
stocks that were left. We fought
with the starving birds for them.
Then our animals died. and we ate
them. Then we had to leave the
land because it was like a desert.
And we have walked many, weary
Versts. meeting others like US on
the road. and here we are at the
river. 1t seems our last move.
One daughter and two OF INV
grandchildren 1 have buried in the
last ten days one of than on1y