The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-09-06
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN, Director.
Washington, D. @.
RUSSIAN MOBILES EARN THEIR
LIVING

Russian nobility nowadays. Appar-
emily all who could manage it came
here when the car was killed. and
| since then a steady procession of
counts, countesses, archdukes and
princes, temporarily halted in Europe.
has been filing hopefully into Man
haitian.
They are always turning up in the
most unexpected places. The new
barber in the hotel barber shop on the
corner, the man who collects your
| laundry, the ticket taker in the sub
way, the taxi chauffeur, the clerk in
the florist shop and the young lady
behind the cigar counter-are all apt
to belong~ to this distinguished but
now impecun.ous class.
New York has seen nothing like
them since the days of the French
revolution, when the ex-court OF Ma
RE Antoinette settled down to unfa-
miliar labor in the stables and bar
rooms of New York and Philadelphia.
The French, it is said, having brought
with them their fine clothes, relieved
uets at night. Well, perhaps our Rus
sian nobility toddles. but it does not
appear very gay.
Not far from where the reporter is
stopping there is a tiny, dilapidated
wooden shelter which houses a news
SldA4O anu lAlS 0dys d oAANOl
haired. bright-eyed old lady, who is
the proprietress. She is also a Rus
sian countess, who used to be handed
her own newspaper on a. carved
bronze tray. Two years ago she came
here from Switzerland. with sufficient
/ income to live upon had she not in
vested it in a moving picture enter
prise started by a Russian ex-admiral
and his son. When it failed she had
only pittance, but she gamely took
chance and bought her newsstand.
This way. you see" she explained
in perfect English, 81 am always privi-
legged to follow the news of Russia. I
read all the daily newspapers in New
York. When the old regime regains
its power, shall Immediately know
it"
This speech is characteristic of the
majority of the refugees. Each car
ries with him the memory of hideous
happenings before he made his escape,
but of these things he never talks.
Instead he will begin to tell you that
the present Bolshevist regime cannot
last, that it is but a clumsy expert
ment which will fail of it's own mani
| ton, and that in another ten years he
and his noble sisters and cousins will
| be back in possession of their Russian
land.
A Royal Guard in Exile.
ours is a sacred trust" solemnly
declared a bewhiskered old captain of
4 the Royal Guard, who was discovered
making lamp shades in a downtown
art shop I'VE must keep alive the
brains and the education of Russia
for the hour of rehabilitation" With
neat precision he cut a piece of gilt
braid to be applied to the parchment.
I'VE have not the right to de- he
Continued. Therefore we must work. "
Yes. ten years of making lamp
| shades and you will probably change
your mind" interrupted a clerk in
the shop; also a Russian. but a pro-
| letarian-
The Russian noblewoman, who was
formerly an heiress to millions, ad-
mfts that she is beginning to sympa-
| thize with the reVolutionists since
having to earn her own living in New
| York In Russia she had been accus-
TONED TO gratifying every whim. She
! owned theater in which she acted
she possessed innumerable cars and
| horses and jewels and servants; her
| hospitality was famous, and so was
| her wine cellar. When encountered
recently she was living on an income
| OF $40 a week, which she earned as
| saleSWoman in a Fifth Avenue shop
When I sell these useless baubles
| to women in the store,'' she said, 81
| begin to see why there was a revolu-
ton in Russia. We were criminal !
| never realized misery and suffering
| before"
Then, not long ago, the head of 6
European exporting house was embar-
raised to discover that his new
stenographer was a Russian princes.
who had once entertained a member
of his family in Moscow.
'See here said the old gentleman
severely, handing the petite young wo
man personal letter which had JUS
arrived in the office mail, this is al
very courageous, but you shouldn't d.
this sort of thing, you know. YoI
weren't cut out for it."
You mean am incompetent ?" in
CURED the princess.
mo; 1 mean I know who you are
and what you have been accustomed
to, and I don't think you should de
vote the rest OF your life to a type
I writer the exported declared. 'Nov
L m going to get my wife to invite
l -Ah, please, must ask you not to.
; interrupted the ex-princess hastily. ''
do not like to be reminded OF my past
because it was very unhappy, and thi
charming work makes me forget TO
very many hours of each day. Also. 1
is pleasant to earn ones own living. il
it not? Always I dislike to be unde
obligation to anyone"
]. The Scorn of Work.
i The royal refugees seem to fal
: quite naturally into the lower walks o
! Am erican life. Having been brough
up to consider all work beneath them
they are unable to discriminate be
z tween different kinds of work. 1
RusSion nobleman usually lives in New
, | York several months before he is abb
) to understand why the manager of
: factory in this country is of more so
. cial importance that the average fac
: tory employe. In the eyes of Rus
sian prince, a proletarian is q prole
tartan, whether he happens to be
soap manufa cturer or the soap manu-
facturer's chauffeur.
The establishment of social rela
> lions with the American inGustria
aristocracy is also handicapped b.
! the royal refugees lack of fine raj
> ment. Most of them had to leav
Russia with extremely light baggage
> which later received hard wear Il
= European capitals. Their appearance
: is not especially impressive, SO tina
, the soap manufacturer also has grea
difficulty in distinguishing betweel
: a Russian royal parsonage and
Russian tailor. Indeed. under presen