The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1921-09-29
People Sit Silent in the Streets
Awaiting Death to End
Their Sufferings.
PICTURES OF GRIM MISERY
Docks and Railroad Stations Piled
High With Belongings Of Refugees
Driven From Their Land by
Drouqht and Grasshoppers.

Syzran. RuSSia.-There was a time
when Syzran was the most cOlorful
CITY along the VOlga, but that time is
gone. Today it is crowded with dust
begrimed peasants, who group them
selves into gray masses in their search
for food.
There was a time when the air was
filed with a perfect babel Of tongues
the languages of the Kalmucks, Mon
COILS. TartarS, Chinese and Russians
but the crowds that thrOng the streets
Of the city at present are mute. Even
the laughter of children has been ST.
fenced in the despair that has settled
over these tens of thousands, who sit
crossing themselves, and wait FOR
what seems to be the inevitable.
Pictures of Grim Misery.
Pictures of misery seen here are du-
plicated in Samara, Simbirsk, Saratof.
Tsaritzin. and every other city in the
famine-stricken valley of the VOlga.
Docks and railroad stations are piled
high with the belongings of the retu-
gees. who were driven from their lana
by the drought and the clouds or
grasshoppers that destroyed even the
meager grain that had deied the heat
of the terrible summer now drawing
to a tragic close. Committees are try
ing to move the refugees to Otner
points where there is some promise
Of food, but it is necessary to use
the limited river and railroad trans
portation facilities to send seed grain
into the country and to bring 0read
into the famine districts.
Many professional beggars of the
gypsy type are to be found here ana
in other large centers in southern
Russia but the starving farmers ask
no aims and utter no cry. They
stand silent and await their fate with
the stOcism pictured so graphically
and truthfully by TolstOy and Dosto-
ieysky.
Sell Rings and Clothing.
Markets have sprung up mushroom
like here and there about the refugee
camps, Offering for sale vegetables,
bread, flour and meat. They are sur
rounded by hungry people, who nave
Ii" money to offer, but who exchange
wedding rings, fur coats, caps, ket-
ties pans, boots and other small pos
sessions. They know the Russian WIN
Ter IS coming, and that it Will ma
them without shelter and clothing, but
uley are obliged to give up the ne
ceSSltieS Of the future to meet the de-
mands Of the present.
Large peasant families arrive in
state Of exhaustion, their carts being
dragged by camels and starved
horses. There is no hay or grain
mere, and there is slight prospect that
me animals can be kept alive until
spring
III the carts are samOvars, talking
machines, cOncertinas and American
sewing machines, which are bartered
i"F I0Od or for collins. The dead
ne unn"ticed for hours, while near
'leiil are pitiful groups boiling a few
potatoes and onions with which to
Aeep alive Some markets are under
armed guard, but this appears to be
unnecessary, as the peasants are too
weak and passive to take violent
measures
Typhus Claiming Victims.
GREAT crowds attempt to cling to
'"e rev trains that leave here daily,
ulu soldiers often pull some Of the
iugees from the cars, frequently
p0Fatlng families. some members OF
WI "hi'h have managed to secrete them
"e.VeS between the cars.
1Sphus has appeared in many
''"VeS and the hospital superintend"