The Washington times., 1922-09-08
WIFE
WORE PATCHED
MUSLIN DRESS
Popoff Finds Her Living In
Comparative Poverty in
Moscow Quarters.

Back from Ratssia after tour
of investigdtion, Georges PopoU, |
special correspondent of Cosno-
poitan Ne1Us Service, says he
found Nine, Trotzky, t0ife of the
soviet aoar minister, WeGring q |
patched muslin dress. She con-
fided that Americans, Oho looked
queer to her aohen she Was IN Neto |
York, still puzzle the soviets.
BY GEORGES PoPoFF.
Copyright. 1922. by Cosmopolitan News
Service.)
RIGA, Sept. 8.-"The Americans |
are a peculiar people. My hus-
band, Leon Trotzky, and myself
were in America for some weeks
several years ago. Everything |
looked very queer to us; even then
we couldn't understand those, peo-
pie. And today we can under
stand them still less" ~. - |
In these words, Natalia IVAN
owna Trotzky, wife of the organ
izer of the red army, half laugh
ingly turned down a request to
come into the garden of her work |
ing quarters at Moscow to pose
for a photograph by an American
film man who had gone with me
to call on her a few days ago.
Shows Palace Prison.
The film man did not know O word |
Of Russian, while Nine. Trotzky did
not understand a word of English,
SO that acted as interpreter and
mediator" between them. After |
good naturedly and preceded us
through a long row of dingy rooms
and corridors, finally through an un.
clean kitchen, and then down a stair.
way into the garden. Nine. TrotZky |
then showed US dungeon-like Gel.
lar which had formerly been a prison
for the palace servants. There the
master Of the palace used to lock up |
obstreperous "hired folk"
such things do not happen to.
day." Nine. Trotzky said, pointing to
the dungeon.
Trotzky's wife has charge Of two
institutions. She has the admins.
tration of all Russian hospitals for
wounded soldiers and Is at the head
of the "Commissariat for the Preser.
vation and Protection Of Monuments
Of Art and Antiquity" This com.
missariat has in its care all the for.
mer czarist palaces, as well as all art |
galleries, museums and many thou.
sands of private estates that repre-.
sent artistic values.
.. Disorderly Place. rt,
Nine. Trotzky receives visitors i'm
a small, old, broken-down palace. II
is situated outside the well-known
Moscow boulevard ring and formerly
was a rendezvous of Mcacow's nobil-
|ity. It is one of the few buildings
in that neighborhood that did not /
conflagration of 1912 on the occasion |
of Napoleon's entry into Moscow.
The interior of the building was just |
as disorderly and improvised as the
working quarters of Nine. Lenin.
Everything was half-broken and |
soiled, and each piece Of furniture |
seemed to have come from a differ |
ent home.
Nine. Trotzky's reception room is |
the smallest I have ever seen. The |
predominant impression one gets at |
first glance is that she is an ex- |
ceedingly modest woman. She IL of |
small statue, and not more than |
thirty years old. Her dress was not |
unelegant, yet almost shabby. II was |
of blue muslin and seemed patched |
in places. Her shoes were Of white |
linen. A worn-out leather bag
dangled from one hand. Her hands |
are delicate and well cared for. Her (
hair, however, was very disordered. |
1t framed a rather pretty, somewhat |
too visibly powdered face Of an un-
important woman who Is the wife of |
an important man.
| had heard from various guar.
| ters that her activity is a very
| fruitful one for her country. II
is said to be due to her efforts
that most of the places in Russia |
have been entirely untouched by
the torch of revolt. Her advocacy
has enabled many former land.
holders to return to their estates
as administrators. Also during the
ures Nine. Trotzky did much for
the protection Of many things
from confiscation.
Hampered BY Poverty.
Nine. Trotzky told me that she
intended to convert an additional
number Of centuries-old private
mansions into museums. She was
afraid that the peasants in their
ignorance might destroy artistic |
values. But she complained that
lack Of money made 1t impossible
for her to realize all her plans.
The American film man took pic.
ture after picture of Nine. Trotzky
so that she finally grew very tired |
Of the swapping" and merely star
ed into the apparatus with an ex.
pressionless face. The operator
asked me to entertain her so as to
make her show some life." Nine. |
Trotzky asked me whether tho
American was displeased, that she
was bored. told her that II was
not that so much, but that he was
worried about his photographs. |
Nine. Trotzky laughed and said:
THAT is typically American"
However, when the film man