East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1922-02-21
APPALLING MISERY ON .
|. FAMINE SWEPT STEPPES.
BY EDWIN w. HULLINGER

Omitted Press Staff Correspondent. J
! BULGARI VILLAGE. East Russia,
| Feb. 21. = American food. given
through the A. II. A.. is helping the
| preserve life in this, one of the most
I'ancient spots in Russia.
Thirteen hundred years ago one of
the three Bulgarian" princes of the
4, old Slav dynasty settled here with his
| retinue and followers. There were
three brothers. The other two estab-
lished themselves in Vienna and
Sophia, respectively.
On the heights commanding the
Volga grew city of 10000 inhabi-
tants, which. controlled, the country
for miles around. Remains of the old
city wall are still standing, and the
American Relief Administrations chill
dren's kitchen, in the little. school
house, Is only a few yards from the
site of one of the places. For hun
dreds of years, however Bulgaria has
Deen village, with about 1900 inhab-
itants.
Of these 1,500 half have disappeared
since summer, and unless help comes
from outside, most of the others will
be missing by next summer. Then the
cycle Of fate will be completed and in
the space of six months, history will
nave sprung back fourteen hundred
years restoring Bulgaria. as it was
when the Black Prince encamped up-
ON the promontory. i
For miles in every direction stretch
the level, treeless steppes, infinite in
loneliness, extent and cruel beauty.
Not fence nor hedge or house breaks
the skyline. In fact, there hardly |
seems to be any skyline at all, as |
Write this, so perfectly does the white
or the snowfield blend into the light
gray Of the, sky, overhung with snow
clouds. A Dutch" windmill. its fourl
arms motionless, nearby, stands in
opaque relief, like cross, against
the background of snow and sky. A
few stunted trees on both sides of the
road climb the little incline from the
plains-to the top of the mole.
Across the frozen: Xolga,, a mile
VIDE, our caravan, of four Russian
ileighs drove this afternoon into Bull
san. The. snow stopped falling as wei
turned into a front ward of the log
'abin schoolhouse where the A. r. A.
gives ninety children one supplement
ary' meal a day. This supplement
airy meal, however is supplementary
only in the technical sense Of A. II. A, |
plraseology. Actually, it is all the
'hiidren get to eat. And actually, |
llso, 1t is enough to keep them alive.
we rolled out of our sleighs like
lnge balls of snow. The village lay
'round us in stiffness and snow, eachl
int seemingly snowbound for years.
Near the schoolhouse were the ruins
II three old buildings, dating from the
fifteenth century. .sto
inside, the schoolmaster and his
wife greeted us with far western cor
liality. II
There was still. fuel so the school
lad not suffered the fate of so many
n the famine region for the schools
re closing rapidly now. as the wood
iles in the backwards disappear. Il
Al We have, very few books the
choolmaster explained. "But we do I O
he best we can. We have, almost no
aper and pencils a4.
Then he told how all activity-eco- /
omic and social--had ceased during Il
ne last several months. How the
nipple peasants who were left after
nc cold weather checked the migra-
on quietly withdrew themselves into Z
'eir log cabins to await death in stole
lence. ..>G..
| visited scores of these homes dur s
e the tour through the Tartar Re-
1blic. They were nearly all the same. +
ntire families, in varying degrees of 8
fferlng, huddled around the stove
here there was fuel or more com Il
Ny, lying on the bare floor with a ID
lernsey sack as cover.
Often three generations, grandfath-
, son and grapdchild, were together /.
various, stages of the slow lingering p
ath which the villagers of the Tar Il
Republic are dying. Meanwhile. .
ceiling crealsed rhythmically with 3
G undulations of the cradle, under II
hand of the grandmother. A Rus =
N cradle, is suspended on an elastic 8
"a from the ceiling, and rocks un 3
II down HdN ~ fT+7 as -