The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-11-14
The New Russia, No. g.
RUSSIAN TRAVEL
HARD IN MORE
THAN ONE WAY
Experiences in Third Class
Car Are Long to Be
Remembered.
BY JULIA BLANSHARD
stan Writer for NEA Service and The
Times, Sent to Soviet Russia Especially
for This Series

for This Series.
copyright. 1891. NEA Service. TneO
When you travel in Russia, YOU
should travel as the Russians do.
and that is hard" Hard" is the
literal translation of the third class,
"zhostky." 1t describes quite accu-
rately the board shelf on which you
sleep when you travel in a third
class carriage.
There are two other choices for
you besides hard the costly
wagon Its which afford you luxuri-
Gus, spacious compartments, with
semi-private waShroomS, and soft"
C'myakhkt'), or second-class cars,
which have upholstered compart-
ments that can be made into pre-
sentable beds with disinfected
sheets, pillow slips and blankets by
paying the train guard, ''provdnik,"
three rubles ($1.5o).
Travelling third is distinctive ex-
perience for an American, as 1 dis
covered when I occupied my wooden
shelf for eight days crossing Siberia
from China. These third class cars
have no inclosed compartments.
A corridor runs down one. side of
each car and at right angles to it,
across the car, sections of wooden
seats are built, exactly like wide
pantry shelves, in tiers of three on
either side of the windows, with
each shelf far enough above the
one below it to allow even tall
adult to sit erect.
Just Stretch Out
During the day the pantry-Shelf
| neighbors on the second and top
hunks may descend to sit on the
lowest shelf. But when night comes
everybody has his own bare wooden
shelf to stretch out and sleep on,
unless the train is so crowded that
| several must huddle together on one
seat, sitting up.
All Russia travels 'hard." In
fact, after you have passed a couple
of stations and seen the hordes of
drably dressed and heavily laden
peasants who surge into the train,
you may conclude that all Russia is
travelling, and on your train.
When you travel hard in Russia
you do not take your clothes off.
You might lose the clothes.
Leaving Moscow for the Ukraine,
my next-shelf neighbor, stenog-
grapher, took off her new pale gray
kid shoes, tied them on to her belt
so no one could steal them, pulled
her coat over her and lay down to
sleep, having put her stockinged feet
inside her food basket to keep them
warm.
Stagger Under Burdens
The Red soldier on the shelf over
me put his new kodak, his pride and
joy and the envy of the whole train,
under his head for a pillow.
On the shelf under me fat peas
ant woman and her little girl slept,
one heading one way, the other the
other, with a dirty, gray wooden
comforter completely covering them
both, head and all.
Men and women stagger under
their burdens, bearing one or all
four of the different kinds of Rus
sian baggage, burlap bundles, bas-
KetS, boxes and babies. I saw one
3-year-old child bent half double
with a food bag on his back and
the family teapot in his hand.
When morning comes, some of
these odd-looking bundles are
opened to reveal black bread, sau-
sage, cheese, hard-boiled eggs, tea,
all wrapped up in shirts, towels,
baby clothes or right in with the
family bed clothes. Real democracy
holds sway.
Take Place in Line
You take your place in the line
for the toilet, you take your turn
standing in the corridor looking out
the windows, and when the train
stops you rush for a good place in
the line in front of the "kipstock, "
the hot water faucet which all Rus
sian stations keep steaming for the
great national drink, tea.
You soon learn to bargain at the
food counters as the Russians do.
Half the fun of travelling third is to
jump off at various stations and buy
food.
Women and children line up with
all kinds of viands to sell. There
seems to be plenty Of food outside
of Moscow. Food shortage in the
cities is, you realize, a transporta-
ton problem.
Cleaner Than in 1925
Trains are cleaner today than
they were in 1925 when I crossed
Siberia hard" The guard comes
along with his short broom made
of tree twigs and sweeps out.
A peasant boy chewing sunfower
seeds, sticks his head out of the
window in the corridor to spit out
the seeds. Formerly the floor would
have got them.
If you travel first or second-claSS
in Russia, you must also revise your
travelling habits. At the border the
intourist guide tells all Americans
that they may get a stranger of the
opposite sex in their compartments.
Coming out from Moscow L drew
a lower berth in a soft" compart-
ment for four, with an American |
engineer and a Russian chemist as
my companions.
When I was ready to turn in, I |
merely said SO and they both got |
up and went out into the corridor
to smoke
I closed the door and when I I'M
dressed, opened the door, crawled |
in and turned my face to the wall. |
When the last person in was ready |
for bed, he shut and locked the
door, and turned out the light. In
the morning, the plan was reversed. |