The Washington times., 1936-08-05

the window and looked out. The
platform was crowded with people
It was only a little after s o'clock
Below my window stood beggal
with outstretched hand. He looked
ragged, starved and miserable
like so many others I had seen be
fore, but he was an uncommonlS
handsome old man with a huge
white beard.
"Dyadya, daitye hIe5. Dyadya,
daitye hleb." ("Uncle, give me
bread"), he said in a deep, sad
earnest voice.
I knew the last two words tt
mean "give bread" but the wore
"dyadya" was unknown to me.
gave him some bread and my last
stale bun from Moscow. There
was a strong dignity in this beg
gar's poverty.
He looked at the bun, lifted hi:
face toward me, and asked:
"Sprechen sic Deutsch?" ("DO
you speak German?")
"Na-wie gehtS?" ("Well, how
goes it?'') 1 asked.
"Schlecht, schlecht." CBad,
bad"O, he answered, gently.
"SOOn we shall all be dead from
starvation. I've got eight chill
dren. Two are already dead and
we shall soon follow them"
"HOw long have you been in
RuSSia?"
ooh, an eternity! / was only
a small child when my parents
came to Russia"
He pointed half apologetically tc
his ragged clothes, and said:
"DO you see what kind of
clothes you have to wear here if
you aren't a Communist"
1 could not help it. had tc
give him some of my dirty roubles
"Why aren't you a COmmu-
nist?"
He Strengthened his back an6
pushed forward his emaciated
chest. 1t was tall and broad.
II am a German peasant, and
1 won't let them convince me,
these bruteS."
"What does 'dyadya' mean?"
"It means uncle That's a
word we beggars always use"
We shouted good-by and "Au1
Wiedersehen" to each other, and
1, an old hardened wanderer who
had seen a lot, had to swallow
hard and to keep my head out of
the window till my eyes were
dried by the summer wind.
Meets Girl Agent
I turned my head and to my
surprise I looked straight into
the pert, pretty, piquant face OF
a young, smart girl.
She at once began telling me
a lot, from which I understood
that she was a Communist prop
aganda agent on a holiday trip
to Voronezh. How I wished
could understand the young girls
flow of words. I man,
aged, however, to pick up certain
phrases which I had heard be-
fore. She told me about all the
unemployed in England, Germany
and America-in short, all over
"the capitalist world"
She suddenly stavted chatter,
ing about the second five-year
plan, which would give the Rus
slams as good shoes and clothing
as those worn by the foreign ex'
pertS and their wives.
I did my best to explain that
as far as I could see the first
thing to think about was to feed
all the many starving creatures
had seen already, and would
probably see still more Of.
MikailovSky came in with a big
dock-leaf filled with wild raSp-
berries which he had bought at
a small railway station. However,
as wanted to I did not
dare eat them, as I remembered
the warning words Of the Ger.
man engineer:
"Never eat fruit in Russia
which hasn't got a protective
shell or skin, or unless it has
been first washed in boiled
water"
The raspberries looked very
dirty and badly needed washing.
TovariSch Ivanova (this was
the name of the young girD said
that her friend the foreign spec
ialist had always refused to
touch the fruit which she had
bought when they were travelling
With charming little
pout she added that all Russians
were pigs. Her friend had al
ways said so and she knew quite
well that he was right.
I should have liked to tell her
that perhaps the dirt in Russia
would not be so overwhelming if
they stopped making bad powder
and rouge and produced some good
soap instead. I had no idea of the
shortage in the Soviet
Union of animal fats which I be.
lieve are necessary for the produc-
tion Of good soap.
I heard about that later on, but
at that time I only saw a proof of
Russian filth in the enormous out
put of beauty aids. Alas! I had
much to learn. What a good thing
that I had not got an interpreter
with me or made an effort to put
all the nonsense into words. After
a few hours our train drew up at
the big railway station at Voro'
nezh.