Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1943-08-13
Children of Mars
By Quentin Reynolds
1NU Feature-Through special arrangement
with Golfers Weekly

In Russia, they call their Boy
Scouts "Pioneers." They have no
uniforms, no recreation, no time to
play. But they are very proud OF
the job they are doing to speed VIC
tory.
I stood the other day on the en-
bankment, looking across the river
toward the Kremlin and its towers
and mosques. I could feel the
warmth of the sun and I knew that
summer finally had come to Mos
COW.
At home, the kids would be getting
out baseball bats and gloves and
hurrying to the nearest vacant lot.
Here in Moscow, the youngsters just
out of school were hurrying to the
embankment across the narrow riv-
er outside the Kremlin. They
laughed and yelled, and then a SOL
der gave an order and the laughter
stopped.
The kids lined up. There were
about 60 of them, one-third girls.
Not one was more than IA. The
soldier gave crisp orders. The kids
marched smartly up and down the
embankment. They marched by
ter barking out military commands.
They drilled for one hour-these
children of Mars-and then they
were dismissed. When their time
came, these youngsters would al
ready have considerable basic mill
tary training. Today they had been
in school for five hours and they had
drilled for one hour.
It's Children's War, Too.
The children of Russia are Or
ganized into a society called Pho
neers. It's much like our Boy
Scouts, except that girls also are
admitted to membership.
| When school is done and drilling
is finished, they 60 into homes and
help. Each housewife now has to run
her own home by herself. There's
no servant problem in Moscow;
there are no servants.
If her children are very young,
her problem is difficult one. This
is where the Pioneers enter the pic
ture. Each group of Pioneers is as
signed to a city block. They find
out which families need help. They
60 into homes and do what is needed.
The Timur Group.
Within the Pioneers there is a
secret group, the envy of all the
others. These are called the Timur.
Some years ago, moving picture
depicted boy named Timur who
had very great powers. He often
visited the dirty homes of mortals
and merely by waving a wand would
make the house immaculate. If
there was wood to be chopped, why,
that was a cinch. He'd wave his
wand again and there would be
neat pile of logs all ready for the
stove.
When the family came home to
find the house clean and wood
piled in the bin, they would know
that Timur had been visiting. Timur
was a great favorite with Russian
| youngsters, and the Pioneers adopt
ed his name for their secret society.
They work much as Timur
worked. A family is finding the
burden of carrying on too heavy.
Perhaps the husband is at the front,
and his wife works in a factory all
day. This is true of thousands and
thousands of families in Russia.
Nurseries take care of the children
while a mother is working, and she
picks them up on her way home.
Then she has to prepare dinner for
them. She has little time for house
cleaning or wood chopping.
Vlgilant youngsters will report
this to the Pioneers. A flying group
of Timur lads will descend on the
house, give it thorough cleaning,
scour the pots and pans, beat rugs,
wash and dry any dirty dishes, chop
enough wood to last a week-and
then vanish.
The housewife comes home and
looks at her now clean and tidy
house and thinks that the age of
miracles has come again.
Typical of the way in which
Tlmurs operate is the care they take
of an aged invalid, father of the
well-knoWn Soviet inventor Peter
Bostivan. Both Bostivan and his
wife enlisted and are at the front.
The woman who normally took care
of the household went into a NUM-
tons plant, and the old man, quite
helpless, was alone.
The Timurs heard of it and today
they are in the house getting his
hot tea and black toast ready for
breakfast. They take turns giving
up their lunch hours to prepare his
food. In the afternoon they do his
marketing and housekeeping. In
recognition of this, Bostivan recent
ly wrote glowing letter of thanks.
Although discouraged by military
authority, the children have actual
ly done job in combat at the front.
Sometimes military leaders cannot
help themselves. I met 15-year-old
Vassia, who was just back from the
! front. He was baby-faced kid.