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Show Russia Not Yet Ready for Freedom, Says Muscovite Daughter By H. C TT IS like a stone a precious stone, big and shapeless and unpolished. un-polished. It is a precious stone that awaits the polishing, not of use until the jeweler makes it smooth, makes it shine, makes it a wonder before the world.1. This; is Russia today. With all the melancholy Are of the Slav soul, an eighteen-year-old Russian girl just escaped es-caped from-the Bolshevik horrors nd now safe in Philadelphia spoke her faith in ihe ultimate triumph of order and of beauty in her own afflicted land. "An unpolished atone," repeated Zinsaida Dlugatch in the words of the old Russian proverb, "is not of use." It takes courage to have faith in a land from which you have fied. It takes courage and insight to tee beyond be-yond the excesses, the brutalities that make Petrorrad streets a shambles today and glimpse, behind the terror, a future full of calm where genius shall be untainted by insanity. Of such faith and courage and Insight In-sight will the future Russia be molded. "The peasants, the great mass of the people, how could they know what freedom means?" asked the eighteen-year-old refugee with a wistful little smile that deepened the sadness still lining her rosy young face; "they had no education. They had nothing. To live in Russia it was necessary to be rich. Otherwise you were crushed. And yet. in spite of bitter poverty and oppression, the Russian people were so simple and trusting; they did not lie to others, they did not think others would He to them. "That is why the Germans got such control in my country. They saw how-trusting how-trusting the people were and they lied and lied and lied!" Only a few weeks have passed since this girl with her noticeably lovely blue eyes so unwavering and so filled with pain- succeeded in reaching her relatives in this country. Four years ago her parents and two of her sisters came here. War broke out, and for four dreadful years the gil. left with oth. r relatives in Petrograd, has been trying to get passage to America. The horrors she ha seen in the streets of Petrograd have left a gash upon her heart too deep ever to be effaced. "I live in a dream." she said, '.it is so quiot here. I cannot believe that I am safe at last. I go into your Eho;1; foci is piled high, and all may , i i, L ,,. r N orris buy it. 'Ah, God!' I say, and the tears corne; 'if I could but gather this up and send it to the babies I've seen starving ' And In the night I wake with a start, listening for guns to be fired beneath my window." , She shivered a little and looked around the walls of her mother's ( apartment in Philadelphia as If half expecting a rabble of Bolshevik soldiers sol-diers to burst in at th door." "They rush into your house at any hour," she said tremulously. "It makes no difference who you are or where you live. All is madness. The French Revolution Russia is far more terrible than that. Such things they do, such la ws they make 1 1 is th e wl i inn of madmen that governs from moment to moment." In some rural provinces, in such remote spots as Luga.Koplin, KIivo-linsk, KIivo-linsk, the Bolshevik idea has been given its full terrific sway. The system sys-tem of free love has been taken from the tentative essay stage and "legalised." "legal-ised." All girls of eighteen years and over are Lhe property of the Stateund must "marry" for strictly temporary pf riuds the men who choose them. All the children of such unions will belong to the State, and altogether it is a Bernard Shaw, Ellen Key, antliro-' pological hodgepodge of ideas made fact. "I have heard of this terrible thing," the refugee admitted, "in the far places, but not in the capital. Things were bad enough in Petrograd, but not "so bad as in the small towns, where people, ignorant and bewildered, were at the mercy of lunatics. How can such a system prevail? How can Russia Rus-sia hope to found a strong and wise State on this loose and awful experiment? experi-ment? Russia, so fond of home, so filled with love for the children, for the old parents The home that is the foundation on which Russia must build. Even our Czar poor, weak man though he was even the Czar adored his family. Even the Czarina worshiped her children. No, no! The Russian home is the cornerstone on which Russia must build. It is cur greatest hope today. "In Petrograd " Sonia, the twenty-year-old sister, spoke. She had been listening eagerly, devouring the refugee with big, dark eyes, putting in a word now and then iusJlt, rushing Slavic when tho cthtl girl's vocabulary failed and translating here and there a difficult idiom. "In Petrograd." said Sonia. For a moment there was silence. The words had revived glowing memories. mem-ories. Seated there in the quiet room, no danger surging at the door, no clamor in the street, the two sister were symbolic of that fine and pathetic nation which America is seeking so hard to heal and to comfort. "In Petrograd," said Sonia again, "it was a cozy fire, and the brass samovar sam-ovar seething softly on the table, and good books and good cheer. All of us went to school, though it meant about JSOO a year each. Schools are not free in Russia a public school system is what the Russians must have. Education! Education! First education and afterward liberty. My sisters and brothers went to school and we traveled In France and in other countries. You see, we were what you might call wealthy in those days, near Tsarskoe-Seloe. My father has really been ruined by the war. It was a comfortable home and a happy one. "Sometimes we would go to the theatre. Russians like deep plays, not superficial, not burlesque. And I have seen the Czar in a box, like this" sjie dmpped her head listlessly to her hand "not interested in anything; so pale, so inattentive. "He was strange, that man a man not normal. There is an old story that fifteen years ago he went to Japan and fell in love with a Japanese girl. Some one struck him on the head, a hard blow, and he wasn't right since that. But it is a romantic tale. If it is true, who knows? "Whatever the reason, lie lacked strength of character. He was bad for Russia. And his wife she was the curse of our 'land. She loved Germany Ger-many always. When the German soldiers sol-diers were Wiped out by our Russians the Czarina cried. When our Russians fell she did not care. Our brave, poor men! Sent against the Germans without with-out any guns, fighting only with their fists. It was murder. Our men were sold out to the Germans by their own officials. Murder! Murder! "Before the war things were better in our land than they are now. It is a strange thing to say, yes? With all the grinding misery of the poor, with all the bowing down to the police and to royalty, Russia was less wretched then." Sonia'a glance traveled to a photograph photo-graph on the wall. It showed her little lit-tle sister, quaintly pretty in the century-old folk costume, the long, straight white robe falling to her slippered feet, the high, gallant headdress crownhig her dark hair. Happy times, those, when Zinsaida went to dancing school and danced in the lovely ancient costume cos-tume of the Slavs. "So simple our people were and so happy when there was any chance." the repeated; "so trustful and full of gratitude for favors. Our servants, if we were sick, would not desert. They nursed us and wept over us and ft was not for money. What a pity our Czar waa not good, not strong." The sister made a quick, impulsive gesture of pity and impatience. "I remember the day of tho revolution," shev cried. "The crowds and the shouting. They say now in Petrograd that the Czarina and her family the little son also are- safe In England. But it Is a rumor. Who knowa the truth? H "Russia is not ready yet for freedom. For my own part, from the dreadful things I have seen, It seems to me that a monarchy would be best; like England's. Eng-land's. The people must be educated before they can govern themselves. You think It strange that I, a young girl, should have such deep opinions. Ah, but I have seen so many things, I am already old. "If you go out upon the streets in kPetrograd even now you cannot be sure that you will not be killed. There Is shooting always. Two political parties quarrel; they bgin to shoot; they kill any one who is near. Machine Ma-chine guns shooting down the avenues! ave-nues! Oh, you cannot Imagine the terror of life in Petrograd even yet! Terror and starvation and rags! Shoes $TjO a pair. Bread $1 a loaf. Butter 52.50 a pound. "The police? There are none, except ex-cept armed bandits, who enter your house, search your rooms, take what money there is and go laughing. "Or is there a house on fire? Oh well, if the fire engine company cares to answer lhe alarm all right. If not whai docs it matter? There is no authority to pu:;ish them: 'f 'free love; slK;h us the Bo Fhevik ma-Ie legal in other places I do not know. It Tvas not so In the capita'. But I do know that no one t-nks of marriage now nor of joy At! is grU-f and anxietv. "In Petrograd today there are many, many German?. Yes, oven now. Oh, what a pity that Kerensky had not the strength to hold the reins when they had been put Into his hand. A good man, a wise man, but not strong enough for Russia. Why did he permit per-mit Trotzky and Lenine to enter the country? It was madness, it waa dh aster, it was an invitation to the Germans. Ger-mans. "And they came. At once after the 'peace' was made those Germans came. You should have seen them, swaggering swagger-ing by the dozen through our streets. A German officer stopped me one day" the girl's deep blue eyes burned and her color rose. "He asked me the way in German. In German! "I stood perfectly Btill and Bwered !n my native tonguo. W speak Russian in Russia." "For a moment he glared. "Then hn smiled a little and re- ' peated his question In Russian. Yes, the Germans speak Russian. It waa part of their game to learn our Ian- v ua,ge and our weakness. - " "For it seems to me that our grei weakness was trusting everybody aril trusting our own emotions. Ths Rus sians are so emotional that if a mart on the corner talks with eloquence! and passion they believe. Tf a man on the next corner talks with eloquence and passion on a different argument they will probably believe him also. I Thus, you see, Russia is handicapped because the emotions are so vivid l while education has not awakened ' the power to reason carefully. If you cannot be of use to your friend. ( in that poor, distracted land, it is bet- ter to go away so that your allow- ance of food and clothes may bo saved. . "But how to get away? Oh, the many times I tried. The many con- : suls and friends I must have to speak I in my behalf. Only for the fact that : I possessed parents in America I could 1 never have gained consent. "At last the permission came. I ' left by way of Finland. Unhappy eountry. it is In a state growing rap-Idly rap-Idly as bad "as that of Russia. I mean that part of Finland in German control. con-trol. The German guards whom I met were angry because I waa going to An, erica. They called me -Ameri- J kauer,' but there was an American in our paj-ly and ila would nof b, afraid. "They let us through at length, and we went by Sweden to England. Then across the Atlantic and" a Ions; sigh of relief "hore in unlet and safetv." |