Show PITIFUL BUT JOYFUL SLAVS REACH HOME FOR KISS AND DEATH J Three ree Times a Week Train L Brings Hopelessly Hurt to Fatherland RECEIVED WITH HONOR Women Wo Wo- Women Noblemen and Titled men Servitors at Lunch for fot Nations Nation's Heroes ft fr By WM PHILIP SIMMS Special Cable to The Telegram PETRO PETROGRAD GRAD Aug 26 Three times a week the Train of the Joyful Hopeless rolls south from just under the I Arctic circle and comes to a halt t nt t the Finland station here And painfully painfully pain pain- fully while a band land plays the Russian anthem two hundred permanently disabled dis soldiers exchanged prisoners are helped out of the stuffy coaches onto the platform Today I met this train There were all aU conditions of or men and boys Some had bad one leg missing missing miss miss- ing some the other while some had no rIo legs at all Here was an armless giant there a stark blind one oe led by a sweet faced woman wearing the becoming headdress of ot the Red Cross Many of the men were on foot and able to hobble along unaided Others Others Oth Oth- ers with eager hollow eyes were prostrate on stretchers borne by able bodied huskies such as they themselves themselves themselves them them- selves once were vere A goodly portion of the rest hitched forward inches ata at ata ata a time or crow hopped on oa crude crutches dragging after them cruelly distorted maimed limbs limba White Plague Victims Pitiful But the most pitiful of all were the tubercular chaps They had contracted contracted con con- the disease in the trenches or ox orin orin in prison camps Weak and emaciated their hectic cheeks were flushed to a astill still deeper crimson under the double double dou don ble impulsion of ot disease and Joy the joy the wonderful Joy of being home again Down the cheeks checks of one of them a athey as I they fetched him out of the train scalding tears were streaming but upon his face was the unmistakable i expression of an infinite inward glad glad- ness The Countess Davidoff Orloff-Davidoff went to him and gave him her own I dainty handkerchief of or batiste anc and I Ilace lace to brush the tears away He said I something to her and they talked I Ifor I for a moment and when she came i away her chin was quivering like a a achild's achild's L I childs child's and her eyes were moist I I asked her what he had saidI saidI saidI said I dont don't knoy knof why it should affect I me so she said sald apologetically for I I E have seen the same thing many many times limes He says he is s so happy to be home iome again He knows very well I what his Ills condition is but he is perfectly perfectly per per- happy He has come home to tc the baby he has never seen seen and and I Idie die Come Conte Home to Die There were a lot of them like him him him- dust coming home to die For they are not sending these men back to tc take up D arms again that much is tain tam The scene at this train disgorging useless men would be picturesque if it i one could swallow the lump in ones one's throat and look at it dispassionately Every soldier is spick and span in brand new citizen clothes furnished him by special arrangement in Swe Swe- den deni There his filthy ragged uniform uni uni- form was taken from him and burned The happy crippled home comers are ed d into a long shed like hall built for jor the purpose on the left eft hand side t of t th Finland railway tracks Every Monday Wednesday and Saturday It is filled Just so and the scene never varies Here tables clean and shining shin shin- ing have been arranged with plates enough on each to accommodate ten persons and waiters men and amid women nobles many of them stand at attention attention at at- ready to servo serve the piping hot lunch But first there is a little ceremony A general gay with decorations welcomes welcomes wel wel- comes the warriors in the name name of the emperor a court gentleman welcomes welcomes wel wel- comes them in the name of ot the czar ina isa and through an official the city of ot Petrograd welcomes them Then in their glittering littering robes stiff and and heavy with embroidered gold crosses and other holy emblems the priests of the orthodox church chant in su suo bass and baritone before a temporary tem tern II altar and nd give the strange gathering their benediction The most religious us folk on earth childlike in nature re and prone to home sickness sickness as children are prone the poor maimed fellows can stand it no longer They weep like great big hurt boys at the knees of their mothers moth moth- ers ore and wipe their eyes with crinkly new bandages giddy with colors as an Easter egg Three Cheers for Czar Like lightning the scene changes i Three hurrahs for the czar a colonel shouts as he steps P out in the middle of the tile hall hail And the three cheers come deep and hearty much stronger than one would woul c Waag me ine possible from nag nag- a group of human wrecks such as this Three more cheers for the empress follow then the regimental chant of thanksgiving I fr for the AlmIghty's favors and the I II I tired bred invalids sit down to the best l II i meal they 7 haVe had in ln a month nth of I Sundays There is soup souP good good rich Russian I soup the color of gold With strength I giving beef gravy floating o On its face And surI sur suir- I there hf are meatballs or I hamburgers am with more grav gravy and temptingly browned potatoes on the side as much j f as they can eat cat and more Dessert and coffee follow a little life restoring forbidden wine With though it ordinarily to is-to make the heart beat faster and to drink the f emperors emperor's health in I Then there is a Testaments the Testaments the distribution own of gifts rifts mis- mis pros pros- are exit pare ent-pare given to all De every ma man man receiving re- re a a- book according to hi his faith be he Catholic Protestant Greek Orthodox Orthodox Or Or- Mohammedan or Jew Ten roubles 5 is given to each invalid unless he lie wears a cross for bravery In which case It IB Xe made 25 roubles And there is a box of or cigarettes of course and the cakes When it i all over private automobiles automobiles automobiles auto auto- mobiles mobilize the cripples carrying some to other railway stations to start them on on their last stage stag homeward homeward home home- ward others to convalescent hospitals or hospitals for the sick But dont don't get the idea the Russians stage this drama for the public for they dont The public isn't even ad ad- The depot shed is isolated and the track on which the train comes in Is ls hidden behind a OH kindly i string of or box cars For there thero the uie are h many in m each trainload ad who as countess said are only coming home to get one olie kiss kiss- kiss and die die |