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Show , FLOYD GIBBONS cYT $ j l ' 't t ' f fcYT I ' Ien , , .i i . t Clubt Adventurers v vy vvsfit en ur rs Club Club1 - -1 1 y - ' vsfit . ' - J aJ r ar a aa a"A a "A A " A Grave in Russia19 Russia19By Russia " By FLOYD GIBBONS GIBBONSFamous GIBBONSFamous GIBBONSFamous Famous Headline Hunter . HIs is the story ofwhy of why Dot/fa Dot fa Donia Donia / Santanovsky of Bronx , , N . . Y Ycame . . , , T HHIS THIS came carne to America . . It is also the story ofss of ss \ \ \ \ hy by Donia is afraid afraidof afraidof afraidof of ofsnow snow . That's Thats ' ' a funnysort funny sort of fear , especIallyas especially as Donia came camehere camehere camehere here from Russia where they have plenty oPthat of'that ofthat of ' that cold , white stuff stud stuffthat studthat stuffthat that powders the earth in winter . But then , if you'd youd ' gone throughwhat through what Donia did , , over there therein therein therein in the little htUe village of Shulac , . , near the city of Kiev-well-maybe Kiev well maybe Kievwellmaybeyou'd Kiev - well - maybeyou'd maybeyoud you'd youd ' be afraid of snow , . , too I know that If ! It t bad had happened to me . , I'd Id I'dmove I'dmove ' I ' dmove move do doss down " n on the : Equator Iquator where ' Fd I'd Id ' never even have to think of ot . the thedoggone thedoggone thedoggone doggone stuff sturr . . In the winter of 1919 Donia Donla lived In that little village of ofShulac ofShulac ofShulac Shulac that I Just mentioned . She lived there alone with her hermother hermother hermother mother , for her father had been killed In the World war . The Times Were Hard , Even for Russia Russia.Those RussiaThose . Those were bad times In Russia Russin , . The Tbe Czarlst Czarist government had . fallen t.aUen taUen , and there'tas there \ ' was \'tas 'tas tas Ras little reallllw real law in the land . . No much order , either . Rovingbands Rovingbands Roving Rovingbands bands pillage the country . Bandits were eveiywhere evelywhere everywhere . And worst of all were the Cossacks Cossads , those halt half . savage savnge poldlers , soldiers of thetormer theformer the theformer former tormer czar . Wherever they went they robbed and terrorized Especially Ispeclally EspecIaily EspecIailythey Ispeclallythey : Especiallythey they terrorized the Jews wherever where\er where er whereser \ they found them . . That , , of course , , was nothing new . . Even under the czars czarsthere czarsthere czarthere * there had been anti Jewish riots , most of them Instigated and andcarried andcarried andcarried carried on by these same Cossacks Now , though , they were wereeven wereeven wereeven even less restrained than they had been In the old days of the themonarchy themonarchy themonarchy monarchy . Jews were robbed , beaten , tortured and killed . They Theyhave Theyhave Theyhave have a name for those tho-se tho se - slaughters over there . They call them them"pogroms them"pogroms them"pogroms thempogroms " " "pogroms pogroms "The The " Cossacks Are Coming " Was Bad News News.Donia NewsDonia . Donia and her mother 11\ 11 ] lived 11ed hed \ ed in constant fear of these pogroms Tbeywere Theywere They Tbey Theywere were the only Jewish Je"ish Jeish Jessish " family in the nelgbborhood-the nelgbborhood the neighborhood-the neighborhood neighborhood - the only one within withina a radius of five miles about their little village And one night , , , as DonIalay Donialay Donia Donialay lay in bed with a high fe fever fev , er there came an ominous 1 knocking 10cklng at the door . .When When . When Donla's Donlas Donia's Donias ' mother motber opened It Jt she saw a peasint peas'lOt peaslOt peasant ' , shaking with fear tear , who cried out the dreaded warning , ' The Cossacks Cossachs are coming , . " Donia s mother became pale with terror . Donia started to cry . Shewas Shewas She Shewas was only six years old then-not then not then - not much more than a baby . But theCossacks theCossacks the theCossacks Cossacks didn't didnt ' spare even e\en e en esen \ children chlldren when they were out on their savageCoru savageforays savage savageforays Coru foraysFever forays foraysFever ) s sFever Fever or no fever , Donia was taken out of bed . Her mother motherwrapped motherwrapped motherwrapped wrapped her in some blankets and , , dragging her by the hand handstarted , , started for the house of a Christian neighbor where they could couldhide couldhide couldhide hide until the Cossacks had gone . , , It was a bitter cold night It had been snowing steadily stcadlIy for daysIt daysIt days daysIt It was hard going through tluough the drifts , and tlie the neighbor's neighbors ' ' house was a mileaway mileaway mile mileaway away . But DoniaS Donia smother s mother hunied hurded huriled on , going as fast as the drifts wouldlet wouldlet would wouldlet let her , and dragging little llttle Donia Donla along by the handThey hand handThey They Seek Refuge in the Frozen Tundras Tundras.They TundrasThey . They had almost reached tlieir their destination when they heard the bent beat bentof beatof beatof of hor horses : > es ' hoofs hoors far fnr up the roid rO'ld rOld road ' The COl Co&sacks Cosacks Cossacks & > sacks were on them r ' There There"asn't Therewasn't Therewasn't Therewasnt "asn't asnt wasn't wasnt " ' ' tlm time to rcich re'lcb relcb re'icb reicb ' the house bouse " where "here here they " were "ere ere to find shelter . . Hardly HardlyMother ' 11R R ? d da dr a r & 11 11 . s - . 1 - 1 1s s : - - - = - - - = - t - tfdother - - - Mother fdother and Child Fled Flcd Through the Snow , . time for anything anytblng at all . . Donla's Donlas Donia's Donias ' mother looked Joohed around for a place to tohide tohide tohide hide hiderlhe Ihe rlhe bare , , tieeless tteeless treeless landscape stretched away , , bleak bleah and shelterless shelterless1.here shelterlessIhere 1.here 1here . ' ! here " was "as as no place to hide bide but one-an one an one-and one and one - - and that might mean menn death tor for little littlefever littlefever littlefever fever stricken DoniaThere DoniaThere Donia DoniaThere There wasn't wasnt ' any choice Better an easy death than the thetortures thetortures thetorture tortures * of the Cossacks B Better tter a death from pneumonia than thanthe thanthe thanthe the fiendish cruelty of the horsemen who were riding toward towardthem towardthem towardthem them Donia's Donias ' mother got down on her knees and began scoop scoopIng scooping scoopIng Ing a hole in the snowdnft snowdrift at the side of the road She tore torecloth torecloth torecloth cloth from her skirt and put it over their faces so they could couldbreathe couldbreathe couldbreathe breathe Then she put Donia In the hole she had scooped out outlay , lay down beside her and began covering them both with snow . . They Hide Under the Cossacks ' * Very Eyes . . They bid b'1d b1d hid ' no sooner inlshed fInished ( than tl1an the Cossicks Coss'lcl Cosslcl Cossacks ' s rode up They came cameright camerIght cameright right up to the spot \ where sshere here Donia and her mother motber lay burled in the snowand snowand snow snowand -and and - and stopped stoppedt t ' Mother and daughter held beld their breaths Had lIad they theybeen theybeen theybeen been discovered dlscoered dlsco\ dlsco \ ered ? Hjd H.1d H1d had . the sharp e3 p ( > e ca ea : > of the Cossac1 Cossacks s read the marks and andprints andprints andprints prints in m the snow ? But no 1 ' Ihe 'ihe he Co Cossacks < ) sacl s , It seems , hadn't hadnt ' noticed their tbelr hiding place place.Thpv placeThpv . They Thp hid h'ld hld ' just lust stopped to t'lilror tilk t'lil- t'lil tlil t'iih tiih ' - . For ror endless endle.s endles : . minutes mlDutes they cluttered ch\ttered ch ttered chattered ' \ while whileDonia whileDonia wlilleDonia Donia and her mother " wondered "onllered onllered how long lonb lone tbe3 the ; ) d hare ha\"e ha "e e have \ ' " to lie there mo motlonless motionless motlonless tlonless tionless under that thnt cold blanket blnnl.et blnnlet . of snow . . Time dragged on . . Doma's Domas Donia's Donias ' ' mother mlther ' : felt that she was freezing . , . Donia long since had stiffened and lost consciousness at hermother's hermother's her hermother's mother's mothers ' side . Then , at last , the Cossacks climbed back on theirhorses theirhorses their theirhorses horses Hoofbeats rattled off down the roadThe roadThe road roadThe theyhad theybad The Co Cossacks sncl s had gone-but gone but ! ; gone one-but one but - - but it seemed to Donla's Donlas nonla's nonlas Donia's Donias ' mother that tbat they bad had gone too late Her ner IIer little 1IUle girl . , all stiff stirr and blue , lay motlonle motionless motlonlecs < ; g In Inthe inthe inthe the neighborshouse snow bink b'lnh blnh bank ' She picked plched her up and Cat cairled carried rled her ber to the nc.lghbor nclghbor neighbors . s shouse house , convinced con"lnced conlnced " that she W3 was < ) de'ldBut deadBut dcid de'ld deld dead dcidBut ' But Donl-i Donl i Donl'1 Donl1 Donia ' - sv , vvisnt \ 1 ' isn < ; n t dead She lived lined Ih ed to tell us her ber story . And soon soonafter soonafter soonafter after tint th'lt thlt that ' cscipe esc'lpe esclpe escape ' she and her bE'r bEr ' mother came to America They didn't didnt ' want wantnny wantany wantany nny any moie mOle mote e experiences per1ences III 111 e a tbat-no tbat no that-no that that - no more mere adventures ad\entures ad entures adsentures \ with Cossacks Cossachs and andwith andwith andwith ' , 'O O ' with the tbe cold SIlO\\ SIlO snows SIlOs \ \ s of Russia RussiaOWNU o-w o w O-WNU O WNU - - WXU m Sorvico SCrvlco sorvlco |