An adventure story
Download 399.67 Kb.
|
| Sunday, September 9th -- I remained in bed, feeling rotten with my cold. There is certainly an epidemic among us -- everybody seems to have a terrible cold.
Monday, September 10th -- There is talk that there will be rioting in the city today and we are having a little trouble in getting permission to go into the city. It is finally decided we may go. With a guide, Major Kirkpatrick, Captain Rulison, Lieut. Kucera, Lieut. Davidson and I started out to see the Emperor's Palace. We walked very briskly until we reached the Kremlin and we were all pretty warm when we arrived within the walls. There was absolutely no sign of disorder. Everything was just as quiet as it is on Broad or Main Streets in dear old Richmond. We passed the Red Square, which derives its name from the many bloody scenes enacted here. Also the St. Basil Church, with its many pear-shaped steeples or towers. We passed the Historical Museum many times during our visit, but I did not have the opportunity of going within, I did not take any notes at the time of our visit to the buildings within the Kremlin, but I did buy a book which goes into some detail regarding what we saw. I will only attempt to give my impressions in a general way. We visited the Apartments of the Emperor and those of the Crown Prince. The paintings at the head of the stairway were remarkable; one in particular, showing Alexander III receiving different delegates, after his Coronation in 1881. The picture contains certainly not less than twenty-five people and the expressions on the faces of the Czar, his Empress and the Princes, but more particularly the delegates, were truly wonderful, as was also the play of light upon the faces and figures. There were other wonderful paintings here, but sufficient light could not be obtained to show them up to us at their true value. The floors throughout the Emperor's and Crown Prince's apartments consisted of hand-carved, inlaid wood. It was beautiful, although not so smooth at the joints as our own machine cut hardwood floors at home. The stairway in the Crown Prince's apartment was specially constructed, so the children could not easily fall down it -- the steps were broad and not high. It would be almost impossible to have a common case of falling down the steps. The walls are covered in beautiful tapestries, which are priceless and most carefully kept. The doors are very tall and thick and are covered with gold plate of the highest grade and most artistic pattern; and while very heavy, they are easily swung. No one but crowned heads has ever slept in these rooms. The Emperor's bed was of exquisitely carved mahogany, which was, at the time, covered only with a silk valance. The Guests' Rooms, which also only crowned heads have occupied, are equipped with wonderful beds. In the doors there were many large jewels, but they were certainly too large to be genuine. We passed on into the Throne Room of the Ex-Czar. It is a very long room, about two hundred to two hundred and fifty feet long and about sixty to seventy-five feet wide. There were three throne chairs, one each for the Czar, the Empress, and the Dowager Empress. Over the Throne is the Eye of Egypt, the highest order in the Masonic Lodge, I am told. We were told the wording under this was to the effect that "God is with us". The Eye of Egypt is supposed to be the eye of God. The pillars in this room were wonderful, in their gold gilt, which is the entire color scheme of the Throne Room. It was the most gorgeously decorated room I have ever seen, and the work in gold was indeed wonderful. The flooring was all hand cut, inlaid and highly polished. The only chairs in the room were those on the Throne. There were paintings around the top of the walls, that is, high up on the side walls. From here we passed into a room of blue color scheme, which, after so much gorgeousness, was very pleasing. I will try to tell something of one other room and then generalize. This is the very old Throne Room. It is really ancient and looks it. The pillars here are great, square ones and tapering very slightly. On the floor there is a wonderful carpet, which was woven especially for the coronation of Alexander III, the father of the present Ex-Czar, by three hundred girls in a monastery. It is in all of the various colors used by the Russians in their numerous uniforms and measures about one hundred feet by sixty feet. It was covered in order that it might be carefully preserved. In this particular room, the throne is in the extreme corner. We were told that this room is used for one occasion only -- the Czar is served his first meal here after his coronation and receives at that time the various crowned heads and representatives of foreign countries. No ladies are allowed in this room during this ceremony, although they can witness it from a balcony, where they are also served eatables and drinkables. Now to generalize -- There were many handsome black, silver and gold inlaid Egyptian tables, the handiwork of the Russians. They were remarkable pieces of work, exquisite in every little detail. In one long corridor there are on the walls, with several fine paintings, three hundred and ninety-four plates, upon which was brought bread upon the occasion of the crowning of the Emperor in 1896. These plates were made of gold, silver, wood and some even of salt. Among these plates was one given by the City of Moscow, which, it is claimed, is worth two and a half million Rubles ($1,250,000.). It was regarded as so priceless by the authorities that it was recently removed from the Palace and placed in bank for safe keeping. The Gate of Borovitz, where Napoleon came in, and where forty thousand soldiers were killed, could be seen from the Palace. Throughout the entire Palace, there was a great deal of gold gilt work, at which the Russians are very expert. The chandeliers and fixtures were of remarkable beauty. The doors were all heavy, well-balanced and decorated gorgeously. In the room where the Dowager Empress received guests, they (the doors) were inlaid with stones resembling diamonds. We were told that the last crowned head to occupy the Czar's Guest Room, already mentioned, was the Shah of Persia, with his twelve wives. This was nineteen years ago. There was only one very large bed in this room and it was a magnificent affair. There was a low-mirrored table, where, it is claimed, the Shah's wives dressed -- and undressed -- themselves. We saw in one end of the Palace some old stone steps, made in Italy; looked like old Egyptian work. Also a wonderful case made of silver and gold gilt where all coronation papers from Alexander to the present Ex-Czar are kept. Also the bed where Napoleon slept for three nights when in Moscow. It gave evidence of decay; the bed clothing was actually rotting away. We went up the winding stairway to the top of the building and stood on the spot on which Napoleon stood when he watched the city burning -- and when, in reality, his Empire or World Kingdom began to decline. Wednesday, September 12th -- We left Moscow via our special train at 9:10 P.M. today. I stayed up rather late writing in this diary. Thursday, September 13th -- Up this morning at 8:00 o'clock. Breakfast in the diner, which is still with us. Food was very scarce in Moscow and even at such hotels as the National and the Metropole, we were unable to get as good meals as are being served by our diner. A decent meal in Moscow costs about ten to fifteen rubles, which is two or three dollars, and only one slice of bread, and sour bread at that -- although at the best hotels -- [there is] no butter, and sugar [is] passed around very gingerly -- two lumps to a cup and no more, and only one cup of coffee. Russians are great meat eaters. When vegetables are served, one vegetable is a whole course. A General Order was issued by the Colonel today, advising all concerned that I would, in the absence of Captain Williams, take care of the duties of Secretary and Treasurer. Captain Williams left us the night of September 11th to go to Petrograd, where he would meet members of the Billings Commission and take care of the transportation of our supplies, which are due at Archangel, Russia, and to accompany them to Jassy, where he would meet us, should we be able to get through to that point. He is also entrusted with the duty of obtaining, through the American Embassy, the release of a member of our party, who is a Pole, and who is technically detained at Petrograd by the Russian authorities, who threaten to put a Russian uniform on him. It is thought no difficulty will be experienced in obtaining his release. I do not like to see Captain Williams make this trip alone and I really wanted badly to go with him, but had to stay with the party to take his place. It is not at all unlikely that he will have to ride freight trains to Jassy and lots of excitement is possible. Mr. Ertell, the representative of the Russian Government, who is in charge of our train, advised that the train would stop about 3:00 P.M. today. This gentleman had been good enough not only to agree to stop the train at a place where we could have a real game of baseball, but he is arranging it at pretty near the right hour for the National Past-time. We had a great game. The line up on our side was as follows -- the names of each team being Russianized -- Scrubskys (The Commission) Catcher Major Perkins Pitcher Lieut. Earnest S.S. Lieut. Mills lst B. Major Bryan 2nd B. Major Wells 3rd B. Sergt. Day R.F. Amer. Minister Vopicka L.F. Major Peabody C.F. no one
I am given credit for losing the game for our side. In the fourth inning a slow grounder was hit to me, and a runner on third started for home. I drew back to catch him at the home plate and back he started for third. I again drew back to catch him at third, but our man was not on the job -- he was waiting for the next ball to be batted out. It was then too late to catch the man on first, and around the players went. After that it seemed they went wild with a batting rally. I was yanked out of the box, Major Bryan and myself changing places. The Major covered himself with glory. No balls were pitched hard as we had no mitt or catcher's mask. Although our Colonel umpired the game, we had several disputes, but the Umpire was never in serious danger, as no pop was being served to the spectators. It was a great game and all of the party were particularly pleased at the opportunity afforded. Captain Hamilton was the Official Scorekeeper. The following is the official batting percentage above five hundred. You had to be a regular ball player to receive the notice of our Official Scorekeeper: A.B. H. R. Percentage Major Perkins 4 4 4 1000 " Wells 4 4 4 1000 Mr. Doyle 5 5 5 1000 Lieut. Earnest 4 4 4 1000 Major Kirkpatrick 5 4 4 800 Mr. Mayer 5 4 4 800 Capt. Massenberg 4 3 3 750 Capt. Rulison 4 3 2 750 Lieut. Kucara 4 3 2 750 Major Peabody 3 2 2 667 My friend Mills is not very expert on making Sherry & Egg, but he produced the eggs without difficulty apparently, by sticking around in the dining car after everyone else had left. He can not be called an economist either, because in the process of shaking, he lost several of the eggs as well as glasses by breaking them, due to our makeshift method of shaking. But the final result brought forth much praise from our guests -- but what I am thinking about now is, we have eggs scattered around on the floor of the compartment in a general mix up with glass. The process was so disastrous, we will not try to make a second one. It is now midnight and we are still traveling along. We are due at Kiev tomorrow morning early, where we are to spend the day. I am scheduled to take a much-needed bath in the city somewhere and several of us will then see the sights. We made some changes and I have a new compartment -- the Sherry and Egg, however, had nothing to do with it, as Mills and I are the greatest of friends, but we both have a good deal of work to do and in order to get rid of it, we are separating, so each can have more room to spread out his papers, etc. I just happened to examine the sheets and found them really filthy, and, late as it was, I looked up our much-abused Russian porter and made him give me two clean sheets and pillowcases. So I expect a very pleasant night. Friday, September 14th -- At Kiev this morning. There have been many bloody scenes enacted here: massacres of Jews. This is also the town where the famous Beilis trial was held. Beilis was a wealthy manufacturer and his enemies paid the mother of a small Christian child -- about five years of age -- to murder her own child and put the blame upon Beilis, on the ground that Beilis, being a Jew, had sacrificed the Christian child at the Jewish altar. The Pope entered into it, to the extent that he endeavored to explain the fact that there is absolutely nothing in the Jewish religion requiring or countenancing the taking of blood of Christians. The President of the United States also wrote a note on the subject. We are to be here until late in the afternoon and everyone is to go into the city sight-seeing and hope to buy some supplies. Later -- We went sight-seeing and shopping. We stopped at a very good stationer and I bought for the Commission some scratch pads, pins, a punch, etc. A fountain pen for myself and a book of views of the City of Kiev. Kiev is one of the oldest cities in the world. No one seems to know how old it really is. Certainly it was here during the life of our Saviour. We were fortunate in meeting a young Russian (connected with the Russian Red Cross), who speaks French, Russian and a little English. He piloted us around and later ate lunch with us. Kiev is quite different from Moscow. While there are very large, handsome and ornate buildings in Moscow, they seemed to me somewhat forbidding and dismal, and the people, as a whole, seemed really poorer in Moscow than here. This may be explained by the fact that Kiev is in the center of a very rich agricultural section, which seems to be worked to a greater extent than around Moscow -- taking population into consideration. While the stores and business houses in Moscow were much larger, they were not so clean as those we entered in Kiev. There are very few frame buildings. Stucco (smooth) is still predominant, although there are quite a number of brick buildings and a very large number of very fine looking apartment houses. Kiev is quite hilly. The streets are broad. In some instances the pavement, which seems to be granolithic, is as much as twenty-five feet wide. We missed the many golden domes of Moscow, though there are a few at Kiev. On the whole, I believe I am safe in saying that Kiev seemed more like a real commercial center. The present population is said to be about six hundred thousand. We noticed that people desiring to board street cars had to stand in line, by files -- a sight we had never seen before. In the stores visited by us, it was very noticeable also that men removed their hats, including the soldiers. While we did see on several occasions in Moscow, a company of soldiers marching though the streets with fixed bayonets, it seems worth mentioning that we saw one company here marching through the streets. There are, both here and in Moscow, thousands of soldiers on the streets, but it is really a rare sight to see them in formation. We also saw a trolley car pulling a trailer with a Red Cross sign on the latter and wounded soldiers lying within. Can you imagine in an American city as large as this city, such a sight as the one we saw today -- an old woman, leading on the main street of the city both a calf and a pig, without anyone particularly noticing her. Tobacco is very scarce. I bought some cigarettes today and they limited my purchase to a few packages. We are told that soap, flour, nails, hardware, cloth, and many other commodities, are really unobtainable in southwestern Russian and Roumania. We are buying more soap here for distribution among the Roumanians and have already obtained a goodly stock of the other articles mentioned. In fact, at every city at which we stop for any length of time we all start out buying and the Commission invariably adds something to our supplies. We have a freight car and baggage car attached to our train containing food and other supplies purchased by us, in addition to the supplies which we are to receive through Archangel and which were shipped to us from an Atlantic port in the United States. We passed a very handsome monument of Alexander III, also monument of St. Olga, mother of Yaroslav, who built the first church in Kiev, and who was an Emperor of Russia. Also saw the monument to Bogodon Schmernicksy, who is famed for having united Little Russia with Russia -- if they don't watch their Ps and Qs, they will be looking for another Schmernicksy pretty soon. We then visited the famous Monastery of Yaroslav. Yaroslav was Emperor of Russia during the tenth century, when Kiev was the capital. The body of this famous ruler is interred inside the Monastery in one of the dark, small rooms on the ground floor, in what seems to be a marble vault, except that it is not exactly a vault. It is in one corner of the room -- it has a ragged edge near the top, which seems to be cemented together. Measurements of this tomb, or whatever you choose to call it, are about seven feet long by three feet high by three feet deep, approximately. There is apparently no attempt at ornamentation -- a most ordinary little dark room, seemingly a very unfit place for one who had been so powerful and who had ruled over so many people -- but there is always a priest on guard. Just outside of this room there is another Czar buried, by name, Vladimir, whose time was during the twelfth century. He was buried about 1125. Within ten feet of Vladimir's remains there is a coffin-like receptacle on a stand, with a candle burning at the head. We were told this contained the bones of noted priests for a thousand years back. We took the priest's word for it; as we could not see the bones, it really was not so gruesome. On the inner side of the dome of this church there is a half size figure of the Redeemer worked in wonderful mosaic work, inlaid gold, etc. The Altar of the Church was very elaborate -- carved wood trimmed in gold and silver plate. This did not appeal to me, as it really looked very cheap. But the whole place and everything in it was very very old. One feature which struck us all as peculiar was that no seats were provided for the congregation and we were told by the Priest that no one ever sat down there. The Monastery is, of course, lighted throughout by candles. The entire floor and stairway was of iron or metal of some description - the floor being heavy plates about two feet square. Going up the winding stairway to the second floor, we saw quaint paintings upon the stairway's plastered walls of animals, hunting scenes, persons in armor and men blowing bugles. On the second floor there was some very old stone work, which was quite interesting and another altar, which was, of course, very ancient. At the last mentioned altar there was a Priest chanting, with two people kneeling before the altar. The whole place had that peculiar ancient smell once experienced, never forgotten. We then visited the Kupechiskych Garden, which overlooks the River Dnieper. Kiev is really noted for its beautiful gardens, but we were here only for a few hours and could visit only this one. It affords a beautiful view of the river and the surrounding country, and the figures worked out in various colors in the garden are lovely. We were told that it is never very cold here. Although Russia is at war, this garden, with its grounds, flowers, etc., are perfectly kept. We were rather hungry and located a small eating place at the Gardens and the party refreshed with coffee, bread and butter. We asked for more bread and felt very lucky and happy when we received five small cheese sandwiches (one for each of us). This was considered a very good lunch, for which we paid a total of R10.50 or $2.10 -- very reasonable. We then found a bookstore where we were able to purchase some English books and magazines. The latest date obtainable was July 28th (today is September 14th). We later met several of our party on the streets, including three of the nurses, one of whom, Miss Torrance, had been in a hospital here as nurse sometime ago and who was, of course, more or less familiar with the city. I overlooked mentioning an open air theatre we saw in the Garden. We could see it from the little eating house where we had lunch. The place is ordinarily crowded during a show. We passed the Court House, where the trial of Beilis was held. A very large, handsome, stone building. We then took a double horse Drowsky to the train. The Russian Drowsky is a very low setting affair of four wheels, the wheels being very close together -- with one seat for passengers and a higher seat for the driver in front, sometimes drawn by one horse and sometimes by two horses. They also have Drowsky sleighs. At first our driver wanted R10.00, but we finally got him down to R8.00. We have discovered that they always ask for very much more than they expect you to pay. We told our very good and obliging friend of the Russian Red Cross goodbye and returned to the train. Am sitting up rather late trying to catch up with this diary. Saturday, September 15th - Still en route. Only about twenty-four hours from Jassy, Romania, after seven weeks of traveling, about three of them on this train. Got up about 8:00 A.M. Usual breakfast on the diner of coffee (always in glasses), egg omelette, bread and jam. Went to work on treasury matters so everything will be up to date upon our arrival at our destination. It is raining this morning and is a little cool but not cold. No heat in the cars. At lunch we noticed we were passing through some wonderfully fertile country. Both oxen and horses are being used at the plows. The fields are largely under cultivation and although within about one hundred and fifty miles of the front, there are many cattle grazing and more men working in the fields than we have noticed in other sections. Advice is going around that we will arrive at Jassy tomorrow at about 10:00 A.M. At dinner this evening Colonel Anderson presented to Mr. W. Ertell, representative of the Russian Government, who has had charge of our special [train] from Harbin, Manchuria, up to this time, a letter signed by every member of our party, extending our thanks and appreciation for the many courtesies extended to us, also a platinum and diamond set of cuff links, which cost the party R1,000 ($200.00). It was a very pleasing sight. Colonel Anderson made a short presentation speech in English and Major Perkins translated it in French for Mr. Ertell, and after Mr. Ertell's reply the entire party simultaneously burst into real American hand clapping. We will have to pack up tonight, so as to be ready to leave the train in the morning and start in on our real work. Everyone is right on edge to do his duty and help this little country out in every way in his individual power. Packing up is no small job, as our equipment is varied and much of it. Download 399.67 Kb. Share with your friends:
|