58 RUSSIA THEN AND NOW 



home, a little orphanage, where there were forty 

 children all under eight years of age. Some of the 

 parents had died of cold and hunger, or of disease. 

 This nursery was under the constant supervision 

 of Countess Bobrinskoy. Next was a storehouse, 

 where the American wheat flour and the rye flour 

 purchased with government money, were mixed 

 together, as the peasants were so used to dark rye 

 bread that they did not care as much for plain 

 white bread. 



Next day, with Count Vladimir Bobrinskoy, I 

 was taken upon his official monthly house-to-house 

 inspection of the village of Tovorkova, ten miles 

 distant. Arriving at this village of about three 

 hundred straw-thatched huts and five thousand 

 inhabitants, at four o'clock in the afternoon, we 

 first secured the company of the two elders of the 

 village. Leaving our carriage we started on a 

 tramp afoot through black mud, going from door 

 to door interviewing the head of each family, the 

 Count noting in a book, systematically, the 

 requirements of the household for the next 

 monthly distribution, facts as to the number now 

 dependent, how many at work, the number sick, 

 if any, etc. The elders were supposed to give 



