GLIMPSES OF SIBERIA. THE RUSSIAN "WILD EAST" 



531 



explaining what the medals were. I was 

 really sorry I had him along, for I would 

 rather have kept my illusion and bought 

 the samovar. 



THE NIGHT LIFE OF A RUSSIAN CITY IS 

 NEVER DULL 



However dull a Russian city may be 

 by day. it is never dull at night, for the 

 Russian blossoms out at his best after 

 dark. There was one cabaret in Vladi- 

 vostok that did not open until one in the 

 morning. And yet, strange to sav, no 

 matter how tough the cabaret, no one 

 ever sees anything lewd on the stage or 

 hears trashy music, unless it is American 

 "jazz," played as the tribute of hospitality 

 to American patrons. Russians have too 

 keen an appreciation for beautiful danc- 

 ing and real music to tolerate anything 

 unchaste in their enjoyment of these arts. 



During the last two years Vladivostok 

 seemed to be the Mecca of the thousands 

 of refugees who came in a never-ending 

 stream from every part of Russia and 

 Siberia. This was due to the ever-recur- 

 ring political upheavals. Every city along 

 the Transsiberian Railroad had its thou- 

 sands of refugees, but they were always 

 en route to Vladivostok. In Omsk there 

 were some hundred and fifty thousand 

 refugees living in ten thousand freight 

 cars. I have had to climb over hundreds 

 of them sleeping in railroad stations to 

 get to the station-master's office. 



A CITY OF REFUGEES 



Vladivostok normally had a population 

 of sixty thousand, but at one time it is 

 said there were more than a half million 

 persons in the city. They lived in every 

 conceivable abode. 



All around the seaport villages sprang 

 up as if by magic. But the houses were 

 poor, contemptible things, made out of 

 tin cans, the wood of packing cases, 

 mud — in fact, anything that could be held 

 together by any means and that would 

 keep out the cold. These poor folks 

 seemed to feel fairly secure in \ ladi- 

 vostok. where the forces of the Allied 

 expeditions kept things going after a 

 fashion. Many of them hoped to reach 

 Japan or America eventually. Their 

 only nourishment, as far as I saw, was 

 black bread and tea ; and what an ema- 



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Photograph by Cody Marsh 



a citizen of Russia's wild east 



Even the poorest peasants in Siberia seem to 

 have the instincts of courtesy, and their hospi- 

 tality knows no bounds if they like you. 



ciated and sickly lot they were ! They 

 never had sufficient clothing, even in mild 

 weather, and the fact that so many sur- 

 vived is attributable solely to the remark- 

 able ruggedness of the Russian physique. 



In addition to the refugees who lived 

 in freight cars and huts, there were those 

 who had no homes. I often saw families 

 curled up on door-steps, away from the 

 zero wind, the little bare legs of children 

 sticking out like the tails of snakes, coiled 

 together to keep warm. But how patient 

 these poor things were in all their suffer- 

 ings ! 



I have told much of Vladivostok be- 

 cause it is the key to Siberia. It is the 

 beginning of the Transsiberian Railroad., 

 and everything intended for Siberia 

 enters there. The only other gateway is 

 through Manchuria to Harbin. 



THE RUSSIAN IS A GOOD LINGUIST 



While there are several phases of life 

 at Vladivostok that are cosmopolitan, one 

 finds in this city the Siberian atmosphere 

 at its worst and at its best ; other com- 



ii 



