250 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph hy Gilbert Grosvenor 



BEGGAR AT NIZHNI NOVGOROD 



Russia has many beggars. But even among 

 them one sees, in spite of their rags, faces that 

 proclaim good hearts and genial souls. Better 

 a beggar without even a crust of black bread 

 than the well-fed barterer of his country's 

 weal ! 



scenes of separation for the observer to 

 accept entirely such cynical generaliza- 

 tions. 



Often they have their lighter side. At 

 one wharf it was the wife and son who 

 were leaving the soldier husband and 

 father. Into the midst of the parting 

 came a procession of stevedores, bear- 

 ing great sacks of sunflower seeds, a com- 

 mon Russian delicacy. One man's bur- 

 den struck a snag, there was a rent in 

 the burlap, and forth poured a flood of 

 the black and white seeds. Instantly the 

 soldier's cap was off and he was hold- 

 ing it under this stream of unexpected 

 bounty. What spilled to the ground other 

 soldiers and small boys gathered, heed- 

 less, as they cracked the seeds skillfully 

 in their teeth, of either dirt or germs. 

 Thus the strain of one separation was 

 relieved, for the wife, aboard the boat, 

 was glad to see her husband's larder en- 

 riched. 



WIVES TRAVEL WITH SOLDIER HUSBANDS 



Occasionally, as in Mexico, the wives 

 accompany their soldier husbands, their 

 household effects wrapped in bundles and 

 a baby or two on their arms or clinging 

 to the mother's skirt. 



Only one glimpse did I have on the 

 Volga trip of the women soldiers, of 

 whom I had seen many in Petrograd 

 and Moscow. This was at Saratov, 

 where a company of women soldiers were 

 marching through the streets, led by a 

 man officer. A moment before a com- 

 pany of male soldiers had passed, singing 

 lustily the unforgettable Russian march- 

 ing songs, wdiich are their military music ; 

 but these women moved in grim silence, 

 with set faces. 



All of them were young — the youth 

 of the Russian women soldiers is the first 

 characteristic that one notices — but their 

 cheeks Avere bronzed and their uniforms, 

 which are the same as those of the men, 

 were old. Many of them did not have 

 puttees, and their footwear was varied, 

 canvas shoes predominating. All of them 

 wore their hair short. Clearly, for this 

 particular group, the stage of novelty and 

 enthusiasm had passed and had been suc- 

 ceeded by sheer resolution. Most of the 

 glamour of soldiering had disappeared. 



Thev marched in grood formation, but 



