CHILDREN STILL SMILE IN RUSSIA.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue 13860, 12 September 1919, Page 1

CHILDREN STILL SMILE IN RUSSIA.

-•Hard as it may be to believe,, boys and girls stiiHaugh and play through-; Gilt Russia, the natural buoyaue}- of childhood retusiug to be submerged in the misery and disorder that swamps the empire. .A report- of the commission which is maintaining and educating ].(,"J<! children in Siberia, at- Pettupavlovsk. Ufa, Irbit. Tunien and Shadrinsk, makes this statement. Thousands of miles from home, cut oft' from parent's and friends, these youngsters, many of whom are from wealthy families', are happy, healthy and thriving in the seven colonies maintained for them by the American Red Cross. lu happier times the children lived in Petrograd, but the parents and relatives of most of them have been killed in the lighting and rioting in that unfortunate capital, i Too young in most cases' to realise the tragedy that has'fallen upon them, thev romp and play as do any other normal vouuir human animals. Dr. S. Scudder, who is in charge of the lied Cross Refugee work in Siberia, reyjvrts that the money appropriated for the care of these children is monev well spent. The children are ;i part of the thousands of children that were sent from Petrograd when !he bloodshed began. They were sent to provinces where food and healthful conditions could be found. Ranginir in age from two to nineteen years, thev sprang from every class in the community. ■'■ Pet rograd teachers and physicians accompanied the children to their destinations for the purpose of looking' after their educational and physical welfare. All went well with the various colonies uivgil the advance of the Czeeho-Slovak-.forees across Russia to Vladivostok-:. The bitter righting which marked the attempt' of the Genii an - Austro and Bolshevik elements to halt the movement of the Czechoslovak soldiers isolated the communities in which the children were situ-; afed. cutting oft' the supplies and funds on which depended their existence. From that time on these youngsters, known as "Petrograd Refugee Children. 7 ' -have had a hard time of it and many of them are believed to have perished in the struggle. Word of their plight reached the Government- s'-t Omsk from time to

lime and tiic officials promised relief, but ;is the Government itself was hij financial straits this assistance failed*, ui materialise. L.eit to their own resources teachers ;md children raised' moiuv liv every possible means, eoncerts arranged by the older children ; and lotteries providing most of the tunds for food. Throusrli the sunirnkr" of 1918 the..children managed to" exist in .one way or another, but with the approach of early. Siberian 'winter their situation became' critical in the extreme. As all were hut lightly clad the first spell of cold weather brought much illness.

One bv one the colonies split up into smaller croups, each irroup starting on m uniless loumev thioupb ihe in seaich ol lood and hettei piotection fioni the cold While .1 ,m.i|oiitv ol Ihe teaihei«. and jiliysK'ans mlh> leli Fetiocpad with

the children stuck with their charges through all the- hardships and made every effort to keep them comfortable, some of these guardians proved false to their trust, deserting the children assumed to their care at the first reverse and leaving the youngsters, instil\~ of them mere babies, to shift ior themselves. The fate of those who were abandoned in this, cruel way is too heart rending to dwell upon. The teachers who remained faithful to their duty had a difficult time as the months went by maintains the morals of the children, weakened as ihev were by cold, lack of food and I the fact that the -.vinter weather made I it impossible for them to attend school because of insufficient clothing. They grew indolent and'careless of their personal appearance ; some took to begging and others, the w : eakcr characters, to stealing. In a short time, according to the lied Cross report, the children in one of these colonies were literally in rags. "Vermin added to their general discomI fort.

This was the general condition of the children in such of the colonics as remained intact when the situation was brought to-the attention of the Red Cross Mission in Siberia jtfst before last Christinas. Red Cross workers were despatched to the colonies and after a wide search managed to gather in more than -1.000 of the children, who were soon re-established in more cheerful environments. ' Of tins work of- reclamation the report, says : Reorganisation am! of the uewlv formed colonies was started at once, although very few .lied Cross stores were yiri available. Every effort was made at local purchase, and by collecting clothing in adjacent towns the children were soon equipped- with fur caps, overcoats and felt boots and were aide to leave their overcrowded, stuii'v rooms and run and play in the-open like other bovs and girls. Cloth or material for upper clothes was obtained only with great: difficulty through the. Czech miiitarv headquarters, and it. was not until • Christmas that Red Cross supplies were available from headquarters at Omsk. Woollen sweaters, blankets and sweets arriving from the- RedCross warehouses in time for Christmas added greatly to the good cheer and comfort of the children.

".American hospital supplies were Idvavni upon to provide underwear, and jAvith tl>e supply of clean linen at hand , a t\<zhi. was hejiiin to rid the children lof vermin. Though typhus had lonsr •since made iis.-appearance in these soldier and refugee filled towns, no disinfecting machines were avaitahle for our purpose. The cluthhrji'of thechildren was baked, piece by piece, in the little brick ovens of the peasant homes. These bakings. with, plentiful use of the" comb and parra-ffii"; sol-ved the vpj'iniii question.

. "Efr'oi-is have been made to lessen f he but empty houses are 1101 easy to iuid. In the case of the yomure'st children, however, a house has lieen especially fitted up, and the effect of brighter siirroimdintrs and better food on their spirits and the general iinprovernent.of Ihe.ir li'cjiltli lias been marked.", j.

With a view to inoculating a spirit of confidence in the children jhe colonies have been placed on a self-gov-erning basis, committees of the boys and girls regulating the affairs of the institution. The l'etrograd teachers i\'ho were retained under the reorganisation, says, ihe report, regarded this innovation" with the gravest doubts, the practice of delegating responsibility to children being unknown in Russia. The report says the arrangement is working splendidly, that the committees maintain better habits and order than was ever the ease under the discipline of the teachers.