IN RUSSIA.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16448, 31 May 1919, Page 6

IN RUSSIA.

A NEW ZEALANDER’S IMPRESSIONS. The Dunedin Star has been permitted to publish the following extract, dated Archangel, February 5, 1919, from a letter by Lieutenant Herbert (Bert) Perry, a' Alain Body man. to his mother, Mrs. A. Perry, of 8 Richmond Street, South Dunedin ; “We’ve had some extremely cold weather, and I’ve managed to have both ears slightly frostbitten. They swelled up for a few days, and then the skin peeled off; but they are quite ah right again now. I had a fortnight away from Archangel, lining with the Americans ou the other side of the Dvina River, and had rather a good tu/e. Of course, the river is frozen dve» with a great thickness of ice, for they can run a train across. I had the experience of crossing in a reindeer sleigh with a, Lapland woman driving. They can travel at a great speed, and a fellow has to hang on for dear life to prevent tumbling off. As a matter of fact, I did have one spill, when one of the runners struck a loose piece of ice, and the Lap-woman laughed to beat the band. Sport is just beginning to start now, for it is becoming warm enough to frolic out of doors. My latest is toboggan sliding. There are speciallybuilt slides for the purpose. It is great fun to go shooting down a steep slope with about four on a toboggan, and all to go sprawling in the snow at the bottom. I’m getting on all right at ski-ing now, and can take quite a decent incline. The Americans hold, dances often now, and 1 go fairly regularly. They have their own ragtime band, which provides the necessary music. Russians are very fond of dancing, and the girls have very quickly picked up the American dances, although their own style is altogether different. “There is no immediate word about us leaving here, so it might be quite a time yet before I’m on my way back; but you can rest content that I’m quite all right hero, and I get on capitally at my job. I’m now qualified in three different guns—the Lewis, Colt and the French Chauchat—but so far almost all my work has been in connection with the Lewis, of which there are a great number out here.”