FOR RUSSIA.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 107, 12 November 1915, Page 1 (Supplement)

FOR RUSSIA.

HE SOUL OF A PEOPLE. HAROLD WILLIAMS, in the London "Daily Chronicle." Mr. Harold Wiiliaine is a eon the Rev. W. J. Williams, the l-known Methodist Minister, is special corespondent at Petrud for the London "Duily onicle.") larrow atone balcony looked out » roughly paved street and the nka Canal. To the right stood lodest little church where Peter ireat's daughter, the Empres» teth was married. A vague, liluriaas half-hidden by treee, to the wosb the canal, was the palaoe of mperor Paul. Barges lay idle in wdows of the bridge. Through nlight, into the duil rumour of rograd summer evening a gleamsd tram impetuously clattered, ten the close air sank again heavxL looking upward for space and iflV one saw only a dull and sul»il of cloud. It was hot, eo hot re panted for breath. A stout, y man puffed through hfe grey aches and fanned himself with a erchief. But he wae obstinately nl, and from between baldness fad his little blue eyes peeped out >at good humour. He was chafhe deputy who, with his hands pockets of a grey jacket, leaned e balcony railing. The deputy iclined to be mournful. He was >d, hard-working and popular er, but he was tired, for he hadf lecturing, and writing, and atig interminable committee meetU through the winter and halfhrough the Bummer; and then i were not going well at the war, alitics were growing complicated. « he was a pessimist in politics w, and hud not been long enough i front to catch the infection of domituble spirit of the army, stout man had not been to the either, but he was a big finanind very comfortable, and by » i\n optimist. in't shake your head, Makary ich," he snid. "We have not >eaten. we are not being !>eaten,

e shall not oe beaten. Why, even says that all these in gains in territory mean noth■cnuse they tost more than they orth in men. And haven't you ho new volume of essays by the sors? Professor Chuprin proves tho hilt tuat Germany is ecodly ruined, that she can't possi>ld out, that she must starve, we, as Krivoshein said the other ire meeting a fine new harvest upplies of last year's torn still in Aa to German shells that's exefiT W course, we have to make b shelLs we possibly can, simply limited quantity. But I liave roading a book by an Austrian fficer who computes the effect of ry fire in modern ware, right to tho Japanese war. And he that battle are won not by ar- , even heavy artillery, but by There was once a big artillery uring the Japanese war, and it jund after the battle was over the casualties numbered three nd. Yet it was not the artillery aused the casualties, but simply ■e." ivo we got the cartridges?" askdeputy ironically. lussia can never be BEATEN. ■ course we have, and our men ual to twice tho number of Ger- ' declared the stout man. and pon the talk flamed up into a us argument, and then frittered into gossip about factories and tops and arsenals, and the nuiushells needed, and the time it take to make them, and the s of the Germans running short their reckless squandering of lition. In the end the stout man e deputv reached a compromise both agreed that Russia could be beaten, but that every nerve ie strained to bring victory nearturning out millions of sheila, nil man with a long beard, a •holy face, and shaggy eyebrows g queerly over his spectacles out through tho doorway. He I to be on the point of asking a ,ing question. He was a pro- , and he was very anxious to it the exact opinion of the wise i the capitals. But a bell rang, who'o company trooped into |jj n not quite sure how I drifted lis gathering. Someone had told »t provincials had come to town B were thinking. There were wanted t<» hear what the prors of them in this hall, over n ?d, I should think, and I was tat they were representatives of 1 assurance societies who Iwd aiding what is called an All Rusongress in Petrograd, To this ilar club they had been invited sk tea and talk over things geniromised to be a dull affair, hut cps were interesting. Some of or men, witli clipped moustaches, (, eyes, and quick, nervous geslooked us though they might ; pont all their lives in Petrograd brow. But the rest wore the air ,6 vol en t repose that tells of parly regular meals, and a limited ce of the evil of this world, were unmistakably provincials, wore black frock-coats, and sat jly with their hands clasped over lower waistcoat-buttons. Others Russian blouses, and shrank unjnto corners. A few wore ordmimmer clothes, and these looked rtahle and smoked their cigarwithout fear. But there was a ,1 feeling of snyness and ret and I was astonished when I e'red that these quiet mo«t 'til-looking nn'ii had niet to t<»tK making shell. INSI BANCK OF A NATION. v were mostly directors, 1 Mipor secretaries, or accountants. littd spent rears in calculating ,w fillinc ")> l>" ,i( '- v ,>xi,nl " certificates, working out &U of stat'stieal averages. But tKef were thinking «f another „f Instiranee the _ inoiraive of ussian nat ion which at tliin mo-

IBRs2AW"'w*.fw- iv.i - inent is to be effected by killing or wounding as many Germans as possible. It was odd. But then I found that these men, assembled from all the ends of the Empire, had simply torgotten for the moment that they were insurance workers. Thoy were Russians. They knew that Russia woe in danger, they had heard the appeal, and they wanted to do their utmo6t tq help, They had joined various local committees, and they were full of (questions about the best way of organising their resources. The chairman called on Alexander Alexandrovich, and a burly business man with his hair brushed up straight rose and said that he had not expecteu to be asked to lead the singing in euch a big choir, beat about the bush a little, and then to.d a very interesting story of how an ancient and quiet provincial town not tar from Moscow nad organised all its factories and workshops to produce shrapnel, carts, boots ana harness tor the use of the army, ilis words broke the ice, the snyness vanished, and half a dozen men wanted to speak at once. A young man jerked his shoulders, and cleared his throat, and asked how the local industrial war committees were to be financed. A good deal had been done in his tewn (near the Caucasus), he said, but much more could be done. "Ani us for presses," he declared, "we just the kind needed in our butter factories, but give us a free haul, and we'll give you all the raw material you want. We snail never let the Hermans win." Representatives of •ome of the bigger provincial towns talked of the strides in the output of munitions, and they were cheered. THE BALD MEN. Then a little bald-headed man, wearing spectacles and a holland coat, got up and timidly asked, "May 1 speakr 1 I come from Kashin," he sa d, with a little cough. "Now Kashin is a tiny, sleepy town in the government of Tver, that is known to the outside only because some years ago a certain lady named Anna was canonised there. What could Kashin possibly do for the armyP "We have no factories or workshops and we cannot possibly make shell, but we want to lie p and we can suply lots and lots of hay," si d the little man, and slipped down sideways into his chair. Another bald man, but big and stout and dressed in a frock-coat, was emboldened by the speech of tho 111*11 from Kashin, and leaning forward and clinging to the back of a chair, he said, "1 come from a town that V> not marked on many maps, and many of you, I suppose, have never heard of it. But I must tell you that as soon as we read in the papers that help was needed we all felt very happy, and we T formed a committee in the nearest big town, and now all we want to know is how to set to work. We are rich, wo have plenty of means we don't need financing, and wo can make lots of things the army needs. Only tell us how." Then there was a flood of questions and answers, and leaders of the industrial organisaton listened to the provincials and explainrd plans for the perfecting of the organisation until long after midnight. T bad gone down expecting to spend a dull evening. I went home feeling more cheerful than I had done for days. With such spirit the Russian people cannot be defeated.