Russia Unfolds Before the Tourist

Radio Record, Volume VII, Issue 46, 24 May 1935, Page 14

Russia Unfolds Before the Tourist

Impressions From the Streets of Two Great Cities Under the SovietVenturing on the High Seas With Early Spaniards-What Inspired the Crusades?

MRS. W. H. MONTGOMERY (3YA). M* first encounter with a citizen of the U.S.8.R. was at the head of the gangway where two (to my un-Soviet eye) rather ruffianly-looking gentlemen were checking passports. Their Bnglish was certainly better than my

Russian, and the difficult points were cleared up by a thin, pale girl in a blue uniform who, I feared, would be an emotional cot-case before the passengers were passed through. At last we were on Soviet ground, and there was the fleet of new Lincoln cars which we had heard so much about drawn up, all blue and- shining. Their rough-looking drivers ‘with tousled: heads and rolled-up sleeves lolied about in attitudes suggestive of freedom and equality. Directions were being shrieked by some. women who were rushing around fitting people into cars on a system which did not appear to be working very smoothly. These were the interpreter-guides provided -by the Intourist Bureau, and only through them could we get in touch with anything or anybody. E drove through sad. streets to the stations in a world which knocked imagination endwise. The torlorn houses, dirty grey, with holes in the walls and broken windows, the misevruble people walking wearily and without purpose, the strange depression which hung over everything like a pall was something we had never dreamed of, nor could we have believed it existed. We pulled up where a wide sweep of eurved steps led to the station. People with blanched faces. weak bodies miserably clad, passed up and down, fear in their eves and hope dead in their hearts, so little like the people of the world we knew that they were as risen from the dead. I can see one woman now’ whose face looks ‘out at’ me from a grey shawl clutched under her chin with bony fingers, and a man dragging one foot behind him who, though shockingly emaciated and prematurely old, had a look of distinction... TI hesitated to walk among these living dead, but they took no heed, and we passed into the stn tion. : ROWDS thronged the pavement (in Moscow), poorly dressed, but less cowed and miserable than the young

people in Leningrad. ‘They were a people without variety, nearly all young, the women in cheap cotton. dresses without any attempt at fasbion, the men in any odd garment. Street cars crowded beyond _ belief, people hanging on to the steps and half pushed out of the windows, rattled by. No one in Russia owns a ear, If you are a doctor, or an engineer, or some person of signal service to the. State, the ‘Government provides you with ua car and a chauffeur. In Moscow I saw only two cars besides our own. Soon J thought; we shall get "into a better quarter of the town and see some bet-ter-looking people.. But this is what never. happens. . . MONA TRACY (3YA). (ON SIDER what a voyage across the -Pacifie meant inthe 16th century. The best ships of the day were the carayels.. They were small, broad vessels, ranging ‘from 25 to 85 yards in length, and they were faster, better lined, and easier to handle than any other ships afloat. The caravel had three masts, and to these were attach: ed triangular sails which looked like wings when they were unfurled and freed to the winds, This, then, was the little tub’ (for.no other word can describe it) in which the adventurer of Spain set forth to conquer unknowu waters, Then, although great stores of provisions would be placéd on board. it was certain that both food and water would run short before land was sighted. And worst-of all, there was scurvy to be feared, that dread disease that carried off more seamen than did staryation or fights with the natives, It took

Saavedra’s expedition three months to arrive at the Moluccas. There he discovered that the Portuguese had established. themselves so firmly that there was no room for the men of Spain,, Sadly he sailed away -again, and stecring to the southward, soon came to the shores of a great island along which he coasted for a month. This was Papua, which the Spaniards afterward named New Guinea, belieying it to lie opposite to the Guinea of Africa. To Saavedra befell the fatecommon to navigators of his day. He died at sea while trying to find the way home to Mexico, and his ship struggled back to the Moluecas taking news of his death, OTHERS, however, -haye come for- . ward to carry on the,torch.. About the middle of the 16th century an expedition from Mexico succeeded in

founding a colony on the Philippine Islands.. There lived in Lima. about this time a. Spanish gentleman, ‘who, studying the history of Peru, discovered a legend to the effect thut Inea had once’made a voyage into the west, returning thence with a cargo of goid and silver, As a result, two ships were sent forth from Callao, in command of au noble young Spaniard, Alvar de Mendana, Mendana was instructed to jovk for 2 good land in the Pacifie and to inake a settlement there. After a voyuge of 80 days Mendana’s ships came to a land so large and so high that it was thought by the navigator to be a:continent, It proved to be, however. ‘only :.amisland, one of a group, and Mendana called at ‘Santa Ysabel, a nume which it bears to this day. L. R. R. DENNY (3YA). LT is impossible to fully understand the significance of the Dardanelles campaign without mentally linking it | up with the"Crusades, and equally im- ; possible to place in correct bistoricai if: perspective such recent movements -as \ the work of Lawrence in Arabia and General Allenby’s work in Palestine Without seeing that they could never haye been necessary were it not for that devastating advance of the Seljukian Turks whose outward tbrust nade imperative the Crusades. ‘These Turks brought. uothing with them. cared nothing for the rich language and fine poetry and the vast literature comprising philosophy, mathematics and natural sciences which enriched and adorned Arabic culture; it is true that the Sejuks did not, as did the Mongols two hundred years later, set out deliberately to destroy the monuments of Mohammedan literature, But the nomadic Turk had no predilection tor letters or art, and the.triumph of © the ‘Turk, coarse, wild and ignoranr. despite occasional brilliant and cultured leaders, gave a- permanent set? back to that appreciation of Western thought and science which the Arabs had displayed after their emergence from the desert. SLAM is not on principle an ivtoler-~ ant faith, and the Arab conquerors placed no difficulty in the way of Christian pilgrims who continued to visit the Holy Places in steadily. increasing numbers. For we must remember that Western Christendom Was united in one faith at this time. and in that faith the penitentiary system occupied an important place. When, therefore, a2 new complexion comes over the Eastern situation in the conquest of the tolerant Arabs by the , Seljukian Turks, and when the Holy Places at Jerusalem fell into these infidel hands there was ready and‘ waiting a great host, ready to go on a great penitentiary pilgrimage with the. special intention of conquering the goal of the pilgrimage. From this

viewpoint, therefore, we may regard the Crusades as a.culminating point in the rising tide of religious fervour which had mounted high in the tenth and eleventh centuries. They are the offensive side of chivalry; armed pilgrimages combining the gentler pleasures of travel with the fiercer delights of battle against God’s enemies. The Crusades are the Christian version of the Moslem Jehad, or Holy War. MR. E. J. BELL (3YA). DURING King Edward’s reign it was stated that if England suddenly became a republic the King would certainly be elected its first president. I believe this to be just as true to-day, and we should, I am sure, prefer to be guided by a man like King George, and not by a president untrained for the responsible position he must occupy. John Buchan tells us, "we have rebelled against kings, but never against kingship. The throne has come closer to the lives and juterests of the citizens. The King is to-day far more a people’s king than when an Edward or a Henry returned triumphant from the French

Wars." It may be said that later kings did little to endear the throne to the people; they lacked the kingly glory which is greater than:force, but it was left to Victoria, Edward VII. and now to King George, to win the aifectionate loyalty and attachment of the people. King George is the servant, the representative and the interpreter of his people, with the welfare of the nation at heart. KANG GEORGH ranks high among ‘the best shots in the country, and _ after one very unsuccessful day he exclaimed to Lord Burnham, "I can’t hit a feather to-day. But I have been at sea for a good many years. and one doesn’t ‘see many. pheasants there." The King has always been fond of: animals, and of horses in particular. Yachting ig another sport in which the King takes a deep interest, and in the season he is a regular visitor to Cowes, and ig to be seen on board the royal yacht... His training in the Royal Navy gaye him a love for the sea and a knowledge of every branch of seamanship. Of his deep, interest in outdoor sports such as cricket, tennis, footbal] and

golf, King George has given abundant proof. He has also identified himself with almost every interest of the nation, and has fostered science, art, literature and education.