Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VI. Spring Scenes in Samara
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journey explained, after the business was finished. One and
all rose up, and in chorus thanked me, and asked me to convey
their thanks to all the friends abroad who had contributed
through me.
It was evident from what was brought forward at this
meeting, that in spite of all denials from certain quarters, numbers
were dying directly of starvation, and not simply from diseases
occasioned by the famine. It also appeared that many families
had mixed clay with the bread. I keep a sample of this as a
grim memorial.
When we came out there was a considerable crowd assembled
to see “the first foreigners who had visited their village.” I
was by this time so used to the curiosity of the peasants that it
roused my wonder when I was not followed by a crowd. This
happened to me once, where I saw women and children peeping
round corners or out of windows, and then hastily drawing
back. The riddle was solved when I reached my lodging.
My companion, with whom I had been speaking in German,
told me that the women in the village had said, “He doesn’t
use Christian speech, and he is not dressed like a Christian.
He must be the tjort (devil) himself.”
Von Birukoff had had to overcome endless opposition from
the different authorities before he could succeed in his work;
yet he had triumphed to an extraordinary degree, and astonished
me with his indomitable doggedness and pluck. He had charge
of the north-eastern wing of the Count’s army of warriors
against pestilence and famine. Already he had established
forty eating-rooms, and hoped to double that number.
One of the most heartrending features of the famine was the
multitude of orphaned children, whose parents had fallen
victims to starvation or typhus. In Samara alone they
numbered many thousands, and, without friends or relatives,
wandered from village to village seeking help for themselves
and little brothers or sisters. Many were fed in the Count’s
eating-rooms, but it was impossible to help more than a small
number of the great multitude.
Here is an entry from my diary: April 14th. Got no rest
during the night. About midnight a number of starving people
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