Feeding the Hungry, P. C. Hiebert, 1929

to help extend the feed- ing program restrained the masses from a panicky flight to certain death for many, and intense suffering for all. THE OFFICIAL GREETING The following extract from a letter by the Chairman of the “Verband,” a man of God and of unusual hope- fulness and courage, will illustrate further. This letter was the official greeting that we received upon arriving in South Russia. Dear Brethren: Before all things, I bid you welcome, as the representa- tives of the Mennonite Union in America, as the messengers of new hope of Jife—sincerely welcome, in our rather inhos- pitable South. Welcome, I say, in the name of our, at pres- ent, unfortunate and unhappy, Mennonites of the Ukraine. Here in the valley of the Shadow of Death, your appear- ance, and your untiring efforts with those of Prof. Miller, under the direction of the brethren in the distance, promises to us a thousandfold blessing. May you feel at home in the circle of our congregations, in the face of the great grief that has befallen us, and the small hope that is left. Bring new impulses of life into the hopelessness of the present! Take upon your strong shoulders the hundredweight of our burdens, and distribute the same to the strong hearts of the brethren in your sunny homeland. We understand that you STREET WAIFS AT NICOPOL But a sample of hundreds of thousands of the starving population of Southern and Eastern Russia, FREQUENT SCENES AT CEMETERIES Beggars are often found at such places because they here expect to find the most pity of such as pass by. ‘inog Oyur dn putsd 0} sapjsty} Jo S314 ZutszeqIVy) SGLOALILSIAS WAOTHA A WARD IN THE COMMUNISTIC HOSPITAL Patients lying on swamp grass litters, with a little soup issued by the government as the daily ration. There is practically no medical at- tention. A CANDIDATE FOR THE COMMON GRAVE A patient at Alexandrowsk. The system weakened by starvation is attacked by an abdominal disease leaving very little chance for recovery. ‘100P 9} IPISUL SSUBY SSBd -1¥d oy, ‘Spuvy sty UL St peoy 88op OGL, < ‘papvojun SBA UlBAs UvOt ‘g1oy} oWBd JOTI “f ULATY Wey Sop Sty -Jawy say JIOd 24} 9B SAO1IBds YILM UOTWeduI0d poaayoyng ysnl pey eH “ed TINH Jo eSeyta ul jeaqM JO sureis dn Sutyoid sojYsnvp pus AoT}OW oy} Ul pest, ‘ouOUUETY B jOU ‘ueUl SIU, NIVUD UO DOUVES ILL Gooud SV SHAUHS NOd V AN IMPROVISED FUNERAL CAR A Russian is taking the dead by wagon loads from the hospital to the shed at the cemetery. After about a hundred or more corpses had been eollected they were thrown into a common grave, often without formality for service. ANOTHER BURIAL SCENE A number of children ready for burial. The bodies have been stripped of clothing which is again used by the family or sold at the bazaar. BURYING THE DEAD The village of “Pokrovka” where this scene has its setting has a popu- lation of about 5000 people and yet there is a grave containing as many as