Feeding the Hungry, P. C. Hiebert, 1929

leaving early the next morning. But when morn- ing came, even before we had had our breakfast, word was brought to us that the official had changed his mind and nevertheless was going to carry out his original plans, with the added remark, that if this were 1918 the year of the revolution, then he would get away with the Amer- icans, without much trouble, and he himself would ride in the automobile. Upon learning this we immediately sent back the request for another interview. The haughty response came in the following words: “You may come and talk until you are hoarse, I will nevertheless do exactly what I want.’’ We responded promptly, quietly asking God for guidance in what we should say or do, for it was evident that just a little pleasantness and flat- tery would not avail here. On entering the room, we found him very much as the night before, only that he had with him a middle aged Jew instead of the young lad. Asking us to take seats he began to repeat his com- plaints against our committee, and his firm determination to punish them. We called his attention to the fact that we had come to Russia for the definite purpose of helping the people; that the Russian government had promised us protection and assistance in our work; and _ further, that we had a paper from Kamanev, one of the highest officials in Moscow, which stated that any one who hin- dered us would be punished. He himself had a copy of VIZUALIZING FAMINE CONDITIONS 2S the instructions from Moscow as indicated above, which he feared. Upon thus being brought face to face with some of the possible consequences, his haughty spirit died away, and he became tractable and kind so that all ar- rangements could be made in a satisfactory way. What pleased us later was to learn that he kept his promise and treated our committee with a fair measure of considera- tion. ‘The remainder of the trip was uneventful, except that we were obliged to stop at every village to collect all the gasoline, benzine and kerosene available and put it into our gas tank. For the last 25 miles we had nothing but kerosene. The motor experienced some sinking spells, but kept running and brought us safely to Alexandrowsk. SCENES OF PRISON LIFE IN Russia 1917-1922 Suspected, arrested, imprisoned, sent to Siberia, never heard of again, were familiar life-histories of a large number of Russians, both of the Mennonites and others, during the Czaristic regime. Such despotic oppression necessitated ample provision for retaining prisoners. These the new government inherited, as well as the ideas, and methods of dealing with such as they deemed undesirables. Since the tables were now entirely turned so that many of those who had formerly been incarcerated in the prisons, were now the ones who sent to the prisons those, who had built and planned and arranged the prisons, no doubt many a Czaristic under-despot was required to follow the example of Haman, who had p