Feeding the Hungry, P. C. Hiebert, 1929

r and the subsequent Revolution. The report brought to the United States by the Russian delegation 6 months earlier, and what we had heard from others in the meantime concern- ing the distress and suffering of our Russian brethren, were confirmed, and we were convinced that the situation was fully as dark as it had been pictured. 94 FEEDING THE HUNGRY On Oct. 8, we left Sebastopol by train and 24 hours later reached Melitopol, Taurien. The dilapidated train equipment, the distressed looking, ragged fellow passen- gers, the scenes in town and country through which we passed, were all mute evidences of the misery and suffering brought on by war and revolution. The owner of a rickety carriage at Melitopol station offered to take us a distance of three miles to the home of Jacob Neufeld for 20,000 rubles. A pre-war Russian ruble was equivalent to our half dollar, but now the 20,000 rubles equaled only 60 cents. So had the value of money fallen! Bro. Neu- feld was a miller by profession and still had one large mill in operation. We spent Sunday in his home, and wor- shiped with the congregation near there. We discussed with the brethren the purpose of our work, tried to learn all we could concerning their needs and their outlook, and gathered from them such suggestions as they had to give. On Monday we proceeded by carriage to Orloff and later in the evening reached Halbstadt. These colonies are in the section of Russia which suffered most from the civil war, which had been going on for about two years. Along the Molotschna stream and in the Chortitza near Alexandrowsk, (about 50 miles dis- tant), are located the largest Mennonite colonies of Russia. In these two colonies almost half of our Russian brethren reside. About 150 years earlier the first settlers from West Prussia had located along the Dnieper River. From those humble beginnings, there had developed prosperous and flourishing villages and estates. A number of the people had accumulated wealth, in mills, factories, land, or livestock, some even to the amount of several million dollars. But all had changed. We could still note in some of their palatial homes, in hospitals, schools and other insti- tutions, evidences of past prosperity, but the war had left THE FIRST ESSAY INTO RUSSIA 95 its blighting effects everywhere. Over some of the Men- nonite villages the battle front had shifted more than twenty times in two years. The occupying forces lived off the community. Not only were food, clothing and live- stock requisitioned for the use of the army, but the people were in constant fear of plunder, and rapine. Roving bands on horseback led by a certain Machnow were the special terror of many villages. These bands brought in the dread disease, black typhus, from which thousands died during the winter preceding our visit. Of a population of 12,000 Mennonites in the Chortitza villages, over 1200 died during a three month period. S