The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

*DitingtdshedCvfs TL<5< JEkctnic C[0ck5 On yx Settin Beauaiful gifts aie seldoni prc- tea -but. here's an exceptIon worehy of note. Encatied en a'ach colored marble and onyx, these clectric docks (wada works by Hamaond). become carln objets d'ar-brimginbg Correct- co-ehe-niinute tiue to the offoe or boi. when plugged into mn clectric oute -just outside L.enngrad, the flermi itage in Leningrad (one of the mosi famous art galleries in the world)ý the Kremliin in Moscow, beside the cathedrals with their many brilliani colored mosques. Ail this beautý Stands ontbefore the touristagainsi a backgrouad .of distressing poverty and ignorance. Atner.ican visitors find that they are treated' with utinost respect, by their guides and are given the best Possible, accommodations, whihc are by né means like tiiose in America but are the best* that Russia can * offer. T'here are no be-whiskered Bols beviks lurking around the cor- niers with batie axes. In fact, 'the Russia ns, on the whole, and 'con- trary to general.opinion, are 'kiadly souls, idealists, and dreamers. >Ibey 1areý intensely religious,'b Ut illiterate and a> littie crude, and* boorish.. The Commuanists by no Means rep re sent the true Russians for they nutnber a -comparatively f ew -out tof a popuîla- tion of milion$. Met by Girl Guides When we arrived in, Leningrad wve were met at the depot by five g1r! guides who accoaipanied us on al our sight-seeing tours. 0f the so- called intellectual class, they ýspoke Efiglish and were rather respected by the rabble. They strolled about proudly with their brief cases and easily paved a way for us in the *exaniple, there i-s a pictu-re of a group. e of people praying for rain during a Sdrought; iaimediately f ollowing this is a. poster describing. the -modern methods firiatoail of which is yto iaiplym that theé peasant should 1leave off bis old fashioaed ways- and ï become, accustomed to moderninven-: ' The Tsarkoie Selo, .wbic h is some fifteen miles frotn Leningrad, 'may rightly be termed the ýmost magnifi- centý palace in the world, with -its. apartients. walled with panels of lapis lazuli and amber; its floors of inlaid wood and mother-of-pearl; crystal chandeliers, and- gold-leaf decorations. :Qi particular interest,ý close by, are the apartrnents of the late Czar and bis famuly., There is the roomn in which Nicholas Il was arrested, the playrooai and toys of the little crown prince; beside hua._ dreds of pictures and knick-knacký, belonging to the uni ortunate royal famuly. Al of these tbiags have been untouched by the Revolutionists. In fact, contrary to current opinion, the Bolsheviks did not plunder the museunis or pal1aces in either Lenin- grad or Moscow. Abject Poverty Everywhéré ln Lenlgrad there le ab-t ject poverty.. .Therç, la no *,better.- expect the Miracle of m ir a clesa in severai yeara, at whlch Urne the 1!hre Tacr Plan will h a ve b ee n onwleted. Everything la the Pive Yeai- Plan. One hears of nothing else, and .these peopile have Bo set thefr 0hearts on the succesa of the Pian that one wonders :sDt what le. golng to Ihap, Pen at t Re-falure. TIhe- Plan la -toc, vast to be limited. tefIlve years--ev.en ten Yers would. be too short a time., for' there la far'too much constructive work to -be done, The conditions ln Moscow are a little better. t.an those ln Lenlngrad In that the, people are cleaner and healthier iooklng, although they are ,no better dressed. The cobbleatonie streets, are- torn up everywhere, and liere and there an apartment building la, under con- struction. Our guide here was a young man studying'at the. universityi n Mos- cow, and had spent twelve years. ln the United States. H, e was as, anixloua to hear. about. America as we wero about Rusala. The hotel. accommodations were very much, better than those In Leningrad. The files were not as nuni- e rous, but we were still served the sour black bread. and the meals were given at the same hours-breakfast azE 9:30,. luncheon at, 3:30, In the afternoon;, and.dinner at Il o'clock at night. Describeà Noseow the day of >ar arrival, in Moaoow we weire taken thrôugh the Art Mu- seum, where we found another valuable collection of art treasurea and oll paintings. There la also here a superb exhibition of Russian modérn art whIch has a wcalth, of color and daish of bravado. That évening we attended a Russialà.n performance of "Rosé Marie." Thée. audience made rathér a pitiful sight by its combînation of gaiety aud dis- tressing poverty. No onie could wear. bis "best" clothes, for bis every, day -suit, which was sombre enough, had to do also for evening dress. We were dulhr guided *hro.,vh...i thoroughfares cf the city--October the Twenty-Fifth streét (an impor- tant date in the days of the Révolu-' tion). Acrossa the streét froai the hotelwas. the heajl offices of theé Oc- tober .Railyay. 'Ù _n another corner theme was under'construction a large hotel .which will have a bath with every room 1 Meals were served at unreasonable hours-so we Ainericans thought. Breakfast was at 9:30 o'clock; lunch- ýU luiiIPI.mm. -* new .men -wor Ano bats, but Instead bound their, heads with white raga or towels. Most of the present populations of the cities com- Prise thousande of 'illiterate péasants Who have corne ln, and are stili comlig lu, from the surrounding provinces. We ivere a source of much curlogity to thce- people, who. always surroundéd and stared StupIdly at us. Sonie would Iook wlstfully, somne contemptuously at, our clothea, shoe, sud bas, whIch were go much inher thaft those they wore.. n iu.rorefatera were crôwïied. But a still more lnteresting pla ce w"s the Muséum of the Révolution Whlch contaius ln chronologilaiforai, a his-. tory of the révolution of 1917. . Thet'e Are. hundredi. of gruesome pîctüres of beardéd amen wlth blazlni eyes ln secret con férence;. of early radIcale who were captured, chained and dragged to SI1- bier ta through thé suowa of thé wluter and the heat of theé surmer; gud e oo Poor to support their cathed- Ide w s, and there arc se many ofteI ts * . but We were 'm m ot,'our guides. PertYofAmerica1 iblé vei'y largely ý enterjirise atnd ain pedrars onyx. lha-in '48-