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The
Steel City. B December 15, 1943, 5.5- 5.20 p.m. Translated from the Welsh.
Rehearsal:4.O: p.m.
(From Cardiff) When I arrived in Hughesovka in 1889 the
population had increased from zero to fifty thousand, with the mine and steel
works full of work. Stalino is now one of the main railway centres of the Donetz
Valley, but in 1889 the only railway to the south was Tanganrog and Mariupol.
The nearest station to the line to the north through Charkov was
Charsisky. We were a group of many countries and languages-(Russian,
Polish, German Belgium, Jewish, Tartars and Georgians from Tiflis in the
Caucasus –Stalin’s home.) and in
their midst a small company of English and Welsh, John Hughes brought the
experienced workers with him from the Dowlais, Merthyr and the Rhymney.
At that time there were about seventy Welsh there, but I heard there was
more there at one time. I remember some of them,
- Mr. Watkins who married Miss Curtis from Rhymney,
Mr Holland who had been a chemist in the works at Dowlais, the James family and
others. But the man I remember best was John John from Dowlais.
A Welshman of the best kind, a man you could thoroughly trust. I would
enjoy talking to him in Welsh. At that time the workers were only paid once a
month and the money from the wages would come (pencil
addition “on the train”) under guard from Taganrog.
John Hughes died in June 1 889, a few months before I arrived in
Hughesovka as a teacher to Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Hughes two young girls.
Arthur Hughes was the second of John Hughes’ four young sons; and his
wife was Miss Augusta James from Lanover, Sir Fynwy. Interesting to many Welshmen is the fact that it was the bard
Islwyn who married them. By the
way, indirectly through another great preacher, the Rev. Dr. Saunders, Swansea,
I received the chance to go to Russia. I remember the slow long journey through Europe
with the family, staying a few days in Berlin, Warsaw (where I lost my way and
found myself in the Ghetto), then Kieff and Charkov - living pictures of Kieff
,this Holy and ancient
town would appear in front of my eyes; crossing the wide Dnieper river, and
admire the great tide of churches with their golden turrets and domes shining in
the blue sky. There I saw a crowd
of pilgrims that had walked along the road from far Siberia.
Then Charkov, with its wonderful university and its world famous fairs.
At last reaching the station at Charsisky completely exhausted.
There were vehicles to greet us and take us to Hughesovka.
I will never forget the feeling of overwhelming loneliness that filled me
whilst travelling over the drab, tree-less, never ending Steppes; it wasn’t
any wonder that the longing (hiraeth) for Wales almost totally conquered me. But the interest in the unfamiliar life around
me and the natural eagerness to see everything new helped me feel at home in
Hughesovka. I was living in a large
house, in the centre of a large garden surrounded by a high wall for safety, and
there would be a night watchman to look after the place overnight, but you
couldn’t always depend on them. Life there was not uninteresting and not without
variety. Letters and paper from
home would take eleven days to arrive and often they were censored.
Some books were not permitted to enter the country.
Visitors of all countries and languages would come, engineers and
students from Moscow and Petersburg (now Leningrad) and even from far Siberia.
One time the Province Governor of Ekaterinoslav, Dnepropetrovsk as it is
now called, to stay with us. He
arrived at the house with great ceremony having been escorted by a company of
Cossacks on horse-back. Some of the
visitors had stories which were interesting and exciting to a young girl like
myself. This was the time the
revolutionists were called Nihilists. I
was told that I knew a few of them and I remember well being warned for
innocently talking carelessly, as I was unaware of who would be amongst the
visitors to the house. The police
were watching and were looking into everything in great detail; and we had to be
careful. . They were very strict in looking at our passports.
I have kept my old passport which had been signed by Lord Sailsbury - the Prime Minister of the time. We
were able to enjoy ourselves in many ways. You knew that the Russians were excellent musicians and
singers. Once every week I would
hear music of a very high standard and often I would have the honour of hearing
the Polish Lady, Madame Yancharski playing the piano.
She had been a student of the Rubenstiens and Paderewski and was one of
her friends. I never forgot the excellent singing at the
Greek Church in Hughesovka. The
recent news that Stalin had recognised the patriarch of the Church in Russia
brought reminders of many of the services I attended, especially the service on
the eve of Easter. At this service,
with its ceremony and the musical excellence of the choir, especially the deep
voices of the bass, made a great impression on me.
The scene inside the Church would fill one with a spirit of worship.
The Church was overflowing, everyone was standing with candles in their
hands, there aren’t any seats in a Greek Church.
At midnight, the Church’s clock would strike, and the priests would
arrive in their beautiful robes and singing “Christ has arisen”.
All of the congregation would be kneeling.
They would cross themselves and answer, “It’s true He has arisen!”;
then the choir would sing a special hymn for Easter; all the bells would ring
and all the Church would be shinning in beautiful light.
There would be united rejoicing, where everybody would greet each other
with three kisses and they would shout merrily “Christ’s arisen.”
It was hard not to admire the strictness in which they kept the fast of
Lent, but as soon as the Easter festival was over they would devote themselves
to feasting to excess and the hospitals would be full. One of my prime pleasures was hunting - of foxes and hares, there
were as many as you could ever wish for, only us girls were not permitted to
join in the hunt for wolves due to the danger involved.
The Officers of the Cossacks would often come out with us and they were
such wonderful horsemen. The
hunting dogs had come from the Court Estate, Merthyr Tydfil, and since I had
been a pupil in the Court school, Merthyr, under the three Mrs. Edwards’, I
felt I had an interest in the dogs. Neither will I forget skating on the works lake,
and a sledge journeys over the glittering snow, with the troika bells, the three
horses ringing melodiously in the clear air.
There was a small taste of adventure in sledding over the Steppes, as we
would sometimes be followed by a number of dogs, half-wolves, and it would be up
to Ivan, our driver, to use his whip to keep them back. When I was living in Russia there were only two classes of people. I was
in a position to see the great differences between the two.
The standard of living around the Mujiks - the common people, was very
low and they weren’t unfamiliar with hunger and famine in some regions.
They lived in poor small houses of wood, of only one floor.
They had no conveniences to provide comfort and health, only a large
stove which almost filled the room. Often
they would sleep on it at night. Of
course the workers houses in Hughesovka were far better.
In every house you would see an “Icon”, that is, a sacred picture and
there is not one house without its Samovar, a vessel for making tea. I used to like the Mujikas, they were kind, unaffected, truly
religious in a simple and innocent way. They
would face misfortune without grumbling -“Nitchevo” they’d say shrugging
their shoulders. They are patient
and wise, full of common sense and humour. But like all Russians they were very superstitious. On evenings when the weather was fine, they
would meet each other outside the village, they would then rock on swings and
sing and clap hands, and almost always eating sunflower seeds.
They were very fond of dancing and enjoyed the social life with each
other. I must say that everyone was
fond of the local drink “Kvass” and if they could get it the even stronger
drink “vodka”. On special holidays it was a pleasure to look at
the girls in their beautiful dresses, the embroidery on them would be skilful
and pretty, their hair would be beautifully platted with ribbons and beads of
all colours around their necks. I
especially remember one time we were crossing over the planes of the Steppes in
a sledge we heard some sorrowful singing in the distance breaking the silence -it
was the people from the village about their fathers’ exploits.
I could never forget the spell/charm for a long time and my mind would
fly back to Wales with their minor, plaintive tones and again longing would rise
in my breast. At the time, this
class were unable to read or write. One
of the many things that struck me the first time in the towns was the “signs
“on all the shops; they were pictures and not words, for example, on the
butchers shops you would see a picture of a cow or a sheep, and likewise ,on all
the shops. - The
reason of course they were unable to read.
A great change has come over the country for one thing. On Sunday morning
there would be a market, and one could see the square surrounding the church,
from six o’clock in the morning, full of the country people with their
produce. The prices for things were
very cheap, goose or turkey for a shilling and a chicken for sixpence.
We’d pay for them in Kopecks and Roubles of course. In contrast the other class were exceptionally
cultured. They would live in their
large houses on their estates with a great number of workers and maids.
They could speak many languages and their reading immense.
I was surprised more than once that they knew so much about the prime
English writers of the time. The
Russian author they mentioned the most was Pushkin, I heard only a little from
them about Tolstoy. French was
their second language and I heard almost more French than Russian. Russian was a
hard language to learn. As I’ve
mentioned, they were very fond of music and dancing and they were very fond of
playing cards. They were careless
and _______? people, but yet
extremely kind and a great deal of charm related to them. Time does not allow me to mention the many other
interesting customs of the country; or the extreme weather - the overpowering oppressive
heat of the summer, the severe cold and the deep snows of their winters.
I heard a young man from Rhymney lost his life in a sudden perilous snow
storm. The fiery heat of summer
would bring with it many diseases like dysentery. I nearly died from this
disease but for the care of an American doctor who was one of the doctors at the
works hospital. In 1892 cholera came to the town and we the
family had to flee the place because of the riots which was caused by people,
fear and ignorance. The riots were
important enough to be chronicled by the London papers.
But even having to leave Russia like this, in haste, I felt extremely sad
in singing farewell to many friends there.
I had a wonderful kindness from many especially Mr. and Mrs. Arthur
Hughes; and I had come to love the country and its people, and in these later
days in rejoicing the Russians exceptional success. |
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