CHAPTER IX
about people
There is much talk about Russia being a lifeless nation ; that all industry is at a standstill and that the nation is dying. This may be so : I shall here write just what I have seen of people in the streets, in railway trains, theatres, factories, churches and public places.
In Petrograd I stayed at the Astoria hotel which faces a big square in which is situated “ Isaac Cathedral.” I stood at the window at 7 o’clock in the morning and occasionally went backwards and forwards watching people from 7 o’clock to 9 o’clock cross this square, and the thing that kept recurring in my mind was, if there is no work being done in Petrograd, if all industry is dead, why are all these people up so early in the morning ? why are some of them hurrying ? in fact, why are they about at all ? If the whole population is dying of disease and is worn out because of lack of food, why should people take the trouble
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