There are old men, a few beggars, youngsters who are losing their school hours, endeavouring to wheedle a few sen from indulgent tourists, or indulging th the pretanest English should their requests not meet with the desired result, There are women, too, sturdy wenches with swinging gait and healthy faces, women of the open air. Or again those of what is termed *better descent. dainty as novelists would have us believe all grisettes to be, but at any rate as chia as many a young person who gaily swings along the boulevardes of Paris. Shod in the last word in shoes, with hats as truly Parisian as those which come from La Ville Lumiére, but often with dresses of the poorest material, these women emulate the men'in making a brave show against the arrows and slings of outrageous fortune. They represent Russia. in more ways than one—the old Russia, for most of them are Whites living in dread of the Chinese who are their im: mediate masters and! even more fearful of the Reds, who it is often stated are only about half a day's train journey away. When a Russian has nothing else to talk about, there is always an excited speculation as to when, if ever, the Bolsheviks are to descend on the city. The prospect of such an occurrence is somewhat remote in these days, for the Soviets are two busy endeavouring to curry favour with the Chinese to risk their chances of success upon an act which would be one of overt hostility calowlated to undo all the work which such men as Yourin and Joffe have already done and which Karakhan hopes to set the corner stone.
We seem to have left the bench on which we were seated and per-helps it is just as well, for our immediate business is to get acquainted with those who have strutted across our all too brief a stage. Many, too many have been better days, and the history of one or two might be a little in-resting. These two just passing sisters, and their slender resources have been stretched to the utmost to achieve the elegance they undoubtedly possess. Daughters of an official under the old regime, all they have left of their parents are but sweet. memories and property.in territory under the control of the Bolsheviks. These latter have not confiscated it, but merely ''com-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.