To go to a cinema alone, then, and sit there in the dark is embarrassing and not without danger. To go alone with a girl-friend to a restaurant where there is music is out of the question. To go for a walk in the outskirts of the town, or even to the park or cemetery is equally, if not more so, inadvisable. And so, what forms of relaxation are there remaining? To her, the doors of most foreign families are closed. Places of amusement, as evident from the above, are also far from access sible. There only remain the Russian families—and these also have their quota of lonely Russian girls. Besides, not every girl can find such a family, and even if she does she must be extremely careful not to abuse its hospitality, The emigrant purse is a slender one.
Thus she can only take walks along Avenue Joffre, taking care to be home before the hour is too late—say, by 7 pin. (On Sundays and holidays. of course, she can if, she so wishes, devote the whole day to this form of amusement) Promenading thus, girls try hard to seem completely oblivious io everyone and everything around them—even to the shop windows, knowing that they have only to stop and look at one of them for some individual of easy acquaintance to attempt a conversation.
There are always, of\course, mahjongg and books. Russian libraries are full of novels, but the misfortune is that youth refuses to be satisfied with books alone—however full these may be of imagination youth wants to augment books with life, the company of interesting people—and it is this companionship of intelligent, gentlemanly and agreeable men that 1s often denied to a Russian Shanghai girl without friendship in the ci rank of Lieutenant-Commander. With the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War Grand Duke Kyril received the Tsars permission to leave for the war, and in Port Arthur headed the Naval Department of the staff ofthe famous Admiral Makaroff, who commanded the Pacific Fleet. On March 31, 1904, the Russian squadron put out to sea to give battle to the Japanese. At approximately 10 in the morning the flagship "Petropavlovsk," with Admiral Makaroff and his staff, including Grand Duke Kyril, on board, was struck by a mine and sank without leaving a trace. Among the 6 officers and 83 sailors rescued was Grand Duke Kyril." After his long convalescence he was appointed io the main Naval Staff. In 1912 the Grand Duke graduated from the Naval Academy and was given the command of the cruiser "Oleg" The same year he was the Tsar's representative at the Olympic games in Stockholm. When the revolution broke out in 1917 he and his regiment left on orders from Empress Alexandra to keep order at the Duma, and when the Tsar abdicated he went into retirement and left for Finland with his family. Subsequently he lived fora long time in Coburg, Germany.
The example set by Dr. Petersen, who together with his wife and two young Russians spanned the Pacific on a junk, gives no rest to other adventurous men in the Russian colony. A group of three young men—T. L. Blinoff, (33 years), skipper P. E. Kostiloff (28 years), artist N. I. Titoff (30 years). and mechanic S. P. Bruzentsoff (25 years), who is also not unknown in the local boxing ring, have acquired a 23-foot long whaleboat and after feverishly preparing it for its long voyage, have left Shanghai for the seven seas. They meant to steer the same course as that taken by the famous explorer Magellan—but, of course in reverse. From Shanghai they will make for Bangkok—then, by way of the Malay straits, to Borneo. From there they hope to get tg^Hawaii and will sail! south along the Coast of South America. Here—the most dangerous part of the voyage—they will bend! round Cape Horn. In addition to sails their boat is equipped with a Diesel motor which will come into use during calms. Mr. Blinoff is an experienced seaman, having served on a merchantman for eight years where he was First Mate.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.