We read this with dawning hope of things doing
again at home. It meant that the battle was to
be renewed on a large scale, evidently, since till
now the various groups fighting had been but bands
of volimteers — ^aroimd Kolchak, Denikin, and other
heroes — ^who, struggling against terrific odds, had
tried to break up the Bolshevik armies. Now since
it was thought necessary to bring back the men
(who for one or another reason had gone across the
seas), one could consider it certain that new armies
were being raised and trained for service, and that
this call was to get back aU the valuable material
which Bolshevism and its persecutions had scattered
broadcast over the whole world.
Rapidly the officers gathered into little groups, re-
ported for their orders, and then turned their steps
either toward Siberia, toward the Black Sea, or to
the north of Russia. Wives were brave over the
partings and looked for work, which would support
them in exile; or else, braver still, they prepared to



254 RUSSIAN PEOPLE

go out to the home country again and take up theii'
share of the husbands* burdens. It was a difficult
choice for many women — either way the risks and
responsibiHties were heavy, and the future was im-
possible to foresee. Sad faces and weighted hearts
were the rule in the Russian colony.
My own husband, though outside the classes re-
called to service because of his age, and supposedly
out of commission because of his old wound (which
still greatly and frequently troubled him), became
so interested in the movement and the possibility
of being useful that he decided to volunteer again.
