Cholera in Russia--I hurry back to Roumania--I am put in quarantine
on the frontier and liberally disinfected--The soldier guard aims
his gun at me--My Jewish room-mate and her obtrusive husband--She
plays “Patience” whilst he prays and expectorates--I get my
release and send a military expedition in search of a mirror--Miss
R---- tries to escape from Russia--Her companion, a German
engineer, develops cholera--The terrified peasants place them
together in an empty cottage--The German dies--She finds, when
after a terrifying experience she reaches Bucarest, her hair is
snow-white.
As is pretty well known, cholera has never yet been entirely stamped
out of Russia. Roumanians are naturally on the alert lest the dread
disease should be introduced into their country, and, thanks to the
excellent arrangements made by them on the different frontiers,
cholera has never yet succeeded in establishing itself on their side.
I happened to be in Russia one autumn when the cholera was pretty bad.
Frightful tales were brought in as to what was taking place in the next
village--“people dying by the score, numbers being buried in one common
grave,” and so forth. Whether they were true or not, these stories
frightened me so that I determined to leave at once and try to re-enter
Roumania. The journey through Russia was anything but pleasant, all
the railway carriages reeking of disinfectants. On arriving at the
Roumanian frontier, the train was stopped on the bridge over the Pruth
close to the little village of Ungheni. We were received by the doctor
and a number of officials, one of whom at once demanded the keys of our
trunks. Everything was pushed into an enormous stove, and steamed there
for fully twenty minutes. We were then conducted to our apartments.
Four or five peasant cottages had been cleared of their inhabitants,
and were placed at the disposal of the travellers. I shared one of
the rooms with a lady and her children. Every morning a soldier
entered with a bottle (_vaporisateur_) of disinfectant and liberally
besprinkled us and our clothes with it; so thoroughly was it done that
my clothes reeked of the stuff for months afterwards. Towards mid-day
another soldier presented himself with the menu from the station
restaurant. Not knowing Roumanian very well then, I had no choice but
to point to some dish on the menu; and whether it were fish, flesh, or
fowl, it had to be eaten. If I had refused it and chosen another dish,
I might have fared still worse.
We were guarded by soldiers and attended by soldiers. Indeed, so very
strictly were we guarded that, one day going a few paces beyond the
range marked out for us, a sentinel actually aimed his gun at me. After
that, thinking discretion the better part of valour, I overstepped
the limit no more. I was obliged to stay in quarantine for five days,
paying two francs a night for my bed, and providing myself with food
also. The lady who shared my room at the beginning left after two days,
and her place was taken by a Jewess who arrived from Russia with her
husband. They were a most amusing couple. She sat on her bed all day
playing at “Patience.” He in the corner of the room, with a hand-towel
over his shoulders in lieu of a praying shawl, recited the prayers for
the day, every now and then turning to expectorate, and most probably
calling down blessings on the Christians. The husband was lodged in
an adjacent room with another traveller, but was constantly coming in
to ours to visit his wife. One morning he came at such an early hour
that I had not finished dressing. I was very angry, but controlled
myself as well as I could. After a few minutes he went back to his own
apartment to fetch something, only to return almost directly. But I had
been quicker than he. In those few moments I had barricaded the door.
His disgust was great when he found he could not get in, and quite
plainly I could see his form silhouetted on the white window-blind as
he took his revenge by putting his fingers to his nose. His wife looked
stolidly on at all this byplay, but made no remark. She made no attempt
whatever to interfere with me; so I was free to dress at my leisure,
and then, and not till then, did I open the door. At the next visit of
the doctor I complained to him about the too frequent visits of the
Jew, so he promised that I should not be annoyed again.
When finally the day arrived that I was free to continue my journey,
I felt that I should like to look into a mirror before setting off.
But no such thing was to be had in any of the houses. Finally, after
diligent inquiries prosecuted through the soldiers, I learned that two
gentlemen who occupied a little cottage not far off were the lucky
possessors of such an article. The soldier was at once despatched with
a polite request for the loan of the mirror. It was at once granted, so
I was able to see how I looked after five days’ quarantine. Soldiers
accompanied us to the station, and saw us safely into the train; but
our passports were not restored to us till we had arrived at the town
of Jassy _en route_ for Bucarest.
On one of the frequent occasions when cholera became epidemic in
Russia, a young English governess with whom I had some acquaintance met
with one of the most tragical experiences I have ever heard of.
Miss R---- accepted a holiday engagement with a family in Russia
at some distance from the border, and as it was her first visit to
that country she looked forward to it with the greatest interest and
pleasure. For a time all went well, but at length cholera broke out in
the neighbourhood and spread alarmingly. Poor Miss R---- was terribly
frightened. She was the only foreigner in the place with the exception
of a German engineer who was engaged on some important work in the
district, and who, she soon found, shared her nervousness. The two
decided to leave, but the family with whom she was living thought that
such a course would be a very foolish one, and sought to dissuade her
from it.
Finding her still determined, her employers placed practical obstacles
in the way. The place was situated very many miles from the nearest
railway station, and they refused to supply her with a carriage or a
vehicle of any sort. The German was for a time no more successful, but
at length he did obtain a _karutza_, and the two set out upon a journey
that was destined to have a ghastly termination.
They had scarcely reached the first village when the German fell
ill, his symptoms clearly indicating cholera. Overcome with horror,
Miss R---- abandoned any attempt to proceed to the station, still
many miles away, and sought help in the village. It was a practically
hopeless quest. She knew no word of the language, and the villagers,
terrified of the cholera, would have nothing to do with her or her sick
companion. The latter knew a little Russian, and at length in response
to his solicitations the two were shown to an empty cottage on the
outskirts of the village, and here they took up their quarters. What a
situation for a young English girl! Left in a remote Russian village,
alone, save for the companionship of a sick stranger of another race,
and without the means of making known her wants even if the villagers
had been able or willing to assist her!
Food and water were thrust through the window, but no other help
whatever could be obtained. There was no doctor in the place, and she
had no means of even appealing to her late employers. Faced by this
terrible situation, Miss R---- braced herself to meet it and acted
as an Englishwoman might be expected to act. She did her best for
the German engineer, but the poor man, lacking medical attention or
even drugs or restoratives of the simplest kind, was doomed from the
first. He rapidly grew worse, and after a day and a night of terrible
suffering, which his unhappy attendant could do little to mitigate, he
died.
Miss R----’s situation, alone with the dead body, was scarcely better
than it had been before, and she became resigned to the worst that
could befall, feeling assured that the villagers would not help. What
was her surprise, however, when, upon finding out that her companion
was dead, they so overcame their fears as to take the body away and
bury it!
Two days later--having apparently conferred amongst themselves in the
meantime--they brought a _karutza_ to the door and invited her by signs
to enter it. She was then driven to the railway station, and eventually
reached Bucarest in safety. When she encountered her friends there they
uttered exclamations of surprise and even of horror, for the hair of
the young girl had turned completely white.
It was the greatest mercy that Miss R---- succeeded in getting through
to Roumania in safety, as the Russian peasants often become quite crazy
when cholera is about. They accuse the doctors of fostering the disease
for their own ends, and often refuse to have their sick attended to. In
one district they worked themselves up to such a pitch of madness that
they attacked a hospital, dragged the patients out of bed, forced them
to return to their own homes, and completely put to rout both doctors
and nurses. Needless to say, numbers of deaths occurred in consequence
of these terrible acts. Cholera is never really stamped out in Russia;
it is usually hanging about the remote villages, and it takes toll of a
certain number of lives every year.