Anna Louise Tittman Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

Anna Tittman
Had dinner with Mr. Wth and Mr. Ray Thompson, who is an Amrican 1
vice consul. We opened a can of freestone peaches which. provision
basket afforded and passed the can around to several hr$canS and Canadians.
When owl bill was presented we were astounded to learn that we
had to pay for our awn compote," that's what they called their dessert,
'because the managemnt wished to discourage travelers frcpm bringing their
own food. Compote was on the bill of fare. I'
Q. So they chaqed you for your own peaches?
A. Yes, that's right. It was on the bill of fare, so tmt made a dlfference
in their charging. They wouldn't have charged it if Zt hadntt been
on the bill of fare. 'w dinner cost 85 mles. I had daiy--that% tea--
consod, steak, potatoes and compote. he pays the bill [ahead of tilnel
on a note for so many rubles and receives a credit sZip
i
m which the price
of each ma1 is subt~acted.~' So you pay in advance, I gu ss, on som of
them. I' d forqtten about that. 'When passing Lake Bai 1 we got into a
snowstorm at a little station which we passed late in the evening, a wintry
scene was presented in the snow on the parid about two ihches deep. Dim
U&ts shining out throw the station windows. 9ho lonety looldn&~ailroad
mn camying lanterns and ducking their heads as they were facing the
flne snow which was being blown hither. and yon by the win@ from Lake Baikal . "
Biggest lake, biggest wind, I guess.
Septeder, you see.
That's the f'irst snow and that was in
"Septaber, 26, 1919; Eaylight found us in a beautiful cqtry of hills."
8ee, the country over there was so pmn, all that Was-piberian road, you
just travel throu& hundreds of miles of flat surface rnnothing living
on a lot of it, then into pine, birch and ash trees. Fast changing color.
Pine trees shed their needles of gold. There were no si of the wintry
night that had just passed throw this area, but an ide fall day. Being
on an express train gives one less oppoultdty to
country and
stops at the st&ions are much shor+,er and we dss
our fast night trips.
Before the end of the day, we emerged into the re@
with azheed of cattle or horses here and there, whi
up by the bigness of things, the distances and all.
ber one and nuher two about 8: 00 p.m. Talked with
who told us that Congress had failed to ratif'y the
able to eve them a bit af new such as the hope
western front of the Rwsalns, non-Bolshevik tm
mval of the Amrican Red Cross activities there
had out in the near Ural Pbmtains, they had to
they were doing. 'Ihat was Miss Harringtonls pup and
Irkutsk. It was m;ed so the Red Cross cod
She was the head there. And the nurses, mst o
t swallowed
"The usual late dinner with social conversation in coupe d dining room
between wself, Mr. Ray Thompson, vice-consul, Edward Th , Ueutenant
Ruggles, and Mr. Smith. We read Stevenson to one anothe for a tim in the
evening. Mr. Smith is very interesting. 'I Of come, a g newspaper reporter
would be to me. That was new in v If fe. I sat peyed witQ
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