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Page 173 from Ethel Moir Diary, Vol 1

Moir, Ethel, 1916, Document
Page 173 from Ethel Moir Diary, Vol 1
Page 173 from Ethel Moir Diary, Vol 1
Page 173 from Ethel Moir Diary, Vol 1
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Library Item
Item no
25201
Title
Page 173 from Ethel Moir Diary, Vol 1
Description
a smell of cabbage, bad tobacco & dirty clothes & a damp, clammy atmosphere! The windows were hermetically sealed. There was great confusion at the station & it was with difficulty we managed to cheque [check] our stores & get them aboard the train.The whole of the Russian army seemed to be surging upon the plat- form; orderlies searching for their masters, officers shouting for their orderlies, soldiers staggering along under bundles of clothes, each man revealing that expression of happy, half-amused, half-inquisitive, wholly amiable tolerance, which reveals the Russian soldiers' favourite attitude to the world! A bunch of Austrian prisoners in their blue-grey uniform made a strange splash of colour in a corner of the platform where, they quite contentedly were drinking their tea; someone in the invisible distance was playing the balalaïka [balalaika] & every now & then some church bell in the village rang clearly & sharply above the tumult. It was truly a strange scene. At last with a reluctant jerk & shiver the train was slowly persuaded to totter into the night air & we were off!
We spent a most diabolical night on cold, hard boards, the result being we are very irritable, stiff & weary to-day!!
22nd Benderi - we arrived here at 9 0'cl: & spend an hour or so
Artist / maker
Date
1916
Size
20.4 x 16.0 cm
Type
Location
Edinburgh and Scottish Collection