From The Wedding by Joseph Levine Chapter 14

From the Wedding
by Joseph Levine
Chapter 14

Friday morning I departed for the big city. I had to make a stop in Amdur where
I visited my Uncle.


Sat a.m. I presented myself to the commission on service to the CZAR. The commission
registered all young males and judged their ages. My age was established as 23
and I was happy.

They denied me a passport until after I present myself to the draft board.
I could not return to my town as it rained all day Sunday and the roads were impassable.
The custom of that period was that when the Army of Russia was looking, for able-
bodied men to fill their quota, the wealthy families bribed the "fathers" and the
working poor were grabbed and turned over to the town police… these young men were
transported, put in chains and thrown into the CZARS Army to serve for many years.
Two young men from our town ended up in the Army in such a manner, one was a cap maker and the other became a driver for the captain of the brigade.

The following episode happened on a cold winter night- the moon looked down
on a cold white snow - the soldier is watching the treasure that is in a trunk on the wagon.
He has thinking about his wife and child that he had left at home penniless. He knows only one thing; he must watch the Czars treasure that is on top of the wagon.

Suddenly the driver of the wagon came out singing a ditty that drunken soldiers
amuse themselves with. He comes over to the cap maker who was on guard and says, “If
you would listen to me, we could both become rich.”
“How so?” said the guard.
" If you would listen to me, I would harness a pair of strong horses. We would
take out the money from the box , and run to the border and head for America."

They did not think too long- they took 5 thousand rubles- harnessed the horses and ran away to a large city-sold the horses-bought new clothes and had a good time. Nobody
recognized them so they decided that they would go to the town where the cap makers wife lives and get passports and leave for America.

They arrived Friday and hear that the next day the commission will be in the city, thus they did not leave the house- nobody saw them.