She said she hoped to go back to Italy sometime, but presumed it would be impossible, at least until that and other countries had recognized that the Russians and those in sympathy with them were human beings and not “carriers of contagion.” She is a wonderful speaker and an extremely energetic and hard working little woman, much admired and respected by her colleagues. I once accompanied her on a visit to a hospital, where she spoke to wounded soldiers. More than two hundred convalescent soldiers made up her audience. They lay on their cots or sat in wheel-chairs, some of them armless or with but one arm, others with one leg shot off, and many with ugly head wounds. They greeted Madame Balabanova cheerily, and listened almost eagerly to her story of what was going on at the front and in the country generally. When she had finished her address there was a silence, and then from all the men came the deep singing of the _Internationale_. BUCHARIN Bucharin, a close friend and companion of Lenin, is the editor of _Pravda_, the party organ in Moscow. I learned that he, too, had been in America for two or three months previous to the overthrow of the Czar, and had hurried back when this news reached him. He is a small figure, always hurrying somewhere, with a book under his arm. One meets him in the Theater Square in the morning, in Soviet Square a few hours later, at the Kremlin still later, and in the evening at the extreme opposite end of the city. There is a saying about him, “One can never tell where he will turn up next. He is always on the move.” And yet he always has time for a kindly word or question or greeting. He is a student of history and quotes freely, from memory, all the Russian and many European writers. GEORGE MELCHOIR George Melchoir is president of the Moscow Central Federation of All-Russian Professional Alliances. He worked for a long time at Bayonne, New Jersey, but like many others returned to Russia after the overthrow of the Czar. He took an active part in organizing the taking of Moscow in the early days of the Bolshevist uprising. Melchoir has been a working man all his life, and is extremely intelligent. The position which he holds demands a great deal of technical knowledge, as well as executive ability, and every one agreed that he was thoroughly qualified for his post. I had a long talk with him. He was enthusiastic about the future of Russia. It would be built up, he said, by the various unions and peasant organizations. He is probably thirty-five years of age, of medium height, with a bulky figure, full of vigor and enthusiasm. PETERS