The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
I've stayed in the garden until 7 o'clock and then washed my hair.
Edgar Degas (1834-1917)
There are only four words in the newspaper columns: “Paris. Degas passed away.” but these words have unexpectedly burned into our consciousness. See more
Evacuation from Petrograd to Moscow
Moscow mayor received a proposal from the chief representative of freight unloading to find quarters for a number of organizations that are being evacuated from Petrograd. For this the mayor was allocated funding.
Unbelievable chaos! There is no end to robberies and internecine fights, various governments are issuing decrees, writing appeals, and are engaged in diplomatic correspondence with each other, but life, and rather boisterous one at that, is proceeding in its way, and in many places power has been seized by committees with clear Bolshevik tendencies.
In the morning I visited Tomsen in Münster. He says that English air-raids have just started, and will gain full force in 1918, 1919, 1920! In the afternoon I went to Frankfurt. Spent the night in the city, blacked out for air-raid protection.
In the Tsay-ee-kah three factions immediately appeared. The Bolsheviki demanded that the All-Russian Congress of Soviets be summoned, and that they take over the power. The “centre” Socialist Revolutionaries, led by Tchernov, joined with the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, led by Kamkov and Spiridonova, the Mensheviki Internationalists under Martov, and the “centre” Mensheviki, represented by Bogdanov and Skobeliev, in demanding a purely Socialist Government. Tseretelli, Dan and Lieber, at the head of the right wing Mensheviki, and the right Socialist Revolutionaries under Avksentiev and Gotz, insisted that the propertied classes must be represented in the new Government. See more
The weather suddenly changed. A storm blew in with rain and afterwards it turned to sleet and finally snow. We spent a lot more time walking back and forth in the backyard. The girls got better, but they still had to remain at home.
I have been really busy with packing. Mom sent me a list of instructions—bring such and such, do such and such—of no fewer than fifty seven items. See more